District Technology Committee
Meeting Agenda
April 12, 2012 @ 4:15-5:45 in the Tech Service Lab
http://techblog.psd401.net

Here is the agenda for this months District Technology Committee meeting. If you have any question before the meeting let me know.

Agenda:

• Final look at the Technology Survey results
• GradeCam pilot program for online assessments
• Future of Teacher Stations
• Conversation about the iPad as a teacher tool in education
• Group issues for discussion

Simple Agenda:) Last meeting June 7th

District Technology Committee
Meeting Agenda
March 1, 2012 @ 4:15-5:45 in the Tech Service Lab
http://techblog.psd401.net

Here is the agenda for this months District Technology Committee meeting. If you have any question before the meeting let me know.

Agenda:

• Reminders of new committee dates for rest of the year:  April 5 and June 7
• Surveys – Need to try and get a little better response
• Technology Planning

• Tech-Inventories for initial planning and building priorities
• Budget – What does passage of the Levy mean?

• Levy spending plan – Spread across 5 years

 Realistic but is also optimistic. A lot of good things need to happen.

• Digital Citizenship - Cornerstone of Technical Skills and Literacy
• Survey Analysis – Where are the gaps?

• Need to know what devices students are bringing to school

District Technology Committee
Meeting Agenda
January 26, 4:15-5:45 in the Tech Service Lab
http://techblog.psd401.net

Here is the agenda for this months District Technology Committee meeting. If you have any question before the meeting let me know.

Agenda:

• New committee dates for rest of the year: March 1, April 5, June 7
• Surveys – How we will send out reminders and how they can support us.
• Inventory – Process needs to be completed by March meeting
• Current round of teaching stations – Update
• Next round of teaching stations – Requirements, timeline
• Doceri and iPod cart surveys – Purpose and next steps
• Wireless Update
• Portal – Home Directory Access
• Web Based Computing Option – Ability to image GX60′s now.
• Blufish – Pre-loaded courses coming soon
• Teacher Dashboard – Status of keeping class lists up-to-date.

The speed your computer runs is determined by many factors. In PSD, most of the computers are over 6 years old. This is the primary factor as to why a computer will slow down. Here’s why.

First, the quality (age) and quantity of memory and storage is not ideal for a modern network and Internet. Low memory and storage simply means when the computer has many task to run or files to read and write as is expected in today’s computing things will go very slowly until it’s done. There’s really not anything that can solve this problem except a new computer.

Old computers often have old software, older operating systems and failing hardware. This is a lethal combination to computing speed. In PSD, our biggest problem is failing hardware. As motherboard capacitors slowly swell and leak, the computer may still work but at a much slower pace.

Finally, we have an operating system problem. We are all used to Windows XP. It has been a good workhorse for us over the last 10 years. Unfortunately, it’s past it’s prime and will be no longer supported by Microsoft. The more necessary patches and updates are applied, the slower older computers respond because of the new load on processors, memory and storage.

Because new the operating systems won’t run on old computers, we are stuck in a major dilemma as we wait for new funding for new computers. Do our best to keep old stuff running with the knowledge everything we do will ultimately slow things down.

The best thing user can do to try and extend the life of old computers is to run only one application at a time, try and only work in a web browser if possible and restart the computer whenever it “acts up”. Once in a while, re-imaging the computer with a fresh install of XP will help too. But that has a risk of the computer failing during the restore process because of the stress on the hardware.

Unfortunately, old computers can not run forever. And the harder we try to extend their life, the slower they go.

District Technology Committee Meeting
December 8th, 4:15-5:45 PM
Technology Services Lab 

Agenda

• Discussion of Surveys for 2012:
  
• Update for 2012 initiatives
  
• Home Directories
• Wireless
• Power School Update
• iTunes Volume Purchase Plan
  
• 12-8-11 Updated TS-BuyingGuide (Still a work in progress!)
  

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Calibrating your battery ensures you get the longest possible running time from it. Calibrate your battery during the first week you own it, and then recalibrate it every two months. If you use your device infrequently, it’s best to recalibrate it at least once a month. Whenever you purchase new batteries, calibrate them as well.

To calibrate a portable device battery:

1. Plug in the power adapter and fully charge the battery.
2. When the battery is fully charged allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for two hours or longer.
3. You can use your device during this time as long as the power adapter is plugged in.
4. With the device still on, disconnect the power adapter and continue to use it normally.
5. When you see a low battery warning, save your work and close all applications. Most importantly, keep your device turned on until it goes to sleep or runs out of power.
6. Then, turn it off or allow it to sleep for five hours or longer.
7. Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged.
8. When the battery is fully charged allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for two hours or longer.