December 19th

As noted in the meeting notes, we will be pursuing talks with Amy Wright's consulting group, Flat Toads Consulting, to get some information about contracting services for helping us develop a technology infrastructure for the school. We will set up a meeting with her early January. We will be meeting with Cisco on January 7th to continue talks and in early January we will be making visits to various schools to talk to the technology department about the development and upkeep of their infrastructure. That's it for now.....have a very happy holiday and happy new year!

notes on a technology infrastructure - budget items

This is a starting point for a technology plan. I have some examples that I will float around, but these are the big things we need to design for.....each bullet point can be broken down into a lot of little decisions :)

• Infrastructure - wiring/switches/access points/Firewall with content filtering. We could get into WAP central management, Load Balancers, etc. But those first few are the only necessary ones. You'll need the filtering to qualify for E-Rate (which is pretty not-evil and you'll want) and to keep yourself from Viruses.
  

• Client Hardware - Computers/monitors/scanners/printers/cameras/projectors/smartboards/scanners/etc.

• Client Software - OS Licenses, Office Suite Licenses. Adobe Lisences (Acrobat, InDesign, Photoshop). The rest, you can get for free. I mean, you can get the first two for free, too, but I'll bet money you won't want to. Except maybe the Office Suite. OpenOffice 3.0 is really nice, and works on the Mac. No more NeoOffice! Adobe is optional, but you'll probably end up with it at some point.

• Student Information System/Finance Software/Development Software/Admissions Software - Best if they can all talk together but if they can't all talk together, at least get Admissions and SIS to talk together.
  

• Website/Online presence
  

• Internet Access - Consider E-Rate. Call your local cable company for Power-to-Learn (don't worry about being repetetive. Just get it all). Price vendors. Get at least a T1. But really, get more than that. Fiber is best of this is a new installation. You'll thank yourself in 3-5 years, because bandwidth is expandable on that shit way more than Coax or DSL.

• Phone system -
  

• Phone Service - All-you-can-eat calling is best. Teachers make personal calls. Sometimes, a lot. You really can't win with that battle.

• Analog Fax Line
  

• E-mail. yes.

• Emergency Calling. Something so that you don't have to setup a snow chain. There are lots out there that are all reasonably priced and work well.

• Servers - A directory server and file server are the two things you'll really need. The rest will come. Consider Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X.
  

• An account with Tech Soup - actually free, They have stuff on deep, deep discount.

• Vendors you can trust - from Office supplies to Phone System support.
• Server to run DNS and DHCP. Really, your file/directory server will do that for you (and your directory server probably should), but it needs to be said. At the end of the day, you should have, at minimum, two servers. The database server for your SIS, and the server that does everything else. the database needs cheap hardware, so it's usually low or no-cost to run an SQL server or the like.
  
  

initial notes on a technology philosophy

notes on an technology integration philosophy

An educational technology department or personnel assists and supports schools iwth the integration of technology in academics and administration.

Educational technology considers PURPOSE and PEDAGOGY in developing appropriate technology solutions.

A primary goal of educational technology is to effectively integrate technology into the classroom with the purpose of adding breadth and depth to the educational experiences of all students.

Technology integration is linked directly to the curriculum and learning objectives.

Modeling best practices, technology integrators support the efforts of domain teachers, enabling teachers to become self-sufficient technology integrators.

successful integration of technology into administration facilitates communication within and between all of a school's communities, namely, students, faculty administration and families.

At Q2L, like any tool, high tech hardware and software are most useful when used for clearly defined purposes. Their full power unleashed only if we also pay attention to curriculum, school organization, educational philosophies, instructional practices, family and community involvement and other components of successful schools.

Educational technology is used as a tool to deepen a student's understanding of a particular subject, concept or skill and is used to foster communication within the school and beyond.

Our model places the teacher as the responsible party ensuring that the use of technology is compelling and in context. Technology integrators support this approach, scaffolding teachers thus allowing them to ubiquitously and intimately integrate technology into their work with students.

Our Tech Ask

In preparation for a possible meeting this week with Cisco and senior Doe execs, Gregg requested we get our technology ask in order. Please make suggestions for me to bring. Below is what we submitted to Gregg's office already as part of a preliminary budget.

Capital, Technology Support, and Equipment:
Technology Buildout (wireless access, servers, social network)
Systems Administrator
Software
Hardware (1-1 laptop program, smartboards, mobile devices, etc.)
Licenses
Broadband for families (24/7 access)

This is not a time to be shy, we have been invited to ask for anything we want, however we should be able to articulate the reason for the ask and prioritize them.

December 5th

Leah and I discussed creating a list of schools in the area that we could visit and look at the technology infrastructure. Our first step, however, is laying out a technology philosophy. In the next coming weeks I will send around some statements of philosophy from other schools to the group, as examples. From there we will meet to draft a philosophy.