K12 Websites change

The K12 Data Center will be moving all State Hosted websites to new servers this summer.

I will plan on migrating all our websites (that would include the school site, and the staff sites), next Tuesday, May 26th.

The new servers will no longer support "Front Page Extensions" and will not use Front Page as web development software.

What does this mean for you?
1. You can NOT use Microsoft Front Page 2003 to edit your webpage any more.
2.  To edit your webpage, you will need to use either Sharepoint Designer 2007 or Expression Web 4.

• Both are a free download from Microsoft
• Sharepoint Designer 2007
• Expression Web 4

3. Once you install them, you can open your website by following the directions on this FAQ from the K12 Data Center Members Site:  FAQ 187 Open Web Site Using Sharepoint Designer 2007
(you will need to know your K12 Credentials to log into the Members site)

Will this affect your webpage?
Not much... there are only a few features that will be affected in the migration.
Those will include: (This is copied from FAQ 1316)

If your website included these FrontPage features, you can expect the following after your site is migrated:

• FrontPage counters
  • These counters will break. They can be replaced with an alternative (e.g. StatCounter).
• FrontPage forms
  • These forms will no longer work. Any form that you would like to continue using will need to be replaced with an ASP.NET form.
• FrontPage discussion boards
  • Users will still be able to view the discussion boards but will be unable to post new content.
• FrontPage page includes
  • Changes to the included page will no longer update across the connected pages. Future edits will need to be made on each individual page.

So... In Conclusion... If you use Microsoft Frontpage for Webpage editing... you will need to install either Sharepoint Designer 2007 or Expression Web 4, for editing your webpage.

Screencast: How to begin editing your state webspace

Here is a brief (very brief), screencast, on how you can log in to your state provided webspace.



Note:  I don't go into much detail here on web editing here.  Just how to log in, and that type of thing.

When it comes to web editing, I would recommend "playing".  It's ok to experiment and work on new things and ideas.

Another helpful hint, is to look at other staff members pages, and if you see something you like....ask them how they did that?

And of course you can always ask me specific questions on "how to" do this, or that.

There is so many things that could be covered in a vast subject like this a 5 minute screenr video, won't even come close to scratching the surface.
(Note:  My son Cameron, just took a Semester Long online course on Web Editing...So he worked on building a web page for an entire semester.)
Here is what his page looks like:  http://ch3661.k12.sd.us/default.htm

I hope this short video at least helps a few of you "get started" and be able to start doing some basic work.

Tuesday Tidbits: links and discussion?

Last Wednesday at the staff inservice, we spent some time sharing some websites that can be used in the classroom... some are specific to subject area (like math), and some are helpful sites that could be used across the curriculum.

I was able to save all of the links to all the sites on my "Delicious" Social Bookmarking site.  The web address for that is here:  https://delicious.com/mharming .

Social Bookmarking sites like delicious, can be kind of handy!

Delicious itself, is kind of a handy tool, that you can use to keep track of any and all handy links that you want.  Say you are at home, and you find a site you want to use in the classroom... if you start a delicious account you can simply add the link to it...no matter where you are, and you can access all those links anywhere.  Another neat thing about Delicious is that you can "Follow" other people on there... so if you find someone who is an "expert" in your field (Math, Science, elementary, etc...), you can follow their list of helpful links!

Cheryl Harming also discussed edmodo, and the use of edmodo itself in the classroom...it's a pretty handy little tool that you can use to give and receive assignments...give online quizes, give polls, etc, etc... AND, you can invite parents to see what their student is doing in edmodo.  Cheryl did a great job, and hope I was able to chip in with a few drops of knowledge.

We also discussed web site development, and staff worked either in Frontpage or Share Point Designer, in working on their own staff webpage.  Frontpage is the older program, that most people learned on.. but is now obsolete, and we did have problems with a few staff computers using Frontpage.  Share Point Designer is a free download from Microsoft, and seemed to work with all the computers that we tried it on.

Sharepoint Designer looks similar to Frontpage.

As I mentioned, Share Point Designer is a free download... so you can download it to your home computer, and work on your webpage from home.  Note:  For your SD State supplied webpage, you will need to download the 2007 version... NOT the 2010 or 2013 version.

Here is the LINK for 2007 SharePoint Designer Dowload.

Lastly... Wondering if we could get a discussion going here...I'm going to try it, anyway.  My wife and I have just ordered a new computer for our home... the old one was just breaking down...  We ordered an HP with Windows 8 on it.  I have not used Windows 8 yet, but would like to get the reaction(s) from those who have.  I've heard a few negative things about it...but also heard that once you get "used to it" it's no big deal.

Windows 8 sure looks different!

With the proliferation of "Smart Phones" and tablets... a move to an "App based" Operating System was probably a smart move, in the long term... but it is certainly a significant change from Windows 7.

As far as I know, there aren't any school districts in SD, who are moving their student computers to Windows 8 yet.  Most are sticking with Windows 7, at least for the next year.

Anyway... have a thought on Windows 8?  A complaint?  Praises?  Anything at all?  leave a comment here... I'd like to hear it.