Assignment 5

Write a blog explaining the parts of a technology plan. (example: Mission, Vision, etc...) What do you think the purpose of a technology plan is? Do you think a technology plan is beneficial? How might a school utilize the information from a technology plan?

The technology plan describes what the school plans on accomplishing with their use of technology. I was surprised that the plan went above and beyond 'students will be able to use a computer and the internet effectively' and went on to combining it with the vision of the whole school. The plan went on to specific departments, costs, etc, and was so much more detailed than I ever thought that it would be.

I think that the purpose of a technology plan is to help the school have a common ground on which to make decisions about lessons, units, training, discipline, etc. I think that if someone is planning a lesson dealing with technology they have a place to reference to have some focus. Also, I think that the school can set up discipline guidelines according to the plan because if a student is not on a site that supports the plan, then again, the school has a common ground to go to in order to make decisions about these situations.

In terms of it being beneficial, I think that it is to a point because, like I said before, there has to be guidelines about the technology. As a coordinator, you need to know the money, the departments, the goals, mission, vision, etc. I think that it may have started off as a formality, but then quickly evolved to a necessity for every school once technology exploded over the past twenty years. I think that it is going to be even MORE important in the next twenty years.

I think that schools can use the information in the technology plan to stay within boundaries, keep focus for anything dealing with technology, and help set up a support plan for anyone dealing with technology (which is anyone from teachers and students to parents and secretaries).

At my school, we have a shared network drive for teachers, and then again for teachers AND students. We can access the shared drive from our homes, and the students can access the teacher/student shared drive from their house. This has actually been a big deal lately because they deleted our teacher only drive and combined it with another drive. So they actually have not deleted it, but just moved it which was a huge deal because people who did not read the email were completely lost. The teacher/student drive is for teachers posting assignments, etc, that students can access at any time, but particularly when they are home and missing school.


For the AUP, we had to sign that we read and understood them sometime during the year. I knew that we had one, but tracking it down this late in the year was hard because I thought it was online. The students had to sign the handbook/AUP slip at the beginning of the year, but I doubt any of them read it. The educational system enforces the AUPs because I teach a computer programming course, and two of my students cannot use the internet because they violated the AUP.

Our school uses the Outlook email system, and we can access it from home. We are supposed to check it every day, and that is the primary source of communication in the district. I check it multiple times a day, and from my house just to make sure that I do not miss anything. One of the big things that is new is that we have to check it before school starts just in case we have anyone in ISS. If we have a student there, they need work before eight o'clock so that they have something to work on all day.

The most important thing that I have leared is that I need to be fully aware of the AUP. I don't want to make one silly mistake and either get in trouble, or get a student in trouble by giving them the wrong information. I think that this is such a huge thing because the more technology increases, the more there is a chance to access information that should not be accessed from school, or stumble across somewhere that a students should not be. This chapter really opened my eyes as to how important the AUP really is.

One of the most interesting things that I learned was that when bidding, warranties are part of the picture. I always just thought 'lowest price gets the bid', but although that is somewhat true, I never thought that warranties were part of bids. I also learned how to save money (go for items that are freshly off of lease, refurbished items, items that other organizations upgraded but are not obsolete or broken, etc.) All of these are great ways to save money for a district.

In terms of ergonomics, I never thought of having document holders for students, and that some chairs are designed for adults that are used for students. Having hanging feet never occurred to me to be a health problem, and neither did glare, lighting, etc. This was a very interesting section to read in terms of things to think about when setting up a 'healthy' working station for both students and teachers.

For the licensing, the consortium was a good idea. Since everything is run by the almighty dollar, saving money is key, and because software is so expensive, it is a good idea to buy at a lower rate. Also, having software come standard on the equipment means that you don't have to purchase a license separately, and it cuts down on installation time and manpower. Installing free-ware would most likely have to be done after the computers are installed, which is done many times through a clone. There are different types of licenses, which includes a SITE LICENSE which means that the whole school has the license. This is different than a single computer license, or even a whole lab license.

For viruses and spyware, I learned to have users change their passwords frequently. Also, the book listed two sites for free adaware and spyware software (lavasoftusa.com and safer-networking.org). Backing up files was a good suggestion, and simply having the users be informed on what emails to open, what ones not to open, what sites to visit, etc, and what to do when they think that the have come into contact with a virus. I'm sure that a virus would do tons of damage to a network if the right desktop software was not installed.

Although I have never received an email that had a virus in it, I know that I would not open it up. I think that I may want to switch my desktop structure around a little bit because my eyes are not at the same level as the top of my monitor, which means that my chair is too low (or my desk is too high). I do know what it is like for wrist problems because I have had to bring my own keyboard in last year because my left write was hurting when I would type for too long. I have an ergonomic keyboard for carpal-tunnel syndrome that I use when I'm typing for long periods of time. I think that I would like to get different chairs for my homeroom computers that the students use because the ones that I have now are wooden and not ergonomic at all. I do advise teachers to be leery of wheels because students sometimes are too fidgety to be on a 'wheely-chair' and I have had students fall. Having a swivel chair is definitely more comfortable than one that doesn't, and I would want those for the students instead of stationary ones.

Blog Assignment 2

For my school, they may use a selection form, but I have never seen one. I have only been there one full year, so I do not know if I just missed it, or I have not been there long enough and considered too insignificant to have any input. (That was kind of a joke!) I do know, however, that when we are ordering supplied for the upcoming year, there is a section in which we can order specific software for ourselves. It is where I could order Geometer's Sketchpad and other programs like that, but in terms of having input on an overall software selection, I do not know if we have a form like that. I'm sure we had to at one point simply because we have a bunch of standard software on any computer in the school (at least all of the ones that I have come into contact with, and that has been quite a few). We have the standard Microsoft Office options, and I know that only a few computers/labs have the Microsoft VB software for my programming course. That is a lab license I believe.

In terms of having a process for making certain software standard, it seems like the only logical choice for any company, schools included. Being able to log into any computer in the school and having access to the same word processing program, the same video program, etc, makes everything that much more seemless. Also, for teachers who do a lot of work at home, it makes it easier to transfer files from home to school. For example, if I create a test at home, I know which program to use because I know which program the school has. so I can email it to myself and edit it in my classroom, in the computer lab, on a laptop, etc. It would also be very easy for the technology coordinator to troubleshoot if they are using the same program for each computer. The coordinator would have to be an expert on almost every piece of software unless the school orders a standard license for the whole school. Finally, in terms of cost, I'm sure it is cheapter to order 'in bulk' as opposed to ordering many different types of software. Having a school license for a particular program would be cheaper than ordering ten of a certain program, fifty of another program, etc.

Chapter 1

This chapter was a little bit overwhelming in terms of the job that I am eventually going to have to do. While I was reading it I was like "I don't know if I can handle this!", but then the checklist on page 13 reassured me that all of those apply to me (except the super-organized thing, which I'm working on). I don't know how the technology coordinator in my school doesn't go crazy sometimes with the amount of people who run to her and call her and email her, etc. I do, however, like being a leader and I really enjoy learning. I think that having the knowledge for this job is going to be very exciting, and simply being able to know so much more about technology is going to help me out in all aspects of life.

A few things that I found interesting were when they talked about different types of coordinators. First, they talked about how some districts hire a 'computer guy' who is an excellent technician, but has no educational training. This would limit them in terms of setting up curriculum, helping teachers with lessons, etc. The other end is true where it would be unwise to hire a straight-educator with no formal technological training. The other point that was made is that job descriptions change from district to district. A small district may have one coordinator who takes care of EVERYTHING, while a large district will have a coordinator who mainly does the troubleshooting and planning, and does not have time to be fully involved in other processes.