Nine months. Wow. I haven’t posted on this blog in 9 months. Shame on me! Why haven’t I posted on here for nine months? Twitter? Facebook? Google+? Too busy? Nothing to post? I guess you could say yes to many of those reason. However, it is still no excuse. Should I take down this blog? Maybe. Or should I start posting regularly? I don’t want to post something because I feel like I have to. I want to post because I think I have something relevant to say.

It is 2:44pm and I am home from the SCOCA Conference. It was held at Deer Creek State Park Lodge and Conference Center on November 30th and December 1st. I attended some very good sessions and I can’t wait to begin using some of the ideas and tools I have learned. Some of the tools I can’t wait to begin using are DNS Management, SPAM filtering delegation and GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar. Our ITC is delegating DNS and SPAM filtering to the tech coordinators. This way, we do not have to put in a helpdesk ticket and can make changes without having to wait on someone.  I went to a session on the past, present and future of DASL. One thing I learned is that the name will change, probably at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year. The name will be ProgressBook Student Information and will be part of the ProgressBook Suite. I attended a session on Drobo. I have heard of Drobo before and I know of people that use them. I had not considered using a Drobo in our datacenter until now. I may look at the B800i for use at our high school/junior high school.

I can’t wait to try out GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. I have a meeting on December 13th. I hope to have an account by then so we can try it out. It would save me 2 hours of driving.

No…I am not talking about the machines that you put money in hoping to get more money. I am talking about the people that drive around holding their mobile phone in one hand while steering a 2000 pound block of steel with the other hand. Do they know how dangerous they are to not only themselves, but to other innocent people?

I don’t know what made me think to count cars, but I sat at a traffic light in Lancaster, OH for about 2 minutes and noticed many people driving through the intersection while talking on their mobile phone. It was 6pm, so most people were probably headed home. I understand that there are times where you have to make sure your kids are safe at home, make dinner plans or see if you need to pickup anything from the store. Could you sit in the parking lot and make these calls, or do you have to endanger the safety of others because you want to get home sooner?

I received a car kit for Christmas to use with my mobile phone. It mounts to the dash or windshield and has a micro USB port to charge the phone. There is a hook to run a cable for sound. I use an Android phone, which has a car dock mode. When I place the phone in the dock, it senses that it is in the dock and automatically opens the car dock application. With this application, there are big buttons where I can play music, bring up the navigation application or open Listen, my podcast application. If I receive a phone call while driving, I can hit the big answer button to take the call. The caller’s voice is played through the speaker. Since the phone is about 18 inches from my face, all I need to do is speak loudly. Most people do not know I am driving while, unless I mention that I am driving and would to keep the conversation to a minimum.

Recently, I learned of an application that can read emails and text messages while driving. The application I am using is DriveSafe.ly. I am using the free version, which reads the message that I can hear through the speakers. If I have music or a podcast playing, it mutes that sound to read the message to me. I have the app set to automatically reply with, “I heard your message read out loud for free by www.DriveSafe.ly.” I don’t have email setup, due to the fact that I would need to upgrade to the full version. I don’t feel the need to have emails read to me while driving. I consider my car an escape from email while I am driving. Most people expect an immediate response from a text message. Email does not have that expectation. I have considered upgrading to the full version, so I can reply to text messages by voice commands. It is only $13.95 for the full version.

The state of Ohio is considering a texting ban while driving. Some municipalities have already passed laws forbidding the practice, but the legislation I have seen would make it a primary offense (could be pulled over just for texting and not breaking another law). I think they should pass a ban on “distracted driving”. I have seen women putting on makeup, people reading a newspaper or book and even saw someone changing clothes while driving.

What is your opinion? Should we have a ban on texting or distracted driving?

Photo: brad on phone (with kim) http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickerbulb/141604133/

Chris Judd
Judd Solutions
Presentation will be on etech website
University System of Ohio app
Www.etech.Ohio.gov/appcontest
For Android or iPhone
A lot of flexibility in Android
Versatility in input: multi-touch, virtual keyboards, speech
Devices are location aware.
Accelerometer/gyroscope in Android devices
Devices have cameras/video cameras.
3 types of development: sdk, browser (webkit), app inventor (cannot deploy to marketplace)
Android sdk: free, open source
Eclipse IDE: recommend using, java-based, free
Android Development Tool (ADT): Eclipse plugin
Android SDK: emulator, platforms, samples
Get started: java development kit, eclipse, sdk, ADT eclipse plugin, android platforms, configure android virtual device
Android platforms: named after desserts, what minimum platform are you targeting. Target 2.1 and above. Need to download platforms.
Configure android virtual devices
Emulator built-in. Can deploy to a device to test.
Android Architecture chart posted in presentation.
Android sits on a Linux kernel.
Mywebbrowser app demonstration
Create project is the first step
Package name is reverse domain name with app name
Minimum version: use 7
GUI builder: recommend not using
Use layouts to lay stuff out instead of pixels
Android manifest file: minimum version code, access privileges.
Can deploy to android marketplace, email, www, create own marketplace.
Need to register with android marketplace for $25
Add analytics: android market place, analytic companies. Flurry is one company.
Resources: android in action book

Http://Developer.android.com

Slides are available at http://www.juddsolutions.com
Blog: http://juddsolutions.blogspot.com
Twitter: javajudd

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Location:D131

What devices are available today?
Amazon Kindle: $139. 3G models may violate CIPA? Reading on it is top notch. Main use is reading books. All Kindles have an email address.
iPod Touch: demonstrated a video shot on an iPod touch and edited in iMovie.
Don’t let onscreen keyboards scare you.
iPad: Ryan thinks the iPod touch is a better buy due to the resolution.
With netbooks, laptops, there is a barrier between the student and teacher.
Nook: runs Android
eBooks: come in different formats
PDF files are cumbersome on the Kindle.
Calibre: lets you covert ebooks to different formats.
Management: none of the devices are designed to be used by multiple users.
What are your needs? Reading? Get a Kindle.
Don’t buy an iPad because everyone else has one.

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Location:D213-215

Have Executive Buy-in
Private sector spends 3-5 percent of budget on DR.
Form an overall District DR team
Develop a Business Impact Analysis (a survey)
Think of all of the documents that you have.
I need “this” back “when”?
Develop Team Structure
Need a damage assessment team.
Contact Information: school district staff, vendors, ITC.
Off-site storage contacts
Disaster Command Center: where DR teams will need if district is disabled.
Assess your current environment: hardware/software/network/physical layouts/network communications/backup procedures/personnel skills inventory
Recovery Environment: off-site storage retrieval, restorations, network connectivity restorations
Recovery implementation: notification, damage assessment, disaster decision, prepare recovery site, install/test
Plan maintenance: scheduled, change of environment, exercise
Do a structured walkthrough
Plan distribution: watch who you give it to.
Need education and training
Use your ITC: may offer services. Could house your plan.
Communication: how do you communicate to the public?
Facility: lab facilities for staff, printers, meeting rooms for command and control
ITC Planning: leverage existing relationships, ITC DR processes, assistance in developing/maintaining a plan.
Disaster Recovery Journal at http://www.drj.com
ITC’s have templates
Hire a consultant
Any plan is better than no plan.

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Location:D132

BETA survey coming in March.
Who is your disaster recovery plan geared toward?
What was your experience with your disaster and how prepared you were?
You do a disaster recovery plan so that you don’t have to use it.
What proactive measures have you taken to anticipate any new scenarios?
Make sure your inventory is up to date. Redundancy is the key. Need to map and document your infrastructure.
Check out the unknowns. Do doors open when the power goes out?
Took 24 months to settle tech insurance claim for Shelby Schools.
Communication is the key part of creating a Disaster Recovery Plan.
Check your insurance. Make sure your are not unserinsured.
What implementation plans have you recreated? How often do you go back to your plan? How does it impact your organizational structure? How does this impact your district policy? What partnerships have you initiated?
Any kind of a plan is better than no plan at all.
Find someone you can partner with in the event of a disaster.
You need to prioritize.

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Location:D132

Barberton Schools uses teaming.
Four teachers in charge of 90 students.
1200 students
Received first round ARRA grant.
One to one with netbooks provided by the grant.
Hosted by GoDaddy.
Intentions: College style online classroom, Possible Honors Challenge
Realization: Honors Challenge won’t work. Student access is a problem. Initial setup. No laptops and learning curve.
Some students do not have basic tech skills (turning on the laptop).
How Barberton uses Moodle: post assignments, turn in assignments, discussion forum, teacher feedback, weekly schedule, testing.
In the future, grades from quizzes will be uploaded to ProgressBook.
Problems: submitting in wrong places, naming files, creating and saving files to our h drive, discussions getting off track.
A lot of students lack tech skills, such as naming files, using save as.
Have wireless infrastructure in place.
Successes: paperless, work anytime/anyplace, no excuses, student accountability for work and study habits, student and teacher organization.
Going one to one increased student ownership.
Students have the responsibility to make sure it gets charged. They need to plug it into the cart properly.
Students are personalizing their netbooks.
Team teachers meet everyday for intervention/planning.

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Location:D224

Http://eduk8.me/nrMMMm

The 4 C’s. Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking
The dark side…is it stronger? No no no..quicker..easier…more seductive.
Tech used incorrectly: interactive whiteboards. Data driven decisions, Google Docs
Google Docs: using self-grading quizzes.
Using technology as a motivator: search for Dan Pink tech talk
How do you motivate in the 21st century? Autonomy: Hire good people and let them do their job. Mastery: once you know something, you want to show everyone you know it. Purpose: if there is no purpose, you will not get good results.
Killing creativity: creativity is as important as literacy.
How can we improve learning? Project-based learning
Showed Project-based learning Common Craft video.
Resistance to technology has faded.

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Location:D230-232 Ryan Collins

Delicious.com/jschinker/oetc11

Need to have more students like r2d2.
Will focus on communication and collaboration.
John uses Skype regularly.
Skype in the Classroom. Create a profile to be paired up with teachers doing the same things.
Around the world in 80 schools blog project.
YouthVOICES blog was referenced.
Flat Classroom project was referenced.
Need to get teachers to do more innovative things.
Everyone is driven by fear.
Filtering: some schools are using filtering as a management tool.
Schools are creating “walled gardens”.
Policy: written by attorneys.
John’s district uses Google Apps for Education, Moodle and WordPress.
John automates a lot of the mundane tasks so he can concentrate on other things.

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Location:D230-232

Delicious.com/atrusty/21stCenturySkills
All three sessions were put together with Skype.
Move from the three R’s to the four C’s.
Sir Ken Robinson books were referenced.
Hint Fiction: books that are 25 words or less.
Showed a video of Star Wars through the eyes of a three year old.
Love the Droid Goggles Alvin was wearing.
Within the next 10 years, cell phones will be able to translate voice on the fly.
Give students a PowerPoint with only text and have them add pictures.
Five Card Flickr: tell a story using 5 pictures.
Digital Picture Project: take a picture everyday.
Podcasts have taught Alvin a lot in the last 5 years.
Name that tag picture game

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Location:D230-232 Alvin Trusty