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Mary/PA - Kathy, for
the record, would you like to tell us how you got started in this ed. Tech
business?
Kathy Schrock - As
a library media specialist in a grades 4-8 school, I realized, once I first
saw the Internet, back in the Gopher days, that I could supply my teachers
and students with resources that they might not have otherwise. Once I
saw Mosaic, and the Cape finally got a dial-up ISP that was not a toll
number, I began to collect Gopher and Web sites. I taught myself HTML,
and it was all uphill from there!
true - Kathy, I'll
be director of a new lab next year, any suggestions on how to run it?
Kathy Schrock - Physical
set-up...all monitors facing outward. Try to get teachers to come in with
the students and work on projects directly connected to the curriculum.
Know the subject standards for all the content areas, and then infuse the
lessons with the NETS. http://cnets.iste.org/
Work with your library media specialist closely, since he/she already is
an information specialist.
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- Is learning HTML a waste of time with all the programs available? I have
insisted that my students learn some html so they know what they are looking
at.
Kathy Schrock - I
thought I was the only one who still insisted that it is important! :-)
I use the analogy that you do not have to know how the engine works to
drive your car, but it helps if it breaks down! Seriously, to interpret
code put together by Composer, HomePage, FrontPage, one needs to know how
to read it.
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- thank you, we are in partnership in learning strategies
Kathy Schrock - It
is also very important that teachers and students realize that they need
to design for the lowest common denominator (like WebTV) to bridge the
digital divide between the have and have-nots.
Mr.C - Kathy, you
have tremendous resources, I have quite a few as well, Teacher's Net is
an excellent forum for collaboration, as is Tapped In MUVE, and dozens
of other sites. Do you see a way to coordinate all these resources coming?
Do you think there will be some sort of centralization of communication,
or will we remain anarchically webbed?
Kathy Schrock - Interesting
questions-- with all the commercial acquisitions happening (my site included),
I doubt if we will ever be all in one place. I think that would be a very
neat thing, though-- to have the a resource site, a collaboration site,
a project site, and a tools site all in one place. The server it would
need to run on would probably make it be a subscription site, though...that's
usually the sticky part.
Kathy Schrock - I
think it would be a great thing if there was such a package-- a one-stop
shop-- for teachers including an exemplary resource site :-) a project
site, a MOO/MUD collaboration site, etc. However, the server would have
to be a big one!
Tony/CA - Mr. C -
check out the book "The Cluetrain Manifesto" - you'd be interested in the
discussion about the decentralization effect of the Web and the role of
communication and networking in the Internet-age.
Mary/PA - Two and a half years ago, Kathy moved from library media specialist to district technology coordinator, which has given her the chance to design professional development workshops that help teachers better understand the new medium. She also speaks at major conferences and has published books and articles.
eimmik - Kathy, our
district is just now implementing a district tech coordinator. Any suggestions
for a district just starting out with this? We don't want to get in over
our heads the first year.
Kathy Schrock - I
am the tech coordinator, and someone who is always over their head. Between
designing networks, training teachers, taking care of computer maintenance,
dealing with vendors, filing for E-rate, and meeting the state standards,
as well as making sure we are producing information and technologically
literate students, there is barely time to do any of it well...
Kathy Schrock - I
would suggest that you first have the Tech person spend a lot of time in
the schools, figuring out what is there, and then convene a group to design
the ideal setting for everything, and then work backwards depending on
budget.
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- By subscription site do you mean the library access sites like ProQuest
that allow you to download journal articles?
Kathy Schrock - No,
I meant more of a site that would be subscription based for quality content,
such as Scholastic used to be. I am not a proponent of subscription sites,
but I realize how much money it costs to maintain a stable infrastructure
for people to visit.
Tony/CA - There are
alternatives to charging teachers subscription fees - Teachers.Net is among
those in the free, open-access domain. We will certainly try to add resources
to facilitate teacher access and online tools...
Kathy Schrock - I
am all for advertising-based sites. I was just conjecturing..
Mary/PA - Beginner's Handbook: Developing Web Pages for School and Classroom, by Susan Hixson and Kathleen Schrock http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576901955/o/teachersnet/and http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/books2.html
true - Kathy - What
kind of training should a technology coordinator have for network maintenance?
Kathy Schrock - It
depends on the District. We have 8 schools, 1100 computers, and run Novell,
NT, and our own Web and mail server. I am not a certified Novell or NT
engineer, and I have to call in vendors who are when major problems occur.
However, those are few and far between. The Tech Coordinator should know
enough to be able to identify the problem, isolate it, and be able to speak
intelligently to a vendor who comes to do repair.
Mary/PA - Tonight's meeting is being sponsored by Mathgoodies.com - http://www.mathgoodies.com
Mary/PA - Kathy, do
you have any tricks to offer for those of us who are trying to get the
reluctant members of our faculties to use the technology that is available
to them?
Kathy Schrock - I
try to show them something of interest to them, which may not even be school-related.
Many teachers in our district become e-mail proficient when their children
go to college. Many teachers learn how to upload pictures to Zing when
it is pictures from the digital camera of the staff picnic. It is then
an easy jump to the use of it to support instruction. I have found that
even by offering all the great things they can do, if they are not ready,
nothing will happen. It also helps if they have access to technology in
non-school times.
Tony/CA - You're
right on, Kathy, pointing out that if they are not ready, nothing will
happen. When I was a technology integration consultant to a school district
in Santa Monica, we certainly experienced both extremes - teachers who
couldn't be stopped (they were so excited to learn new things) and those
teachers who wouldn't touch the computers...
dd - I will be moving
into a new system soon and going from 7 computers in my classroom to one.
Any suggestions on how I could get grant money to get more computers for
classroom? The lab is scheduled for classes and students only get six weeks
of instruction...that would cramp my style.
Kathy Schrock - I
am currently investigating a new product that is only for the education
market right now. It is a network computer, a thin client, running Linux
and Netscape and StarOffice, equivalent to a 266 with 64mb RAM, sound,
USB, serial, parallel, monitor, network card, and modem..all for $345...I
know that our state has grants for innovative products...and this one sounds
like a winner!
Bob R/CA - Kathy,
what recommendations, resources, websites might you have for districts
concerned with student access (acceptable use policies, etc.)
Kathy Schrock - First
the Internet use permission letter to ask permission to use other's work.
http://www.landmark-project.com/permission.html
Kathy Schrock - And
a great AUP handbook http://www.pen.k12.va.us/go/VDOE/Technology/AUP/home.shtml
dd - We have a state
site linked to our state board and teachers post lesson plans and can get
$$$$ for being plan evaluators...called LearnNC.
Kathy Schrock - I
love everything that comes out of NC. I use the computer skills and information
skills curriculums often!
Mary/PA - Kathy, are
you involved in videoconferencing?
Kathy Schrock - I
present via PictureTel/Vtel often, but we do not have the ISDN lines (only
T1's) in our district.
Laura - Kathy, in
your district, do you have computer labs or do you have multiple computers
in each classroom?
Kathy Schrock - We
have a mixture in the 8 schools. All classrooms have 6 high-speed drops
but usually only two computers. That's why the NIC is going to be a big
thing if it comes through as promised.
born2bwild - Our district
has a pilot program in which a few of us have laptops and projectors. We
are hoping to expand this pilot and wow a local foundation in order for
them to give us funding for students to lease their own laptops. What can
I do in 2- 3 weeks with 30 laptops to "wow" this foundation?
Kathy Schrock - I
think the foundation will be wowed by a hypermedia presentation of some
sort that targets the local history in the area or another cause that the
foundation is interested in. Some project that they can use to help "sell"
their foundation, too. Does that make sense?
dd - What about a
project similar to Looney Lobster born2bwild?
born2bwild - what
is Looney Lobster... I teach 7th grade LA and SS
dd - It is a social
studies project crosscountry...students maintain email with other schools
as lobster travels from state to state...don't have site, but its a Boston
school site and should be easy to find in any search engine...
Bob R/CA - What are
the most interesting or promising ways you've seen of integrating the student's
computers at home with the teacher's curriculum. How can the home computer
get the parent more involved with the student's work without the school
getting too bogged down in the different technologies?
Kathy Schrock - I
have found that most students can save as HTML, and we have them do that
and save to PC disks. All computers usually have a browser. For sharing
with home, we use eboard.com
Bob R/CA - can you
tell us about eboard?
Kathy Schrock - It
is a simple interface that looks similar to a corkboard with yellow stickies.
You can add text, hyperlinks, pictures, and even solicit input from parents.
It is a very non-threatening communication tool.
Bob R/CA - is that
proprietary Kathy, or freeware?
Kathy Schrock - eboard
is a web-based tool...free
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- is this the place? http://www.eboard.com/home.html
Mr.C - chiming in
with another possibility for teacher/parent/student collaboration: http://www.thinkwave.com
...allows teachers to post lessons, grades, etc. online, and also send
reports to parents and students, and also receive email from them. It's
also a gradebook, classroom management tool, and free.
jtck/K1/WA - Why
would you use something like thinkwave if your school has a website?
Mr.C - thinkwave
allows the teacher to post grades for all the individual students, and
collaborate with parents and students. Having a school website doesn't
give you this control or access.
Bob R/CA - I think
a lot of schools have "websites" without interactive content - that's the
tough part
Kathy Schrock - The
collaboration tools sites are set-up and maintained by individual teachers
who may not have FTP access to their school's server.
jtck/K1/WA - It seems
that K/1 educators are stuck in the "familiarizing" loop, and maybe some
"cute" projects. What would you do to really make tech meaningful for early
primary kids?
Kathy Schrock - This
site has lots of good integration ideas http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/littlekids/literacy_inst_connections.htm
Laura - We use Kid
Pix, HyperStudio, AppleWorks...do you recommend any other application software
for K-6 teachers to use?
Kathy Schrock - Inspiration
(http://www.inspiration.com)is
a great tool for all types of purposes, as we were just saying. Roger Wagner's
Site Central (http://www.sitecentral.com)
also allows teachers and students to easily create web pages for local
use.
Bob R/CA - Kathy,
if a school is considering creating a network for the students and for
net access, perhaps serving websites, which hardware and software systems
would you suggest for them? e.g. PC's, Apples, and Windows vs Apple vs
Linux etc.
Kathy Schrock - I
can only suggest what we have had luck with. Custom-built PC's in the classroom,
name-brand hubs and switches, Dell servers, Ascend routers.
Bob R/CA - so you
suggest windows networks?
Kathy Schrock - Networking
software standard would be NT at this stage in the game. Try not to run
anything else on top of it like the Lotus products. Do everything via TCP/IP
if you can. Appletalk sucks bandwidth big time and is not effective unless
carefully managed.
Mr.C - You also might
trying to hire a consulting firm to help you with those decisions. To help
you decide upon a firm, MS has a site that lists consultants in your area:
http://mcspreferral.microsoft.com/default.asp
Mr.C - I'd also like
everybody to flash either their homepage (or bookmarks page). Mine is:
http://www.mybookmarks.com/public/coops
Mary/PA - Kathy, thank
you so much for being here tonight, we really appreciate it.
Kathy Schrock - You
are very welcome. If there are any further questions (or comments!) drop
me a line at kathy@kathyschrock.net
Tony/CA - Kathy,
thank you very much. You've provided some healthy information here, and
we will all benefit from the archives.
dd - Wow...thanks
Kathy...have visited your site for years....recommend it often....admire
your work!!! I feel like I have chatted with a celebrity!
Kathy Schrock - Thanks
muchly, dd. I am actually most proud of the mail that I receive from teachers
as they share their growth in the areas of technology. They all feel like
they know me, and that is a really great feeling to have so many "friends"
and supporters!
Tony/CA - IMHO, the
best consultants will be the pioneering teachers in your schools. Keep
talking to each other.
Bob R/CA - Kathy,
your website is certainly one of the most talked about in education :o)
Bob R/CA - Kathy
thanks so much for being here tonight - the time flew by! I hope you will
return again in the future and treat us to more of your wisdom and ideas
:o)
Mary/PA - Kathy has
done an excellent job this evening
Mary/PA - Thanks
again, Kathy
Kathy Schrock - Night!