Technology Handbook

Education is all about planning for the future. We teach children and adults because they need to learn not just for the present but for what lies ahead. We teach children to read and do math because they need it now and because they will need it more so in the future. Technology is very similar, we provide the tools of technology to accomplish what is needed now and also for students to be able to continue using technology for life long learning. Technology has been thrust upon us. No one working today can avoid using email or the Internet. School districts are no exception. Teachers, administrators and students have many facets of their day that require a computer. We are dependent upon them. That dependence will NOT lessen.

Present Status:

Administrators communicate by email, use DASL, work with the CCIP, and schedule all calendar information online. This requires that all administrators and support staff have access to a desktop workstation as their main business tool.  This past year six machines were purchased for that purpose and a library machine will need to be purchased this summer. We require teachers to enter grades and perform classroom attendance electronically.  Information between staff members and parents is often communicated through email. The Internet is used to develop and plan lessons, instructional material is accessed through many different digital pathways. Each teacher is provided with a laptop for instructional use. Tech Equity monies have provided those in the past but those funds are no longer available. Last summer (2004) six laptops were replaced and upgraded. Developing a schedule for laptop replacement for teacher and student machines is important.

Students prepare for many classes which require technology to complete assignments. The Pre-engineering lab is just one example. These windows XP machines allow students in “Project Lead the Way” to develop engineering principles and skills. Computer Assisted Design (CAD) is just one aspect. Students are using “Inventor” software that allows them to create 3 dimensional drawings such as parts for a tractor, truck, or boat and then assemble those parts into a complete object.  Computer Carts of laptops are used extensively in the elementary, middle school and the high school.  High school laptops are in their fifth year. These machines have taken a great deal of use and are in desperate need of replacement. High school students in particular are given frequent assignments using Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as expectations of Internet access.  We have truly stretched the ability of these machines and are asking them to continuously do more and more. Multimedia projects are very demanding and students make the most of each opportunity to learn and grow.

Program demands and requirements continue to grow. In the elementary we have recently upgraded to a newer version of Accelerated Reader. This application gets heavy use by students in grades 1 through 8. The high school/middle school depends upon technology for a wide range of its programs. Word processing is assumed for all students, reports, essays and research are all technology dependent. Written assignments are checked for originality by submitting them to Turnitin.com. Online software tutorials are provided through our subscription to the Atomic Learning web site.

Teachers and students can request assistance through an online program called Inventory Resource Manager, or IRM. This allows the technology department to keep track of all problems and then assign them to the tech director, our hired technician, or to student technology assistants. The work requests are electronically recorded and follow ups are also digitally recorded and emails are sent to the persons submitting the work requests. New classes are being developed for Web Design and Video Production. These classes have been offered in the past but not since we have moved into the new facility.

The network in the new building has been functioning well. We have wireless access points spread throughout the building which allow us to connect at just about any point. There are still dead spots in certain areas, particularly the cafeteria and gymnasium. These access points are outdated and will need to be replaced in the very near future. Most were purchased four years ago and were not designed for the heavy traffic we impose upon them. The old building has several network devices that are aging and in need of repair or replacement. The network in the old building is vital to the functioning of the superintendent, secretary, Vocational Agriculture, chorus, Pre-Engineering and other special programs.

Five servers are now working on our network. They will soon be reduced to four. One has specifically been added to serve exclusively as the new school web server. This is an exciting time in which we are moving much more functionality to online and web based applications. This web server will meet these needs in addition to separating web services from file and print sharing issues, and giving a location for the web design class to use and help with the school web page. We have been able to manage and implement several additional steps using our OS X based file server. This is especially true in terms of getting a handle on student and teacher paper use.

Ohio SchoolNet has provided us with much needed support both financially and technically. The financial support has rapidly dwindled and as with all state monies we are looking at increasing costs and dependence upon technology with less and less monetary support. None-the-less the requirements and paperwork for those funds that are available do not decrease. We are still receiving funds for Professional Development and Ohio SchoolNet is providing assistance with Technology Planning that must be accomplished to meet federal requirements to receive E-rate funding.

Goals:

As we look towards the future we can see several trends developing . More and more of a teacher and administrators ‘s workload will require online access. This means functioning, relatively up to date laptops or desktop workstations. Web based applications and portals will be more and more the norm. Teachers, students and parents will be able to communicate and access grades, announcements, calendars, upcoming events, alumni information, software tutorials, card catalogs and more all through the schools web portal.  DASL is the first step in that direction. The technology department is committed to providing the highest quality service and tools at the lowest price. Therefore the move to more and more open source applications (free) has been a plus. Much of what we accomplish is done with open source software. It will be important for us, as a district, to develop a replacement plan and look for more stable funding avenues.

We can break down our vision into goals for the near future and goals for the long term. These are a few of the items presently on the table.

Short Term Goals:

Set up a replacement schedule for student and teacher laptops. Laptops that are in regular use (Office applications and the Internet) should be four years old or less.

Implement Progressbook which will be an online gradebook, lesson plan and assessment tool that integrates with DASL, student information software. This will also give students and parents a password protected means of keeping track of their children’s progress. Progressbook will keep parents informed as to what is going on in their child’s classroom.

Centralize the installation, control and management of desktop machines for easier configuration and rebuilding. (Using Ghost, Netinstall, and Remote Desktop)

Switch from MS Internet Explorer to Firefox. Also Open Source software that reduces the vulnerability of machines to viruses and spyware. Open Source is FREE.

Completely rework the school district’s web site to make full use of Open Source applications such as Apache, PHP and MySQL relational database. This will allow the web site to become dynamically generated. The site will then be maintained by more individuals and be updated on a daily basis instead of once or twice a year. The web site is the window to the world for our school district and needs to be made more functional and be kept more up to date. There are many great things happening at MCNC and we can use the web page to highlight and inform the public.

Use the SchoolNet Technology Planning Tool to reopen and update the school district technology plan. The TPT is an online tool that helps school district meet the requirements of Ohio SchoolNet and especially the requirements of the federal E-Rate program.

Replacement schedule for Elementary classroom  machines. These are five to seven years old.

Long Term Goals:

Develop a replacement schedule for computer labs.

Develop more curricular choices in the computer sciences including web design, video production and simple programming and relational data base design.

Determine the path needed for replacement or removal if IVDL equipment when it becomes obsolete(severely limited) in the 2006-2007 school year.

Replace Microsoft Office with OpenOffice.Org   This is completely compatible with all word, spreadsheet and presentation applications from MS and will be a free application for district users.

Project Leads the Way requires that we update software each year and that amounts to over 3 thousand per year.

Replace wireless access points that are designed to work on the room level with building wide access points. Remove building dead spots and increase security.

Staff Development:

Technology tools continue to change, grow and evolve, no matter if it is in the area of district operations, student learning or teacher efficiency, it still requires training and support. This support can come in the form of one on one help during the school day, with assistance through the atomic learning website, in small group workshops or trainings and in large group in-service opportunities.

Assessment of Skills:

In this past year we have developed a checklist of essential skills that teachers may need to use these technology tools depending upon the grade level and subject matter taught. A self assessment checklist provided the technology staff and the teacher with a basic understanding of where that person stood in terms of applying technology skills. From this assessment teachers will set up goals and training and support will be offered tailored to meet those goals. 

Planning for further development:

Major changes are in the works, DASL is already implemented. Next school year brings a huge change as we switch gradebook programs from Easy Grade Pro to on online based application called Progressbook. Progressbook also allows teachers to develop online lesson plans, associate indicators and benchmarks to their lesson plans and keep track of which benchmarks and indicators have been taught and which have been assessed. Progressbook provides this information, password protected, to be viewed by students and parents. Parents will be able to keep track of their children’s assignments and grades whenever they so choose.

In addition to district and teacher efficiency technology also provided increased learning opportunities and skills. United Streaming gives teacher access to thousands of videos that can be shown as stand alone items or incorporated into a presentation or web page. These videos are all directly linked to Ohio’s academic content standards.

Some funds are available from Ohio SchoolNet for Professional development these are used to pay for substitutes during small group workshops and for teachers to attend the state technology conference. The use of these funds are closely regulated by Ohio SchoolNet.

Student Instruction:

The philosophy at Miller City New Cleveland is that technology should be an integrated portion of each students education not a stand alone subject. With this approach we have done some things different than other districts. Traditionally we have offered few “computer classes”. Students have been instructed on applications and tools when needed , and classroom teachers have worked with the technology department to incorporate technology into daily instructional activities. This was especially true as we proceeded through the Raising the Bar Grant in which we started the school year (2001-2002) with a four day instructional period for student and staff. This has been a tremendous assistance through the years in allowing students to have a great background for building their technology skills. Teachers have been able to give assignments knowing that the students are able to accomplish them. Sadly this year’s seniors are the last group to have gone through the training.  The eighth grade computer skills are very helpful, but they do not provide the multimedia opportunities that we would like. The eighth grade class is very focused on developing basic skills in Word, Excel and PowerPoint and meeting the requirements of the eighth grade technology literacy portion of No Child Left Behind. To try to assist students with software applications and skills the district purchases a subscription to an online tutorial site called Atomic Learning. (School Net PD funds pay for this service) Students, staff and District Residents have access to thousands of mini video clips that show “how to” accomplish a wide variety of tasks in much of the software that people use.

Technology Standards and NCLB:

A provision of the NCLB act requires that all students are technologically literal by the eighth grade. Although there is some debate as to the exact definition of technologically literate it is widely assumed that meeting the NETS Standards for students will qualify. There is not yet a proficiency or achievement test for technology, however preparations to meet this provision of NCLB are being readied and we will work to this goal in grades K-8 and beyond.

Presently many elementary classrooms use the computer cart and the lab. Curriculum mapping could help to integrate the technology standards within the already jam packed day. The eighth grade computer class will help us to finalize and evaluate a students technological literacy and prepare them to use technology as they proceed throughout the rest of their educational experience.

Advanced Opportunities:

It is important that we provide educational opportunities for students even that at a more advanced level. Little has been offered to high school students in the way of more advanced technology opportunities.  We have offered a semester video production class, and a network technology assistants class in the past. It is difficult with the present staff make up for us to offer these on a consistent basis.  Rhodes college is willing to offer basic computer applications. Multimedia opportunities and web design are still in the planning stages.

Due to our contract with NOACSC and legal obligations, administrators, staff and students need to read and agree to several policy documents. These need to be signed and filed on a yearly basis. The Acceptable Use Policy is the most important and provides guidelines for the acceptable use of the school network and Internet access. The district must have an AUP on file for anyone who uses the district network . Additional policy sheets are needed to allow students in grades 9-12 to sign out laptops and or video cameras for home use. Teachers also need to fill out a sign out sheet for their laptop use. Finally an email policy needs to be spelled out for all users of the school districts email service.

Network security has become an increasingly important topic.  Teachers are dealing with confidential student data and must be very careful how they handle this material. Digital access is a great assistance to teacher, but the ease of access can allow a careless use of the data, the network or a password to fall into the wrong hands. The most important aspect of security is awareness. Being careful and avoiding common mistakes can go a long way to keeping the network secure. Like a chain it is only as secure as the weakest link.

• Administration/Teacher
• Students
• Media Center

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Security

Security has grown in importance and in substance over the last few years. Computer networks now allow teacher access to confidential records. All local users have accounts which grant them access to their own home directory (file space), to shared group directories, email accounts and to be able to use network printers. Security is an attitude, and important attitude and all users must learn and develop good security habits.  Allowing users to give out their passwords or to download and install software is absolutely forbidden.

Good security habits include but are not limited to:
Using a strong password (see the following section)
Logging out of your local machine account whenever you are away from your machine.
Remembering to quit your browser after using a password protected site such as DASL or Progressbook.
Do not have your browser or any other software “save” your password.
Never let a student use a machine in when a teacher is logged into that same machine.

Passwords

We need passwords for a variety of accounts.  Treat all passwords as if they are for your ATM or bankcard. Do not write them down or post them on a sticky note beside your computer. Never give them to someone to use, nor allow someone to use your computer account or email.

What is a bad password?

• Empty or no password
• Password the same as your username
• Anybody’s name, real or imaginary
• The name of the operating system you’re using
• The hostname of your computer
• Any phone number
• Auto license plate number, particularly vanity plates
• Any part of your social security number
• Anybody’s birth date
• Other information that is easily obtained about you
• Any word in any dictionary. Hackers have dictionaries for languages like Klingon, Urdu, Hindi etc.
• Passwords of all the same letter
• Simple patterns on the keyboard, like QWERTY
• Any of the above spelled backwards
• Any of the above preceded or followed by one or two digits.

Strong passwords have the following characteristics:

• Contain both upper and lower case characters (e.g., a-z, A-Z)
• Have digits and punctuation characters as well as letters e.g., 0-9, !@#$%^&*()_+|~-
• =\‘{}[]:";’<>?,./)
• Are at least eight alphanumeric characters long.
• Are not a word in any language, slang, dialect, jargon, etc.
• Are not based on personal information, names of family, etc.
• Passwords should never be written down or stored on-line.

Beginning with school year 2005-2006 the following password policy will be in effect.

• Accounts will be disabled after five failed login attempts.
• Passwords must be at least five characters in length
• Contain at least one letter
• Contain at least one number
• Differ from the account name
• Be changed every six months

In addition to this any person giving their password to another person to use will have their account disabled and a loss of computer privileges.

• File Quotas

  Server space is not limitless.  Using home directories on shared server space means the account holder can access their home directory from any machine in the Local Area Network(LAN) and also from an online source using Web FTP.  Student and teacher accounts are given a file space quota and will not be allowed to space material beyond that limitation.  Old files can be archived on a CD and kept for the future if needed.

  File quotas can be checked online by going to : http://mail.ml.noacsc.org/visit.php

• Print Quotas

Paper and its use is a major issue for all school districts. Any means that can be made to make sure that paper is NOT wasted is valuable.  By moving all print jobs to server print queues we are able to enforce print quotas. Students are limited in the number of pages they can print per week and teachers are limited in the number of pages they can print per day. In addition to enforcing quotas this also allows the technology office to trackprinter and paper use and to trouble shoot printing problems MUCH more efficiently.

The log files generated by this quota enforcement help us to track down those that are abusing the printer situation.  The teacher’s color printer had many issues this year and we will not allow that to continue.  For example teachers printing classroom quantities in color for weekly assignments, also some running multiple classroom quantities instead of using the copier. Color printer is approximately 9 cents per page, whereas a typical cost per page on a laser printer is less than 2 cents per page.

• Laptops (pdf)
• Video and Still Cameras (pdf)
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• Email Etiquette

Miller City – New Cleveland Provides email service for its staff and students.  As a result of this service the district needs to implement an email policy in regards to email use. In addition to this email policy the following guidelines for proper email etiquette should be followed.

1. Be concise and to the point.

Do not make an e-mail longer than it needs to be. Remember that reading an e-mail is harder than reading printed communications and a long e-mail can be very discouraging to read.

2. Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions.

An email reply must answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions – If you do not answer all the questions in the original email, you will receive further e-mails regarding the unanswered questions, which will not only waste your time and your recipient’s time but also cause considerable frustration.

3. Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation.

This is not only important because improper spelling, grammar and punctuation give a bad impression of your school, it is also important for conveying the message properly. E-mails with no full stops or commas are difficult to read and can sometimes even change the meaning of the text. And, if your program has a spell checking option, why not use it?

4. Make it personal.

Not only should the e-mail be personally addressed, it should also include personal i.e. customized content. For this reason auto replies are usually not very effective. However, templates can be used effectively in this way, see next tip.

5. Use templates for frequently used responses.

Some questions you get over and over again, such as directions to your office or how to subscribe to your newsletter. Save these texts as response templates and paste these into your message when you need them. You can save your templates in a Word document, or use pre-formatted emails.

6. Answer swiftly.

Parents send an e-mail because they wish to receive a quick response. If they did not want a quick response they would send a letter or a fax. Therefore, each e-mail should be replied to within at least 24 hours, and preferably within the same working day. If the email is complicated, just send an email back saying that you have received it and that you will get back to them.

7. Do not attach unnecessary files.

By sending large attachments you can annoy recipient’s and even bring down their e-mail system. Wherever possible try to compress attachments and only send attachments when they are productive.

8. Use proper structure & layout.

Since reading from a screen is more difficult than reading from paper, the structure and lay out is very important for e-mail messages. Use short paragraphs and blank lines between each paragraph. When making points, number them or mark each point as separate to keep the overview.

9. Do not overuse the high priority option.

We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf. If you overuse the high priority option, it will lose its function when you really need it. Moreover, even if a mail has high priority, your message will come across as slightly aggressive if you flag it as 'high priority'.

10. Do not write in CAPITALS.

IF YOU WRITE IN CAPITALS IT SEEMS AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING. This can be highly annoying and might trigger an unwanted response in the form of a flame mail. Therefore, try not to send any email text in capitals.

11. Don't leave out the message thread.

When you reply to an email, you must include the original mail in your reply, in other words click 'Reply', instead of 'New Mail'. Some people say that you must remove the previous message since this has already been sent and is therefore unnecessary. However, I could not agree less. If you receive many emails you obviously cannot remember each individual email. This means that a 'threadless email' will not provide enough information and you will have to spend a frustratingly long time to find out the context of the email in order to deal with it. Leaving the thread might take a fraction longer in download time, but it will save the recipient much more time and frustration in looking for the related emails in their inbox!

12. Read the email before you send it.

A lot of people don't bother to read an email before they send it out, as can be seen from the many spelling and grammar mistakes contained in emails. Apart from this, reading your email through the eyes of the recipient will help you send a more effective message and avoid misunderstandings and inappropriate comments.

13. Do not overuse Reply to All.

Only use Reply to All if you really need your message to be seen by each person who received the original message.

14. Take care with abbreviations and emoticons.

In official emails, try not to use abbreviations such as BTW (by the way) and LOL (laugh out loud). The recipient might not be aware of the meanings of the abbreviations and in correspondence with parent emails these are generally not appropriate. The same goes for emoticons, such as the smiley :-). If you are not sure whether your recipient knows what it means, it is better not to use it.

15. Be careful with formatting.

Remember that when you use formatting in your emails, the sender might not be able to view formatting, or might see different fonts than you had intended. When using colors, use a color that is easy to read on the background.

16. Take care with rich text and HTML messages.

Be aware that when you send an email in rich text or HTML format, the sender might only be able to receive plain text emails.

17. Do not forward chain letters.

Do not forward chain letters. We can safely say that all of them are hoaxes. Just delete the letters as soon as you receive them.

18. Do not request delivery and read receipts.

This will almost always annoy your recipient before he or she has even read your message. Besides, it usually does not work anyway since the recipient could have blocked that function, or his/her software might not support it, so what is the use of using it? If you want to know whether an email was received it is better to ask the recipient to let you know if it was received.

19. Do not ask to recall a message.

Biggest chances are that your message has already been delivered and read. A recall request would look very silly in that case wouldn't it? It is better just to send an email to say that you have made a mistake. This will look much more honest than trying to recall a message.

20. Do not copy a message or attachment without permission.

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Do not copy a message or attachment belonging to another user without permission of the originator. If you do not ask permission first, you might be infringing on copyright laws.

21. Do not use email to discuss confidential information.

Sending an email is like sending a postcard. If you don't want your email to be displayed on a bulletin board, don't send it. Moreover, never make any libelous, sexist or racially discriminating comments in emails, even if they are meant to be a joke.

22. Use a meaningful subject.

Try to use a subject that is meaningful to the recipient as well as yourself.

23. Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT.

Even more so than the high-priority option, you must at all times try to avoid these types of words in an email or subject line. Only use this if it is a really, really urgent or important message.

24. Avoid long sentences.

Try to keep your sentences to a maximum of 15-20 words. Email is meant to be a quick medium and requires a different kind of writing than letters. Also take care not to send emails that are too long. If a person receives an email that looks like a dissertation, chances are that they will not even attempt to read it!

25. Don't send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks.

By sending or even just forwarding one libelous, or offensive remark in an email, you and your school can face court cases resulting in multi-million dollar penalties.

26. Don't forward virus hoaxes and chain letters.

If you receive an email message warning you of a new unstoppable virus that will immediately delete everything from your computer, this is most probably a hoax. By forwarding hoaxes you use valuable bandwidth and sometimes virus hoaxes contain viruses themselves, by attaching a so-called file that will stop the dangerous virus. The same goes for chain letters that promise incredible riches or ask your help for a charitable cause. Even if the content seems to be bona fide, the senders are usually not. Since it is impossible to find out whether a chain letter is real or not, the best place for it is the trash bin.

27. Keep your language gender neutral.

In this day and age, avoid using sexist language such as: 'The user should add a signature by configuring his email program'. Apart from using he/she, you can also use the neutral gender: ''The user should add a signature by configuring the email program'.

28. Don't reply to spam.

By replying to spam or by unsubscribing, you are confirming that your email address is 'live'. Confirming this will only generate even more spam. Therefore, just hit the delete button or use email software to remove spam automatically.

29. Use cc: field sparingly. (cc: means “carbon copy”)

Try not to use the cc: field unless the recipient in the cc: field knows why they are receiving a copy of the message. Using the cc: field can be confusing since the recipients might not know who is supposed to act on the message. Also, when responding to a cc: message, should you include the other recipient in the cc: field as well? This will depend on the situation. In general, do not include the person in the cc: field unless you have a particular reason for wanting this person to see your response. Again, make sure that this person will know why they are receiving a copy.

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• Email Policy (pdf)

“School” is not the same as it was for you or I. Teaching and learning are evolving rapidly. Changing to meet those needs is a constant and hectic process.  Dependence upon technology continues to increase.  A school system can no longer function properly without access to functioning machines that have high speed network access. In some issues we strive to be on the cutting edge, in others we choose to let others experiment and develop before we jump on board.  In all aspects we will do what is best for our students and community. The education of our children remains our highest priority. Teaching is not a job that we took but a calling we answered. Providing an opportunity to see that all children of our district have a fair chance to be the best that they can be.

Technology Handbook 2005-2006
(in pdf format)

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