Tech Tidbits
December 2013-January 2014
District level technology updates
There really isn't much. The December tech teacher meeting was scheduled during the TIES conference December 16-17 and building tech teachers were encouraged to attend. The January tech teacher meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, January 7th and was then cancelled due to the closing of schools. The next district level lead tech teacher meeting will be held in February and it is anticipated that much of the agenda will be sharing out from sessions attended at TIES.
Lincoln technology update
The next Lincoln tech committee meeting is this Friday, January 17th. On Tuesday, January 21st, Scott, Linda Perske, Sarah Ed and Amy will be meeting to discuss a 3-5 year building technology plan. We will be considering current gaps and needs in technology usage, a replacement plan for current equipment and software and what needs might be coming down the road. Data from the Lincoln Technology Usage Survey will be used during these upcoming discussions. Thank you to all of those who gave your input through the survey.
TIES 2013
I attended a ton of exciting sessions and was on complete mental overload after two days. I'm continuing to go through the notes from sessions I attended and the downloaded resources from sessions I wasn't able to physically attend and will share as many of the exciting finds (or those small but ever so helpful hints) with you as they come along. Look for many in February after the district tech teacher meeting when others will be sharing what they learned and took away from the conference.
Technology in Music Education
First session, 8am Monday morning was on teaching music with technology. I've already shared these resources with Andrea and it got us talking about some possibilities here at Lincoln! There were other sessions on using music technology in teaching other content areas. I've downloaded the resources from the sessions I couldn't physically attend and am working my way through those for other gems to share.
Google Art Project
Moved under the umbrella of Google's Cultural Institute, the Google Art Project has expanded within the last two years of its existence. If you haven't yet checked it out, StreetView technology has been used in hundreds of museums around the world to virtually tour the museum, and individual works have been photographed with gigapixels to allow viewing closer than real life.
Managing workflow with Google Scripts
Huh? That was my question when I walked in, but when the presenter was super excited to have just learned about a spreadsheet function that I've been using for a few years, opened up my understanding that with a few clicks scripts can calculate and populate lots of data that I've been spending time figuring out manually. Duh! Definitely more exploration is needed in this area.
Student iPads
Even though we have yet to be able to set up Configurator to manage the student iPads, right before winter break I found I was able to individually, manually update them to OS7 and update the apps currently installed. Originally it was said that iPads managed in Configurator (which we had set up as last year) were completely locked against any updates or changes outside of the Configurator program. So now, the apps you may have used last year are at least updated. Remember that the calendar to schedule student iPads has also had a name change, so make sure that you Open and access the calendar called +Lincoln iPad cart.