October 7, 2008

Hello everyone. I have placed a couple of links to websites on Bloom's taxonomy down below in the links sections. If any of you are like me you might like a little refresher on the ins and outs of our good buddy Benjamin Bloom.

September 28, 2008

Greetings and salutations colleagues.

I have noticed some of you have been using the computer lab and I am sure you have noticed that it is impossible for students to add favourites. This is somewhat annoying because little kids can take a long time to type in a URL. Use the instructions below to teach your students to make a favourites list in a word document. That way when they are in the lab they can simply go to their word document in their H drive and then click on their links. This is probably more of a div 2 kind of thing but grade three students should be able to do it. I recommend you follow these instructions and do a favourites list yourself before trying to teach your students. Good luck

How to make a favourites list

• Open Internet Explorer and then open Word once internet explorer has opened.
• Go to the internet page that you want to add to your favourites document by typing in the URL of the page you want to add to your favourites.
• Click once in the address bar so that the URL of the page is highlighted.
• Right click and select copy.
• Paste the URL into your favourites word document. Then press enter and you will see your link turn blue and it will be underlined.
• Keep your favourites word document open when you are using the internet and add your favourite links to this document.
• Use this page to help you get to your favourite links.

Operating Instructions for the LCD cart and laptop

I. Laptop

1. Make sure there is a blue line connected to the laptop. If you are in your class unplug the blue line from your computer and plug it into the back of the laptop. If you are in the lab you may have to “steal” a blue line from the printer or another computer. Just make sure to put the blue line back after you are finished. If there is no blue line connected you will not be able to log onto the computer.

2. Open the laptop and power up the computer.

3. Press ctrl-alt-delete and logon using your user name and password. For example denis.fortier is my user name. Then put in your password.

4. Select the domain. It must be cssdadmin. You cannot log into the student domain and students cannot log into the cssdadmin domain.

5. Turn on the LCD projector.

II. LCD Projector

1. Press the red coloured power button on the top of the LCD projector. Wait until you get the split screen showing focus, height/adjust, zoom and enter.

2. Adjust the settings by looking at the graphics on the screen and adjusting the settings. You can adjust the focus by turning the dial on the lens, much like you would for a camera. Adjust the height using the “foot” at the front of the LCD. If there is some tilt in the projected image there is another “foot” in the back left corner of the LCD. You can turn it to adjust the sideways height. When you are happy with the settings press the enter button in the middle of the top of the LCD.

3. You should see the desktop of the computer projected straight ahead. If you do not see it press the Fn key and F5 at the same time. Then wait at least 3-5 seconds. This acts as a toggle to go back and forth between the laptop screen and the LCD projected image. This computer can usually run both images but sometimes it works better if you have the laptop screen turned off.

DVD Player.

NB. It is necessary to add the cables to the LCD projector. 1. Disconnect the cable connecting the LCD projector to the laptop.

2. Plug the yellow (video) cable to the back of the LCD projector. Plug it into the yellow receptacle.

3. Plug in the speaker cables for big sound.

4. Turn on the DVD player and then turn on the LCD projector.

5. The LCD projector should automatically sense the DVD player connections. Put a disk into the DVD player and use the REMOTE to operate it.

Using the Scanner

Follow these instructions to use the scanner in the lab.

• Log onto the computer to which the scanner is connected.
• Press start - all programs - accessories - scanner and camera wizard.
• Follow the instructions in the wizard to scan your doc.
• Save your doc in your H drive.

Hello and welcome to the brand new school year. The computer lab is ready to go. I would like to remind everyone that we are still on thin client and therefore students and any teachers wishing to use the lab will need to log in with their user name and password. The domain is cssdadmin. Your students passwords may need to be reset. Do this by logging on and using the password reset program located on the desktop of the computer. You may ask M. Fortier, Janelle or Anne-Marie.

The information below is still current except that students should be able to print from their accounts. Some may not have the colour printer connected to their accounts. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

February 26

New workstation in the lab

Hello, I took one of the computers that was in the little room upstairs and I put it in the lab. It is against the wall where the teacher station used to be. It is the machine on the right. This machine is different from all the other lab computers because:

• It is not running on thin client.
• It is possible to save material on its HD.
• It is not yet connected to the domain therefore you cannot yet access H drives on this machine.
• It is possible to print from this machine in either black and white or colour by selecting the appropriate printer.
• Students in DIV II or students with memory sticks should save their files on their memory sticks then print from this machine. They will not have to go back to their classrooms to print.

I have pretty well finished rounding up all the old computer material. If you have any other items you would like to get rid of please let me know. We will likely do the MMR by the end of the week.

February 4, 2008

Thin Client Information

Hello, please feel free to download the document below to read more about Thin Client. Simply right click and save target as. Make sure to remember where you saved the file.

PDF file on Thin Client

Thin Client and Computer Lab FAQ

What is Thin Client?

A: Thin client is a way for the school district to manage our computer lab by running all the programs from a server downtown.

Why do we have Thin Client in our computer lab

A: We are one of 10 schools in the school district piloting this project. Eventually the school district wants to have all of the schools on Thin Client.

What is the advantage of Thin Client?

A

• Lower operating costs for the district.
• Easier to secure (deep freeze)
• Less energy consumption.
• Enhanced data security

For a more complete listing go to the Wikipedia link at the bottom of this page.

What is the deep freeze program?

A: Whenever you or your students log off the computers the computer automatically reverts to the its original configuration. This program prevents students from saving material on the local machine's hard drive. This is supposed to prevent viruses, shareware and undesirable programs from infiltrating our system and mucking up the works. I believe the problem with the printers has to do with the deep freeze program.

Why won't our lab computers print our student's material

A: Our lab computers will not print because the powers that be have been having some difficulty installing the printers and keeping them installed.

Why can't my students save their favourites?

A: Once again this is the deep freeze program. A simple solution is to have students create a favourites list by saving URLs into a word document. Simply have them copy and paste their URL into the word doc then press enter. When you see the text change to blue and underlined it is hotlinked and students can access that link, just like from their favourites menu.

Why won't memory sticks work or be recognized?

A: Have students insert their memory sticks before they log in. Then the computers should recognize them. If not try restarting the computer.

Where should my students save their work?

Students must save all of their work in their H drives.

Is there a way to see my students work without having to log them all on one by one?

Yes, but you must see Mr. Fortier to learn how to do it.

French Tutoring available

Our French monitor, Stéphanie Soumah is available to do French tutoring. Her email address is biky777@free.fr

January 27, 2008

Wow it has almost been a whole year since this page has been updated. Time has flown by and we have seen a lot of change in a short time. Scroll to the bottom of this page and you will see some links to the 2Learn.ca website. These links contain activities to help meet the ICT outcomes. If you come across any interesting links please email them to me and I will put them into this page.

February 14

Hello everyone, all certificated staff must participate in the Accountability Pillar Jurisdiction Surveys These are the same surveys we did online last year. Please go to the link at the bottom of this page and click on it. Then go to the website, log in using your code and then do the survey.

January 18, 2007

I have finished setting up the new monitors in the lab. Please remind students not to touch the screens so they do not get all gummed up. If the tilt needs to be adjusted please do it for your students. The base is fairly solid but the tilt mechanism is stiff so it requires a steady hand to tilt the screens forward or back. Once they are adjusted we should avoid constantly re-adjusting them.

I have also set up all the keyboards for French writing. The controller is in the bottom right hand corner. It is blue with a big EN in the middle click on this and select French and the keyboard switches over.

I have also installed Gradebook on the Div I teachers' computers. I also put support documents in a file called Gradebook Plus. This file is on the C drive and it contains MS Word documents which will help you when you work with GB.

January 17, 2007

We have purchased a new scanner for the lab. Currently this machine is connected to computer number 26. If you would like to use it to scan documents or pictures please feel free to do so. Follow the instructions below to get started.

1. Click start > Programs > accessories > imaging. This will open the imaging program and is the easiest and quickest way to use the scanner.

2. Once the imaging program opens click file and choose acquire image on the menu. This will open a program called scangear.

3. Use the controls on the right hand side of the screen to scan your document. Once it has scanned save it in your desired location. I have made a folder on the H drive called scanned documents. You may save it in this folder just create a new folder with your name on it and save your images in that folder so that everything stays organized.

Scanner tips

Use the preview feature because this will isolate your image. When it scans it will only scan the picture.

Experiment a little with the settings and controls so that you can get the best results.

When you save your image make sure to save it as a JPEG. This will reduce the size of your document. You want to find a good balance in the size of the file. If it is too big it will take up too much space.

December 21 Hello everyone. There has been some difficulty experienced with our new keyboards and machines. In order to set up French language capabilities you must set up your keyboard. Follow the instructions below to do so.

1. Press start > go to settings > open the control panel.

2. On the control panel look at the list of options. Find keyboard. Double click on it and it will open a window called keyboard properties.

3. Click on the input locales tab at the top of the window.

4. Then click on the change button. This will open the text services menu.

5. Click Add > this will open another window. Click on the menu box arrow and scroll down until you get to French (Canada)

6. Click okay and then it will close. Click on the apply button. This should do it.

7. You should see in the bottom right corner of your screen a little blue sign with EN in it. Click on that box and change the language to French.

8. Do not get frustrated if your characters are a bit different. Through trial and error you will soon locate the characters you are looking for. : )

December 19

Hello everyone. I guess it has been awhile since I updated this page. Rick, the District tech guy came by today and he hooked up all the new black computers up to our H drive. So now all our students will be able to access their files on the H drive. The active directory has not happened yet but it should happen sometime in the new year. So, for now the old #26 is still the H drive computer. Rick had to uninstall MS Office on this computer (#26)to make space on the hard drive so it will run the colour printer properly.

We also set up a new printer in the lab. The printer is in the same spot as the old B printer. It is the same type of printer as the old one and it will be the default printer for all the computers in the lab. We got rid of the printer that was next to Judy's desk. We also put a printer in the library so Ginette and Marie Claude can print there from their classrooms.

The lab is starting to come along but there is still the issue of the installation of our programs and software, some of the cords are a bit tangled, and today we discovered that some of the floppy disk drives do not work. I will let you know which ones later. Oh well what can you do? Beggars can't be choosers. Please continue to note any problems with any of the computers as you see them. I will put a fresh problems log on the wall next to the storage room.

There are still plenty of computers on the cart in the lab for the taking. Please see me if you wish to discuss putting more computers in your classroom.

Please start thinking about Gradebook for after Christmas. I am available to help with the installation process. I used it last term and I thought it went really well.

December 2

Well, Don and I set up all the computers in the lab. This task consisted of unhooking all the old computers and monitors and then taking them out of the lab, wiping the tables and then re-installing the new computers and the great big monitors (which weigh a ton by the way). We used the existing power cords and re-plugged in all the blue lines. The new mice that we put in are the intelli-mouse type. They are the ones with the little rollers on them. These should work on our new Windows 2000 systems that Rick will install. On top of that I also plugged in new headphones to each computer. This way if you go to a website like starfall.com students will be able to hear the sounds on the page.

Unfortunately, computers for school overlooked the fact that some of the monitors had removable cords. (The ones that plug the monitor into the computer, I will email the computers for school for those cords asap.) A few of the monitors had non-removable cords so those are fine.

For now the lab will remain closed until Rick comes by and sets up all the new computers. He does this by plugging his laptop into our system (blue lines) and then programming all the computers at the same time through the blue lines.

We also distributed 9 of the new computers and monitors to the classrooms. I will come around to set these up on Monday morning while Mme. Prudhomme has art with my students.

Staff may also wish to take advantage of the old computers. These can be set up in the classrooms as stand alone machines. They will not be connected to the internet, however they could still be useful for the following types of activities. CD roms, games, educational programs such as Encarta, word processing or typing practice. These computers will not be in the hall for very long because it looks very messy to have them laying around. Please let me know by email if you would like to have some in your classrooms and I will come around and set them up. You will need tables to set them up on and a space for them. We have about 15-20 decent machines. I put a yellow sticky note on the computers to indicate if they were good or not.

So, finally I would like to thank Don for coming and helping to set up the computers. THANKS DON!!

November 28

Well, now that report cards are gone out things should settle down a little bit. On the technology front. Rick our school tech came and picked up one of our new machines yesterday. He will re-image the machine to get it ready for use. Re-imaging means to load it with all the programs, our old data and other odds and ends to get it ready for use. Once he has done this he will check with us, (me, Cynthia and Sacha) to see if it is all good. Once it is all good he will set up all the machines to be like that one. One of the changes and improvements to our lab will be that our data (H drive) will not be stored on a local machine. It will stored downtown. One of the advantages to this is that our stuff gets backed up everyday. I have always been a bit leery about our H drive because if that computer ever failed we would lose all our data.

We will be in charge of physically setting up the lab ourselves. This means removing all the old computers and setting up the new ones. Rick cautioned us to be careful in plugging in devices such as mice and keyboards. He recommended only one or two people handle the plugging in because the plugs are delicate and could easily break.

Finally, Rick said that once our new lab is up and running it will be "light years" ahead of what we have now. This is very encouraging and I am excited to be a part of these new developments.

November 7

*Teachers who would like to share interesting links please email them to me, along with a short description and I will post them in the links section of this page.

*Hello everyone. We have been hearing rumours that our computers for school order has come through. No official word on that yet.

November 1

Hello everyone. I was in the computer lab today with my class and I was doing a lesson with the LCD projector. I was attempting to show students how to copy images into a word document. I went to google and I was surprised to see that the IMAGE search function was enabled (last year it was not). So I typed in Campbells soup because I was looking for some soup can images for a collage I was going to have students make. I was shocked at the images that appeared.

If you are in the lab and you encounter offensive images please email Chad Johnson and give him the details. Please CC me and Mme Prudhomme also.

November 1

I downloaded and installed the FLASH software on the laptop connected to the LCD projector.

October 29

Suggested Reflection Room Guidelines

1. Students will eat lunch in the reflection room.
2. After students are finished eating they will complete their reflection assignment.
3. Students must raise their hands to speak and they will refrain from idle chit chat.
4. Students will be allowed one bathroom break during the noon hour.
5. Reflection room supervisor will help students do their reflections if needed. Once reflection room supervisor is satisfied with the quality of the reflection she/he will sign it.
6. Students will spend the remainder of the lunch period reading one of the reflection room books. (Choose the book that best matches student behaviour)
7. At the end of the lunch hour reflection room supervisor will: