ITUG November Meeting Notes Tuesday November 30, 2010 1:30-3:30 PM ESU #3 Sarpy Washington Room Attendance: Josh Allen, Papillion-La Vista Wayne Andersen, Bennington Sheila Bolmeier, Millard Jill Bruckner, ESU#3 Brent Catlett, Bellevue Paul Clark, UNO Don Dalton, Fort Calhoun Robin Davis, Westside Paul Dwyer, Elmwood Murdock Ann Feldman, Bellevue Bob Goeman, UNO Ken Groathouse, Weeping Water Denny Hanley, Millard Jeff Ingraham, ESU#3 Pam Krambeck, ESU#3 Amy Kuhr, Plattsmouth Paul Lindgren, Westside Bill Menousek, ESU#3 Matt Moore, Louisville Andy Myrtue, Conestoga Kevin O Neill, Gretna Todd Perkins, Elkhorn Bill Pulte, Papillion-La Vista Kurt Sanders, Arlington Stan Segal, Millard Jerome Skrdla, Gretna Kathi Smith, Millard Lynn Spady, Westside Dixie Trevarthen, ESU#3 I. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND ADDITIONS A. Introductions: Attendance was taken by as individuals signed in with names and districts. Jill Bruckner from ESU#3 has joined the group and will be taking notes Welcome Jill! B. Additions to the Agenda: Denny Hanley added HP s handling of einstruction products & KidCam, Pam Krambeck added the Adobe Coop Purchase and Amy Kuhr added technology assessment of students. C. Upcoming ITUG Meeting dates January 25, February 22, March 29, April 26 Bill Menousek will present on the Ft. Calhoun Project at the January 25 th meeting If anyone has ideas on what they would like to have presented at the February or April meetings, please let Pam know so that presenters can be lined up. D. Sharepoint for ITUG Group: http://portal.esu3.org/pdd/itug Pam reminded the group that their full e-mail address is the logon. Let Pam or Bill Menousek (bmenousek@esu3.org) know if you have problems or need help. E. District share: Pam would like to schedule the district shares for the year let her know if you are interested in signing up. January 25 th Meeting: Bellevue will share February 22 nd Meeting: Amy Kuhr from Plattsmouth will share Millard will share on the visit to Millard on March 29th We still have one meeting open April 26 th
Kurt Sanders shared what s happening in Arlington with the group. Kurt provided a handout to the group that outlined the items he shared along with costs and other specifics. Thanks Kurt! Here are a few highlights: o 461 Computers on a PreK-12 Campus with 46% desktops and 54% laptops and a 70/30 split between windows and macs. o A $9,000,000 construction and renovation project was completed in the fall of 2009 that included the upgrading of a number of systems including wireless access points and wiring closets. Kurt shared the specifics of what was installed in his notes. o Acer netbooks were purchased ($270 through pcmallgov.com) and are sturdy and working well. Kurt recommends the six-cell battery to get a full day of use/charge. They will be using these for NeSA testing and he will report back on their experience with the netbooks. o Software being used includes: Infocentre in the media center, DeepFreeze from Enterprise to keep machines clean and configured ($3 per install), Windows 7 migration in January 2011, Office 2010 in labs, considering live@edu cloud for laptop carts, teachers, etc. o Non-computer hardware includes: 14 document cameras (Avermedia VP) Projectors for all rooms:(nec & Infocus) Arlington did not ceiling mount the projectors due to cost but opted for a small cart that is working well for them from Oklahoma Sound which is $120 including shipping from Amazon (Model PRC200) and is very sturdy with a small footprint. Interwrite pads which they have purchased in 5 packs on ebay for $899 are being used as interactive boards. Printers: Although they still have a few HP LaserJets, they are in the fourth year of a five year contract with Eakes Office Equipment for 20 Sharp Copier/Scanners and HP LaserJets where Eakes provides all the toner and maintenance and are paying less than a penny a copy. Clickers: einstruction clicker sets: 3-24 clicker sets and 1-32 clicker set DLC Carts: Two mobile DistanceEd carts one in elementary one in HS Tape backup system with daily and weekly on-site fireproof storage and monthly off-site disaster recovery fireproof storage. o Purchases: Integrated Solutions in Omaha has been used for sever config, install & support DCWG and PCMallGov for most tech items. Amazon and ebay have also been utilized for competitive pricing CDI Computers and Insight System Exchange is used for computer purchases (information was provided via a handout) No longer purchase the $250 insurance for laptops because of low initial price. Service from HP was good but when they switched to ServiceNet the service was nonexistent and a waste of funds. F. Dixie Trevarthen: Dixie shared that she has been working with Virtual Box on her Mac laptop and has run into a few problems with it recognizing USB Flash. This is a free tool that is being used quite a bit at ESU 10. Dixie also shared information about an upcoming conference on February 25 th for teachers and staff that would be a good one for those new to assistive technology. Dixie shared some recent purchases from ThinkGeek (http://www.thinkgeek.com) musical tshirts that could be used for students with palsy or hands that lock up at their chest area. The shirts are $29.95 and washable. This might be a way to get students to participate and use their hands more.
II. MEETINGS & CONFERENCES A. Update on Apple Learning Tour on November 2nd ~ Jeff Ingraham & attendees Jeff shared that the day involved a focus on ipads and their use in the classroom. A number of good apps where shared. Lynn Spady liked the expanding function of the epub format in pages that can be read on the ipad. epub documents can contain interactive links, movies, etc. and opens a new arena for documents and electronic textbook options. Jeff has a USB flash drive of the files that were shared if anyone is interested. B. NETA Conference/Contests/Speakers: Bob Goman reported that tech strands are being offered all day every day. Four presentations are still needed for this strand. Submissions for presentations are due by December 1 st everyone should consider presenting. Positions are open on the Board of Directors consider running for the NETA Board if interested. C. FETC, TCEA: We have had people attend both of these conferences in the past, but we do not have anyone attending this year due to budget cuts and restrictions on travel. D. ISTE-NECC Conference The conference is being held in Philadelphia this year Dates are June 26-29 E. EdTech Conference from einstruction Pam has spoken to Mike Aubin about the proposal that is needed ESU is looking into submitting a proposal for the Fall of 2011 for a one-day event F. EdcampOmaha is March 26th Josh Allen attended an Edcamp in the Kansas City area and is working with a small group of people to organize EdcampOmaha. The idea behind this event is to get people together for a day of sharing and collaboration. The event will be held at the Thompson Alumni Center at UNO form 9:00-4:00. The event is FREE and will be a first for Nebraska. Website: http://edcampomaha.wikispaces.com/ Share information about this EDUCATION event with your teachers III. WORKSHOPS & CLASSES A. Report on November Workshops ~ Jeff Ingraham Promethean workshop was full on November 1st. Stephanie Buzak presented and was well received by the group. Having a teacher present this workshop who could share ideas and examples was very beneficial. Jeff and Pam attended and there is a wikispace of the resources at: http://esu3whiteboards.wikispaces.com/ Google Tools for Teachers on November 10 th was full, received good feedback from the group and ESU has received a number of requests for this workshop to be repeated in the spring. We have scheduled a repeat of this workshop on March 24 th and registration is currently open on the ESU web site under the workshops link. Audio Recording for Music Teachers on December 2 nd was canceled due to low enrollment. Jeff will try and offer this workshop again this spring or next fall.
. IV. B. Upcoming Workshops: Collaborative Staff Development Workshops for collaboration by elective area teachers on January 17 th. Workshops are scheduled for eight elective areas: industrial technology, world languages, vocal music, instrumental music, art, business, health/pe, and family consumer science. These workshops are FREE and districts are encouraged to send participants. iwork Workshop on February 1 st Intro to Moodle: Linda Peters will return to ESU to conduct this workshop for beginning Moodle users on February 8 th. Challenge Based Learning with Katie Morrow on February 23rd SmartBoards in the Classroom Where to Start? workshop on February 28th C. 21 st Century Skills Fair Follow-Up ~ Jeff Ingraham Materials and links are available at http://21stfair2010.wikispaces.com Tony Vincent s notes are available at: https://docs.google.com/view?id=dfsw9387_73ck6wcng2 HARDWARE A. Hardware purchases sharing What is the coolest thing you have purchased? Denny Hanley, Millard: Pano! This is a tiny brick shaped device that Millard is experimenting with where all authentication is to the network and you are running off a server. Four USB ports are available, a VGA port, etc. Denny is doing R&D on this for Millard and will share his findings. http://www.panologic.com/pano-device Robin Davis, Westside: CableJive.com cables for ipads (and ipods) They found 6-foot extenders for the Ipad connection cable, received a 10% discount for 16 cables for a cost of $21.95. This is a 30 pin male to female cable. Gretna has been purchasing VGA Cables for $7 for a 25 foot gold tipped cable at MonoPrice and they are very happy with the cables. Jeff mentioned these after a trip to Gretna. B. Engaging Technologies adding Mimio Pam shared an email from Dustin Frank indicating that Engaging Technologies is now also making Mimio products available under their offerings. Discussion took place from the group about the products now being carried by Dustin and his group at Engaging Technologies. Pam followed up with Dustin after the meeting and found out the following: (Dustin indicated that it was fine to share these items from his e-mail) o Nothing at all has changed with regards to Engaging Technologies and einstruction products. Engaging Technologies is still the source for einstruction products throughout Nebraska and Kansas. o In Millard's case, they are considering a large implementation of clickers throughout the district, so we teamed up with HP to offer a total solution package. The package includes hardware, PD, replacement and support plan, etc. HP is handling all the financing as we do have a partnership with them nationwide for such large opportunities, but nothing has changed on the daily support and purchasing of einstruction products. All of that is still handled through me or Engaging Technologies.
o As you know we are continuing to expand both our staff (very excited to have Linda joining us!!!!) as well as our product line. We have tried to research products and did a lot of comparing, testing to find good solid products that either support einstruction products or complement them very nicely. Hence we have added the following lines: Lumens doc cameras, Mimio, Vivitek projectors, and Livescribe Smartpens. We are also being courted by a few others but nothing is final as of yet. Our intent is NOT to offer a big bag of tricks but to offer a total solution package with solid products we can stand behind with confidence. We will continue to support every product we offer, just as we've done for the past 10 years. o FYI: we are also looking to open an office/training center here in Omaha. A couple of spots right there around ESU 3. C. HP/eInstruction Discussion ~ Denny Hanley, Millard Discussion on this topic was covered above and in the follow-up email that was received from Dustin Frank included in the preceeding topic. D. KidCam ~ Denny Hanley Millard has begun using a KidCam for homebound students. At any one time Millard may have up to 40 students who are homebound for different reasons usually medical related. Five KidCam kits have been funded for homebound students. A laptop is deployed to the student s home and then the school is set-up with a laptop, snowball microphone and a Microsoft web cam ($99 the only one he could find with a tripod mount) mounted on a tripod. Students are able to Skype into the classroom to continue participation in classroom activities, discussion, etc. The added bonus is that students are connecting to each other at home using Skype. Teachers, students and parents are excited about this project and providing homebound students a way to stay involved in the classroom. V. SOFTWARE A. ipod/ipad Apps for Education Licensing Sheila Bolmeier from Millard has been working with Apple to streamline the purchase of apps for schools. Sheila reported on purchasing with a voucher. Papillion has purchased apps with vouchers (Special education department received a grant for nine ipads and nine ipod touches), Westside is attempting to use vouchers but they are not quite there yet. This group will continue to share their experiences on app purchases. B. Google Earth & Google SketchUp Pro Licensing from NDE: Brent Gaswick from NDE shared the codes needed for schools to access the pro versions of Google Earth and SketchUp. Pam received this information AFTER the meeting: Windows Lab license (sketch-up 8) Serial: MH-300-00036129-ALW Auth Code: 9d2dfa32306174e87cd127b56430374c Mac Lab License (sketch-up 8) Serial: mh-300-00032043-alm Key: 60tc-cx8b-pyga-ltlh-b3t0-xj Windows individual machine license (sketch-up 8) Serial: Auth Code: 2300ed885c0f5cc2da222ca4847adc33 MH-299-00036130-ALW Mac individual machine license (sketch-up 8) Serial: mh-299-00032044-alm Key: 8n7e-v73g-rp3l-9pt4-v9i2-68 Please note...these codes would not be shared outside of the Nebraska K-12 school environment
C. Coop Purchase for Adobe Products: Pam shared the coop purchase information on the cooperative buy for Adobe Products. Marcy Rodriguez from Academic Superstore is the contact. Chris Petroff from ESU9 will be able to answer questions you may have about coop purchasing: cpetroff@esu9.org VI. INTERNET/WEB A. Learning Web ~ Pam Krambeck Social Studies focus this year Web Site: http://thelearningweb.wikispaces.com/ South Sarpy and Westside recently participated, are other districts interested? Benefits: 5-member team to attend NETA in 2010 to gather ideas with registration and substitute reimbursement covered by a grant. Members also attend NETA in 2011 to present their project with registration and substitute fees reimbursed. Two days of summer staff development is also included in the grant with teacher stipends paid. Let Pam know ASAP is your district might be interested in fielding a Learning Web team. ESU#3 can select one team for participation. B. KidZui Web Browser http://www.kidzui.com Pam demonstrated the KidZui web browser and Jeff shared his insight on the included components. Large buttons and easy navigation are two of the advantages. VII. OTHER A. Administrator Boot Camps from NCSA: These technology boot camps for administrators are being held across the state during the week of March 28, 2011 starting in Scottsbluff. The boot camp scheduled for our area is March 31, 2011 in La Vista. (3/29 Kearney, 3/30 Norfolk) Participants should be school administrators only and there is limited enrollment to better serve the needs of those attending. More info. is available at NCSA: http://www.ncsa.org. You may want to encourage your school principals and superintendents to attend and gain a better understanding of the evolving role of technology in our schools. The group is looking for someone to present on BlackBerries. Let Pam know if you have someone who might be a resource for this group. Sessions are being held on general tools, apps, and how the role of technology is evolving in our schools. B. Millard Web 2.0 Survey Results ~ Millard Millard thanked the group for responding to the survey on web 2.0 tools The results of the survey are helping them get a picture of the use of web 2.0 tools in other area schools and of existing policies that are in place for their use as they examine the next step within their district. C. Technology Assessment for Students ~ Plattsmouth Plattsmouth has used the Atomic Learning technology assessment for students in the past but is no longer subscribing to this service. Amy Kuhr is looking for a comparable assessment that they could continue to use for assessing students in the area of technology. Millard shared that they have a middle school technology assessment that is based on the ISTE standards. Sheila will share this with Amy. VIII. PRESENTATION: Information about the Learning Web was shared earlier in the meeting.