Monday, June 8, 2015

Technology Facilitator Meeting June 2015 (last one?)


Kevin Sherrill/Support model for next year

  • Middle and High Schools are grouped in numbers of three or four depending on the size and need
  • Technology is hiring five more technicians to rotate through the Middle and High schools
  • Elementary model that was in place this year will continue as of now
  • The MS/HS technicians will have 12-16 hours of dedicated tech time every week at each Middle and High School
  • Up to the principal on how they use a part time certified instructional position allocated HS:  .5 / MS .4
  • The ideal model would be having a half time or full time instructional technology person at each school
  • Who directs the person? 
    • Work flow will come via "work orders/school dude tickets which must come from teachers
    • Kevin also sees the technician working closely with the instructional technology person (assuming there is one)
  • Technology will be communicating heavily with teachers and principals to use work order system
  • He wants these technicians to have "relationships" with teachers

Tracy from Wiley:  Will rights remain for resetting accounts and other tech facilitator rights for those who move to this instructional position?

  • Yes, and resetting account rights will also go  to Media Coordinators
  • But Kevin doesn't want those folks to have to be repairing hardware

Starting July 1, the new technicians will be starting in the schools/Carla Miller

  • They can re-image the labs
  • Work on Classroom Solutions

Will technology meetings continue?

  • A concern people had was how will communication happen in the schools to "calm people down" when issues arise without a point person at the school?  Were not sure how to answer this but some form of communication may continue to a "point person"
  • May partner with Heather and their folks and have monthly meetings of some sort with the folks who take the instructional technology spots

Will this model for MS/HS move down to elementary as well?  Maybe

  • A lot of people at elementary are not certified and they would need a year’s notice.

What about Testing, and the demands on a tech support person in the schools during that time?

  • Kevin said perhaps he was not as in touch with the testing as much as he should be
  • People like Sandy Holt mentioned preparing laptops will into the evening on the nights before testing and all the coordination that goes along with that
  • For one there will be a .5 Classified Testing hiree in the Middle Schools and a full time person in the high schools to assist
  • Other issues with testing:
    • Batteries dying left and right during testing
    • Kevin will provide technical support for testing.
    • They are working on the plan for testing for next year

RUP document for next year? 

  • Only incoming students

School groupings/Carla Miller

  • Technicians will rotate through three to four schools:  two weeks of 12 hours and third week you get 16 hours
  • They do work 12 months so there's that too
  • When a technicians is absent:  do have floaters who will come into the schools
    • Floaters: Evan Herreid, Jeff Taylor and Carla Miller
  • They need for us to communicate as well to Carla

Space for roving technicians?

  • Please discuss with your principal for a designated place for them to work.
  • They are looking also to create a parts runner
  • But also look at a lockable free standing cabinet of some sort?

Chris Corbin/IPADS

  • Continuing to work with air watch—believe the cause is the fact we bought ten thousand licenses and once they hit the four thousand—their environment is not equipped to deal with that many
  • Air-watch suggested we move to an "on premises" environment
  • Have to do a re-enrollment of devices
    • Air watch is pledging help
  • Teacher i-pads can just do a re-enrollment
  • Student shared i-pads need a full reset
  • Chris sent a second email out asking what location they will be in this summer?
  • At each school that they go to this summer, they will have an office person count I-pads to verify before and after air watch comes in to the schools
  • Also Technology is working with a third party company—to set up on premises environment—something called “mobile mind”
  • At this point they are waiting on a database server to arrive and then will start hitting the school (moving very fast)—will try and give a heads up-- with a three day range
  • Should only have to do a full reset on student iPad

Profile Sweeps?  Didn't seem to work on many machines

  • Womac helper in c\windows did not recognize the new student profiles
  • They will do a Womac helper update to be able to target new student id’s

IAM Cloud Accounts:

  • Communication is happening via Theo Helm
  • There is a one sheet brochure explaining what the im service is
  • Student campaign is starting at the beginning of next year—first or second week of September, but basically teachers will need to:

1.Surf to my.ncedcloud.org and set up your account.
2 .Note that your “Staff UID” is the same numeric user ID that you use for logging into PowerTeacher and PowerSchool.
3 .Students will be requested to follow this same procedure (they will have different and age-appropriate challenge questions).
4 .Starting July 6th, 2015 my.ncedcloud.org is the sole method for logging into Home Base software (PowerSchool, PowerTeacher, Schoolnet, NCEES, etc.)

●Required to answer at least 5 of the 10 challenge questions. In the future this will allow you to reset your own password!
How do you claim your account? Go to https://my.ncedcloud.org and click "Claim my account," then click "LEA Employee Claim Policy," then click next. On the next screen, our LEA/Charter Code is 340, and your Staff UID is the same numeric user ID that you use for logging into PowerTeacher and PowerSchool.

Still have questions? Check these resources:

Testing Issues:

  • Dana Wright's counterpart at the state—said the problems we were seeing during testing of students getting repeatedly kicked out was a Winston-Salem problem
  • But in talking with other districts apparently many other people were seeing the issues
  • One problem may have been the students clicking on the edge of the screen and getting locked out
  • Tutorial does not address the clicking outside the test nor the issue with the highlighter
  • There were also issues with sound stopping after a certain point.  Function keys can’t be used to control sound since  it will  kick them out.

Active Directory and Policies changes will be updated and changed:

  • They are getting away from lab/laptop etc. containers
  • All computers/devices will be  in one container next year
  • They will also be removing some restrictions on students and teachers
    • Should hopefully make login times improved

AMTR: (Annual Media and Technology Report)

  • They have a list of schools completed
  • Make sure you are working in the new AMTR.
  • E-mail Joan if questions
  • Apparently the technicians will do AMTR next year?

XP machines have to get gone:

  • Kevin trying to secure funds to help with that
  • The hot fix for the long startup/login times can be pushed out again if we request
  • Justin is working on the new images and hot fix will be in there so if you re-image machines thi summer than you should not run into that problem
  • Emory does not like desktop labs prefers mobile
  • They will Do a second inventory of old machines too. (not just XP)
  • But immediate need is to get rid of XP
  • What about leased devices?
  • There may be 3 million dollars for next year?
  • Kevin likes the idea of chrome books—could get roughly 10-12 thousand (@$250.00 a pop)
  • Another 4-5 thousand ipads?
  • Need to get our mind around personalized learning with collaborative groups and mobile devices
  • Should be funding to refresh at every school
  • Durability of chrome books?
  • What about the Lenovo n-21?  http://www.lenovopartnernetwork.com/products/lenovo-n21



Containers in MMC for subs?  Can school personnel reset sub accounts—Chris will look at that.

Learning Management System for next year/Haiku: https://www.haikulearning.com/

  • All teachers will have accounts with the district
  • Goals for Next Year:
    • Will start as an Instructional resource and a way for schools to communicate
    • Setup PLT teacher collaborate sites
    • Will eventually transition to build sites for students
    • Anna at Forest Park is piloting it
    • Possibly student/teacher interaction the following year.
    • Then In the future parents would have access (maybe two years down the road)

Google ambassador program

  • Idea is to build teacher leaders who are experts with the google products
  • They have a similar plan for Haiku
  • Adam/Brittany and Marty have been heading it up the spring training for the co-horts is about finished

Good of the Order:

  • Still some confusion over Stipends (survey wording confused some people) 
    • Criteria for spring was only for people doing tech work above and beyond your regular job. 
    • Kevin's survey was on the honor system—if you are given extra time (planning time) then you should not get a stipend
  • Learn 360 is definitely going away next year—working on you tube for everyone
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Monday, May 18, 2015

Maker Space Comes to SEMS




Recently, Southeast Middle School and University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG)  have joined forces to create a "Maker Space" that will allow our kids innovate, imagine and learn as they create things that help reinforce the curriculum.  UNCG has awarded the WSFCS district a grant and SEMS and Kernersville are the lucky recipients!   As we venture into this endeavor, members of our Southeast Middle School staff visited the maker space at UNCG so we could start the process of creating our own makerspace at Southeast.  

The next step is to determine what our maker-space will look like and what types of equipment will we purchase to be part of the space.  UNCG will give us several thousand dollars and provide us with resources to help us select items.  

Lisa Turner and John Downs met in small groups on Friday May 15th to debrief from the makerspace visit and the following are some of the points of discussion.  We met with the following teachers:

Jennifer Martin, 8th Grade Science
Mathew Halverstadt, 8th Grade Social Studies
Patricia Phillips, 6th Grade Language Arts
Jennifer Gustin, Physical Education and Health
Denise Stephenson, Foreign Language - Spanish
Cynthia Hatch, Career and Technical Education
Karie Frauenhoffer, 7th Grade Language Arts
Molly Carter, 8th grade Language Arts

Location of Maker Space:

  • 502?  Place John Downs could help facilitate students in "pullout" groups
  • Media Center? items could be on check out--we could use exisiting carts and check out components
    • Side room in the media center be equipped with shelves and that space be used?
  • Gustin mentioned the possibility of using the Study skills room as a location for a maker-space?  Especially since there is no set curriculum and students could have some leeway.
  • Hatch would be a good person to pilot possibly?

Items for the Maker Space:


   
 
  

  • Tubs would be important for keeping stuff organized
  • Little Bits--Currently there is an educator discount of 15%.  Everyone spoke positively about them,  and felt they would be a good item to purchase
    • We are hoping to hear that UNCG might get an additional grant to allow us to receive a number of these little bit kits kits
  • Most thought the 3 D printer might need more investigation before we consider purchasing it.  Concerns were about the cost of a decent one, and the cost to replace supplies.  Also a concern is how applicable it will be for curriculum. 
    • If a 3-d printer were purchased, Lisa volunteered to "house it" in the media center in a secure location  
  • Headphones; http://www.demco.com/goto?blk960
    • personal ear buds on student supply list?
  • More Plastic stands like the media center has now on top of shelves to display QR codes or book talk interactive  displays
  • IPADS:  Will UNCG be supplying any ? Or do we need to spend our pot of money for the makerspace on these?  Most agreed that ipads would definitely be something we would want to purchase.
    • many apps for ipad for Science and Social Studies
  • Otter box for the ipads
  • Scratch software:  We have access to install this already with WSFCS approved and free software
  • Focus on items that are not as "consumable" in favor of more permanant things.  Possibly find donors to provide consumable items?
  • Carts?  Lisa feels like we probably have enough in house carts that we can use.
  • leggos:  can we get some donated?

What type of student groups will participate in the maker space?

  •  What about AG kids?  They never seem to be rewarded for doing their work?  Would it be good to let groups of AG students create things in the maker space?

    • Possibly use the maker-space as team incentive occasionally ?

    • What about using the maker-space as a  behavior incentive for students with behavior or academic issues? 

     

Those interested in the UNCG coursework:

  • Karie Frauenhoffer in interested in the summer camp and coursework
    • Possibly interested?  Molly Carter and Patricia Phillips
  • interested in possibly seeing the camp in action:  Downs/Hatch/Martin/Turner
    • We thought space in the small setting could be an issue at UNCG

Overall Questions/concerns:

  • Is the investment in these projects worth it?
  • Could we have access to a grad assistant to come out at times? 
  • Would it be worth the time to do something like the word box when it is just to learn vocabulary?

Resources:








Sage Washington:  sawashi4@uncg.edu

Marion, Kimberly L klmarion@wsfcs.k12.nc.us
Program Manager, Magnet Schools & STEM Programs
W-S Chamber of Commerce STEM Committee Chair
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools
Michael C. Renne
Instructional Technology Consultant
School of Education
University of North Carolina - Greensboro
www.mikerenne.com
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Friday, May 1, 2015

Technology taking a step backwards

I digress from my regular technology meeting minute notes in this blog to highlight an important change happening in Winston-Salem Schools.

 At Thursday's (4/30) Technology Facilitator's meeting, Kevin Sherrill, our assistant superintendent for technology announced that he would be talking to principals on Tuesday, May 5th about the future of the technology facilitator position. Kevin was not able to relay the message to us yet, but it was clear that the program started in elementary schools this year was going to move into the much larger Middle and High Schools for next year.  

 In elementary schools a classified position was created that was supposed to serve as a half time testing coordinator and half time technology facilitator.  From the comments made by elementary folks at the meeting, that position is clearly not working as it was intended.

The Problem:  Robbing Peter to Pay Paul



A problem was identified in the school district a couple of years ago.  With all the state mandated testing and the new common core testing, curriculum coordinators were spending upwards of 80% of their time doing testing and not providing adequate curriculum support to teachers.  The proposed solution was to create a full-time classified (employee who is paid hourly and not certified) to do half time testing and half time technology support. This was a great idea for the curriculum coordinators who are definitely needed to provide instructional support to teachers, but a bad idea for technology support.

Why is a new position going to make a mess for technology?




 The short answer is:  "how can we say a position will be 50% testing and 50% technology support if the problem was that curriculum coordinators were spending 80% of their time doing testing?"  The numbers don't add up!  If testing was said to be taking 80% of the curriculum job, that will only leave ~20% of the time for technology support, not 50/50 as advertised.

 And the reports from elementary schools this year back-up this assertion.  Reports are that the new position people are spending most of their time doing testing and little time providing technology support. We heard several people at our meeting speak up and attest to this situation at the elementary schools. 

 The problem will likely be even more pronounced at the larger Middle And High schools for next year if the plan continues as is. Prior to this new situation, many Middle and High Schools had already identified technology support as a basic need for teachers and students.  These are schools with well over a 1000 students and often thousands of devices--computers, laptops, tablets, I-pads and other technology equipment.  The need is for an on-site technical and instructional technology support person to maintain that equipment but also provide instructional support to assist teachers and students in using the technology tools.  

 What many of those large Middle and High schools did was use money that was allocated through special funds from the district called Theme Money and the schools used that money to support the full time technology position that was clearly needed.  It's the Theme Money that is being taken away (robbed from Peter) to pay for this new classified testing/technology position (to pay Paul)

What will be some of the  Effects of this change?

An example is Southeast Middle School where I am a full-time certified technology facilitator with a Master's Degree in instructional technology.  I could take the ( half time but in reality almost full-time) testing job.  But, I would no longer be able to provide the daily, on-site and timely help to over 75 teachers and over 1200 students as I do now.  

 The following are some example from just today:  A students' laptop in a class stopped working and I was able to assist them in getting it back online and working;  several students got locked out of their accounts and I unlocked them and they are able to get back to work right away;  a teacher wanted help with a new technology tool and I spent time helping them learn the new tool during their planning;  a classroom TV would not connect with the electronic device in the classroom (students were all waiting for it to display on the screen)  I assisted them and get the class back on track, A student can't print to a network printer and comes for help...the list goes on and on.  These are the types of daily problems that won't get addressed without an on-site person dedicated to the technology. 

 Another effect is a loss of experience and expertise.  I have been a full-time technology facilitator now for 14 years.  I know the equipment, I know the tech tools, I know the teachers and students and the needs they have.  With that in mind, another option for me would be to go back and teach science in a regular classroom. In that scenario, I will spend my time learning a new curriculum and all that goes along with the responsibility of a classroom teacher.  The school looses that experience and expertise of many years of accumulated knowledge to an hourly employee who is less likely to have that invested interest in the profession and  less likely to go the extra mile.

Why has this happened?

The main reason is the trickle down effect of the continued lack of financial support from the state of North Carolina.  Year after year, budget cuts have cut into the daily operations of the schools.  It's getting down to bare bones now, and something has to give. In this case, the testing was chosen over technology support as the priority.  Is this what we really want for our students?

Back to my regularly scheduled meeting minute notes:

Tech Meeting April 30, 2015


Kevin Sherrill:

  • Next meeting, June 4th?
  • Stipend plan--Same as discussed before--only Tech Facilitators who do not have freed up time will get the stipend
  • Status of Middle and High School Tech Facilitators--Principals will be told on Tuesday --you can talk to your principals afterwards
  • Not everyone got a survey
  • Testing a full-time job?

AMTR & Joan Proffitt


  • NCID:  submit a ticket if you need an NCID id
  • Old vs new AMTR
  • Difference are notable:
    • Ticket is needed for activation of NCID
    • question 101—Pentium 4 and above—when Pentium is a “letter” instead of a “number”, it is  considered higher than IV
    • question 102 – last year Pentium 4 and below --Old think centers are 4 –102
    • question 109—now its Netbooks,  ipads, etc.
    • Audio-visuals are gone
    • Software is gone
    • Full solution questions are gone!
    • Make sure principals sign off on AMTR before they leave for summer!

Breakout sessions:  Adam Seipel--Google.com

alseipel@wsfcs


Let’s chat:

  • See presentation, but teachers will have to hit cntrl-alt-del:  and change password before trying to access their WSFCS google account.
  • Making a person make a copy of a document
  • Drawing in general is a tool that google offers that we have not really had access to

Sharepoint resources:

  • Available for students in the fall of 2015
  • Available for staff soon, just TF’s and pilot schools for now
  • still building support for it now
  • Heather Harmon: containing it now until training rolls out.  


Learning Management systems:


  • Haiku:  https://www.haikulearning.com/
    • Forest Park has been piloting it
    • Has the ability to synch with power school
    • Teachers can create content, lessons,. etc.
    • Haiku syncs with google



Chris Corbin presentation:



Issues?

  • Slow log-ins
    • machine related, policy related, network related?
    • re-image works and then problem starts in a couple of weeks again
    • They are piloting it  to test whether it is in the image.
    • They have moved machines around in containers to see if policy related
    • They have lots of control groups out there testing it
    • There are some policies out there since 2006 that might need to be removed or updated.
    • They have opened up some policies for students
    • He's not even considering Windows XP machines since they are just known to e slow --so he is discarding from the equation
    • it is a hodgepodge of machines that are doing this
    • Chris is determined to pinpoint the problem
    • 11-e laptops are  particularly a problem


endpoint protection:  
  • can be controlled though system center
  • It starts scanning if it misses the scheduled scan
  • Justin is working on stopping that
  • system center is not fully implemented


NCEDCLOUD Iam service:

  • its an authentication service for cloud based services
  • May 11th will start the process of claiming their accounts
  • WIll change on July 6th
  • for Homebase, true north logic or power school
  • All power School users will have to go to:
  • https://ncedcloud.mcnc.org
  • or
  • https://ncedcloud.mcnc.org/teachers-and-staff
  • Teachers and students will have to "claim their accounts"
    • We will not start with students until the start of next year
    • 340 is district number you have to put in
  • May 11th starts the advertising campaign


System Center: New enterprise management system


  • retiring AICP
  • provides new ability to re-image machines
  • can be done over night
  • even rename and join to the domain
  • phased approach to rolling this out
  • Chris will want to know the number of windows XP machines you have
  • The new agent is being pushed out to machines
  • Summer--software deployment center setup
  • Machines not connected, don’t bother connecting them, don’t worry about the ones you don’t use


Storage Options:  

  • Nothing done with H drives this year.
  • looking for ways to map local drives to google drives or microsoft
  • They WILL  purge student home folders over the summer as usual during late July (when summer school ends)
  • Will be makes 2014-2015 folders (yearbook and K drive)  read only


IPAD/Airwatch updates


  • One fix proposed was doing a full reset to ipad and reconnecting to air watch
  • Jennifer talked to airwatch yesterday and Chris is calling them and coming onsite on Tuesday to decide what to do
  • on-premise airwatch solution?  
    • They would have a server on the data center vs a cloud based server
    • Will require resetting them and reconnecting to an on-premise device--they will send man power to reconnect
    • Before the end of the year, you will get a email from Chris asking ipads be put in a central location and can go out with the air watch guys

Other updates:  

  • System wide profile sweep on May 11th
  • e-rate filing has passed and going through approval
    • switches will be replaced at every school
    • all access points to 1 GB ports
    • all closets going back to 10 GB
    • Spagetti mess in the wiring closets will get cleaned up
    • all work will start over the summer and have a year to implement
    • v-lan will be segmented affecting printers --which will have to be reset in many cases
      • printers assigned through direct IP will have to be redone in those cases where the v-lan changed
    • Use google chrome for NCtest app
    • Way to deploy the chrome test app? AB tutor?
    • you will need to Install the NC on windows XP machines 
    • chrome web store and type NCtest

Questions?
  • Kids listening to music via youtube (breaking RUA if going around filter)
  • Yahoo is still blocked--waiting on lightspeed for a code update to be able to implement safe search in yahoo and then they will open it back it up.


Carla Miller:


  • strategic tech guy:  Grady retired
    • Lynn Willimas a new technition
      • based out of Raleigh
      • out at schools generally on weds/thurs/fridaysWIll be doing some preventive maintenance things
      • A lot of tickets low toner
      • There is a difference between the low toner  message and it actually being out--(starting to print light)
      • toner thresholds:  will not ship until less than 12% left


  • problem--prices/part numbers sometimes change between ordering time and purchasing--Carla has to approve all those
  • Network copiers, new survey coming from Carla
  • Might need to start scanning timesheets to central office
  • As of Monday, technician staff will be back to full staff
  • Eff (zones7&8)?) and zack
  • Office 365 issue seen, setting up apps grayed out when teachers login
    • if you see it, shoot Justin an email
    • office 365 issues:  Internet explorer 9 vs 11 may fix it
  • onsite repair:  no problems reported
  • subs don’t know they have accounts, but will to a better job 
  • sub intent forms--domino based--have to login to MMC, so you might be getting questions from subs
  • dsa.msc (run command for bringing up MC hammer tool)
  • Justin has seen the double click vs single click issue
  • Stopping phone being read to computers? no sure there is a solution
  • Don’t stack the laptops--11e laptops!
    • some issue with Magnetism (screen goes light or dies)

Trac vs inventory

  • if you put in a ticket, he will wipe out and then let them login and compare the column with computer information to inventory
  • generic account for training videos access? 
  • let Jim know if you would like training videos
  • School net:  Final grades
    • skewed, assign assessments to all sections or specific sections vs specific users


August 11-12 --Collaborative learning conference Walkertown: http://collaborativelearningconference.weebly.com/


  • registration deadline:  curriculum coordinators, tech facilitators, teachers
Determining source of large print jobs?
  • Justin will have contacted
  • would need printer name and date/time range
  • strategic bill is a month behind so you sometimes don’t see the bills for a month and are not aware of a big problem


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Friday, March 20, 2015

Technology Facilitator Meeting March 2015



New Folks..
Mike Shore at Kingswood
Jenna Bass At Oldtown

ASW—Analysis of Student Work--Leslie Baldwin

  • Leslie represents Foreign Language but is here today representing Encore and to talk about how teachers will document their standard 6 growth measure
  • Teachers will need to collect audio and video evidence and upload it in May and June
  • Video:  size limit, 10 MB which is small and therefore we might be asked to help compress it or edit it?
  • Audacity maybe the best bet for audio recording
  • In order to show growth on objective 6, teachers might have to do two videos
  • We and the tech department are here to provide additional support
  • They are providing a Gallery device for schools to use for video taping
    • They are wifi only, but you can connect a usb to a laptop and pull the video off
  • A compression utility:  free make video  compression utility:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bR05DBkQ8yehCZ6I0dAbxzz9JLLKFJK7B3kZffo1UsY/edit#slide=id.p
  • Chris has put the compression Program  it on the AICP for installation
  • One suggestion was if the video was on Youtube, you could record the video with a phone
  • Encourage your teachers to upload as soon as the window for uploading starts
  • Screencast-o-matic—idea from Sam Walker

Topics for today: Sessions starting at 9:25, 10:10 11:15, 1:30, 2:20

  • One note 233
  • I-pads in Classroom 219
  • E-studio 221
  • Ipad setup IRC
  • Technical Q and A  in 223, then 221 PM

You-tube Access:

  • They are going to open up You-tube to high school students in order to document our need for more bandwidth
    • MCNC needs to see traffic of 1.6GB or greater to get authorized for an increase in bandwidth
    • Will need to enforce safe search to protect students but this will affect teachers as well and may block some videos for teachers that previously were available—
    • Teachers can use a work around via google chrome: 
    • Chris created a video for it last night—tech facilitator sharepoint site-misc help videos: https://wsfcsk12nc.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/clientbin/mediaplaceholder.mp4
    • User agent switcher for google chrome--takes you to m.youtube.com
    • (students have that blocked)
    • If videos are not tagged or tagged for something that is blocked then they will be blocked for all users

Cloud Computing: Google Apps/One note/office 365 one drive
  • Not getting rid of Shared drives until later
  • Issues with sharing Flip Charts on the one drive does not work
Heather Harmon:
  • Same MS email account will work with google docs
  • They are developing a resource site from WSFCS
  • This will be available to students and teachers
Link is on this presentation:  https://wsfcsk12nc.sharepoint.com/sites/Technology/techfac/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc={2A185FCF-BEBD-47EF-ADCF-E528CBC127B1}&file=TF%20Meeting%20March%2019,%202015.pptx&action=default
  • Resetting passwords for Google accounts will require students to be prompted to change password for active directory but they will be allowed to use the same password
  • For some schools (google schools) this will be happening on Monday—students and staff
  • Google drives are pretty much unlimited
  • Email will be sent out Friday (3/20) "warning" those schools
  • Password reset will happen sometime on Sunday night
  • Other schools will be brought on as a school by school basis during the next few weeks
Mike McDowell from Jefferson Middle is the winner of the NCTIES Teacher of the Year! (Showed a video of him)

 Miscellaneous items
  • Video for adding the NCTEST App for google chrome
    • Under misc help videos
  • Parents are calling to get student access to emails and asking to change  their password—they are not honoring that request
  • IT direct tickets--make sure you are reassigning to service desk
  • Thinkpads--Image with an 11e had a problem with USB drivers-- they have fixed that image now on all servers
  • Ipad Air Watch Issue: What was happening --When folks signed into air watch on the i pads, it would take you to app screen and never went to the correct screen
    • They have had to do a full reset, and they have had to take an iPad around to the schools to troubleshoot
  • Clever:  does a great job at managing student data and various apps for sign on etc.
    • Things like achieve 3000, lexia.  Here is the link:  
    • https://clever.com/--instant log-in for apps

One Note: Marty Creech:

  • Great product of Microsoft 
  • During setup you might have to create an outside personal hot mail/Microsoft account and then go into the settings of the account and add an account to do the wsfcs
  • Lots of capability with ONE note
    • Could share notebooks with staff members (PLT's, meetings, etc.)
    • You can add a link, a clip, a screen clipping
    • You can right click on a picture and you can choose "ALT text" to get the text out of that
    • You Can create a read aloud document
    • Can record an audio piece
    • Can do a search that will include audio or text
    • There is a built in calculator

IPAD session with Heather Harmon


  • Common Problems with authenticating and connecting to the WSFCS public domain:  One suggestion if problems is to go to: settings and forget network and reconnect to force the certificate
  • THE APP catalog on air watch is  installed on all ipads
  • There are Install issues right now with air watch, but app store is working right now
  • Please involve Harmon  in helping with your IPAD decisions at your school
  • Approval of APPS only needs approval if more than $500, otherwise go through MTAC
    • If not this year, start next year

Question and Answer--Tech troubleshooting, Justin Richy

  • Carla Miller was telling us how at NCET, they do a session of sharing called Tips and Tricks
  • Missing drop down issue on school websites--short answer for right now is to open another tab or close and re-open the browser
  • School wires update caused this?  not sure yet
  • Logins issues?  no servers available and have to re-add machine to the domain--has been reported more commonly lately
  • Home folder agent for new students doesn't always run, and you will have to put in a ticket and have those students "bounced"
  • Save issue on the new laptops --Default location saves to a temporary location on the local hard drive—they are working on that issue.  Students should navigate to computer and their location on the server
  • Recycle bin issue--not being able to empty--working on that
  • MS Clip art—Is online and hosted through Bing so clip art won’t work because of the blocking issue with our district and Bing
  • UNAV sensitive mouse pad, KB0024
  • Cracked screens with laptops—damaged—school will have to pay
    • Will work with us on accidents but overt damage school will have to pay
  • Trust relationship issues and computers not logging on--they have become more aware of that issue and They are working on it
  • Slow log ins?  Possibly caused by abundance of profiles?  Profile sweeps can be put in login scripts If we request--Bomb prof  be used to clean computers manually

Jim Mendoza; E-studio and SCAN-IT

  • Video on working with Scan it:  https://wsfcsk12nc.sharepoint.com/sites/Technology/techfac/VIDEO%20LIBRARY/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=127
  • The training documents will be available on google docs. http://bit.ly/workshops-jimm     
  • Tech Facilitators can "claim their google account" using their wsfcs email address.  This IS NOT available to teachers yet--they will be rolling that out for them
  • Tech Facilitators can install SCAN it from the AICP and it's recommended that we install it only on laptops or computers in the vicinity of the Toshiba Copiers
  • Follow the directions in the video or the documentation for configuring SCAN IT
  • When you launch SCAN it, if the pop up with the Control screen  goes away quickly, you have to maximize the screen fast and choose allow 
  • Scan sheets are placed FACE UP with the bottom facing your body
  • Always Print "AS IS" don't shrink print out of scan sheets
  • You can save the test file to a USB drive as a back up and print for online tests
  • When configuring SCAN IT, and discovering, the laptop and Toshiba need to be on the same VLAN (follow the video instructions)
  • Bubble sheets will not print if there is an "Enhanced question" on the test

Overview of Airwatch with Jennifer Ellington



  • Presentation from Jennifer Ellington
  • Tech Facilitators will all eventually get an air watch account to be able to help administer airwatch
  • Currently close to 4000 devices under air-watch
  •  Purpose of Air-watch is to distribute approved apps, and supervise device use over the air
  • Zone techs will set up I-pads if you order
  • If you order, be sure you order through the School System so they are configured correctly--If Doners want to give you ipads, have them write a check instead of buying ipads
  •  Device Enrollment Program
  • Teacher ipad setup and other instructions for Ipad setup are all documented on the Knowledge base, KB0052
  • Ipads should be bar coded at the schools and managed with destiny inventory
  • If you have a speech teacher using them and there are questions, talk with Susan in EC
  • Encourage Teachers to use wsfcs email address to set up apple ID
  • There is a generic user for media accounts at all the schools and that same user (ie: media516@wsfcs.k12.nc.us) has an email address
  • Volume Purchase Apps
  • Common issues with IPADS:  light speed issues
  • forgotten Apple ID  and passwords

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