Fife Schools Technology

Something to think about when composing emails…

Some folks like to express their creativity when sending emails by choosing “non-standard” fonts.

Below is a screen shot of some fonts I’ve seen used in emails. They all started out as size 12 font but the blog template is shrinking the image horizontally so click on the examples to see the image normal size.

(the last one is my default font)

While some fonts are still pretty easy to read, some are more difficult. If you had to read something long and complicated, it could be down-right frustrating.

While creativity is great, we don’t want to sacrifice readability. The reader of your emails is less likely to spend the time reading your message if it is difficult to read. The difficulty can be increased when a “busy” background is also used.

Some people may think that their email will stand out and be more likely to be read if it looks different (i.e. different font) but with so many things competing for our attention, emails that are harder to read are actually less likely to be read fully.

So thank goodness for creativity. The world is a much more interesting place because of it. Just be aware of how it affects the readability of your messages.

An idea gaining popularity in educational circles is that of a Personal Learning Network (PLN). While there are different variations on the definition of a PLN, I see it as all of those things that someone uses to further their own education and learning. It can include more formal environments such as teachers and classmates in a school setting but through the use of the Internet, many informal resources and connections can be used to further one’s own learning.

Blogs and social networks are examples of how we can learn from others and make connections with individuals and groups that share common interests.

For example, if you teach math, you may do a Twitter search for math teachers and follow some other educators teaching math to find out what others are doing and gain ideas.

I’ll share more ideas in the future but growing your PLN can start with a simple Google search.

How can you grow your PLN?

Here is a blog post that did a good job summarizing RSS and why it is a nice technology.

RSS Appreciation Revisited

I use RSS all the time and would encourage others to become familiar with it.

Amazon’s electronic book reader, called the Kindle, has been available for about 1 1/2 years. When it first came out, I was struck when hearing about an intentional design quality of the Kindle.

Here is a excerpt from the Amazon website:

Lose Yourself in Your Reading

The most elegant feature of a physical book is that it disappears while you’re reading. Immersed in the author’s world and ideas, you don’t notice a book’s glue, the stitching, or ink. Our top design objective was to make Kindle disappear–just like a physical book–so you can get lost in your reading, not the technology.

I see that as a fundamental goal for all technology. Another way I would describe this is making technology “transparent”. We shouldn’t be using technology for technology-sake but looking beyond the technology to what we are trying to accomplish. It shouldn’t stand in our way. While technology becomes increasingly powerful and complex, our experience should ideally be a simple one.

This is not an easy challenge. Making something transparent yet still useful for the end user often means more planning and complexity behind the scenes. It also means having a good understanding of how people use technology and what they are trying to accomplish. And it involves educating users.

Simply put, I believe that in our schools, technology should be powerful yet transparent.

Not sure who knows about this or how often it is used but all of our libraries have a list of their book collections online. The only catch is that they are only available from inside the district.

Discovery: http://draco.fifesd.net:50000/webopac/main?siteid=dis
Endeavour: http://draco.fifesd.net:50000/webopac/main?siteid=end
Hedden: http://draco.fifesd.net:50000/webopac/main?siteid=hed
SLMS: http://draco.fifesd.net:50000/webopac/main?siteid=slm
FHS: http://draco.fifesd.net:50000/webopac/main?siteid=fhs
CJH: http://draco.fifesd.net:50000/webopac/main?siteid=cjh

Happy reading!

Update (7/6/09): We made some changes this summer and the above links have been updated.

NECC (National Educational Computing Conference) is one of the largest (if not the largest) conferences on education and technology in the country. This year it is being held in Washington, DC. Since it isn’t in the budget to attend a conference across the country, there are a number of ways to still benefit from the information being shared.

One way is by accessing the handouts being created for the various presentations. You can search for handouts and download them by visiting http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2009/program/presenter_handouts.php .

This is a website with numerous math resources including games, manipulatives, videos, and puzzles.

http://www.mathplayground.com/

Check it out and let me know what you find helpful on this site so we can pass it on to others.

I’ve been following the iLearn Technology Blog for a few months now and appreciate its recommendations for free educational resources on the Internet. I particularly appreciate that it provides suggestions for how to integrate this technology into the classroom.

This and other blogs help us to become more aware of the many free online resources that teachers can use.

I would recommend adding the iLearn Technology blog to your list of RSS feeds.

http://ilearntechnology.com/

Each summer, our tech team works hard to perform needed maintenance on our computer systems and to make preparations for the coming school year.

Staff members, we need your help as we plan our summer tasks.

Please provide us with some information regarding changes and needs for the coming fall by filling out a brief survey.

The link to the survey was sent via email to all staff.

To start the survey, click on the “Respond to this Survey” Link on the webpage.

Let us know if you have problems accessing or completing the survey.

Note that if you do not give us info via the survey, any tech support requests for the fall will be given lower priority over those requests submitted to us ahead of time via the survey.

In addition to the survey, please take care of the following before you leave for the summer:

· Clear away any items around computers in your classroom. We will be performing maintenance and need access without having to disturb your things.

· Safely store your projector and document camera. The best place may be a cupboard where it is safe and dust free.

· If you move any furniture, please do not block access to your computer(s).

· Delete old emails so that your mailbox doesn’t fill up over the summer.

· Delete old files from your documents folder.

Let us know if you have any questions and thanks for helping us to help you.

Thinkfinity is a website where you can search for educational resources such as lesson plans, online games, and other helpful items.

http://www.thinkfinity.org/

I haven’t spent enough time with it to fully understand the quality and quantity of its contents. I’d be interested in feedback if you spend time with it.