Weekend Update

Welcome to another addition of weekend update.

North Lab

This week the Tech office was super busy.  I am continuing to work on the North Lab in the school, making sure that each machine in there is being used and treated properly.  I have found many of these computers that have had changes made to the desktop over the week.

Other things that students are doing to the computers include:

1. Changing the background image or wallpaper
2. Students are adding "shortcuts" to the desktop.
3. "Pinning" programs to the task bar, so they stay up and running.
4. Changing the size of the icons on the desktop.
5. Changing the resolution of the screen.
6. Changing the size of the display
7. Changing the mouse (or pointer)
8. Changing the color of the windows (Pink and Black seem to be the favorites).
9. Moving icons on the desktop around.
10. And general mischief... mouse unplugged, keyboard unplugged, etc, etc...

Please keep in mind, and remind your students, all of them, that the North Lab computers are for the use of all students... Particularly those that don't get their own netbooks (Grades K-8).  The computers in the lab should not be "personalized" for individual students, as the computer is not set up for one person, but the use of all.

The more settings and/or changes made to the computers can lead to problems down the road.  I would like to see the number of programs on the desktop and/or taskbar minimized.  The more programs that are on there, the more RAM is being dedicated to have those programs "ready to run".  While I know it is common practice to have your commonly used programs on your desktop with a shortcut, the LAB is not a personal computer... we'd like to keep it "streamlined" so that everyone sees the same screen.

Two easy ways to ensure that the lab is being used correctly:

1.  Do NOT send students to work in there, unless they are being supervised.  (I chased two JH kids out there again this morning).

2.  When supervising watch your students... are they working on their programs, or are they changing the screen resolution?  Are all of the keyboards still plugged into the machines?  

Mobile Lab

In addition to the North Lab, I focused on getting some more computers ready for the Mobile Lab.  We had 20 in there, earlier... but #20 died, and a few others have started to show some problems (there's one that has a sticky keyboard, and another that has a noisy fan).  I worked on getting a few more in there, so that we can have the lab filled, and then remove the problem ones, and see if we can get them running, as well.

I know that having a lab that will work consistently, each time you use it is the number one goal.  I am hoping that the changes we have made to the lab, and to the machines, will help us.

Weekend!

Not a great deal planned this coming weekend, the 3rd and 4th grade boys will have their final BB game tomorrow at Deubrook.  Good Luck boys!  (It has been a joy and a pleasure to help these guys this year)

Saturday Night the SDSU Jackrabbits will be on espn2 facing Murray State in the annual "Bracketbusters" challenge.  Should be good exposure, but I hope we get a little better end result than the last game on espn2. (Game vs Alabama, that they lost on a last second shot).

Otherwise, some household duties, a few maintenance issues, and a few good runs (hopefully outside) to look forward to.

For the Friday Video, enjoy a little Black Keys "Tighten Up"

Have a great weekend everyone!