Blog 4

Does the educational system that you are affiliated with offer a shared storage area on the network for students or faculty?------Do you find this beneficial?

Since I am a full time graduate student, I am not affiliated with any school system besides Wilkes University. As many of you know, Wilkes offers shared storage in several capacities. Moodle and WebCT are both a form of shared storage. Instructors can post information that the students can access. The students may not have access to store files on the networks directly, but turning a project or homework in will store the file on the network on behalf of the instructor.

A more traditional method of shared storage is what is commonly known as the H drive system. All students have access to this method of storage while on campus. The whole Wilkes network is connected, so while on Wilkes's network all the student (or instructor) needs to do is save the information onto his/her H drive. Retrieving the information from a different computer is a bit more difficult and to be honest I haven't done it in several years.

What type of Email System does your educational system implement? Do you use this mail system at school?.......from home? Explain.....

Wilkes University uses one primary email system, another one located on WebCT, and I know of a third that is private to the Math/CS department. The primary email system is powered by Microsoft Outlook Web Access which is a web based system. Being a web based system, I can access it from anywhere I have an internet connection and an internet browser. I primarily check my email several times a week from a variety of places. Although there is a size limitation on the attachments, I personally prefer a web based system for the convenience of access.

Overall, from this chapter, the most important thing that I learned is.....

The most interesting thing I learned in this chapter, was the difference between IMAP and POP protocols. I do not recall ever hearing about POP and only recognize the term IMAP in passing. A POP set up will remove the file from the server once it is loaded onto a local machine. I believe it is safe to assume that POP is only used with client based systems. (Although this is a bit misleading, never assume that anything is deleted on the internet. Once out there, it is always out there.) IMAP is more affiliated with web based mail servers. The file is saved on the server and be accessed as many times as necessary until the user deletes it.

Assignment 3

1) Most of the information on desktop support presented in the book, I already learned. But I was surprised to find out that the same method of obtaining contracts with builders, the bidding method, was also applicable to hardware. It is an interesting method of obtaining products for less money. I would also recommend purchasing desktops in districts that have a tight budget. They are easier to clean and upgrade. They also have a lower rate of hardware failure, a longer life span, and can take a bump or two. Even more importantly, they can be purchased at a much lower rate than laptops and are generally more powerful.

2) I was aware about licensing of computers in order to ensure that the software is legitimate. However, I was always a little unclear on the concept of site licenses. I was unsure on whether a site license covered every computer for the term of the license with no limit on the number of computers or if there was a cap on the number of computers that it could cover.

I also learned that keeping track of all of the computers was far more involved than I realized. (To be honest, I never really thought about it.) The book does mention one program that will help organize the tasks. However, it fails to mention that it can also be organized via a database that the technology coordinator can set up his or herself.

3) Since I already have a solid background with computers, I must admit I already knew what was contained in this chapter. That being the case, I feel inclined to point out what was missing. It did cover the basics of security for the average person, but it did not address what measures to take to keep intruders out. One of basic ways to do this is by ensuring that passwords are up to a specific standard. For example, absolutely no 'actual' words should ever be used as a password. A very simple method of breaking someone's password is to obtain an electronic dictionary, loop through it while inputting every word individually into the system to see if there is a hit. (Very similar to the old concept of 'war dialing' to get on the internet when dial-up was predominant.) If teachers and students are taught why the standards for passwords are in place, they will be more likely to create an even more complicated password than what is the necessary minimum.

4) I already practice the security measures, proper licensing, and base my hardware purchases on the factors described in the book, most of what I need to apply to my life as a student was actually in the ergonomics section of the chapter. I often sit cross legged on chairs when they have no arm rests. At my computer at home, I will sit partially sideways and actually prop one of my legs up on the desk when watching movies or TV shows online. In order to protect myself from potentially pulling a muscle, injuring any number of various body parts via repeated movement, etc I need to start sitting upright in my chair and keep my arms at the proper angle when typing. Honestly, one of the only ergonomic standards that I apply when working on my computer is taking off my glasses so I do not strain my eyes. I need a lot of work in that field.

5) PEPPM is a large scale organization that deals with product bids. Since they have a much larger reach than most other companies, they can expose a buyer to vendors from many areas. This opens of the types of products available, reduces costs, and helps simplify the bidding/buying process. The also build the price of shipping into orders over $500. Shipping can become extremely expensive extremely quickly. Many times the cost of shipping isn't known until the purchase process. This is an exteremly beneficial feature to have when comparing bids, especailly when the vendors could be hundreds of miles away.

6) The program highlights section is broken down by highlight with each one explained in detail.

• Great Prices: This section discusses how each product is priced. It emphasizes that different rates can apply with bulk purchases and the some vendors give discounts and specials with the large scale purchases.
• Terms and Conditions Protect Buyer: PEPPM has a support staff that helps review paper based orders, provides administrative support, and has excellent archives.
• E-Rate Purchases: PEPPM is considered a Master State Contract and can use their contracts for E-rate.
• Quarterly Reports: receive quarterly reports via email
• Epylon E Commerce
• Electronic Ordering System
• Audit Support: Provides document support
• Improving Communication
  PEPPM's ordering process is fairly straight forward and to the point. It is comprised of three main steps, with several substeps and sections:

• Product and price research
  • information is viewed online, PO and quotes are printed and faxed
  • staff sold, provides PEPPM with documentation
  • Epylon system online purchase
• Processing the PO per PEPPM instructions
  • staff checks the contract and it goes into the Epsylon system, then an email is sent to the vendor.
  • In case of Epylon system purchase, this step is already taken care of.
• vendor receives the PO

In case of E-Rate purchases, there are two primary scenarios: dependency on the e-rate or non dependency. Purchases that are not dependent on E-rate funding can be made in the traditional manner with a refund if the E-rate is approved. If it is a purchase that is dependent on the discount, the purchase can not be made until the funding is approved and the documentation is submitted to PEPPM.

Assignment 2 - Software Selection Forms

           As I am just a full time student that has never worked in a district before nor do I have a position at Wilkes that would need my opinion on software (I'm just a graduate assistant), I have no idea whether or not software selection forms are being used at the university.  That being said, I will perform an analysis of the usefulness of the form from a couple various perspectives.
           I imagine for a teacher, the sample form in the text would be quite useful in someways.  It will clearly show what categories are addressed by the software as well as what guidelines in the curriculum it will meet.  However the form appears to have expected the teacher to have used the software in question previously, instead of suggesting what may be beneficial to the classroom.  Some of the information could be easily obtained from the manufacturer's website, such as RAM needed or examples of the graphics; other information, such as whether the directions are clear or if it is enjoyable to use, can only be gained from prior use of the software.  One cannot also generally expect teachers to suggest vendors or what licensing is needed.  Teachers are overworked as it is, this form shouldn't make even more work for them.
         From another standpoint, there are a fair amount of 'logic' (for lack of a better word) flaws in the example provided by the text.  First off, specify that  the name of the teacher suggesting the software is needed on the first line.  My initial thought is that the name of the software was desired, not the teacher's name.  Although there is a line later for it, always make it obviously clear what is desired in a form.  Give more room for notes, and put a small advisory comment that no two computers will run the software at exactly the same speed (even if they are the exact same model and were purchased at the same time).  As someone who has gone through software engineering courses, I feel inclined to point this out:  there is no such thing as truly bug free software.  There are always new and better ways to 'break' a program, although they do go through rigorous testing (there are entire divisions where all they do is attempt to break stuff).
          Basically my opinion on software selection forms is they do have a place in schools.  Just make sure that they do not make unnecessary extra work for teachers, that they are explicit, and don't use the term 'bug free'.

Assignment 1 - Challenges of a Technology Coordinator

     First and foremost, I would like to apologize for this post being late.  I did not receive the book until very recently (it was being shipped).  From my review of the chapter I have gathered that being a successful technological leader in a school district requires the ability to instruct teachers in various software and hardware that can be found in the classroom.  From personal experience I have gathered that this is more complicated then it sounds.  Nobody likes to be talked down to, therefore it is best to introduce the teachers in a more intimate setting, not a large gathering.  This way, each individual can be given the amount of help and attention s/he may (or may not) need.  There are many programs available for the classroom, most of them can not be taught to people in lecture format, but by experimentation by the individual (a classic example would be Microsoft Word).   Some programs need a general run down of how various component  and functions of the program work (think about the equations option and absolute/relative cell addressing in Excel).  There are even programs that may introduce an entirely new set of issues that the individual may have never seen before (such as the query language in Microsoft Access).  A relaxed atmosphere, interesting tasks, and receptive to questions I can help facilitate the learning process for the various teachers.  Having a background knowledge in computers helps me to quickly learn how to use various programs and navigate through their innerworkings.  It will also help figure out the basis of an issue that may be occurring, find, and implement a solution.
          A technology coordinator faces many issues in his/her day to day life.  Everything grade processing to ergonomics, virus protection to budget issues are things the tech coordinator must face.  As a computer nerd, I spend a lot of time sitting in front of one, this lends me some understanding into the hows and whys of ergonomics.  It also gives one insight into the necessity of security.  But a surprising amount of problems boil down to budget.  There might just not be enough money in district's tech budget.  This will create a lot of problems.  You can clean all of the unnecessary files and programs out of a computer, you can clean out the fans and defragment the hard drive, but that will not change the fact that older computers do not have the memory or speed available to efficiently run certain software.   You can get many, many programs open source (basically means free public domain), but that does not mean the computers at your disposal can run them well.  (An example would Blender, which is 3D design and animation software.  Personally I probably wouldn't ever try to render even a ten second animation on my dual core laptop.  There is just too much complicated information to process and compile.)  Another issue is resistance to change, there is little one can do about that but be patient and jovial.

Test

// Just testing the site.  Yup, I just commented out this line Java style.