Yesterday, we completed Elkton School Podcast #2.
This Week's episode includes interviews with: K-12 Principal Kelly Neill, "Meet the New Staff" Kelsey Beckman, and 7-12 Social Studies Cheryl Harming.
The link to the podcast is HERE.
The file is uploaded as a Windows Media Audio (WMA) File, so it is best opened with Windows Media Player.
Hope you Enjoy the Podcast, and don't forget to let me know if you have an upcoming event or topic you'd like to discuss on the podcast.
Showing posts with label Elkton School District. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elkton School District. Show all posts
Friday, September 6, 2013
Thursday, August 29, 2013
School Podcast - now online
Today, I finished something I've been meaning to do since last year.... record and complete the Elkton School podcast.
In our first episode, I interview the Head Coaches for the our Fall Sports: Melissa Erickson in Volleyball, Tal Farnham in Football, and Ervin Gebhart in Cross County.
The link to the podcast is HERE.
Take a listen, and I hope you enjoy it.
Remember, if you have any subjects, topics, or people of interest that we could include on a future podcast, don't be afraid to let me know.
Now that I have the program up and running functionally, and I've figured out how to transfer audio files from my phone...and have the procedures all figured out... I can whip one out pretty quickly.
In our first episode, I interview the Head Coaches for the our Fall Sports: Melissa Erickson in Volleyball, Tal Farnham in Football, and Ervin Gebhart in Cross County.
The link to the podcast is HERE.
Take a listen, and I hope you enjoy it.
Remember, if you have any subjects, topics, or people of interest that we could include on a future podcast, don't be afraid to let me know.
Now that I have the program up and running functionally, and I've figured out how to transfer audio files from my phone...and have the procedures all figured out... I can whip one out pretty quickly.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Welcome Back!
Wecome Back to Elkton School for the 2013-2014 Year!
I hope everyone has a great year this year.
No real Blog post information today... I'll be trying to get things running for everyone for the first week or so.
Reminder: If you need me to do something this first week or so, and I say I'll get to it, but I forget because I a have alot of that type of thing going on...please don't hesitate to send me a reminder. Just say... "hey, were you gonnna come do ..... whatever it is?" Chances are, I've forgotten, more than anything.
I try to write stuff down on my computer, but alot of times, I'm walking in the hallway to do something, and I'll get pulled aside by a staff person ( or two) and they'll say "when you get time, can you do this?"...and it may slip my mind.
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| Wecome to our school! |
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Preperations are underway!
The new school year is bearing down on us. (Can't believe it will be here in a week!)
Tech office has been very busy.
Sophomore through Senior computers are all loaded and ready to go, except for the installation of forticlient. We will be installing this on those machines this week.
Freshman computers are in, and I am working on completing the image for the new machines. As soon as that is done, we will start duplicating and deploying them.
The incoming freshmen will be issued new HP laptops...HP 3125 machines. We hope they will be a bit more dependable and sturdy than the older Acer machines, which are a good machine for the cost, but they have had some issues with screens cracking, and keyboards losing keys, and things of that nature.
Changes:
Students no longer has Smart Synch program on their machines. The program was out of date, and unsupported by the developer.
All student machine will have Google Chrome installed on their machines this year.
All student machines will be joined to the domain, and log in to the server as a user. In the past few years, they were technically "guests" on the system. This should be helpful, as changes can be made easier to the machines.
All student machines will run the State's recommended "Symantec" anti-virus protection program. This is a better, and more up to date antivirus program. It also updates frequently, and will do a better job of protecting the machines from viruses.
All student machines will have "Forticlient" software installed for off-site filtering. Previously, we had a separate program called "Cybersitter" that we ran on the machines. Forticlient will be a good change, as it connects automatically with the schools Fortinet Web Filter. So essentially the students will have the same filtering on the machines when away from the school, that they have at the school.
Mobile Labs
-We will have 2 functioning mobile labs in the school this year. 1 will be a standard laptop cart, with 26 machines running Windows 7. The second mobile lab will be a mobile Chromebook lab. We have ordered two new carts for the mobile labs, which will be nice.
I'm excited to see how the students respond to the chromebooks. They operate on a solid state drive, meaning that the hard drive doesn't "spin". This allows them to run at a lower temperature, and ensures a much longer battery life. I'm sure many have heard that the Sioux Falls School District is moving to Chromebooks for all it's High School students. If we have positive results and issues with mandatory state testing are worked out, this could be a possibility for Elkton students in the future.
-Another change we will make with the mobile labs is that grades 5 through 8 will be assigned a specific machine. Each user in these grades will always use the same machine number. Be it number 5, or 13, or 26... That way, we will save memory on the machines (by not having multiple 'users' log in to each machine), and also we will be able to know who was using what machine. The number will be the same for each lab, so if a student is assigned #5...they will get the #5 from the Windows 7 lab, and the #5 from the chromebook lab.
Student Log-ins
-All students grades 5-12 will have their own network ID and state e-mail account. This will give them access not only to e-mail, but also to be able access and use google drive and Microsoft 365. Both of which are provided by the State.
-Students K-4 will continue to be able to use a general "student" log in. If a staff member would like their students to be on the state e-mail system, this is something I can do for them, but it is not required.
Other than that, we need to install Windows 7 on 4 new machines for the Roland Colony and we are ready to go.
We have a great school year ahead of us! I'm looking forward to working with you all, and also getting to know our new staff members.
A reminder, if you ever would like me to help learn how to use a new product or device, or anything of that nature, I would be glad to help you out. (assuming I'm familiar with it, and if I'm not, I'm willing to learn)
Thanks for all your help and patience in the past year (and it the coming year).
Tech office has been very busy.
Sophomore through Senior computers are all loaded and ready to go, except for the installation of forticlient. We will be installing this on those machines this week.
Freshman computers are in, and I am working on completing the image for the new machines. As soon as that is done, we will start duplicating and deploying them.
The incoming freshmen will be issued new HP laptops...HP 3125 machines. We hope they will be a bit more dependable and sturdy than the older Acer machines, which are a good machine for the cost, but they have had some issues with screens cracking, and keyboards losing keys, and things of that nature.
Changes:
Students no longer has Smart Synch program on their machines. The program was out of date, and unsupported by the developer.
All student machine will have Google Chrome installed on their machines this year.
All student machines will be joined to the domain, and log in to the server as a user. In the past few years, they were technically "guests" on the system. This should be helpful, as changes can be made easier to the machines.
All student machines will run the State's recommended "Symantec" anti-virus protection program. This is a better, and more up to date antivirus program. It also updates frequently, and will do a better job of protecting the machines from viruses.
All student machines will have "Forticlient" software installed for off-site filtering. Previously, we had a separate program called "Cybersitter" that we ran on the machines. Forticlient will be a good change, as it connects automatically with the schools Fortinet Web Filter. So essentially the students will have the same filtering on the machines when away from the school, that they have at the school.
Mobile Labs
-We will have 2 functioning mobile labs in the school this year. 1 will be a standard laptop cart, with 26 machines running Windows 7. The second mobile lab will be a mobile Chromebook lab. We have ordered two new carts for the mobile labs, which will be nice.
I'm excited to see how the students respond to the chromebooks. They operate on a solid state drive, meaning that the hard drive doesn't "spin". This allows them to run at a lower temperature, and ensures a much longer battery life. I'm sure many have heard that the Sioux Falls School District is moving to Chromebooks for all it's High School students. If we have positive results and issues with mandatory state testing are worked out, this could be a possibility for Elkton students in the future.
-Another change we will make with the mobile labs is that grades 5 through 8 will be assigned a specific machine. Each user in these grades will always use the same machine number. Be it number 5, or 13, or 26... That way, we will save memory on the machines (by not having multiple 'users' log in to each machine), and also we will be able to know who was using what machine. The number will be the same for each lab, so if a student is assigned #5...they will get the #5 from the Windows 7 lab, and the #5 from the chromebook lab.
Student Log-ins
-All students grades 5-12 will have their own network ID and state e-mail account. This will give them access not only to e-mail, but also to be able access and use google drive and Microsoft 365. Both of which are provided by the State.
-Students K-4 will continue to be able to use a general "student" log in. If a staff member would like their students to be on the state e-mail system, this is something I can do for them, but it is not required.
Other than that, we need to install Windows 7 on 4 new machines for the Roland Colony and we are ready to go.
We have a great school year ahead of us! I'm looking forward to working with you all, and also getting to know our new staff members.
A reminder, if you ever would like me to help learn how to use a new product or device, or anything of that nature, I would be glad to help you out. (assuming I'm familiar with it, and if I'm not, I'm willing to learn)
Thanks for all your help and patience in the past year (and it the coming year).
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Twitter account
The Elkton School District now has a Twitter account, for announcements, notices, and updates.
https://twitter.com/ElktonSchool
Sign up to follow, if you are interested!
https://twitter.com/ElktonSchool
Sign up to follow, if you are interested!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Meet the New Guy
I thought I'd take the opportunity to introduce myself to the Elkton staff, since as the Technology Director I will be working with all of you. Some of you I already know well because we're related, and a few of you may remember me from my Student Teaching days, which I did here in Elkton.
A bit of my professional background, I have taught for 16 years, the last 8 being in Chamberlain. I started out as a Social Studies teacher, then gradually moved my way into Physical Education. This May I graduated from Dakota State University with a Master of Science in Educational Technology (MSET).
On the family side of things, my wife Shana and I have four children. Taylor is 16 and will be a Junior, Cameron is 14 and will be a Freshman, Marcus is 9 and will be in 4th grade, and Miles is 8 and will be a 3rd grader. My parents Robert and Rita, are originally from this area and my father is actually an EHS graduate. They currently live in Aurora.
We are currently looking for housing in Elkton, and hopefully we can get something lined up, and soon (school starts in just over a month!).
I will be here each week until we get completely moved, but I'm going to be running back and forth between here and the River City trying to prepare for our change in location. If you stop by the school for anything, don't hesitate to stop to see me and introduce yourself.
I'm very excited to meet and work with each of you. This is a new position for me, and I'm sure I will have a great deal of learning to do.
A bit of my professional background, I have taught for 16 years, the last 8 being in Chamberlain. I started out as a Social Studies teacher, then gradually moved my way into Physical Education. This May I graduated from Dakota State University with a Master of Science in Educational Technology (MSET).
On the family side of things, my wife Shana and I have four children. Taylor is 16 and will be a Junior, Cameron is 14 and will be a Freshman, Marcus is 9 and will be in 4th grade, and Miles is 8 and will be a 3rd grader. My parents Robert and Rita, are originally from this area and my father is actually an EHS graduate. They currently live in Aurora.
We are currently looking for housing in Elkton, and hopefully we can get something lined up, and soon (school starts in just over a month!).
I will be here each week until we get completely moved, but I'm going to be running back and forth between here and the River City trying to prepare for our change in location. If you stop by the school for anything, don't hesitate to stop to see me and introduce yourself.
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| This is me talking to some dude at State CC a few years ago. |
I'm very excited to meet and work with each of you. This is a new position for me, and I'm sure I will have a great deal of learning to do.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
First "Official Day" at work
Today is my first official day as the Technology Coordinator at Elkton School District.
Spent a few days last week, training in with the former Coordinator, Gabe Pooler. He was kind enough to show me around and help me out, and get me rolling.
I've been quite busy actually, looking up some equipment for purchase, and doing some updating on my website, and things of that nature.
Looking forward to meeting and working with more of the Elkton staff. If you drop by the school in the next few weeks, stop in and say "Hi".
Spent a few days last week, training in with the former Coordinator, Gabe Pooler. He was kind enough to show me around and help me out, and get me rolling.
I've been quite busy actually, looking up some equipment for purchase, and doing some updating on my website, and things of that nature.
Looking forward to meeting and working with more of the Elkton staff. If you drop by the school in the next few weeks, stop in and say "Hi".
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