Sylvan Technology Leadership Blog

The district software standard for “office” software is Microsoft Office. However, if you have students that begin work on a classroom project, for example a PowerPoint presentation, and would like to download it from their digital locker (Gaggle) and work on it at home. They need to have Microsoft Office on their home computer. Most home computers do not come with Microsoft Office.

On solution for students at home is to use Sun’s, OpenOffice. OpenOffice is a Microsoft Office look-alike suite of toos that includes a word processor, spreadsheet application, presentation application, and more. The nice thing is it’s free! It can be downloaded from the Internet, or copied and installed off a CDROM.

OpenOffice will open Microsoft file types and allow students to work on projects started in class, worked on at home, and then finished back in class.

 For more information, click HERE!

Teachers participating in the EETT grant have begun integrating Gaggle and Moodle into their classes. Some exicting results have been seen with students quickly adopting the use of these tools and resources in and out of the classroom to improve learning. We’ve had positive feedback from the teachers, students, and parents!

We’ll be looking at how we can implement these systems and resources in more subject areas and in lower grade levels. Feel free to post comments or questions!

Science and Social Studies Portal (Moodle)

Looking to expand your collection of classroom History resources?

Talking History is a thirty-minute weekly radio program produced by the Organization of American Historians that separates fact from fiction and myth from reality through interviews with nationally recognized historians and writers. 

Check them out here!

Wikipedia is the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Previous versions of the information are always stored, anyone can correct mistakes, and if the information is vandalized, previous versions of the content are always available. This is a fantastic tool that allows students begin a research process, or explore information literacy skills.

A recent study done by the science journal Nature compared both the Encylopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia. The research revealed errors in both. The average Wikipedia entry contained 4 errors, and the average Britannica entry investigated contained 3 errors.

To read the full report, click this link: Internet Encyclopaedias Go Head to Head

Ask any middle school student if they’ve heard of MySpace.com and they’ll give you the standard “duhhhh” reply. Why are students so attracted to a this particular web site, and what do we need to do in order to lead students through the digital age?

 A PhD student at Berkeley, Danah Boyd, has been doing research in the area of MySpace.com fascination and draws some pretty clear connections between adolesence and their use of this web technology.

 Check out the crib notes from a presentation she did at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace“

In order to create a nice Podcast you need some way to record audio, and if so desired some way to create background music.

Audacity is a sound editor that gives you the ability to record and combine prerecorded audio into a slick PodCast. Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux and other operating systems.

 To download and learn more about the software, click here.

To create background music for your podcast, try ACID XPress 5.0 from Sony. This is a limited version of their professional software.

To download and learn more about the software, click here.

Here’s an example of how an elementary school in Omaha, Nebraska, Willowdale Elementary School, is using technology to create student podcasts.

 WillowWeb

Attached is a PDF document outlineing the costs associated with just maintaining the “stuff” that makes up technology in SUSD. It does not include staffing and it does not include new “stuff.”  Also, it does not actually reflect the expected budget, but is based on industry standards in the real world and was just created for comarison purposes.

Comparative Technology Budget

I thought I’d try out WordPress for posting info and blogging. It is only available inside the District at this time.

 Feel free to sign up and give it a try.