Rocori School District made the news via Network World this week! Rocori’s Technical Director, Brian Michalski, was interviewed regarding his approach to launching a new virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to cut down on costs in the school’s 13 computer labs. Now, rather than operating Windows on each desktop, they’re utilizing VDI. To learn more about this approach, view the article: School District Opts for VDI in Computer Labs.
Tag Archives: Technology
EduTech Smackdown Open Mic Night
On December 3rd at 7:00 PM Dr. Joyce Valenza will be hosting TL Virtual Cafe’s EdTech Smackdown Open Mic Night. The event is free and open to all.
Valenza will be sharing her trend list and some of her favorite tech discoveries. The event will be moderated by Gwyneth A. Jones, aka The Daring Librarian and Tiffany Whitehead, aka The Mighty Little Librarian.
Moderators encourage moving beyond listening to sharing during this Open Mic Night! If you’re interested in sharing your own exciting discoveries of the year, please grab a slide/slides and add to the crowd-sourced presentation/book in advance. Share your best recommendations for tips, resources, etc. and help build the interactive resource book.
Those interested in attending the event on December 3rd at 7:00 PM can use this Participant Link.
Superhero 2012 – Tech Camp: A CMLE Scholarship
The following was submitted by a CMLE scholarship recipient.
Submitted by: Debbie Disher, Holdingford Public Schools Media Specialist
I recently had the opportunity to attend my first Superhero conference held over Education Minnesota weekend at Madden’s Resort. One of my favorite things about the conference was that it was small and relaxing. There were approximately 65 attendees from Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin and California. We had time to attend some great mini-sessions as well as opportunities to connect with others and share our technology experiences. 
Some of the great ideas that I left the conference with included: how to make better presentations, using the iPad for documentation, Chrome extensions and all the possibilities they give us, Reflections vs. Apple TV, and much more. One thing that we are going to try for our January inservice day is to Flip our technology portion of the inservice. We are going to create some short screencasts of different things we learned at the conference, send these out to teachers ahead of time and then on inservice day offer an open lab and give teachers time to come down and try some of these things we learned. We will be there to offer assistance. Not only will we be demonstrating the “flipped classroom”, but also give teachers an opportunity to expand their technology skills.
This is a great conference and we will be attending next year. This is a great conference for classroom teachers, integrationists, technology coordinators, etc. Anyone who wishes to know more checkout their website (https://sites.google.com/site/superherotechcamp/) or feel free to contact me.
The New iPad Mini and 4th Generation iPad
On Tuesday (10/23), Apple unveiled their new iPad Mini with comes in at a mere 7.9 inches and is expected to be a major player in the growing mini tablet market. Additionally, the new iPad 4 will soon be available. It boasts a new A6X chip that “delivers up to twice the CPU performance and up to twice the graphics performance of the A5X chip, all while delivering an incredible 10 hours of battery life in the same thin and light iPad design.”
A word of caution: Due to its small screen size, the new iPad Mini does not meet the minimum specifications issued by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) for the next-generation Common Core State Standards assessments coming in 2014.
Read more about the new iPad Mini and the 4th Gen iPad at THE Journal, 10/23/12
Non-Profit Works to Find Key to Blended-Learning Programs
There’s still a lot to learn about different types of blended learning models, and a new nonprofit called Silicon Schools will raise and invest $25 million toward that effort. So far, they have raised $12 million, and they aim to fund new and innovative approaches in existing blended learning programs with grants to schools.
Blended learning is a relatively new concept with a mixed track record. Integrating certain types of technology into the classroom gives teachers and students real-time feedback so that each student can work at his or her own pace, and can give teachers accurate information that can help them better group students according to comprehension levels on specific subjects. But, educators point out that too often, ed-tech focuses on improving test scores rather than on building creative thinking and a passion for learning in students and that schools still need passionate, innovative and dedicated teachers, no matter how kids absorb the content.
Read the full article at Mind/Shift, October 17,2012