The single sign on is all operational and working, now worries with this,
Our only issue is now is myportflio.school.nz
number of students able to be uploaded is limited to 200 at a time
all old students on the system have to be manually changed over to SAML
you cannot update any students details through a csv upload at this time
When you import and select the wrong authentication method, you cannot fix it by reuploading
you cannot set you whole institution to SAML in one hit.
I am finding more negatives than positives at the moment with this administration
Saturday, 12 March 2011
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Thoughts on the three areas
- Be Respectful
- Be Responsible
- Be a Learner
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Single Sign On update
Hopefully we will have all of our services running on the watchdog iDP.
One thing we are finding though is that the iDP is very picky about what site the that login information is sent from.
we have out http://schoolname.knowledge.net.nz which is how most of the connections are made, but today I don't know where I managed to get this was http://www.schoolname.knowledge.net.nz, I didn't pick it at first, it was an email to the developers that pickup up the www. in front.
So things to note is come up with is a list of websites that you will be connecting with,
ie.
http://schoolname.knowledge.net.nz -knowledgeNET connection
http://mail.student.schoolname.school.nz - googleApps connection
and http://myportfolio.schoolname.school.nz - myportfolio connection
and make sure that you reference these in all you sites and developments from now on. you will need to note that the www. is not needed or supported.
This has been a great development opportunity and is allowing us to try different things within our lessons, rather than the worry of students not knowing passwords or forgetting information that was needed to be able to login successfully.
One of the next steps to look at is branding of these sites and being able to link between them, one suggestion has been to add links into KnowledgeNET for this to happen, this would then create that LMS portal, so students login to one place and use that to access the other services for their learning.
One thing we are finding though is that the iDP is very picky about what site the that login information is sent from.
we have out http://schoolname.knowledge.net.nz which is how most of the connections are made, but today I don't know where I managed to get this was http://www.schoolname.knowledge.net.nz, I didn't pick it at first, it was an email to the developers that pickup up the www. in front.
So things to note is come up with is a list of websites that you will be connecting with,
ie.
http://schoolname.knowledge.net.nz -knowledgeNET connection
http://mail.student.schoolname.school.nz - googleApps connection
and http://myportfolio.schoolname.school.nz - myportfolio connection
and make sure that you reference these in all you sites and developments from now on. you will need to note that the www. is not needed or supported.
This has been a great development opportunity and is allowing us to try different things within our lessons, rather than the worry of students not knowing passwords or forgetting information that was needed to be able to login successfully.
One of the next steps to look at is branding of these sites and being able to link between them, one suggestion has been to add links into KnowledgeNET for this to happen, this would then create that LMS portal, so students login to one place and use that to access the other services for their learning.
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Single Sign On - watchdog iDp
We have been in a process for the last couple of months, in reality since the knowledgeNET conference. We have been working with watchdog on implementing their Single Sign On service. This has been a busy development for all parties involved. It has required knowledgeNET to finish developing the requirements for SSO, in which they have completed and we are the first successful school to use Single Sign On with them, and it has now reduced some of the issues that we have had with passwords.
In the past we have had to add all of our students manually, well export them from our Student Management System, SMS, and we implemented the websync service just after it was released. This now makes provisioning students a lot easier. Though we still have an issue with the format of our student logins, which require someone to change manually.
Another issue we have found is the issues of the original development and focus of knowledgeNET, which was schoolsonline.co.nz, this is what is represented in the google search for our knowledgeNET system. This is causing a few headaches, but we are slowly working our way around this and updating our school website and login pages to show this change, we wish that there was a reload or a refresh when someone logged in through the schoolsonline page that would then point it straight away to our knowledgeNET site.
The second service that was activated was google apps. This has been a simple change over and is working well.
The third service is mahara, myportfolio.school.nz. This one is taking a little bit longer to get going and implemented. At the moment we have one student who is using the SAML login, which does not work, I am hoping that this week will be when we get all of it working. There is still one more service that we can get activated for our iDp service, however, I am unsure at present what we get...
Also with knowledgeNET we are after some real estate on their navigation bar, this will mean that we can include icons on the bar for students to access these service straight away. this has now been added as a development ticket for future work.
Wether it be, access-it library, wikieducator, or a number of other services. This will be a conversation that we next have at our ICT meeting.
In the past we have had to add all of our students manually, well export them from our Student Management System, SMS, and we implemented the websync service just after it was released. This now makes provisioning students a lot easier. Though we still have an issue with the format of our student logins, which require someone to change manually.
Another issue we have found is the issues of the original development and focus of knowledgeNET, which was schoolsonline.co.nz, this is what is represented in the google search for our knowledgeNET system. This is causing a few headaches, but we are slowly working our way around this and updating our school website and login pages to show this change, we wish that there was a reload or a refresh when someone logged in through the schoolsonline page that would then point it straight away to our knowledgeNET site.
The second service that was activated was google apps. This has been a simple change over and is working well.
The third service is mahara, myportfolio.school.nz. This one is taking a little bit longer to get going and implemented. At the moment we have one student who is using the SAML login, which does not work, I am hoping that this week will be when we get all of it working. There is still one more service that we can get activated for our iDp service, however, I am unsure at present what we get...
Also with knowledgeNET we are after some real estate on their navigation bar, this will mean that we can include icons on the bar for students to access these service straight away. this has now been added as a development ticket for future work.
Wether it be, access-it library, wikieducator, or a number of other services. This will be a conversation that we next have at our ICT meeting.
mlearning and 2degrees mobile
I have been working with 2 degrees for the last 2 years on a number of projects that I play with at school. The first was Get Lost! We managed to 2degrees to sponsor the SIM cards for the 2009 project. As 2degrees was a new network and they were wanting to get out into the market place. Last year, 2010, we also used 2degrees as well. However, it was a interesting experience this time dealing with a store rather than twitter and email. The face to face contact was great, explaining what I wanted to the manager of the store and dealing with him on the issues that we were having with some of the departments within 2degrees, one thing I learnt is that you have to give them a months heads up, as some departments have difficulty talking to each other. hopefully from last years experience this years will go a little more smoothly.
Why do I use 2degrees and their mobile network. Well, telecom and vodafone the cost of the SIM cards is too high, 2degrees have a better rate for the SIM card, plus I have started to see some of their details are a lot better. They are willing to work with me and solve solutions to the problems that I give them. Also, the SIM cards that I use are to meet the health and safety aspects of the field trips or activities that I run. I love seeing students in the outdoors and experiencing the Education Outside the Classroom that is now starting to become missing from schools.
If I need to contact a student or for them to contact me it is a quick phone call or text. It means that I don't have to have a lot of teachers out in the field with each group, I am finding this has better relationship with the key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum. Students, I am finding enjoy using there cellphones for a personal use, but for an educational use they are not too sure. This is mainly due to the $10 text packages they are on, why do they want to use these valuable text for learning. Provide a SIM car with limited amount of funds on it and they want to use it. For the three day Get Lost! programme I provided $5 on each SIM and no student was without credit at the end of it, and I had received over a 1000 texts on my phone from them, including phone calls and PXT.
The latest is to take my year 13 students to a number of locations this year and give them a day to come up with the website. These are 6 hour based competitions that I am thinking of. Students will be given information before the event, like location and any information that is needed. the first one is to north head, this has a self guided walk, what the students will be required to do is to create virtual self guided walk through the information they find on the site as well as what is available on the doc website.
The second is to look at how a qr-code development at auckland museum would work. Students will be given a section of the museum to go through and develop information that could be accessed on an itouch using qr codes or entering in a code. There will be a limited number of exhibits that they can create content for, as well as having to access the museum database as well for more information. They will need to be fast and have access to a wifi network to access information as well as publish information.
Why do I use 2degrees and their mobile network. Well, telecom and vodafone the cost of the SIM cards is too high, 2degrees have a better rate for the SIM card, plus I have started to see some of their details are a lot better. They are willing to work with me and solve solutions to the problems that I give them. Also, the SIM cards that I use are to meet the health and safety aspects of the field trips or activities that I run. I love seeing students in the outdoors and experiencing the Education Outside the Classroom that is now starting to become missing from schools.
If I need to contact a student or for them to contact me it is a quick phone call or text. It means that I don't have to have a lot of teachers out in the field with each group, I am finding this has better relationship with the key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum. Students, I am finding enjoy using there cellphones for a personal use, but for an educational use they are not too sure. This is mainly due to the $10 text packages they are on, why do they want to use these valuable text for learning. Provide a SIM car with limited amount of funds on it and they want to use it. For the three day Get Lost! programme I provided $5 on each SIM and no student was without credit at the end of it, and I had received over a 1000 texts on my phone from them, including phone calls and PXT.
The latest is to take my year 13 students to a number of locations this year and give them a day to come up with the website. These are 6 hour based competitions that I am thinking of. Students will be given information before the event, like location and any information that is needed. the first one is to north head, this has a self guided walk, what the students will be required to do is to create virtual self guided walk through the information they find on the site as well as what is available on the doc website.
The second is to look at how a qr-code development at auckland museum would work. Students will be given a section of the museum to go through and develop information that could be accessed on an itouch using qr codes or entering in a code. There will be a limited number of exhibits that they can create content for, as well as having to access the museum database as well for more information. They will need to be fast and have access to a wifi network to access information as well as publish information.
Friday, 18 February 2011
Trying new things
I have been working with our schools moodle, a couple of us in the department make use of this great educational tool. We have been busy trying new courses and activities. Though, I found today something rather interesting.
I started to do some work to enable an outside organisation to make use of the resources that we have available, a working New Zealand Moodle for Schools version and it being hosted outside the school. This is so they can access the Moodle for Teaching and learning course that was created as part of the moodleinschools.org.nz project, which the New Zealand Moodle for Schools version was created as part of.
The students logged in today and straight away I had questions, why was there a new category in the moodle instance, what did this mean, was it part of a field trip, what's going on?
What shocked me was that the students started there inquiry, who was the extra category for, why was it created, what was going to be the outcome of it.
When I teach, they just sit there, they don't talk, I try to engage and possibly one of two students answer back, the rest just listen. Why don't students do the same type of thing when I teach a new topic? Question, ask... is it because this is what happens in every other subject.
I enjoy the fact that i am trying something different with the year 13 students this year, the guiding questions that are up at the beginning of class and them having to blog the answers has been insightful. One of the biggest issues is i started the class this way 3 weeks ago and I had a new student added to the class today and is lost in what is required and how the students have already developed there own learning space, be a blog and google apps currently, but when mahara is all setup with the saml authentication I will be using it as part of the learning space.
But what of my classroom, I have this great online presence, but the classroom is bland and empty. I need to find a way of getting these great environments into the visual space.
Onto something else,
I have been using the mail merge add-in with our e-asTTle PDF documents and it has been working great. We had an issue today that it wasn't until lunchtime when a brief discussion with the network manager happened. Around period 3 we had everything go to a holt for around 5 minutes, found out that the student server had no space left on it in its c: drive. All the space was used. When I thought about it it was due to the 699 PDF documents that I was printing. The print queue for the printer I was using was on that server. I went back to check the printer and have found that 60 individualised e-asTTle reading tests had not been printed. So I have someone going through the print out and working out which of the tests have not been printed. Will have to get these printed off on monday.
And now another,
I know this may look like a broken post, but it is always one of ideas and developments that is related to me.
I use dreamspark with my students, I need to get them sorted out with accounts through live@edu, though do I, some of the programming students would do quite well gaining access to this software as they are interested and play with different things all the time. While others just need to the software that is available, like microsoft visual basic express and microsoft expression 4 ultimate to play with and develop on.
What I need to do is export this from our SMS who needs accounts and sort out the codes...
I wonder if I can create individual printed books for the students with there name already on it for the programming class through the mail merge program.
I realise that I am doing a lot of things but that is part of being an innovator, Now that we have Single Sign on working for knowledgeNET, google apps and hopefully myportfolio.school.nz I wont have to manage the import of student accounts for much longer, I can pass this over to someone else. However, what I find is the development of these programs a concern. It is one thing to implement them at school, but I also look at the form and function that they offer and what will work for me with the kit that I have.
I need 5 laptops that can be networked up easily to share an internet connection, I am looking at doing a field trip and need a way for the students to use what they have rather quickly. Think of it as a race, students will be given an area and have to develop a website rather quickly to show off what they found and how it has impact on collection.
Jb hi fi have laptops for <$400 and these would be all that is required for the students to use.
I wonder if this could be an idea...
I started to do some work to enable an outside organisation to make use of the resources that we have available, a working New Zealand Moodle for Schools version and it being hosted outside the school. This is so they can access the Moodle for Teaching and learning course that was created as part of the moodleinschools.org.nz project, which the New Zealand Moodle for Schools version was created as part of.
The students logged in today and straight away I had questions, why was there a new category in the moodle instance, what did this mean, was it part of a field trip, what's going on?
What shocked me was that the students started there inquiry, who was the extra category for, why was it created, what was going to be the outcome of it.
When I teach, they just sit there, they don't talk, I try to engage and possibly one of two students answer back, the rest just listen. Why don't students do the same type of thing when I teach a new topic? Question, ask... is it because this is what happens in every other subject.
I enjoy the fact that i am trying something different with the year 13 students this year, the guiding questions that are up at the beginning of class and them having to blog the answers has been insightful. One of the biggest issues is i started the class this way 3 weeks ago and I had a new student added to the class today and is lost in what is required and how the students have already developed there own learning space, be a blog and google apps currently, but when mahara is all setup with the saml authentication I will be using it as part of the learning space.
But what of my classroom, I have this great online presence, but the classroom is bland and empty. I need to find a way of getting these great environments into the visual space.
Onto something else,
I have been using the mail merge add-in with our e-asTTle PDF documents and it has been working great. We had an issue today that it wasn't until lunchtime when a brief discussion with the network manager happened. Around period 3 we had everything go to a holt for around 5 minutes, found out that the student server had no space left on it in its c: drive. All the space was used. When I thought about it it was due to the 699 PDF documents that I was printing. The print queue for the printer I was using was on that server. I went back to check the printer and have found that 60 individualised e-asTTle reading tests had not been printed. So I have someone going through the print out and working out which of the tests have not been printed. Will have to get these printed off on monday.
And now another,
I know this may look like a broken post, but it is always one of ideas and developments that is related to me.
I use dreamspark with my students, I need to get them sorted out with accounts through live@edu, though do I, some of the programming students would do quite well gaining access to this software as they are interested and play with different things all the time. While others just need to the software that is available, like microsoft visual basic express and microsoft expression 4 ultimate to play with and develop on.
What I need to do is export this from our SMS who needs accounts and sort out the codes...
I wonder if I can create individual printed books for the students with there name already on it for the programming class through the mail merge program.
I realise that I am doing a lot of things but that is part of being an innovator, Now that we have Single Sign on working for knowledgeNET, google apps and hopefully myportfolio.school.nz I wont have to manage the import of student accounts for much longer, I can pass this over to someone else. However, what I find is the development of these programs a concern. It is one thing to implement them at school, but I also look at the form and function that they offer and what will work for me with the kit that I have.
I need 5 laptops that can be networked up easily to share an internet connection, I am looking at doing a field trip and need a way for the students to use what they have rather quickly. Think of it as a race, students will be given an area and have to develop a website rather quickly to show off what they found and how it has impact on collection.
Jb hi fi have laptops for <$400 and these would be all that is required for the students to use.
I wonder if this could be an idea...
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
busy much?
1400 e-asttle tests individually named through mail merge to pdf(possibly some changes tomorrow), SSO data recreated as I screwed up the mlepOrgansiation, all students now in Active Directory(yay I didn't have to do this peronsally) classes set for relief tomorrow, loves moodle as all work is set and students have no way of saying that the reliever did so the work, library system fault emails have been sent to their helpdesk, knowledgeNET questions have been sent on for further information, and now for department annual report to write - Got to go to bed early for waka ama training, get up at 5am...
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Thinking for web design
As social networking becomes more common, I wnt students to think about how these types of things can be used for business. Also to see what impact these things have on business as well, good feedback vs bad feedback.
How can school use things like twitter, facebook and other social media tools. As we start to look down the possible advantages and disadvantages of social networking with school.
What different types of neworking is there?
Does location based social networking have advantages or disadvantages?
How could school use twitter?
Is there something that i am missing?
How can school use things like twitter, facebook and other social media tools. As we start to look down the possible advantages and disadvantages of social networking with school.
What different types of neworking is there?
Does location based social networking have advantages or disadvantages?
How could school use twitter?
Is there something that i am missing?
Saturday, 29 January 2011
location based social media
I am starting to look at how location based social media works, using the app foursquare I am looking at how this can be used with various businesses to look at grabbing people as well as finding out what works and what doesn't.
One of the things I am doing is adding places, like my school, so I can see how it works as well as gaining interest from the students in using it as an attendance tool to see who will be mayor of our school, wonder if I can wind my classes with there iphones and itouches when we have our wireless system up and running. would be interesting to see who will topple the mayor. I like challenges :)
One of the things I am doing is adding places, like my school, so I can see how it works as well as gaining interest from the students in using it as an attendance tool to see who will be mayor of our school, wonder if I can wind my classes with there iphones and itouches when we have our wireless system up and running. would be interesting to see who will topple the mayor. I like challenges :)
Monday, 24 January 2011
a good day
It has been a positive week for me, the new digital technology achievement standards have finally be released and some of the resources have been released as well. Be it in draft form at this stage. Though one of the things that I am finding a little bit difficult is how can we give feedback on these resources. The assessment crietia states that the assessment goes for 40 hours, however it is my belief that the teaching and learning needs to be described and that the assessment could be only 8 hours of the 40. That is one of the issues that I have. The other is that I am still no closer to how the external portfolios will work.
Saturday, 22 January 2011
graphics to possibly use?
what would be a good graphic for me to use with my courses this year, I have been thinking about a brand for my classes, something to help me make it interesting for more classes when I am doing powerpoint, moodle courses, internet pages, something that grabs students attention, previously I have had winnie, as well as a bee. Now I want something different and focused more around computing and design. ideas have been a robot, and toy story.
Sunday, 26 December 2010
year 13 web
I am looking at moving the year 13 course to a course that more looks at web 2.0 tools and developments. Students need to look at these things a little bit more to find out where things have come from, most students don't realise where we have come from and are unable to reflect on a sites design and audience to well.
Introduction to Web Design Using Microsoft® Expression® Studio 4: Module 1 History and Future of the Web
So I am looking at a number of modules that have been developed and using the guiding questions in each for the students to reflect on at the end of each lesson.
Introduction to Web Design Using Microsoft® Expression® Studio 4: Module 3 Designing for Communication
Students struggle with designing for communication, yes they can design a webpage, but what does it communicate.
Introduction to Web Design Using Microsoft® Expression® Studio 4: Module 6 The Design Process
The design process, students need to understand where this fits in and what is required in their own work
Introduction to Web Design Using Microsoft® Expression® Studio 4: Module 7 The Production Process
As normal, design and production almost go hand in hand, so these will go together quite well.
Introduction to Web Design Using Microsoft® Expression® Studio 4: Module 8 Web Publishing and Maintenance
The last module is one that students never think about at all until that last moment when they go to hand it in, who will look after it, how will they look after it. Maintenance is now more important than actual design, it is also something that people forget in our organsiation as well whenever I look at our own school website. It is a place to communicate with your target audience.
There is one other course that I am looking at this year, which is financial literacy, it is something that I am having to do...
Achieving your childhood dreams
Introduction to Web Design Using Microsoft® Expression® Studio 4: Module 1 History and Future of the Web
So I am looking at a number of modules that have been developed and using the guiding questions in each for the students to reflect on at the end of each lesson.
Introduction to Web Design Using Microsoft® Expression® Studio 4: Module 3 Designing for Communication
Students struggle with designing for communication, yes they can design a webpage, but what does it communicate.
Introduction to Web Design Using Microsoft® Expression® Studio 4: Module 6 The Design Process
The design process, students need to understand where this fits in and what is required in their own work
Introduction to Web Design Using Microsoft® Expression® Studio 4: Module 7 The Production Process
As normal, design and production almost go hand in hand, so these will go together quite well.
Introduction to Web Design Using Microsoft® Expression® Studio 4: Module 8 Web Publishing and Maintenance
The last module is one that students never think about at all until that last moment when they go to hand it in, who will look after it, how will they look after it. Maintenance is now more important than actual design, it is also something that people forget in our organsiation as well whenever I look at our own school website. It is a place to communicate with your target audience.
There is one other course that I am looking at this year, which is financial literacy, it is something that I am having to do...
Achieving your childhood dreams
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Saturday, 11 December 2010
something different for next year
After another year of the three day learning around project 72 - get lost! I have found it pretty hard this year which resetting up and doing the development work again.
Although the students feedback has been positive, I am after another challenge. I think I have the beginnings of a challenge that will be somewhat different and go along the lines of the initial project guidelines.
Although the students feedback has been positive, I am after another challenge. I think I have the beginnings of a challenge that will be somewhat different and go along the lines of the initial project guidelines.
The design principles
- Projects should provide interactive, engaging learning activities which strengthen 'learning to learn' capabilities.
- Projects should help students to make authentic, relevant connections between their learning and the world they live in.
- Outcomes should conclude with an evaluation, using learner-derived indicators of successful learning and opportunities to celebrate achievements.
The following concepts also guided the design of projects:
- opportunities for curriculum coherence by making links within and across learning areas
- timetable suspension, allowing for increased scope and choice for learning
- students and staff learning collaboratively
- opportunities to nurture creativity and innovation
- enhancing staff collaboration and collegiality
- creating opportunities to connect with the needs and interests of junior students
- multi-literacies in a knowledge age and opportunities to consider new approaches to assessment.
(Also the following adapted from Claxton, 2006)
- problem solving tasks that encouraged reflective thought and action
- actively questioning the learning, including traditional and less familiar types of questions
- making links to real life contexts where outcomes and solutions genuinely matter
- designing challenging and authentic tasks that provided multiple opportunities for students to learn.
This is an idea I last looked at a couple of years ago and have been thinking about as an extension project, possibly for a holiday programme or for a media/solutions class. Though I think the year 9 and 10 programme would be a good introduction for the students. We can look at the technology curriculum and use the development of the project. .
The more I start looking at teaching as inquiry through the http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz the more I start to wonder why we are using these terms at school when we don't fully understand them, the development that is required to start meeting these outcomes requires reflection.
Monday, 8 November 2010
definition of an unwebsite
A couple of weeks ago I came across a tweet on twitter that talked about an unwebsite, I have struggled to find a definition of what a unwebsite is...
until now
A gradual movement towards a distributed web presence from a monolithic 'website'...
until now
A gradual movement towards a distributed web presence from a monolithic 'website'...
Sunday, 7 November 2010
e-asTTle integration answers
I have been contact with e-asTTle and our SMS provider, it seems that the SMS - asTTle integration ran ahead of itself. Below is the response...
The very first build of e-asTTle ran ahead of itself andf built a web service integration for SMS data exchange, but based on the one for asTTlev4. My team knew the limiations of this, having only ever got it to work for a few Integris schools. It is not the right pattern to ask SMS vendor to develop to, there was always supposed to be a better method coming (using ESIS). There has never been sufficient development resource to revisit this and put in place the exchange as it should be.
So why have it in the program and listed as a resource in all its documentation.
The very first build of e-asTTle ran ahead of itself andf built a web service integration for SMS data exchange, but based on the one for asTTlev4. My team knew the limiations of this, having only ever got it to work for a few Integris schools. It is not the right pattern to ask SMS vendor to develop to, there was always supposed to be a better method coming (using ESIS). There has never been sufficient development resource to revisit this and put in place the exchange as it should be.
So why have it in the program and listed as a resource in all its documentation.
Monday, 25 October 2010
A new job decription
I have been thinking about this for a while, a former student gave me an idea today. We have an IT manager, a technician and now a helpdesk operator.
I no longer have time for my networks systems work, though I still want to push something through as I see it is a need within the school.
Web admin/infrastructure manager. With all the changes and developments that I push through each year, let me count so far
intranet development - editor and administrator, wordpress
arts and culture website - administrator, wordpress
portal website - editor and administrator
access it library - content management system
subject option selection - own development mySQL/php
inquiry based learning selection - own development mySQL/php
KnowledgeNET moodle - developer of course and subject sites
google apps infrastructure manager - manages the google apps site at school
moodle - manager of the department moodle installation.
e-asTTle - administrator of the institution site
myportfolio- administrator of the institution site
SMS - administrator of the iPhone/iPad installation
If I keep thinking I think there will be a couple more. Who is responsible for these areas in other schools, is there a specific role in schools for someone like me?
I no longer have time for my networks systems work, though I still want to push something through as I see it is a need within the school.
Web admin/infrastructure manager. With all the changes and developments that I push through each year, let me count so far
intranet development - editor and administrator, wordpress
arts and culture website - administrator, wordpress
portal website - editor and administrator
access it library - content management system
subject option selection - own development mySQL/php
inquiry based learning selection - own development mySQL/php
KnowledgeNET moodle - developer of course and subject sites
google apps infrastructure manager - manages the google apps site at school
moodle - manager of the department moodle installation.
e-asTTle - administrator of the institution site
myportfolio- administrator of the institution site
SMS - administrator of the iPhone/iPad installation
If I keep thinking I think there will be a couple more. Who is responsible for these areas in other schools, is there a specific role in schools for someone like me?
Friday, 22 October 2010
Developments
We are currently working a number of projects at school to help assist our students in their digital life.
We are looking at a IdP solution to link in our schools active directory, knowledgeNET, Google apps, myportfolio, and access-it. The reason for this is these are the four products that we are starting to use most within our learning.
Developments are working steadily and we have now been approached by our school LMS to be one of the pilot schools to get this going. This for me is great, but for our technician is a struggle as he is starting to find a number of things getting taken away from him, or is he. I see this as a free up of time to develop valuable resources, maybe I should get him programming in php and mySQL so I can leave a number of the projects that I run each year up to him. Option selection and our inquiry based learning are two that I can think of, though I am starting to wonder if we will need these developments anymore with the latest google apps that are being offered now.
I am also aware of what is required to get these things up and going and that it requires multiple parties to be talking to each other, just when one of the cogs drops things do go stale.
I need to get a meeting with our paperCut expert to go through and tidy up our printer costs.
I am also working with the integration of our schools SMS into access-it library which has been an adventure, the latest update was supposed to allow this to be an easier experience, but the developers have now removed the latest update from the site as they work through a number of issues, I don't think we have emailed them this much before. Currently having issues with the xDBC drivers?
Clickview is currently processing all of our videos and making them available for wireless computer use, which is going to take approximately 3 weeks to go through and convert our database of resources.
The other parts of my teaching are currently looking at the literacy requirements of the students, the year 13 web design students are currently developing a resource to assist students in doing there reading logs. One of the things that I liked is the idea of facebook to show the number of books that a student has completed as a way of getting students to compete against each other to get it done, will have to look at the code that will be needed to do this
e-asttle, import issues, we are currently working through an issue with e-asttle. We can not import our students correctly at the moment, this went from being a first level helpdesk inquiry to a vendor issue within 15 minutes. It has been an issue for a month now and still things have not really progressed.
Though on another tack with e-asTTle, I have been in contact with the bridging projects person at the ministry to investigate Single Sign On as an alternative login method than what we have now which is tricky and for the staff involved difficult to manage.
When will the Auckland Museum make there PUBLIC SSID open for people to use, make your website freely available for people to use within the museum as a way for the public to find out more about the exhibits and the collection that is housed.
I will stop there for now, just one thing more 67 does not equal 95.
We are looking at a IdP solution to link in our schools active directory, knowledgeNET, Google apps, myportfolio, and access-it. The reason for this is these are the four products that we are starting to use most within our learning.
Developments are working steadily and we have now been approached by our school LMS to be one of the pilot schools to get this going. This for me is great, but for our technician is a struggle as he is starting to find a number of things getting taken away from him, or is he. I see this as a free up of time to develop valuable resources, maybe I should get him programming in php and mySQL so I can leave a number of the projects that I run each year up to him. Option selection and our inquiry based learning are two that I can think of, though I am starting to wonder if we will need these developments anymore with the latest google apps that are being offered now.
I am also aware of what is required to get these things up and going and that it requires multiple parties to be talking to each other, just when one of the cogs drops things do go stale.
I need to get a meeting with our paperCut expert to go through and tidy up our printer costs.
I am also working with the integration of our schools SMS into access-it library which has been an adventure, the latest update was supposed to allow this to be an easier experience, but the developers have now removed the latest update from the site as they work through a number of issues, I don't think we have emailed them this much before. Currently having issues with the xDBC drivers?
Clickview is currently processing all of our videos and making them available for wireless computer use, which is going to take approximately 3 weeks to go through and convert our database of resources.
The other parts of my teaching are currently looking at the literacy requirements of the students, the year 13 web design students are currently developing a resource to assist students in doing there reading logs. One of the things that I liked is the idea of facebook to show the number of books that a student has completed as a way of getting students to compete against each other to get it done, will have to look at the code that will be needed to do this
e-asttle, import issues, we are currently working through an issue with e-asttle. We can not import our students correctly at the moment, this went from being a first level helpdesk inquiry to a vendor issue within 15 minutes. It has been an issue for a month now and still things have not really progressed.
Though on another tack with e-asTTle, I have been in contact with the bridging projects person at the ministry to investigate Single Sign On as an alternative login method than what we have now which is tricky and for the staff involved difficult to manage.
When will the Auckland Museum make there PUBLIC SSID open for people to use, make your website freely available for people to use within the museum as a way for the public to find out more about the exhibits and the collection that is housed.
I will stop there for now, just one thing more 67 does not equal 95.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
project
The registration for the inquiry based learning project has started up once again, with some small issues that I forgot to sort out. Student id number went from 4 digits to 5 digits this year and I managed to forget that this was the case, with a small number completing there selection yesterday it gave me a chance to look at what I had done, and managed to work out that there was the issue, a quick fix on two of the database tables, then removing those students that had already made there selection, luckily only affected two students, though it did affect he ability for 356 students to login.
Numbers, with 200 students having completed their registration of interest 25% of the students so far want to do the Get Lost project, Hopefully these numbers change with the other 504 students still to complete.
Planning is now underway for one aspect of the get lost programme and it has been affected by a kilikiti tournament at the auckland domain on the 1st of december. Also I plan to get a hold of next bikes to grab 10 bikes for an activity in the domain.
Numbers, with 200 students having completed their registration of interest 25% of the students so far want to do the Get Lost project, Hopefully these numbers change with the other 504 students still to complete.
Planning is now underway for one aspect of the get lost programme and it has been affected by a kilikiti tournament at the auckland domain on the 1st of december. Also I plan to get a hold of next bikes to grab 10 bikes for an activity in the domain.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Curriculum around Small Basic
Small Basic is, in my opinion, one of the really cool platforms for introducing programming to younger students. A simple IDE, a simple subset of BASIC, and built in turtle graphics all resonate with me. And a number of teachers around the world seem to agree. One thing we have been lacking though was some real curriculum support. Well that has changed. A set of 21 PowerPoint presentation with imbedded notes for teachers is now available. There are other resources available on the Small Basic page of the Beginning Developer Learning Center as well. If you use this curriculum or anything else associated with Small Basic would you let me know please? Also any feedback about what we can do better or differently. Thanks
Small Basic Curriculum (beta)
- Lesson 1.1: Introduction to Small Basic
- Lesson 1.2: Statements, Properties, and Operations
- Lesson 1.3: Variables
- Lesson 1.4: Conditions and Loops
- Lesson 1.5: Branching and Subroutines
- Lesson 2.1: Graphics Window
- Lesson 2.2: Turtle Graphics
- Lesson 2.3: Exploring Shapes
- Lesson 2.4: Sound, Program, and Text Objects
- Lesson 2.5: Clock, Desktop, and Dictionary Objects
- Lesson 2.6: Flickr, ImageList, and Network Objects
- Lesson 3.1: File Input and Output
- Lesson 3.2: Stacks and Arrays
- Lesson 3.3: The Math Object
- Lesson 3.4: Events and Interactivity
- Lesson 3.5: The Controls Object
- Lesson 3.6: Debugging Aids
- Lesson 4.1: Playing with Shapes
- Lesson 4.2: Responding to Events
- Lesson 4.3: Collision Detection
- Lesson 4.4: Advanced Games
- Lesson 5.1: Sharing Code
- Lesson 6: Graduating to Visual Basic
- Get all lessons
cache ideas
Looking at what we are going to doing at the end of the year, i had a look at geocaching.com, there now seems to be a number of traditional caches at the domain which could be suitable to be used for the programme, though I think we may still place our own out for students to use this year, though i have started to look at the guidelines of hiding a cache, and it is required to be 161m away from another cache...
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