Achievements Unlocked: Leveling up

Next year I'll be transferring to another school. With this change I've had cause to pause and consider what I've achieved with my time at my current school; what I've learnt and what I'm proud of. Here's a selection of highlights ...

[Names have been redacted to protect the innocent (and the guilty).]

Teaching and Learning Achievements

	Simple Spiderman Build a basic website to allow an injured soccer player to get class assignments at home Bonus points for learning javascript in a weekend	Unlocked: Mar 16, 1999 1:59pm Thanks: Robbie S for breaking a leg; Kevin K for the idea; and Col A for trusting me to play with the school servers
	Projector Contribute to the QTP 3.1 IPT/SDD Project Work support document Bonus points for meeting some inspiring teachers	Unlocked: Apr 4, 2001 4:16am Thanks: Phillip C, Tim G, Steve M, Julie G, Brian S, and John R
	Whoops 'Accidentally' motivate students to build a key-logger Bonus points if they successfully build a working prototype; No points if they use it against you to capture the admin password	Unlocked: Sep 4, 2002 12:36pm* Thanks: Israel B and Eric L for keeping me on my toes
	Lord of the Chips Maintain a stable classroom environment by ensuring all students follow traditional coding eating habits Bonus points for justifying the tradition as natural requirements for all good coders Double bonus points if it's Tuesday	Unlocked: Aug 27, 2006 1:21pm* Thanks: Luke C, Alex P, and Basil W (and the chip shop down the road)
	ProgComp Controller Promote coding by entering ProgComp several times Bonus points for making it 'mandatory' for all Software Design and Development students	Unlocked: Jun 16, 2006 3:12pm Thanks: Josh K, Jay N, and Sam R; Sam C, Basil W, and Robbie M (Jun 15, 2007 3:12pm); Kieran J, Eric L, and Israel B (Jun, 2003*)
	Triple Chairs Catch a student breaking class rules three times (i.e. swearing) and issue the ultimate punishment at the end of lesson of putting in all classroom chairs ... three times (in-out-in-out-in) Bonus points for students incorporating the word 'Chairs' into their everyday language	Unlocked: Feb 27, 2007 9:57am* Thanks: Chris C (nuff said)
	Let Them Eat Cake Encourage the bringing and consumption of cake in class Bonus points for a student attempting to elevate teacher happiness while marking homework Double bonus points for a student justifying the cake production as part of original content for an online transaction processing system assessment task	Unlocked: Jun 28, 2007 1:27pm Thanks: Aimie H and Jordan L (Feb 26, 2010 8:41am)

Technology Coordinator Achievements

	Help Yourself Build custom software to remove music and movies from student folders (Trogdor), and shutdown/reboot computers site-wide (netCheat) Bonus points for engaging students in a hacker war to defeat the dragon	Unlocked: Oct 15, 2003 1:24pm Thanks: Eric L for putting the cheat in netCheat (Aug 21, 2006 4:10pm) and Sam L and Mel P for building a big Trogdor web-based version as part of their Uni course (May 28, 2007)
	Teach me; Pay me Hire an ex-student as an onsite computer technician immediately after graduation	Unlocked: Feb 4, 2004 9:00am* Thanks: Eric L (pictured with Kieran J and Israel B)
	Security Preach (aka Right Spin) Hire an onsite computer technician based on his enthusiasm of listening to Security Now Bonus points for ongoing listening and discussion about technology and security	Unlocked: Dec 3, 2008 11:23am Special Thanks: Mickey M sharing knowledge, skills, and pizza
	Moodle Manic Jump into Moodle with all your classes, and especially for a cross-site video-conference class Bonus points for sharing with other teachers and getting them enthused	Unlocked: Feb 2, 2010 12:21pm Thanks: Anne M, Julie B, and Antony M inspiration and support Special Thanks: Paul G, Loreta K, Lynn H, Josh W, and Darren B for showing what is possible
	Double Supervision Hire another ex-student as an onsite computer technician immediately after graduation	Unlocked: Dec 22, 2010 10:56pm Thanks: Dre W for hacking through problems
	Unattentive Meet great people and share great ideas at the 1:1 Unconference Bonus points for sharing via a showcase and micro-learning session	Unlocked: Jun 20, 2011 2:07pm Thanks: Ross W for inviting me and covering the costs, and Ben J for organising a great event

Extra-curricular Achievements

	Encroacher Enjoy many years of basketball coaching Bonus points for making it to the regional finals twice (2003, 2010)	Unlocked: May 16, 2003 2:36pm Thanks: Matt W, James H, Josh S, Joel J, Kiwat K, Mitchell D, Jaquille E, Emma A, Jordan I, Lachlan M, Kirstie S, Shara D for their dedication and captaincy Special Thanks: Jenny S for organising everything we needed
	They Were Champions Take students to compete at the National Interschool Chess Championships Bonus points if for one of them it's his first time on an aeroplane Double bonus points for the students thanking you with a hand-made signed chess board	Unlocked Dec 8, 2007 9:05am Thanks: Andrew W, Liam M, Kyle H, and Lachlan C
	Snow Frog Build a snow frog while on excursion with Year 11 Bonus points for hitting more than three of them with snowballs during a snowstorm Double points for attempting to ski; No points for learning to ski in only in one direction	Unlocked: Aug 21, 2008 11:03am Thanks: Anthony C, Zach B, James H, and Kelly R Special Thanks: Phil D and Kendall B for inviting me along
	Little Drummer Boy Help senior music performances with percussion and bass Bonus points for not being able to read music and doing it all by ear Double bonus points for justifying bringing a new 5-string bass to computer class and practicing for half a lesson	Unlocked: Mar 25, 2009 7:58pm Thanks: Jacob P, Lucas H, and Alex Van Halen; Anthony P, Taurean W, and many talented singers and muscicians Special Thanks: Virginia J and Brian W for allowing me to join their talented students over the years
	Grandmaster Martyr Coordinate the school chess team for a decade and NOT have your name on the school Chess Champion trophy Bonus points for winning the championship and still not putting your name on the trophy	Unlocked: Dec 01, 2010 1:54pm Thanks: Sam L (2002, 2003, 2004), Robert S (2005), Keaton H (2006), Robbie M (2007), Liam M (2008), Brody T (2009), Calin S (2010), Louis B (2011) Special Thanks: Robert S for support and help (and getting his name on the trophy)

* Thanks to photo timestamps, emails, and file creation dates, most of these unlock times are accurate. Unfortunately some are only a best guess.

Thanks

Thank you to the many staff and students who have helped me unlock these and other achievements. (If I missed anyone, my apologies; let me know and I'll update this post.)

I look forward to finding and unlocking many more achievements at my new school.

blogED: Some Good, Some Bad, and Some Ugly

blogED is a blogging environment developed for NSW government school teachers and students. (You're reading one of the blogs right now!) It is a great concept, with some excellent features, but also some foibles, and some uglies.

Some Good

I fully support and recommend using Department sanctioned software. That way staff and students are familiar with the software and systems from site to site, and resources can be easily shared and centralised.

So as a blogging environment for sharing ideas with colleagues, teaching and learning in the classroom, and distributing information to parents and the community, blogED is a great concept.

One excellent aspect is that it links directly into student portal authentication, and students can easily be grouped to create class blogs, even across multiple sites (if you have a multi-site group). Authorisation is reserved for staff blog owners to check all posts and comments, and the owner of a site can be easily changed if staff move location.

Once a student is added as a blog author it's trivial for them to create a post and then have that authorised and published by their teacher. Then students can share and comment on each others work (and they can consider the copyright and privacy aspects of doing so).

Being able to insert multimedia is great, and these generally format well, and are easy to use.

Some Bad

One of the limitations of blogED is the look. There are currently only 4 themes to choose from, and customising the appearance of the blog for a student or class is not easy.

The graphic at the head of this blog incorporates an image, with a text overlay. I used colour-matching to merge the header graphic of this blog into the base-colour of one of the four themes, but matching it and aligning for the text overlay was not quick or easy.

Hopefully in blogED 2.0 there will be more simple themes, but maybe also some customisation tools to enable students (and staff) to edit the head/foot and, for power-users, modify CSS.

To insert images you can't link to them, you must upload them to blogED. I'm glad we must include copyright information, and attribute the appropriate source, but I don't understand why we must save a copy of it to the blogED server before it can be used. My best guess is so that the blog will continue to show the image, even if the source server is down.

Some Ugly

One of key concerns with blogED is that the formatting you see while writing is NOT the formatting of the published post. What You See Is NOT What You Get (WYSINWYG). That's ugly.

You have the option to preview your post, and you really have to, because while you are editing you don't know how it will look when published. Standard HTML tags like unordered-list are rendered correctly in the inline editor, but not when published. What the?

ABOVE: An unordered-list in the editor (click to enlarge). The editor shows correct indentation of the list, so that the bullet points stand-out.

ABOVE: An unordered-list when published.

There is no indentation and the bullet points to not cleanly separate from the main body of the text. I'm viewing this through Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7 (using a DER device). (Maybe things appear correctly in Firefox or Chrome, but those browsers are not supported on the DER devices.)

The above picture also highlights the attribution notice displayed for all images. The image can be aligned to the right, but the notice remains at the position where the image was inserted in HTML. Also, HTML image alignment seems to break due to the the call of a javascript function (specifically addCopyrightInfoDivsAfterObject in https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/mediaLibrary/mediabrowser/copyright.js) which adds objects and code to the published post, but not within the editor. This breaks the formatting between the two views of the same code, and can lead to some unexpected and ugly results. (These methods of image alignment are deprecated, and should be upgraded to use styles.)

And inserting an uploaded image is awkward. The editor allows for resolution selection (the size of the published image), but the user is required to make multiple decisions to determine the best view of the image. I think this is incorporated into blogED for the image to be formatted (and desolved) at the server before transmission to the client. This would conserve bandwidth, but can be a headache for the posting author.

I generally post images as "large" and then use the Appearance tab to specify the resolution. Hyperlinking the image to itself then allows readers to enlarge the image:

If you highlight text, the space at the end of the text will also be highlighted, and adding a hyperlink will show the link dribbling off the end. (Notice the hyperlink between "dribbling" and "off the end"). So you need to ensure that the trailing space is not selected before creating the hyperlink.

Bullet-formatting, image uploading and insertion, and WYSINWYG ... all of this means spending twice as much time creating content as expected, half in writing, and half in quirky formatting. That's ugly.

As a case-in-point: the above images were inserted into the editor side-by-side.

Unfortunately, the inclusion of the copyright blurbs breaks that formatting. Possibly we're not expected to use alignment methods, but they are included as part of the editor.

Nutshell

I love the concept of blogED; an inhouse solution which generally works well, and integrates with departmental authorisation, copyright and privacy. The uglies are only publishing and formatting issues, but they could be the straw on the camels back which prevents some staff and students from sharing.

Maybe wordpress was not an option, but maybe it should be. A customised version to link into with the departments authorisation might be a good solution. Hopefully blogED 2.0 is in the works, and some of these deprecated and inconsistent formatting methods will be revamped.

• If you're a blogED author, what tips and tricks do you use to format content?
• If you're a blogED developer, and need a beta-tester ... :-)

Ideal Search: Don't Forget to ask "Why?"

Ben Gomes (Google Fellow) posted a video on 28-Nov-2011 entitled: The evolution of search in six minutes.

In it Amit Singhal (Google Fellow) describes his ideal Google (from 5:30). He describes a search engine that returns answers to complex questions such as "what is the best time for me to sow seeds in India given that monsoon was early this year."

Amit doesn't provide a sample response, but it might be something like:

June-24

Providing the answer to a complex question needs to have the option "Why" or "Proof" or "References". If the question is misinterpreted, or the analysis is incorrect, or the response is in an unexpected format, Amit may lose a season of crop.

The sample response imparts knowledge, but it does not impart wisdom or understanding. An option to prove the answer, to question why it is so, to help people understand how that response was selected, might impart  both wisdom and understanding.

In Google's philosophy, they state core principles which guide their actions. Core principle 6 highlights: You can make money without doing evil.

• Google money comes from ad hits. So here's the paradox. Amit wants to sow seeds. He asks Google (1 page hit). Google gives a response without proof. Amit plants and things grow. He trusts Google.
• Next year the monsoon is early. Without understanding, Amit may choose to consult Google again (2 page hits). If he has understanding though he may wisely deduce the knowledge himself, which does not result in a use of Google, or the ads they display.

So is it in Google's interest to impart knowledge, but NOT impart wisdom. Is that "doing evil"? I think so. It reminded me of the filter bubble.

This paradox only arises as the complexity of the questions increases, and the interpretation and analysis of data and information frays.

And I think it is resolved by Google telling me the simple answer to a complex question, but then allowing me to choose "Why", or ask for "Proof". Something like:

June-24 Proof

That would increase knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and user confidence. And it might be "doing good".

Nominated Transfer: Five Stages of Grief

Due to a reduction in student numbers my school will be over-staffed in 2012, and a teacher needs to be relocated to another site. On Friday 11-Nov-2011 I was nominated to transfer.

Five Stages of Grief

I found it interesting to observe my own reactions and how they fit into the Kübler-Ross model of the five stages of grief. The model is based on interviews with more than 500 dying patients, but it can also apply to catastrophic loss (job, income, freedom).

Denial

I feel fine; This can't be happening, not to me.

The principal had informed all the staff that a nominated transfer was forth-coming on Mon 07-Nov-2011. Later that afternoon he privately informed me that I may be nominated. There was a brief shock; a few seconds of "this isn't real."

But I had 5 days to consider the eventuality of the "loss". I trusted that the principal would meet the needs of the school and take everything he needed to into consideration. So when he informed me that I would be nominated there was no denying it.

Anger

Why me? It's not fair!; How can this happen to me?; Who is to blame?

I think because of the 5 days notice the anger was subtle. Trying to keep a positive and professional outlook; there may have also been some emotional suppression.

Unfortunately, my Year 8 class felt some misdirected anger today (Monday). I apologised to them for my lack of patience and energy during that lesson.

Bargaining

I'll do anything for a few more years; I will give my life savings if ...

While discussing the nomination the deputy-principal and principal described how they had gone through the numbers, and considered alternative solutions. Their sincerity and honesty was apparent, so there's no wriggle room for bargaining.

Depression

I'm so sad, why bother with anything?

Depression came in waves over the first weekend, mixing with denial, anger, and acceptance. It seems that the stages are not mutually exclusive, and that I can quickly progress or regress through them.

Monday morning: coming back to the workplace seemed difficult. Feelings of rejection, disappointment, anxiety. It seemed a bit of emotional overkill for a simple job relocation. I'm even feeling distressed about being distressed ("I should have better control than this!")

Ten years ago I chose to move to this location, and had no concerns about the school, the position, the subjects, or the students.

Now I have a family and home here, the risks of the transfer seem greater and the rewards seem negligible. Also, I am not in control of this decision, although I can nominate some preferred schools to transfer to. If no suitable school is found nearby I might be placed in a mobile permanent position in my current school.

I also wonder if being older now, I seek stability rather than excitment; predictability rather than spontaneity. This would fit in with the article about Teenage Brains that Darcy Moore recently blogged about.

I'm also feeling sad about the loss of investment in people and resources I've made at my current school. The good relationships, and the IT structures and processes that have been implemented. I hope that the next location is as warm and welcoming.

Acceptance

It's going to be okay.

I haven't lost my job, my income, or my freedom. I will only have a change of circumstances - possibly a change of school, possibly a relocation of home and family. The unknown is the point of fear.

I don't think I will have full acceptance until I have more certainty and self-determination.

I'm also starting to consider the affects of leaving my current school. How well will my current classes (especially HSC IPT) adjust to the change? Will the students in the chess club continue to develop and grow (in game-play and life)?

And, I've been more creative in the past few days than in the past year. Maybe I've just been lacking lustre for a while, and these events is jolting my brain back into action; out of a rut.

Perspective

Keeping things in perspective:

• I haven't been told I'm going to die
• I haven't lost my job, or income
• I still have health and family
• I might be relocated to a new work environment

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs I'm doing OK. My Physiological , Safety, and Love/Belonging needs are met. But maybe Esteem and Self-Actualisation are lacking.

Hopefully, when the paperwork is done, and I know more about where I am headed, acceptance will come, and the stages will end. There might be new and exciting opportunities, but I'm just a little nervous about looking out the door.

Publicness

A final thought: I have never expressed my thoughts and fears so publicly before. But Jeff Jarvis has highlighted the benefits of publicness; and I've found writing this post good for clarifying and organising my own thoughts and feelings. Maybe it will help someone else too.

Update (30-Nov-2011)

I've been appointed to another local school starting in 2012. It's a change of subject area, but at least it's not a change of house! Acceptance is getting better :-)

Comments

Copied from original post

Deb Hogg says:

14 Nov 2011 at 05:18 PM
Hi Tim Well written... but that's a hard piece to read! The whole number crunching reality of school staffing is appalling - sorry to hear that you are at the pointy end of it. Anger is an appropriate first response but I can already see the hint of adventure and the thrill of "what comes next?" hiding in your post! A change of school is always difficult but you've already had a benefit in the past couple of days - a creativity boost comes in all shapes and sizes! Just hope that some amazing, fabulous opportunity comes your way in all this - new place, new people, new learning, new fun! ...with manageable disruption to your family (they need adventure and fun too!). I have no doubt that it will all turn out to be wonderful! Regards, Deb

Deborah Moore says:

30 Nov 2011 at 03:22 PM
Hi Tim! Don't go on Maang much anymore but I just saw yur post and read your blog.... That would have been a tough time for you and I thank you for your reflections. It was an enlightening post! BUT great news about your new posting... I wish you luck and am sure you will succeed in whatever you do!! Debbie

Vivi Mattiello says:

01 Dec 2011 at 06:31 PM
"There's always a rainbow after the storm" This blog post is so true, been through all those steps myself when my position was cut off unexpectedly (for me). Things like this happen, though that's not really encouraging is it? Take it as a learning experience that will make you better as it might lead you to reassess your identity as a teacher. All the best for 2012!

Home Network: King of My Data Castle

I recently purchased a couple of gigabit switches to run as the backbone of my home network.

Before the new switches I used my ADSL modem and wireless access point as switches. Now the increased speed between devices is outstanding. And since we're studying communication systems in HSC IPT, I thought this would be a good source of classroom discussions.

The network diagram

Points of discussion could include: twisted pair, ADSL, modems, firewalls, DHCP, IP addresses, switches, Cat5e (and Cat6), USB, wireless access points, 802.11n, network-attached storage, backup strategies, digital TV, coaxial cable, HDMI, fibre optic cable, and HDTV and surround sound (fitting in with multimedia).

And, of course, the primary reason for the new switches: transmission speeds.

Here's the network diagram (click to enlarge):

• Green = gigabit capable hardware
• Red = external data sources

The diagram shows how devices are connected, and how data moves around my house. Area A is the library/study where most of the data (and this blog) is created and assembled. Area B is the consumption room, where media is displayed.

The backbone cable between the new gigabit switches runs under the house. The wireless access point sits there too, broadcasting up into the house (through wooden floors) and down into the back garden.

External data is sourced from the internet and TV transmissions. (Radio is also used, but via a non-networked device). Internally, most data is stored and retrieved from the network-attached device (NAS) in Area B, with regular backups of critical data stored on the desktops in Area A.

I'm thinking of moving the NAS to a spot under the house too (to minimise the noise and heat in Area B), but I first need to ensure I can ventilate it and protect it from dust.

I deliberately chose not to include brands, makes, and models in the diagram for two reasons: first, this diagram is just to demonstrate a network structure and it's components, not promote a product; second, the less information I provide about the specifics of my household network devices, the fewer vulnerabilities I expose it to from targetted attacks.

Creating the network diagram

Previously I've used Microsoft Publisher to draw diagrams, but with Office 2007 I couldn't find connectors (they seem to have last appeared in Publisher 2003). So I went looking for a free online solution and found http://gliffy.com.

Gliffy is really easy to use, it has great clipart, excellent connectors, and allows for saving (as XML or various image formats) and online viewing. With a free account I can draw and save up to 5 diagrams. If I want more than that I'll think about subscribing. You must have an account to save diagrams, so in a classroom situation students where I don't want to force students to provide personal data to external entities, they could build their diagram and then use screenshots to store them.

Technical Duplicity: Some birds don't fly

Just as cars and planes move people, the internet is a great way of moving information. But, there seems to be a lot of work being done using electronic tools in an inefficient way. It's like using a plane to drive around on the ground, not knowing that your technology can now fly.

Birds Can Walk

In 1806 the first cars powered by an internal-combustion engine appeared, and a completely new paradigm of travel was ready for mass-production.

Similarly when personal computers got underway, everyone could create and store digital work electronically. And when synergised with the internet we could store and share that data across networks of electronic devices.

But that was Web 1.0; the internet was static; the bird didn't have wings yet.

Birds Can Fly

In 1903 the Wright brothers achieved sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight. They used an internal-combustion engine, but added aerodynamic technology to create a new travel paradigm.

Similarly, Web 2.0 uses interactive technologies to allow us to create and share digital work in one step. Documents are "live", shared and edited from any online device.

Now the bird had wings, and it could fly.

Some Birds Don't Fly

But just because you have the technology, doesn't mean everyone will use it.

Today most people learn to drive a car to transport themself, and some may even know how to change the oil of their internal-combustion engine. A much smaller group will learn how to fly a plane. The majority don't learn to fly because of

• the expense of learning
• the expense of acquiring and maintaining the technology
• lack of knowledge and skills required
• lack of understanding the benefits
• lack of interest

When we think of the Web, lot's of people can consume Web 1.0 content, and successfully navigate through websites and webpages. Some might even know how to write simple HTML and CSS. But it seems that few learn how to use Web 2.0 technology, using blogs, podcasts, RSS, or wikis. And since these technologies are free, this could be because of

• lack of knowledge and skills required
• lack of understanding of the benefits
• lack of interest

An simple example of this is when text and image data are created and formatted as paged documents using software like Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat. They could be the minutes from a meeting, or a newsletter for parents. The document is usually stored on a file server or web server, but it can't be displayed simply in a browser, it needs to be opened using proprietary software.

This isn't the most efficient way to store, share, or search data. It's a duplication of data and data processes, and is like using a plane to drive from Sydney to Perth.

Will They Ever Fly?

To successfully integrate Web 2.0 technology I think we need to get away from the shackles of print media. The page was invented to make it easier to publish and distribute books on paper. But if we aren't using paper, why are we still using pages?

Do education leaders need to further promote the knowledge and skills? Increase an understanding of the benefits? Overcome a lack of interest?

Old habits are hard to break. It may be a generational change before the knowledge, skills, understanding, and interest, enables an integration of Web 2.0 technologies into mainstream education. Just as it took 30 years for the telephone, television, videocassette recorder, and mobile phone to become common-place after their invention, we might have to wait until the children of today become the teachers of tomorrow.

Putting Your School News Online - Part 7: Series Summary

This 7-part series of posts has been all about getting school news online using blogED. I deliberately split the post into several parts to illustrate how traditional newsletter articles could be presented, and to demonstrate some of the features of blogs.

• Part 1: The Idea – demonstrated text with a Creative Commons image
• Part 2: Why use a blog – demonstrated text and hyperlinks with an ordered list and a screenshot which enlarged when clicked
• Part 3: Benefits of blogED – demonstrated an embedded YouTube video
• Part 4: Setting Up blogED – demonstrated several embedded original videos
• Part 5: Q&A – demonstrated text formatted in tables
• Part 6: One-Click Reading with RSS – demonstrated an embedded audio edition

Hopefully this series has been a useful illustration of how to use blogED to put your school news online. If you start to use it, please comment and link below and let me know how it goes. Bon lait.

Putting Your School News Online - Part 6: One-Click Reading with RSS

 

Download

This will probably be the most technical article in this series. Basically I’ll talk about how to use the blogED RSS feed in an RSS reader. Anybody can then keep up-to-date with the latest school news with just one click.

What is RSS?

So here's how I use Google Reader to keep up-to-date:

So, if you subscribe to a few RSS feeds, you can see the latest news from all of them in one place – your RSS reader. One-click and you’re reading the individual items and you’re up-to-date.

Computer technology is really good at retrieving and displaying information and RSS is a great way to get your computer to do the grunt work for you. You don’t have to check lots of different sites to see what’s happening.

NEXT: Series summary

Putting Your School News Online - Part 5: Q&A

In Parts 1-4 of this series I’ve discussed the use of blogED to put school news online. Here are some questions and possible answers about how and why.

Parents ask:

Will it be easy to use?

• Absolutely. If you have access to the internet you can read the school news. The school can still send you a weekly email reminder to check the blog for the latest news.

Do I need a password?

• No. The blog is free and open for public reading.

Can I add comments?

• Yes. We really want to hear what you think about what’s happening at our school. Since all comments must be approved before going live on the web, there might be a small delay before you see it on the blog.

Will it be easy to search?

• Yes. You can use the search feature at the top of the post. And, since it’s free and public, search engines like Google can help you find any of the items in the school news blog.

I don’t have the internet – how will I get school news?

• The school can still print a limited number of newsletters from the past week’s posts. Students and parents can pick these up from the front office.

Students ask:

Can I upload articles and pictures?

• Yes. But it will have to be uploaded by a teacher, and then approved by the Principal before the post if published on the blog.

Can I add comments?

• Absolutely. You can comment on any posts, for example excursions you or your friends were involved in. But there might be a slight delay before you see them online since they have to be approved first.

Teachers ask:

How will this affect me?

• You can now write news items straight into the blog. No need to save files to a file-server by a set deadline.

What’s the up-side?

• No more double-handling. News goes live as soon as it’s approved. No more deadlines or waiting till the next printed newsletter is published. Readers can see your article as soon as it’s approved by the Principal.

Can I include attachments and images?

• Yes, blogED allows attachments and pictures. These might be a drama production flyer, or an excursion permission note, or photos from an musical event.

Admin staff ask:

How will this change what I do?

• You might need to enter some blog posts for teachers, but there will be much less desk-top publishing.

Isn’t this just too complicated?

• It is different. But doing things in an electronic format and a printed format is double the workload. Using an electronic format to its full potential should alleviate some of double-handling. Once a week (or fortnight) you may have to compile a printout of the most recent posts for readers without computers.

NEXT: One-Click Reading with RSS, and a series summary.
If you have other questions please comment below and I’ll try to answer …

Putting Your School News Online - Part 4: Setting Up blogED

In Parts 1-3 of this series I outlined why blogs should replace school newsletters. In this post I’ll briefly outline how to create and setup a blog using blogED to share school news with your local (and global) community.

First: How to create a school news blog with blogED:


Next is how to manage and make design changes:


And that’s it. You can customise some appearance aspects, add a school logo header, and then write the first post as an introduction to the world. Once you've established your design I wouldn't change it too much or too often, or your readers may become disorientated, so try to get it right from the beginning.

How to write blogED posts:
The final thing is: tell your staff how to share news using blogED. Since this could be a big change they might need some training and encouragement.

NEXT: Q&A and One-click reading with RSS

Putting Your School News Online - Part 3: Benefits of blogED

blogED is a blog host developed by the NSW DEC. All NSW DEC staff can create blogs, and then post articles. The following video gives a quick overview of blogED and how it can be used by teachers and students.

There are plenty of blog hosting platforms. So which one should you use to post school news? I'd go with blogED. Why? Mainly for philosophical reasons, and because I think data liberation and data security are really important. Some key points are:

1. Ownership: Since it’s developed and sanctioned by NSW DEC all the blogED data belongs to, and resides within, the department. Readers can be absolutely sure that the blog posts are authentic. Teachers can get to it quickly with their Portal credentials. blogED probably won’t be taken-over, sold-off, or closed-down soon. And unless the NSW DEC is really desperate for funds the site should be advertisement free (both undesired and inappropriate). 
2. Content Approval: The school Principal (and delegates) can approve all posts and comments before they go public on the web. That mimics the traditional proof-reading stage for a printed newsletter, and also protects against comment spam from fake readers. 
3. Privacy and Copyright: All new content must pass through a rigorous privacy and copyright test before it can be uploaded to blogED. This reminds authors (i.e. teachers writing news items) to check the text, images, and other media they are using before they post. 

Unfortunately the biggest downfall of blogED is the technical side. Reading is fine, but creating and formatting content can be a real headache at times. Since it’s not as customisable or user-friendly as you might expect, it may be tricky to convince your news writers to move from print to blog. (I'll blog more about the downsides once this series is complete.)

But the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. The technical failings might be improved over time. And the benefits (particularly ownership) can’t be found anywhere else. So blogED it is.

NEXT: Setting up blogED to publish school news

Putting Your School News Online - Part 2: Why use a blog

A blog is a perfect way to share school news with your local community (and the rest of the world). It can take on the role of the traditional school newsletter, and provides so much more.

One great example of school news as a blog is at Sandy Beach School. The screenshot image shows the 07-May-2011 post, with the article at the top, followed by a reader comment (click to enlarge). It includes hyperlinks and a photo slideshow with background music.

This highlights some really strong advantages of blogs:

1. Blogs are interactive: Traditional newsletters don’t make subscriber feedback easy. Blogs allow readers to comment. With instant feedback you get a community conversation.
2. Blogs are multimedia: They can contain any web content; text, images, audio and video, and hyperlinks to other web material. Print-format newsletters can’t do that.
3. Blogs are global, public, long-lasting, and searchable:  A blog can reach any reader, anywhere, at any time. And since it’s on the internet a parent can easily search for it via Google and get to any article with one click. No need to download a file from a particular email attachment, and then read through to find the desired item.

So the use of a blog to share school news with your local (and global) community is a really good move. But with so many options for creating a blog, which one should you choose?

NEXT: The benefits of blogED, and how to setup your school news online.

PS: Other school blog examples with reader conversations:

• Hawkesdale P12 College – a Techno College
• Throw the Starfish

Putting Your School News Online - Part 1: The Idea

Technology is fantastic for quickly sharing information with people you care about. At the moment my school shares news by sticking lots of information together as a newsletter, and then emailing it to parents. The parents have to check their emails, download the file, and ensure they have the right software so they can read it. Three steps, three clicks. Works fine, so why change it?

Because internet technologies help us to rethink how we share school news, getting your readers to it with just one click.

Rather than compiling a number of news items into a newsletter on a weekly or fortnightly basis, and sending it as a big lump to parents, each news item could be shared as a separate post on a blog.

It’s instant, it’s bite-size, there’s no file download, and it’s Google searchable.

So how can it be done?

NEXT: What is a blog? And why use blogED?

Comments

Copied from original post

Ian says:

08 Jul 2011 at 01:17 PM
An interesting idea

Audrey Nay says:

09 Jul 2011 at 11:05 AM
Tim, I have been using a blog to highlight school happenings for a while now. Our school has moved to exploring the possibility of having parents subscribe to receive the newsletter, although they can already access a digital copy from the school website page. Your idea encourages me to think differently. We could well be gaining nothing from this endeavour and may be better off creating new ways of thinking about news coming to parents. Why do we need to have a weekly news set-up? In this digital day and age we can share "news" as soon as it happens, and in blog format it is easily searchable whenever the school community wish to access the information, even a year down the track..Thanks for the chance to rethink this! :)cheers

Princess E says:

16 Jul 2011 at 11:18 PM
I love what you have done with your Bloged and it has inspired me to keep going despite some issues I am having with it. It looks professional and visually appealing. Looking forward to the post on bloged. Thanks Tim Kiaora!

1:1 Learning Unconference 2011

Over 21/22 June 2011 the 1:1 Learning Unconference was held in Sydney and promoted to help NSW teachers implement the Digital Education Revolution in their schools. Although interested when I first heard about the event, I dismissed it as too expensive for school funds to cover considering the cost of transport and accommodation. But Ross Woolfe from the Lismore Education Office offered an invite which I was happy to jump at.

An unconference is participant-driven, with pre-event surveys determining what would be presented, and by whom. I was fortunate to be able to present:

• Showcase: Video Conferencing and Moodle
• Micro Learning Session: Painting Animation with Photoshop

The conveners, Ben Jones and Pip Cleaves, demonstrated the use of digital resources during registration and preparation, providing wikispace and cloud documents, sending SMS and emails to encourage and inspire, and encouraging discussion and interaction via twitter, liveblog and flicker.

A huge benefit from this event was the chance to meet some mentors face-to-face, and discuss ideas freely and fluidly. An atmosphere of sharing encompassed the venue, and participants moved between discussions, showcases, and micro learning sessions building new concepts and relationships.

Benefits:

• Pip Cleaves (DERNSW) and others demonstrated presentation format Pecha-Kucha – 20 slides at 20 seconds each
• Paul Ganderton (Sydney Boys High School) showed benefits of using Moodle blogs to encourage students to contribute and collaborate
• Glynis Jones (UTS) described how to use reflective blog to evaluate video conference learning from student viewpoint
• Matthew Kearney (UTS) expressed interest in demonstrating video conference learning with pre-service teachers
• Ben Jones (DERNSW) discussed the use of ePortfolios for scaffolding, aggregating, and archiving project work
• Cathie Howe (Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre) led a discussion with Alice Leung (Merrylands High School) describing the use of narrative and gaming psychology to motivate students (this can be implemented into an online learning environment like Moodle)
• Alisa Williams (Braidwood Central School) showcased Edmodo as a social media for distribution and communication within the classroom

On return to Lismore (via train due to grounded flights) a pecha-kucha outlining the benefits of the unconference was presented to Ross Woolfe. This will also be presented to Kadina High staff on 18-Jul-2011.

Downloads

• 2011 Unconference Pecha-Kucha (ZIP 3.7MB) - Powerpoint including notes
• pk20.gif - animated gif for 20 second countdown

Feasibility of Web-based Data Management Systems

Should time and resources be allocated to investigate the implementation of web-based data management solutions through-out the school site/community?

Nutshell

Presently our educational institution (site) outlays annual license fees to a number of software vendors to use products such as TimeChart, RISC, and ReportCard for administrative data management. These products cannot be directly used on DER devices as application installation is prohibited on these devices.

However, alternative web-based products and services which perform similar functions may reduce annual license fees, and enable staff to access and manage teaching resources and administrative data globally from any web-enabled computer.

View entire report

• View (via Google Docs)
• Download (PDF 472kB)

Backup Regime

Originally posted on 28-Feb-2009 at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/csteachers/message/13472
Reposted here for posterity (and in the event that Yahoo! ...).

<ggeorgoulopoulos@...> wrote:

1. Can someone tell me how far back one can expect to be able to back up from in his or her particular organisation - is it more than a week?
2. Now, can someone tell me of an application that can a) back up students work, in the first case and b) backup up modified files in the second case and, c) create a separate folder/file in the destination with those files that have been modified since the last update

Howdy George et.al.,

1. At Kadina HS we keep an archive of data from end-of-year, stored on external HDD as NTbackup bkf file via Windows Server 2003. This policy has been in place since 2007.
2. Using NTBackup we use scheduled scripts to perform a full-backup of admin/staff and student data each week (over the weekend). The script wipes the external HDD and creates an encrypted (EFS) folder for archiving. Then each week-night (except Fri) a scheduled script will perform an incremental backup (around 6PM).

Each Friday the external HDD is replaced with another (rotating between three). Since we are using incremental backups; we can therefore restore any file to it's state on any day in the last three weeks. The external HDDs are stored off-site at my house (approximately 6 mins from the school). They are encrypted, so there should be no privacy issues if the HDDs are lost or stolen while off-site.

At the end of term a HDD is removed from rotation, and a 4th HDD is introduced which was removed the term before that. So it's possible to restore data from last term.

At the end of year a new HDD is purchased and introduced to the rotation, and the last HDD of the year is removed to permanent archive.

I think George's second question is mainly about using full and incremental backups. NTBackup can do this fine.

Also, for freeware at home I use Cobian Backup 9 which easily sets up scheduled full, incremental, and differential backups in zip and encrypted formats. For the difference between these try wikipedia.

BLURB: While formulating the school's backup policy we did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people. We wanted something that was simple to restore (quickly find data and retrieve), used med- to high-level encryption for privacy (not just a zip password), and easy to maintain (i.e. minimal user interactions). We considered purchasing Symantec Backup Exec but found that it's encryption was too complex to implement. We have been using the above method succesfully, able to meet several requests to restore specific data to a specific date. Of course, all of this may be defunct once the DET introduces eBackPacks for students (and staff?).

Cheers,
Tim Simaile IPT/SDD
Kadina High School NSW

EDIT: At the beginning of 2011 we implemented Windows Server 2008, but I've found their native backup system confusing, and retrieval difficult. So I've resorted back to the latest Cobian. If you use, and you like, please donate and support open-source sofwtare developers.