My poor neglected blog. There was a time when I posted twice a week, 100 times a year. If I had something to say, I said it here. People were reading the blog, and commenting, and this was how the educational technology community kept in touch. I was out in the blogosphere much more than I am now, reading and reacting to the things others … Continue reading Still the One
I’ve been whining about ebooks for years. We’ve moved well beyond the place where information was a scarce resource. With its abundance, though, its value has diminished. If I want to learn about hydrolysis, I don’t need to buy a book. I don’t even need to go to the library and look in a book that they’ve bought. I don’t need to subscribe to some … Continue reading E-book Wish List
If you’re using other programs in Windows to send email, you may be getting an error because the program doesn’t know which email settings to use. Fortunately, this is a very easy fix if you’re using Outlook Express. http://content.screencast.com/users/jschinker/folders/Default/media/845bb65f-a8dc-402b-a5ef-c66e938e3eff/bootstrap.swf There’s also a larger version of this video available in case this one is too hard to read. Continue reading Default Email Account
If you’re a BBH user and you’re having trouble getting to some of the network services (like the new email or Google Apps accounts), it’s possible that your passwords are out of sync. Fortunately, it is very easy to reset your password with the BBH User Management System. This will make sure that your network, email, Google Apps, and blog passwords are all the same. … Continue reading Resetting Your Password
As we have moved from our own mail server to Google Apps for Education, everyone’s Outlook Express configuration was automatically changed to access the new server. Some people have reported problems accessing their email with Outlook Express using the new system. This short screencast shows the most common problem we’ve seen so far, along with instructions for fixing it. http://content.screencast.com/users/jschinker/folders/Default/media/c5cc85c0-3c84-4a6f-aafb-6e9a5d2580af/bootstrap.swf If that’s too hard to … Continue reading Missing Folders
I can’t say that I’m an early adopter when it comes to mobile devices. I was reluctant to carry a pager when it was first offered, because there were times when I felt that it was good to be out of reach. I was similarly reticent about a cell phone, especially because it was being offered by my employer. While it was great to have … Continue reading One Device to Rule them All
In 2005, we decided to bring email in-house. Prior to that, our email was handled by our ITC, a consortium of school districts that provides many technology services like student records, fiscal services, library automation, and Internet access to its member schools. But they were ill-equipped at the time to handle email. Accounts and settings were confusing and inconsistent, there was no usable webmail system, … Continue reading An Offer we Can't Refuse
I can’t remember when I started using passwords. In college, I had email and mainframe accounts that had passwords, but I don’t think they were new to me then. I certainly had a pin for my ATM card by that point. And I’m pretty sure I used voicemail passwords in high school. And before that, even as far back as fifth grade, we had locker … Continue reading What's the Password?
A few years ago, our superintendent scheduled an administrative meeting to discuss potential changes to our health care package. The fifteen-minute meeting was scheduled for late afternoon. There wasn’t a lot of doubt before the meeting that there would be very little “discussion.” The “potential” changes meant that the superintendent was recommending to the board of education that administrators pay a greater portion of their … Continue reading It's About the Social
On July 6, 2009, we started the first week of workshops with teachers at Liwa Primary School in Cape Town, South Africa. We had spent the previous couple days learning as much as we could about this community. As a result of apartheid, many of teachers and learners lived in informal housing — shantys that were built with whatever materials they had on hand. Crime … Continue reading Zac’s Keynote
In his breakout session at our March 5 inservice program, Zac Chase started with one question: What do you want to learn today? The session became a conversation between the presenter and participants, highlighting some online resources, some new ideas, and some different perspectives. The topics discussed run the gamut from overcoming the challenges of time to finding useful resources for classroom projects to figuring … Continue reading Teaching in Our Teens
This year, like most, there were lots of sessions at the eTech Ohio Educational Technology Conference about new technologies. There was a definite theme to many of them: overcoming the taboos of technology. In our schools, cell phones have been governed by a variation on “don’t ask, don’t tell.” We know that nearly all of our middle- and high-school students have them. They bring them … Continue reading No Fear
Taste of Tech 