Coronado K-8 School’s eighth-grade team won 3rd place in the world in the speed competition of the CyberSurfari ’98 contest.

The Lycos CyberSurfari ’98 contest is a World Wide Web treasure hunt designed to help students, teachers, and other individuals learn how to use the Internet and to become familiar with some of the exciting sites and resources available on the Web.

This is the third year that Coronado K-8 School has competed in CyberSurfari. Members of the winning 8th grade team are Travis Agnew, Mallory Loring, Bryan Moran, Jason Reynolds, and Tyler Whitlatch. Faculty advisors for the Coronado K-8 teams are Anne Booth, 8th grade science and technology teacher, and Trish Ernst, computer specialist.

At the beginning of the contest players are linked to special clue pages. The clues on each sponsor’s site provide the links and necessary questions or information for players to discover the treasure to be found at Web site "outposts." When the players or "cyber-hunters" click on the correct answer, a treasure code is revealed. This code is then submitted and automatically added to the player’s treasure code total.

In the speed competition, the first, second, and third team in each division to find and submit 95 of the 100 treasure codes win the first, second, and third place cash prizes (earmarked for technology purposes). Coronado’s 3rd place prize was $1,000. In addition to the cash prizes, grand prize school team winners also receive a team trophy for their school.

The contest began on October 20th at 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). Coronado registered four teams in the K-8 division: three eighth-grade teams and one sixth-grade team. Team members began competing Tuesday at 12:00 p.m., Tucson time, with two teams each in the school’s computer and technology labs. All team members worked through the night and finally went home for some sleep at 7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. It was announced on Friday, October 30th, that one of our teams had placed third in the speed competition.

The first of two upgrades that will make Pentamation year 2000 compliant has been scheduled. The upgrade will take place the week of January 25, 1999. This means - PENTAMATION WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR USAGE OR VIEWING THE WEEK OF JANUARY 25th. Therefore, Pentamation will not be available January 25th - 29th.

During this time we will be upgrading the Unix operating system and the version of Informix (Pentamation’s programming language) that reside on the server that houses the Pentamation programs and data. We will also be doing some database maintenance work and installing a new backup system.

The second of these upgrades, for the Pentamation program itself, will be scheduled sometime in February or March. This one will also require Pentamation to be down for a few days. We will let you know as soon as those dates are scheduled. This new version of Pentamation, 3.0, will be a little different in appearance and performance than the current version. As soon as I have had an opportunity to review it, I’ll make you aware of any changes.

We must have these upgrades in place before May of 1999 when we start expenditures for fiscal year 2000, so we appreciate your patience during what will probably be several interruptions of service during our preparation for the millennium.

If you have any questions or concerns please call me at 5219.

One of the hottest topics being discussed these days is Y2K compliance. The concern is that many computers and other computer devices may not be able to understand the year 2000. Currently, most computer programs use a 6-digit date field (YYMMDD), representing Year, Month, Day. For example, January 3, 1999 would be represented as 990103. January 3, 2000 would be 000103. The 2-digit year field, "00" could be interpreted by the computer as either the year 2000 or 1900. If it reads the date as 1900, many information systems would simply not understand that date and could stop working or even delete information. There are actually two key dates when Y2K problems could occur, July 1, 1999 (the start of the next fiscal year), and January 1, 2000.

Amphitheater School District has been preparing for this situation for the last couple of years and I am pleased to say that we will be ready. We have done many things to prepare for this already with regards to computer hardware and software.

In addition to computer upgrades, we have also installed a new district-wide phone & voice mail system.

In order for students and staff to use the Internet connections provided by the school district, they must sign an AUP agreement stating that they will use the Internet for work or learning related activities. As more people use the system, there is a growing concern that it is NOT being used for appropriate activities. I encourage you to use the Internet for school and work purposes.

Many of you have probably heard about ERate. The President has recommended that all schools and libraries be connected to the Internet. To that end, an entity was established called the SLC (Schools & Libraries Corporation), that would operate as a clearinghouse for jurying requests for financial assistance. Everyone interested had to submit their requests last March and was promised that funding would be allocated by June 1998. As you might expect, there were more requests than there were dollars to fund. Also, there were other political issues that limited what would be funded and when that funding will be received. What that means to us is that we have not, as of yet, heard if we will be funded. If we are funded, it will mean that this year only our utilities for our WAN (wide area network) connections and phone system will be covered.

We had hoped to purchase the additional equipment that would allow us to connect all of the remaining classrooms to the Internet. That won’t happen with this year’s ERate allocation. So, I will resubmit our request for the necessary networking equipment and see if we qualify for funding
in 1999.

We have been experiencing some problems with e-mail getting to addresses that use either www.amphi.com or www.amphi.com. Our server was having an identity crisis and rejecting mail with the long form of the address. We apologize for the inconvenience and appear to have solved the problem. However, we would encourage everyone to use the short form of our address username@amphi.com. For example, my address would be psteffen@amphi.com. The shorter name is the correct name and we are encouraging everyone to use this address to reduce problems.

With Civil Rights week coming up we would like to focus on some of the videos, laserdiscs, and CD-ROMs related to ethnic and minority studies available for checkout from the Media Center.

Narrated by Kevin Costner, 500 Nations is an eight-part documentary that looks at life in North America before the arrival of Europeans. It follows the epic struggles of Indian Nations as the continent is reshaped by contact.

This program introduces several well known African Americans by showing youngsters in the act of dramatizing their lives. The program features an African American family as they watch the action on a video screen in their living room.

Scattered across North America are monuments that survive as reminders of the continent’s first people. This film explores some of these places - clues to the history of the first Americans.

Eyes on the Prize is a six-episode series that covers the struggles of the Civil Rights years from 1954, the awakening, to the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 when thousands joined together to march 50 miles to freedom. Titles are:

V 088 Awakenings, V 089 Fighting Back, V 090 Ain’t Scared of Your Jails, V 091 No Easy Walk, V 092 Mississippi: Is This America?, V 093 Bridge to Freedom.

Eyes on the Prize II is an eight- episode series that covers the Civil Rights years from 1964, following the trajectory of Malcolm X and concluding in the mid-1980’s with an examination of two cities, Miami, Florida with the destruction of Overtown, and Chicago where the city elects its first Black mayor. titles are:

V 307 The Time Has Come, V 308 Two Societies, V 309 The Promised Land, V 310 Power, V 311 A Nation of Law, V 312 Ain’t Gonna Shuffle no More, V 313 The Keys to the Kingdom, V 314 Back to the Movement.

This video presents the customs, cultures and contributions of several Indian tribes of the U.S.

This film traces the public career of Martin Luther King, Jr. and examines King’s belief in non-violent protest.

This is a dramatization chronicling the major events that led Sojourner to become a powerful force for good, a force that helped change the United States.

This interactive program presents the issues and events that shaped the life and contributions of America’s foremost Civil Rights leader.

This video introduces students to Native Americans of the Southwest and to help establish an affinity for their culture.

This biography follows the Life of Malcolm X from the death of his father in 1931, to his incarceration in 1964 where he converts to the nation of Islam, to his assassination in 1965 while delivering a speech in Harlem’s Ballroom.

This program shows a group of Hispanic students, encouraged by a group discussion leader, actor/director Edward James Olmos, speaking out about their experiences, feelings, and values.

Prominent American Women challenge the economic and political realities.

All these titles are available for checkout from the Media Center by filling out the media ordering forms or calling Claudio at 6214. You can also e-mail - caraya.

Inside Art: An Art History Game- provides interactive lessons on art history. http://www.eduweb.com/insideart/b3.html

One of the biggest complaints people have about computers is the number of passwords they must remember. As I have visited sites around the district I have seen all sorts of problems with the ways people remember and use their passwords. I hope to impress upon you the importance of keeping your passwords private.

Passwords are intended to keep unauthorized users out of areas that they do not belong. The most common areas passwords are used in this district are for network login, e-mail, SASI and Pentamation. If others have access to your password they have the ability to do everything you would do on the computer; read your
e-mail, access SASI, place Pentamation orders and many other things. Depending on your job responsibility, you may have numerous passwords. This is because every system uses a different password.

First, there are some things you should NEVER do with regard to your passwords.

There are several things you should ALWAYS do with regard to passwords.

Try using a date with a word that is unrelated. For instance a good password for me would be "1210simba"- my anniversary plus my dogs name. Another common way is to put a word backwards and tack a number in front or back. For instance "ytiruces1"- security plus the number one. A final example would be a sentence or phrase spelled differently, similar to a vanity license plate. This would look like "RU4amphi"- the

phrase "Are you for Amphi."

This semester there is a new and improved method of registering for technology classes on-line. You are able to go to this site to register for classes, get a list of your classes, and also cancel classes. You can also see the course schedule and course descriptions.

The address for this site is http://techreg.amphi.com/registration/. You will be taken to a main page with links to the other information mentioned above. The pages are very user friendly and provide you all the information you need to use this registration web page. The class list will show you all of the classes you are registered for as well as the classes you have cancelled and the ones you are on the waiting list for. You can print this list and always know what classes you are registered for.

If you want to register for classes, cancel classes, or see your class list, you will need to know your member ID. If you have registered for classes in the past, you should have recently received your member ID number in the district mail. If you haven’t received this information call Patti Greenleaf at 5218 or Ted Cox at 5215. If you are a new registrant, you will be assigned an ID number during on-line registration.

You will be asked to enter your mother’s maiden name. This is for security purposes and will allow you to retrieve your member ID number on-line if you forget it. This retrieval system will work once we have your mother’s maiden name in our database.

Ted Cox has spent a lot of time and energy creating this page and making it user friendly. He deserves a great deal of credit for learning how to do this and implementing it so quickly. We are hoping that you will start to use the on-line registration to make the registration process more efficient for you and us as well.

The Teaching and Technology Conference for Educators will be on Saturday, January 23, 1999. The conference will be held at the University of Arizona in the Student Union and College of Education from 8:00 a.m.

to 4:00 p.m. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m.

There will be exhibitors and presentations on the Internet,

multimedia, telecommunications, curriculum integration, and presentation graphics. Registration information can be

obtained from your Technology Coach, Peggy Steffens, Patti Greenleaf, or on the web at www.ed.arizona.edu/tc/.

You may find yourself sending voice messages to the same group of people again and again. Instead of calling each person individually, you can create a distribution list and send messages to the whole group at one time. Broadcast messaging can also be a convenient way to send an announcement to your entire staff, department, grade level, or team.

Sending a broadcast message is a simple two-step process. First, create a distribution list of the people you want to send the message to and second, create the message and send it to your new distribution list.

-While in Meridian Mail press 85.

-Press a number from 1 to 9 to define a new distribution list, then press the # key.

-Press 5 to create the list.

-Enter each individual’s extension followed by the # key. To delete a number after you enter it, press 0#. When the list is complete press the # key.

-While in Meridian Mail, press 75 to compose a message.

-Enter the distribution list number, then press # #.

-Press 5 to record your message. To stop recording press the # key.

-To send press 79.

The following steps will allow you to place the envelope mail notification icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the task bar. If you have mail a little red flag will wave back and forth. If you place your mouse on top of the envelope it will tell you how many messages you have waiting. This works on Windows 95 computers with only one person using email on the computer.

If you do not have an envelope icon on the bottom right-hand corner of your task bar, follow the steps below:

Do you like to read the latest bestseller books? Would you like to read them for free? Then take advantage of your public library and reserving the books over the Internet. I currently have ten books on reserve at the public library and I am number two on the waiting list for one book and I am number 162 on another book, and the rest fall somewhere in between. In fact, I am 93 on the list for the John Grisham book The Testament which won’t be released until March 1999. I love the system! I log on to the Internet and go to the Tucson-Pima Public Library site at http://www.lib.ci.tucson.az.us/ and click on Search. Then I click on "Search InfoLynx, the Library’s Catalog through a Web browser" and do a search for the title of the book or a specific author. Once I find the book I want, I click on the Request button and enter my name, library card number, and the library I would like to pick the book up from. When the book is available, the library sends me a notice and I have one week to pick up the book. If I ever want to know the status of my account (the books I have checked out, when they are due, or what number I am on the waiting list) I simply go to http://infolynx.ci.tucson.az.us/patroninfo/ and enter my information. I receive a complete update and it even allows me to renew the books on-line. The system is also perfect for students and teachers. Students can reserve the books they need for upcoming research reports and teachers can reserve the books for their next unit. The Tucson-Pima Public Library Internet site is easy to use and it allows me to continually have books to read.

We’re seeing an increased number of people sharing local printers, and many people are not pleased with the results. Here are a few things to keep in mind when sharing local printers.

Of course, there are a few alternatives to using a local printer for shared printing. Here are our recommendations, and the benefits and problems associated with each:

Hi, we are members of Arts Alive. Arts Alive is an after school session for 2/3 and 4/5 grade students. Arts Alive is about art and showing people who have never seen the beauties of art. We also go on field trips to art museums and art exhibits. In Arts Alive we go on the Internet and write to teachers all around the world asking them to send us artwork made by their students. We use the pictures to make art exhibits for our school. We like to use the Internet because we like to look up artists and receive artwork.

Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel have a feature to provide easy access to recently used files. Any recently used file (confidential or private) on the local hard disk is available in the Microsoft Word "File" menu as part of the recently used file list. Any user will be able to open these Word files by selecting a file name (with the complete PATH to the file’s location on the local hard disk shown along with the file name). The following instructions will help you disable this feature on your machine.

Microsoft Excel has the same feature as mentioned above. Choose Tools and then Options and click on the General tab. Uncheck the "Recently Used File List" option to disable the file names showing in the File menu.

You can also password protect any of your Microsoft Word or Excel files so the program requires the correct password entry before the protected file can be opened by any user. The following instructions will help you enable this protection; repeat these steps for each file you use.

You may also enable the password protection in Word in the following manner:

Please remember the password you enter. Technical Support staff or Microsoft cannot help you open documents that are password protected. In addition, please be sure to use the password option for your MicroGrade class files to protect student information from prying eyes.

Microsoft in K-12 Education- provides guides called In and Out of the Classroom which are self paced tutorials designed to help teachers integrate Word, Excel, and Power Point into the classroom. In addition, they provide lessons for using Microsoft productivity programs in the classroom, articles on networking, and templates, wizards, and activities.

Great Artists - selects artists and displays a collection of their work. http://www.ugrad.cs.jhu.edu/~baker/artpage.html/

Incredible Art Department- provides a multitude of art lessons and activities for students.

Mars Missions - provides information and images from the Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Surveyor 98, and Mars Surveyor 2001.

These days, most people are aware of computer-related strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis. If you spend more than a couple of hours per day at your computer, you may want to consider arranging your workstation in a manner that is more convenient and comfortable.

Consider your chair and desk. The ideal sitting position for most people includes being able to put your feet flat on the floor and have your knees at approximately the same height as your hips. If your worktable is too high you may want to consider purchasing a simple footrest, or using a sturdy box or the yellow pages to raise the level of your feet. You should be able to sit up comfortably without straining. Many people also like to have lower-back support in the chair. Above all, the chair should not encourage you to slouch or lean back.

The keyboard should be at a level that allows your arms to be approximately parallel to the ground. If you use armrests, make sure that they are at the same height and they do not obstruct your typing. It is also important to place the keyboard at an angle that encourages you to keep your wrists straight while typing. The keyboard can usually be raised and lowered from the back by using the small feet at each back corner. You may also wish to consider using a wrist rest – you can purchase these inexpensively or even use a small towel rolled tightly to provide some support under your wrists.

Ideally, you should not have to move your hand more than 15 inches from the keyboard to the mouse or cross your hand over your body (reaching your right hand to the left side of your desk, for example) to reach the mouse. This is not as important if you do not have to switch between the keyboard and the mouse repeatedly during computer use.

The placement of the monitor is perhaps the most important item. Normally it is best if the top of the monitor is at approximately the same level as your eyebrows. The monitor should not be shifted far off to one side and you should not have to tilt or turn your head very far to see it. If you have special needs such as wearing bifocals or reading glasses, you may want to lower or raise the monitor so that it is easily viewable through your glasses. Most importantly, make sure that the text is large enough, the brightness and contrast of the screen are comfortable, and that the screen does not have a flicker or jitter that causes you to strain when looking at the screen. Some people do not consciously see any flicker or movement of the screen, but have other symptoms which may indicate a problem with the monitor settings: headache, dizziness, eye strain, or nausea – particularly noticeable within a few minutes of moving away from the computer. If you think you may have a problem with your monitor or its settings, please call the tech line and ask for assistance.

You may want to experiment with some of the ideas presented here. The best rule of thumb is your own comfort. Making your workstation a body-friendly environment can make a noticeable difference in your enjoyment in using the computer and your health in general.

It is really neat when companies want to donate their old computers to schools. It may get you equipment in the short run, but it is not cost effective in the long run. Research studies have shown that donated equipment costs more than it is worth. Due to the fact that we did not buy the equipment or plan for it, we do not have the parts needed to repair it, or the knowledge to make it work on our network. The Technology Department does not have enough staff to support donated equipment. For that reason, it is current policy that the Technology Department will not be responsible for donated computer equipment and it may not be placed on the network. So, if your equipment does not have a district tag, please do not expect support from the Technology Department.

Teachers at Donaldson Elementary School have found a fun and creative way of using Kid Pix software. Nancy Jimmerson and Linda Mason, fourth grade teachers, had students in their classes create fun puzzle pages for kindergartners. These were then copied off in booklets and given to the kindergartners before the winter break. Student ingenuity came up with activities like connect the dots, pages for students to color, mazes, patterning pages, find the hidden object in the picture, and counting activities (how many butterflies in the tree or count the spiders in the web). It was a great activity for the fourth graders and hours of fun and learning for the little ones.

A semester long study session for anyone interested in technology and education has been proposed by Dr. Chris Johnson from the University of Arizona for Spring 1999. Teachers in our district who have participated in these sessions in the past have found them very beneficial.

At the beginning session, the group will meet and identify key issues in implementing technology. These issues might include, but are not limited to, learning theories and strategies (multiple intelligence, collaborative learning, constructivist activities, problem-based learning), professional development, and building and supporting a technology infrastructure. Each participant will choose a topic to study. The participants may work in groups.

The instructor will provide a few weeks of activities including some readings to discuss. The participants wll then be asked to do a brief presentation on what they learned. The findings will be collected and posted on a webpage.

Chris Johnson will coordinate with any individual participant for graduate credit for the course. There are two options: receiving credit through Extended University or through an independent study in either Educational Psychology or Educational Leadership. You can also use this course for district credit if you didn’t choose to receive University credit.

The group will meet once or twice a month for the semester at a time and location to be agreed upon by the group. They will also attempt some on-line meetings that could be participated in from home.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Chris Johnson at cgj@u.arizona.edu or Peggy Steffens at psteffen@amphi.com. There is also an opportunity to participate through the distance learning option.

Windows 95 can be very…shall we say, "delicate" at times. If the system locks up and requires the computer to be shut off, or - and I do this sometime - your foot gets wrapped around the power cord and you unplug it, or for whatever reason the system gets shut off without being shut down properly, Windows 95 files can be damaged, or corrupted. This can cause many different and sundry problems. The easiest way for the repair technician to fix this problem is to "reghost" the computer. This means returning the computer to the state it was when we first set it up, i.e. all saved files on the hard drive will be erased.

This article is not meant to scare you from using your hard drive, just to remind you to make backups of your The-World-Will-End-If-I-Lose-This-File files.

Community Construction Kit is a Tom Synder Productions program appropriate for grades 2-6. This program allows students to design buildings and/or communities on the computer, print them out, and then turn them into 3-D designed communities.

The students first decide on a building structure and roof type, then they add doors, windows, building siding, and etc. They can add stamps of people, animals, plants, etc. They can also print out pre-made buildings or make changes to these buildings. Once they have all the parts they then construct their community.

The program has different history themes that allow students to create buildings appropriate for the time period being studied. The themes include: Medieval, Native American, Colonial American, and Contemporary American. They can even mix and match the different themes, if desired.

Various learning objectives from social studies, math, language arts, science, and art can be incorporated. For instance with math, you use shape recognition and measurement and scale. The program comes with the ability to measure things. In science, they can practice location and use of natural resources and selecting building materials appropriate to the environment and climate.

The CD can be run on either the Mac or Windows platform and comes with teaching ideas, activities, and reproducible masters. The CD is available from the Media Center.

Do you ever plan to highlight a section of text and your cursor has zoomed to the next planet before you can get it to stop? If this is a problem then use the Shift-Click technique. Click your cursor in front of the first letter you want to highlight, then using your mouse move your cursor to the last character you want to select and hold down the shift key when you click. This will highlight just the area you want. Hopefully this will help you with the runaway cursor problem. Shift-Click works in most applications.

Where do you want to go today? Well wake up, you're a teacher and it's mid-year. You can’t go anywhere. It’s time to start slogging through lots of data, or creating new and inventive ways to manipulate data for your students. If you are tired of spreadsheets, and can’t dream of analyzing information by hand, try the new and improved database. It cannot only wash and fold your clothes, but it can also sort data and present it in fun and interesting ways. If you have a large amount of data, you will be able to enter the information quickly with fewer mistakes using a database. You can create standardized reports and charts. I know what you're saying: "I can’t get bogged down learning how to create forms and reports on a new program. I have too much to do!" Well that’s where Microsoft Access comes in. It creates everything for you using Wizards (a program that helps you create things). It's easy. Open Microsoft Access. Click on the NEW button. Select the Table Wizard.

Let the Wizard take you through the creation of the table. When you are done creating the table, Access will create a form for you using another wizard. Choose the "Enter data into the table using a form the Wizard creates" option. You now have a functional database. The only thing left is retrieving your information in a format you can use.

Save and Close your form, and click on the report button. Then click the New button.

You will be given the option of a Report Wizard, or a Chart Wizard. These will step you through your data and allow you to create the format you want.

Databases can be used for your personal information, as well as for class projects. If you have more than one class entering data you

can have groups enter the data in a database you have created. Because of the use of forms, data is entered quickly and more accurately than on spreadsheets. Good luck with your first adventures in Access and if you find that it is something you want to learn more about there is an inservice available Feb. 3rd and 10th at the Wetmore Training Lab. Contact Technology or your Technology Coach for more information.

Would you like someone else to grade your tests and give you the scores? Then the Quiz Lab at funbrain.com is for you. The site allows you to create multiple choice, true/false, or one word fill-in-the-blank tests. Teachers can go to http://www.funbrain.com and select Quiz Lab. Quiz Lab is a free service; teachers need to create an account with a password for themselves and a different password for their students. Once an account has been set up teachers can add new quizzes, edit existing quizzes, view student scores, and create a student handout that has the URL to take the test and the student login password. Teachers log on to the Internet and create the tests and students take the tests on-line as well. After students have taken the test, the teacher can have the scores emailed to him/her or view them on-line. When viewing student scores on-line, the teacher will see each student’s name and their score and percentage. In addition, he/she can learn the specific questions each student missed with the answer they selected by clicking on the button marked details next to the student name. The Quiz Lab at funbrain.com is a wonderful site to help teachers be more efficient.

Throughout the district as new software is installed on the servers, the client software on the computers is being updated as well. This changes the look of your login screen from the gray Microsoft login screen, to the red Novell screen. The login functions the same as before it just looks a little different the first time you see it. So should you start your computer and get a new red login screen instead of the old gray screen there is no need to panic. As our upgrades progress around the district everyone will eventually have the new red screen.

Most TVs, VCRs, laserdisc players, satellite receivers and cable converter boxes made within the last 15 years, use infrared (IR) remote controls. Coronado, La Cima, Wilson, Donaldson, Holaway, Nash, Rio Vista and Walker have a system in place that allows for the control of the equipment in a central headend location.

The headend is located in the Library of the schools mentioned. It may contain the main feed from the Cable Company, a satellite receiver, 2-3 VCRs, a video laserdisc player and a cable converter box. It has the capability of a feed from a live telecast from any location on the school campus.

To control a particular piece of equipment in the headend (from the classroom) the teacher takes the remote control and aims it at the IR receiver located near the classroom TV. This receiver may be installed in the wall (like at Rio Vista) or is attached to a modular cord plugged into a wall plate containing the TV signal jack. It is attached at the top, side or bottom of the TV or its wall-mounting bracket.

As the remote transmitter is activated, the signal is picked up by the IR receiver, causing a red light to flicker inside the receiver. The signal is then carried over the wiring back to the headend where it makes the IR emitters (attached to each piece of equipment in front of its IR window) flicker. The equipment can thus be operated as if one were standing in front of it with the remote control. Note: The equipment at Wilson is controlled either by classroom telephone or computer, which causes a device in the headend to activate the desired equipment’s IR emitter.

The most common problem in the IR system involves a "short" between the IR signal lines. One instance involved two wires touching because of a nick in the wire insulation at a classroom modular jack. The most common cause is with the classroom IR receiver’s red light being on all the time. This jams the system so that the equipment IR emitters are also on all of the time. The solution to this problem is to repair the "short" in the receiver (if one exists) or to reposition the receiver such that it doesn’t pick up the light coming from the classroom florescent lights. This can be verified in either of two ways. First, turn off the classroom lights. If the red receiver light is still on, the receiver is defective. If the red light goes out, then reposition the receiver. If you choose to leave the classroom lights on, then cover up or block the light from hitting the receiver with your hand, a book, large pad of paper or a piece of clothing.

If you have any other infrared system concerns, please give me a call at 6200. Or e-mail me at glarsen or fax me at 696-6221.