Index
The installation process was a long and tedious one, but well worth the time and effort. So now outgoing calls are identified and annoying “call blockages” will not occur. If you have a display screen on your phone, the incoming number will now be shown (pretty cool, huh?) However, this upgrade goes far beyond the Caller ID feature alone. For example, this new programming paves the way to enhance 911 services. The enhanced 911 services would identify the address and the specific room number of an extension at a corresponding site. This would help in assuring safety by promoting a more precise response from Emergency Services. Because of their practicality, the enhanced 911 services will be the next stage in our phone system improvements. But a few more steps must be taken before these features can be implemented, such as programming and building a database with Qwest—no small feat. So with the coordinated efforts of the Technology Department and its relevant vendors, the next several months will yield an even more advanced communication technology. So advanced that Amphitheater Public Schools can boast the most advanced phone system of any school district in Tucson. Not bad, ay?
Educational Technology Conference in Tucson
--Jamie McKenzie to be Keynote Speaker
This year the keynote speaker will be Jamie McKenzie, a well-known national technology speaker, who supports technology efforts in schools across North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Jamie is a strong proponent for staff development and teaching students to use higher-level thinking and reasoning skills while utilizing technology tools. He has developed a research process model for students called the Research Cycle and has created powerful online learning modules for staff development and student learning. Come listen to this dynamic presenter.
The conference will also feature exhibitors and presentations on the Internet, multimedia, telecommunications, curriculum integration, and presentation graphics. Registration information may be obtained on the web at www.ed.arizona.edu/techconf/ or by contacting your Technology Coach, Patti Greenleaf, or me. Several schools send groups of teachers to make the learning more meaningful. This is a great way to share and learn together.
V 930 In Beaver Valley
Beaver Valley, located on the Continental Divide, remains fertile and
green even in midsummer, thanks to nature’s chief water conservationist:
the beaver. Beavers build reservoirs that serve as moats around their lodges
and maintain the water level with dams made of mud and branches. Many other
species of wildlife enjoy the fruits of the beaver’s labor: chipmunks,
deer, birds, waterfowl, crayfish, marmot and raccoon. The beaver does not
hibernate and so stockpiles food to sustain him through the winter months.
Summer visitors leave the valley, and while many animals lie sleeping,
the beaver determinedly places one more branch under the ice and into the
pond. Finally he enters his safe, warm house.
V 931 Donald and the Wheel
An animated Donald Duck introduces young viewers to the history of
the wheel and takes them on a fast-paced journey that reveals just how
invaluable this simple invention is. Donald discovers the role of the Wheel
in transportation, commerce, and industry and learns that wheels truly
“affect everything we do.”
V 932 Donald in Mathmagic Land
When Donald Duck finds himself in a strange land with numbers on the
ground and a peculiar bird made from various shapes sitting in a tree,
he believes the place is for “eggheads.” He’s consequently spirited away
to ancient Greece to see Pythagoras, “the master egghead of them all.”
Donald is surprised to learn that Pythagoras was the father of math as
well as music. Using fractions, he developed the musical scale after discovering
that an octave has a ratio of two to one. Donald goes on to explore the
many applications of mathematics, from a five-pointed star full of “magic”
to a medley of games and geometrical optical illusions. In the words of
Galileo, “Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe.'
V 933 Grand Canyon
Ferde Grofe’s composition, Grand Canyon Suite, accompanies a
pictorial of the wonders of the Grand Canyon. Narration is not included.
Instead, viewers follow music and camera through the Painted Desert, witness
a sunrise view from the rim, glimpse at wildlife on the trail, see cloudbursts
bring snow to the canyon and finally, witness an eagle’s flight as spring
adorns the land with the colors and species of desert wildflower.
V 934 Mysteries of the Deep
In this undersea narrative, viewers observe the daily lives of diverse
species of sea creatures. Featured topics include predator/prey relationships
and how these species interact and outsmart one another. The program also
focuses on different ways various sea animals have adapted as well as their
roles in the food chain.
V 935 Nature’s Half Acre
Through a cross-section of animal, insect and plant life, viewers observe
the intricate inter-relationships that exist in nature. Such creatures
as robins, spiders and bees demonstrate nest-building skills. The caterpillar
population is kept in check by newly hatched birds with insatiable appetites.
Summer increases the various activities of the insect world, including
the industrious bee. Nature’s food chain provides a system of checks and
balances, while animals, birds and insects strive to maintain their survival
through the seasons. With spring, the life cycle comes full circle. Each
of the species has survived, and the chain continues unbroken.
You can order any of these titles by filling out the media order forms available in your library or by emailing caraya@amphi.com. You can also call Claudio at 6214.
If you can’t make a class and want the handout we have the GroupWise handouts along with all of the other handouts we use in our classes at www.amphi.com/~technology/techclass/index.html. Click on the GroupWise link on the left side bar to see all of the handouts. The Technology Specialist at your school can load the GroupWise client on to your machine.
I know all of these accomplishments have positively impacted the way you operate in your classroom or office. It is through the hard work and dedication of the Technology staff that we accomplish these tasks. I would like to thank each and every one of the Technology team for their determination and dedication. You are a great group of people to work with. Thanks for all you do.
Upgrades
We often get calls to upgrade everything from computer systems, to
operating systems, to Microsoft Office. I’d like to clear up some
of the confusion about what the District Technology office can and cannot
do.
Every year the District funds a refresh program that allows us to upgrade approximately 250 computer systems and 8 file servers as well as some network equipment. There are no funds to upgrade the Windows operating system or Microsoft Office. What is installed on your computer is what we are licensed for. Should you want to upgrade your computer, Windows, or Office, it is the responsibility of the site to fund this. However, I should caution you that sometimes your computer system doesn’t have the memory or disk drive space for an upgrade. The Technology Department will gladly assess your system and let you know if it is possible to upgrade it if you have the funding to purchase the necessary software.
Current Technology Projects
Just to give you an idea of some of the projects we are working on
for you, I’d like to highlight a few of them.
SFB: Probably the most ambitious of projects is working with
the SFB (School Facilities Board) to upgrade our data cabling systems and
network routers and switches at all of the schools. This requires
coordination between many outside vendors as well as the Facilities and
Technology Departments. While only 4 sites were upgraded last year,
it is our hope that the remaining schools will be upgraded this year.
You will see faster Internet network speed once this is completed!
In order to accomplish this, however, there will be system interruptions
across our WAN (Wide Area Network), as well as some downtime at the schools
as each site is recabled. Let me thank you all in advance for your
support and cooperation.
Phones: Our next goal is to provide emergency 911 for all of our phones in the District. This will provide greater safety for all of us. Currently, if a call is placed for 911 it only lists the site from which the call came. After the upgrade, it will detail the call all the way to the classroom or office.
Workshops: Peggy and Patti continue to develop and offer new and exciting classes that are relevant to you and your students. More classes have been developed to support your school improvement plans. Classes are offered in many different time slots as well as online. It seems that the more you learn about the technology and applications to do your job, the more things you can do to work more efficiently. And then, you may want to learn even more!
Work Orders: We are trying to develop a more efficient way to report and track work orders for both the Facilities and Technology Departments. If we are successful, it will allow sites to track their repair requests from the inception to completion. We certainly have the need for this, now all it will take is time and money to implement a solution.
Web Pages: One of the most exciting offerings in the past was the ability of teachers to develop and maintain individual web pages. It was most disappointing when a company began charging for this service at the beginning of this year. It is our goal to find a solution that will give teachers, as well as all sites, the ability to easily develop and post web pages with little HTML expertise. We hope to have this solution in place early second semester.
These are just a few of our projects, but they will have incredible impact on what you do in your classroom or work area. I must thank the Board, Superintendent, and all staff for their support to accomplish these and many other projects. It is through funding and staffing allocations that we can envision and implement these projects.
The “Sherlock” search utility was formerly a fancy file finding utility with some Internet searching functionality built-in. Sherlock 3 in Jaguar has been completely redone. File searching is no longer part of Sherlock. It is now a collection of useful and fun Internet-based tools. For example, would you like to find out airline flight information? Select the “Flights” channel, and then select your airline. You can enter in a specific flight number or search all flights on a specific day. If the flight is in the air, you will see a map of its approximate location, along with current altitude, airspeed, and estimated landing time. Another channel that my wife really enjoys is the “Maps” channel. You can enter in your address, and then a destination location. You will be presented with a map of where your destination is located, as well as step-by-step directions on how to get there. My personal favorite is the “Movies” channel. You can search for movie times at all the local theaters. When you have selected a movie, you will also see a short summary of the movie’s content, and the movie’s QuickTime trailer will play automatically to give you a quick preview. There are many additional channels as well, such as “Dictionary,” “Translation” (which can translate text between many different languages), and “Stocks” as well. Each channel provides incredible content in an easy to use format.
Instant Messaging has become a popular way of communicating with friends, family, and business associates. Apple worked with AOL to create an application called iChat, which is fully compatible with AOL’s popular Instant Messenger. You can use your AOL screen name to search and communicate just as you would use AOL’s own client, but many features are even easier to use with iChat.
Many people use calendaring utilities these days to keep track of their busy schedules. Apple is providing their new calendaring utility, iCal, free to those with Jaguar installed. This application works much the same as other calendaring utilities, and is packed with functionality, such as the ability to publish your calendar on the Internet. You can sync your calendar with your Palm Pilot as well. One of the features I like is the ability to subscribe to different “libraries.” With the iCal, libraries refer to a set of information or dates that you can automatically add to your calendar. For example, I was able to automatically add the Arizona Wildcats basketball schedule to my iCal by simply subscribing to that library.
These are just a few of the many new features in Apple’s new operating system, Jaguar. You can find what I have written about in much more detail on the Internet at www.apple.com/macosx/. If you have any questions about Jaguar, please email me at jshoffner@amphi.com.
As educators we must change our paradigm for assigning research projects. We must replace topical research assignments with projects that require original thought. We must move beyond the “State” report to asking students to take information about the state they are studying and use the information to solve a problem like where they would like to live and go to school in the state. The Internet provides many sites that post papers that students can plagiarize from and many sites have information on a topic that can be copied and pasted into a word processor. However, if we ask students to go beyond the information gathering stage then they will have to take the information they find on the Internet, journals and books and use analysis and synthesis skills to solve a problem. The Internet provides a large electronic shovel for students to collect huge amounts of information; we must learn to judge their work by the quality of their thinking and creativity and not by the quantity of information gathered.
The Internet provides educators with many useful information-seeking models to use with students. Here are a few examples that will help you and your students.
Big6 - www.big6.com
The Big6 was developed by Eisenberg and Berkowitz and is the most widely
known and used approach for information problem solving. The major steps
in this model include task definition, information seeking strategies,
location and access, use of information synthesis, and evaluation.
If you go to the Resources tab on the Big6 page you can find outstanding
tools for students including an Assignment Organizer for Grades 3-6 and
one for Grades 7-12 that provide a step-by-step form to plan and complete
school projects. They also have a Research Paper Organizer to help students
plan and organize research, develop good questions, and cite sources.
For the younger students, they have created the Super3 with a format easy
for younger students to understand and implement. The site may be
a little confusing to navigate but the tools and resources are invaluable.
Research Cycle – questioning.org/rcycle.html
and questioning.org/Q6/research.html
The Research Cycle was developed in 1995 by Jamie McKenzie to provide
students with a more robust approach to school research. The model concentrates
on helping students learn to ask questions during the research process
to help focus their research. The major steps in this process are
questioning, planning, gathering, sorting and sifting, synthesizing, and
evaluating.
Information Search Process Model - www.ucalgary.ca/~ahayden/kuhlth.html
and
www.ala.org/aasl/SLMR/slmr_resources/select_kuhlthau2.html
Carol Kuhlthau developed the Information Search Process model based
on a longitudinal study she did on high school students. The major steps
in her model include task initiation, topic selection, prefocus exploration,
focus formulation, information collection, search, presentation and assessment.
One of the key components of this model is the focus on the affective needs
of the students. The process looks at the uncertainty, apprehension,
and feelings of being overwhelmed that many students face during the research
process and provides actions and strategies to get past the doubts.
8 W’s - eduscapes.com/tap/topic71.htm
Annette Lamb developed the 8 W’s and her model focuses on the changing
roles of the teacher, media specialist, and student and monitors the information
and communication process students experience in projects. The major steps
in the model include watching, wondering, webbing, wiggling, weaving, wrapping,
waving, and wishing. The links on her site provide numerous outstanding
examples that can be used with students.
The first program is called Music Ace from Harmonic Vision. It is listed as a “Beginner/Ages 8 to Adult” level program. My own grandson used it when he was in first grade. There are 24 comprehensive lessons, a variety of activities and it allows them to compose their own pieces and then listen to them. A few of the concepts covered are: staff and keyboard relationship; pitch identification; note reading; listening skills; sharps, flats and key signatures; keyboard basics. If you purchase the Educator Version you can track the progress of up to 240 users per CD and you are provided with a teacher’s guide. Remember, you need one CD for each computer you use the software on. This program can be purchased in either single copies or lab packs of 5, 15, or 30. There is also a network version that can track up to 3600 users and is installed on a file server.
The second program is a continuation of the above program and is called Music Ace 2. This advanced program works with the concepts of standard notation, rhythm, melody, key signatures, harmony, intervals and more. Advanced students can go through the 24 lessons, participate in activities, and create their own compositions. There are Educator and Network versions available as in the above program.
The above programs are available for both Mac and Windows.
The program I am currently using with my vocal music students at IRHS is called Musition 2 by Rising Software for instruction in music theory. This is a drill based program covering the concepts of scales, intervals, instrument range, note reading, advanced clefs, key signatures, scale degrees, symbols, terms, musical concepts, chord recognition, meter recognition, rhythm notation and transposition.
Teachers can track as many students as they have in this program. You can print out student results and run many different reports. The program advises students when to move on to the next level and settings can be controlled by the teacher. This program can be used with a MIDI setup. Students have their own login password to keep their work separate from others. You as a teacher can create tests for your students as a class or on an individual need basis.
If you are interested in either of these programs you can visit Rising Software at www.risingsoftware.com and download a demo version of Musition 2 or www.harmonicvision.com and download a demo version of Music Ace to see for yourself. Happy music computing.
Go to the Edit menu in Netscape and click on Preferences.
Go down to Mail and News Groups and click on the " + "
next to it.
Go down to Messages and click on it.
You will see Word Wrap unchecked.
Check it and set characters to 72.
It may appear the concept of universal free access to high quality information has been realized in all our schools. Don’t be deceived. Look at the volume of information that has now become subscriber only or modified from full text to excerpts. The vast majority of web sites are in the business of making money.
Of course on the subscription side of the Web publishers are not giving it away either! But, by using these quality online databases students have access to full text, high quality reference materials. Subscription online and CD-ROM sources at Ironwood Ridge High library include the following: EBSCOHost offers thousands of full text and abstracted articles from magazines, health journals and newspapers. SIRS Renaissance allows users to search information on Architecture & Design, Culture, Literature, Multimedia, Music, Performing Arts, Philosophy & Religion and Visual Arts as well as Biographies. Full text articles are selected from over 1000 domestic and international magazines, journals and other publications. World Book Encyclopedia (CD-ROM) provides full-featured articles. Often the online “freebies” contain article abstracts. Starnet Archives contain Arizona Daily Star articles that date back to 1993.
When assigning a research paper, require students cite a variety of resources (books, magazine, journal, newspaper articles, primary sources) using all online databases available. The research process is important and should be presented in parts. Teach them how to evaluate not only the information they have gathered but also the search strategies they incorporated to create their final product. Some searching tips: define the search; select the proper search engine for searching; generate a list of key words; utilize +,-, or the Boolean operators (usually found in the advanced search area) to refine a search; spell correctly. Evaluate web pages with the following criteria: accuracy; authority; objectivity; currency and coverage (links, cited). Display in your classroom a research rubric (http://big6.com/) adjacent to the Six Traits of Writing.
What about technology assisted cheating? Following are tips for determining if a paper has been plagiarized (School Administrator, Spring 2002, page 30).
2002 Tax Credit Program Information and Form
Are you looking for an excellent way to do something great for the
schools and get a break on your state taxes? Then the Arizona Schools
Tax Credit Program is for you. By sending a check or money order
donation of up to $200.00 ($250.00 for married couples) to the Amphitheater
School of your choice, you will receive a dollar-for-dollar credit on your
2002 state taxes. This means you can subtract this amount from what
you owe in taxes for the year. The best part is that anyone can take
part in the program; you don’t have to be a parent! More information
about the tax credit program and a form you can use to send your contribution
can be found at www.amphi.com/taxcredt/taxcredit.html.
Adopted Expenditure Budget for the 2002-2003 Fiscal Year
If you want to see how all of the District’s money is going to be distributed
this year, make sure you check out the Amphitheater Finance and Accounting
Web Site. On it you can find the current adopted expenditure budget
and the worksheets referred to within it. You can also take a look
at the 2002-2003 expenditure budget on a school-by-school basis.
If you’re curious about last year’s finances, check out the 2001-2002 Annual
Financial Report. The Finance and Accounting Web Site is located
at www.amphi.com/~finacct/.
2003-2004 School Year Calendar
Did you know that all of the Amphitheater Schools will be on the same
calendar next year? If you want to know what this calendar looks
like, visit www.amphi.com/calendars/0304.pdf
and take a look.
2002-2003 District Map and Boundaries
If you can’t quite figure out where all of the Amphitheater schools
are located, then this is definitely a web page worth visiting. On
it you will find two different maps. One consists of three smaller
maps separated by grade level. You can view the locations of high
schools, elementary schools, and middle schools. The other is a map
of the entire District boundary and where schools lie within it.
These maps can both be viewed at www.amphi.com/map.htm.
The Amphitheater Web Site contains a wealth of information for everyone involved with the District. Whether you are a teacher, parent, or administrator, the sites listed above can be excellent resources for learning about and helping the District. Please take advantage of this by visiting some of these sites.
Wednesdays after school, the computer lab has a different clientele. Visitors will hear giggles and high-pitched voices from the Frontera Girls Computer Club Members. The WISE program at the U of A is sponsoring a computer/technology club aimed at encouraging interest in science and technology among middle school girls. The girls have been learning different programs available at school to prepare them for learning a more advanced programming software package. Then they will prepare a community project that will utilize their new skills. The highlight of the year’s program is when they get to spend a day at the U of A talking about what they learned and demonstrating their projects.
In order for our District to be consistent with disciplinary actions every school must follow these guidelines for each incident.
Internet Safety: Whose Job is it to Educate Children about the Dangers of the Internet?
As a district we have filter and blocking software which will help to some extent. The best thing we can do is educate our children and provide them with the tools to keep them safe on the Internet because the Internet is such a valuable resource in education. Some tips for children are as follows:
GetNetWise
www.getnetwise.org/
This site is a good overview site for people working with children
of all ages.
SafeKids.com
www.safekids.com/
This site has a variety of resources including tips for children, tips
for parents, family online contacts, and other information.
WebAwareness
www.media-awareness.ca/eng/webaware/home.htm
This site has information on Internet safety, evaluating the Internet,
and the exploitation of children on the Internet broken down for educators,
parents or librarians. Teachers check out the classroom resource section.
WirePatrol.com
www.wiredpatrol.org/
This site has an array of information in regards to Internet safety.
CyberAngels
www.cyberangels.org/index.html
This site has a wealth of information in regards to Internet safety.
For all you Secretaries out there, or Department Heads, or for that matter anyone who makes appointments or schedules meetings for others – GroupWise Calendaring is the best!
Do you know that if you click on “Appointment” in GroupWise, you can do a Busy Search for all the people that you need to invite to your meeting to see the next time that is available for everyone? And, it is so easy to do! Here’s how:
The Technology Department offers many fine classes each semester, some of which will give you many more details and tricks on the GroupWise Calendaring features. Good luck and have fun practicing with this useful feature.
As many of you know we have recently upgraded our email server allowing access of email from anywhere using a web interface. We are continuing this upgrade process through the rest of the district. One of the new features that we are testing and looking to deploy with Netware 6 is iFolder. When this is implemented it will allow you to access your files stored on the server from anywhere using a web browser. This will allow the same accessibility to your files as your email. This feature is designed to work over slow Internet connections so even dialup connections will work with it. It will only send the changes that have been made in documents and files since the last access to the files from the computer you are using (the first access of a file still requires it to download in its entirety). So if you have a 5-megabyte document you are working on and you only change one word in the file, iFolder will only ship the one word that has been changed and not the entire document. This spares you from repeated massive uploads and downloads when only minor corrections are being made. We hope to be piloting this after the disruptions from the SFB rewiring projects around the district are finished.
For the past several years, all two-way radios received from the schools by Media Services that needed to be sent out to a vendor for repair were sent to Action Communications. The radios were delivered to and from the vendor and returned to the school in a timely manner.
This school year, the vendor chosen was based on their hourly labor rate. The vendor with the lower hourly rate (of the three companies contacted) was Creative Communications. Instead of the radios being delivered and picked up by Media Services to/from the vendor, the radios will be picked up on a Wednesday afternoon and returned on a future Wednesday afternoon, by the vendor. This will DELAY the return of the radio to the school by two weeks or more. If the vendor picks up the radio on Wednesday 9/4, and we request a new repair on Friday 9/6, the new repair won’t be picked up by the vendor until Wednesday 9/11. The earliest it would be returned to Media Services would be Wednesday 9/18 and we wouldn’t deliver it to the school until Friday 9/20 (14 day turnaround). If we pick up a new repair on Monday 9/2, the vendor will pick it up on Wednesday 9/4. The earliest return would be Wednesday 9/11 and returned to the school on Friday 9/13 (11 day turnaround).
Radios that can be repaired in-house should be returned within a week, if parts are in stock or are available locally. If there are any questions or concerns, you can contact me at ext 6200 or glarsen@amphi.com.
You know what I mean by spam don’t you? It is that junk mail form
of email. I seem to get more and more each day. Why is it called
spam? Well, some time ago there was a Monty Python skit that had
Vikings singing a song about spam that built into an overwhelming crescendo
and overpowered the normal conversation. Some folks felt that way
about junk email and the name caught on. You can hear an example
by going to www.detritus.org/spam/skit.html.
I hate email spam! It gets in the way, is very offensive and
clogs my email box. I really wish that I could stop it throughout
the district in one swift blow. Unfortunately, the only way to really
do that would be to unplug the Internet connection.
Every day more and more streams in. The subjects cover a huge spectrum. We get hit with mortgage info, find anything about anyone, get rich quick, drugs, porn, you name it and we get it by the thousands every day. What can we do about it? Well, right now there is very little we can do at the district level. I hate to admit it. The problem with spam is that it is a moving target. Imagine trying to trace down postal mail only to find an empty storefront that was rented with cash to a Mr. John Q. Public. Spammer sources change frequently, which makes blocking addresses almost impossible. There are some that are common. We are starting to block addresses that originate from obvious spam companies and have blocked thousands daily. Disgusting huh?
We are continuing to research ways to stop the flood. Believe
me, we want to stop it just as much as you do. It needs to be a solution
that will block sites at a cost we can afford while still allowing legitimate
email to pass. This is no easy task.
You can help. When you do get spammed please just delete
it and never respond to it. One of the big mistakes that people fall
into is the lure of the ‘Please remove me from your list’ ploy. If
you respond to spam the chances are fairly good that you just end up confirming
your address to the spammers. Your address can then get sold and
distributed to other spammers. Please think twice whenever you are
asked to give your email address. Addresses are harvested from online
shopping, surveys, and login accounts just to name a few. Have you
ever gone to a site that offers you something for free? All you have
to do is create an account to login. Oh, by the way, could we have
your email address please? Legitimate sites will post a privacy policy
that will tell you that they will not share your address with anyone.
If they do not have a policy… then prepare for more spam.
Friend, you have $1 bazillion dollars in unclaimed money!
ReFinance your house!
Increase bust size 1-4 cups sizes in 90 days
Viagra Discount!
Are you getting sick of these spam emails? Sure you are! I am too! So, I have taken up my toothbrush and am charging at the windmills of SPAM!
Without going into too many gory details, I want ya’ll to know that I am doing what I can to block a lot of the SPAM you get in your email. In fact, you should already have noticed that you are not getting quite as much spam email as you once did! Just to give you an idea, in the 4-days/5 nights that I have been running the filter, I have blocked well over 3000 spam emails! I am sure that by the time Tech Talk hits the streets, that number will be much larger!
I am now going to ask a favor from you: I know it is going to be more than tempting to forward me your SPAM asking that I add it to the filter. Please do not. Between the SPAM I get, and the rest of the IT staff that is helping me out, I am sure we have already gotten it, and if it can be blocked, it will be blocked! J
Here are some excellent math sites to use with your students.
Calculus@Internet – provides links and resources on calculus
topics and practice areas.
www.calculus.net/
Figure This – a math site for families and educators that provides
math challenges.
www.figurethis.org/
Powers of Ten – a visual representation of exponents starting
at the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth and moving towards
Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach an oak tree and
then you begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic
world that reveals leaf cell walls, DNA and finally electrons and protons.
micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index.html
When reorganizing SASIxp files, steps must be followed in order to achieve the desired results. It is possible to go through the motions of file reorganization, and not be completely successful. The following is a list of steps to follow when reorganizing SASIxp files.
It seems that as we become busier and busier, we tend to lose track of many of the things that we should do but do not. We are always looking for short cuts or an easier way to accomplish something many times with little regard for the correct way of doing it. Sometimes discipline is needed in the work place to keep things running smoothly and in order to be disciplined one needs to follow certain rules or guidelines. Many times, in order to conserve time or if we are in a hurry, we tend to disregard these rules and in doing so create problems or confusion. Having experienced and observed the potential consequences of not following protocol within the work environment has led me to the conclusion that certain guidelines need to be followed in order to maintain a degree of organization and productivity and also to keep things running smoothly.
In the Technology Department, we have certain standards that we adhere to and guidelines that we follow. An example of one of these is “Chain of Command.” If I have a question concerning the work place, I am to present it to my immediate supervisor. If my immediate supervisor needs more information, then it is presented to his boss etc. We also have rules concerning how users needs are supplied, rules on how calls are prioritized, and rules on how service calls are to be initiated and handled. These rules and guidelines are part of the plan that was devised to keep our department and the schools running as efficiently as possible. Although some rules can be broken for whatever reason, it is these rules that help us to be productive, fair, and responsive. The goal of the Technology Department is to “Support – Educate and Empower” (SEE) and by following protocol, we can achieve our goal.
Step #1 Contact your site Tech Specialist.
Step #2 Look at the present and past Tech Talk articles located on the Technology Department web page at www.amphi.com/~technology/techtalks/techtalks.htm.
Step #3 Have your Tech Specialist call the Technology Hotline (5078) give a brief explanation of the problem, location, type of system, model# and both the Serial# and the ASD#.
These three steps often get forgotten when it's an emergency and most of us believe that our problem is highest on the list! If you follow these steps to resolving your problem, we can get your problem solved sooner.
What most people should know by now is that calls to the hotline get logged into a database that we pull our calls from. The list gives us a brief explanation of the problem, location, and type of system.
We work on a First in - First out Policy so that it is fair to everyone in the District. This sometimes creates a problem for you, the user, when you need something right this minute. Please give yourself ample time to get the work you need done just in case you should encounter a computer problem. We get these calls all the time “I need my report today and my machine is down and it’s very, very, important!”
In only a few cases will we deem a call an emergency, so please keep this in mind when you call the hotline.
To Install or Not To Install…Keeping Software within the District’s Guidelines
With all the new computers that have been installed throughout the district it is tempting to load them up with all kinds of cool software. The problem with this is not all programs work well together and often there are conflicts. Discovering just what the problem is can be a daunting task. This is why the district has a policy in place to standardize just what can and can’t be installed on our computers.
The district provides Category I software called “Core software,” that is standard throughout the district. This software is installed and fully supported by the Technology Department. On-site Technology Specialists can also install this software. Core software consists of:
Category III software is the forbidden zone. You may not install any software or programs in this category on any district computer. These are known to cause problems with other programs or conflicts with the operating system. You may experience freezing, slowing of processing speed, or glitches with other programs on your hard drive. If the Technology Department determines that Category III software/programs caused your computer problems, your computer will be completely reghosted. Category III software includes:
Microsoft Word
Using the Format Painter—The Format Painter lets you
quickly copy formatting (i.e. bold, font, font size, etc) of text and paste
that format to other text.
Many PC’s around the district have not been “Tuned up.” I don’t
mean replacing spark plugs or such, but actually cleaning unneeded files
that accumulate in Windows or being updated on hardware or software.
This can generally be handled by a visit from Technology. There
are three areas I recommend checking: