TEchnology Plan

I was not able to obtain an electronic copy of the WW SD Technology Plan, however I do know that the plan is valid was validated by PDE and is subject to be revised this summer, 2009. It will be my responsibility to see this is completed. It is important for our technology vision to be laid out in a planning stage. It provides focus and strategies for the District. Any requests for ERATE funding, internal connections etc has to coincide with our written and adpoted Technology Plan. For instance: I cannot ask for funding for Wireless communications equipment in my Elementary Schools with out wireless being addressed in my Tech Plan with goals/strategies outlined.
One major change in our Technology Plan this summer will be the direction of our HS and future path we would like to see given the current technology use with the Classrooms for the Future laptops.
I feel a technology plan is vital for giving the District goals and a set path for technology. It is important that our School Board also witness our planned path. Decisions are made daily and money is spent in technology in my dept to the tune of $300,000 yearly. It is important that our School Board see there is a reason for these expenses and a defined goal.
Another major change we will make to our Technology Plan is the implementation to our District of Thin Clients and Virtual Machine Infrastructure with regard to adding more computers while reducing costs and overhead.

Blog Assignment 4

1. WW offers shared storage and server space for all students and teachers in the District. There is no limit to what may be saved. This information is backed up daily. Students cannot write to Drive C or desktop, only to their “ HOME” directory or server My Documents. We are running on a Windows Server 2003 platform. Teachers are also asked to use MY DOCUMENTS . there should be nothing on their local computer, in case of a virus, computer crash. Just this past month we have implemented Network Access Storage the size of 4 terabytes. Students are not only saving Word documents, they are creating large Power Points, video files etc. Takes up enormous amount of space that we now have.
2. I personally have NOT signed an AUP until I came to Western Wayne School District. However, I do remember signing an AUP for Computer usage for my sons in 6th grade and every year since then while they were students at Western Wayne School District. Our students now sign an AUP every year especially this year when we re-vamped it. This Spring we are implementing a new AUP which will address “cyberbullying”. Our teachers also have to sign AUP this year so we have them on file.
3. Our email is for teachers only no students we are using Microsoft Exchange Server. All email is retained and backed up. Any folders teachers create to save emails is also retained. If a teacher deletes items from email they are not saved. We are encouraging our teachers to use the Calendar unit of Outlook especially the teachers in Instructional Support.
4. The most important thing I learned is that nothing stays stagnant. Two years ago I would never have dreamed that we would need 4 terabytes of internal storage. I also did not realize that the AUP should be updated yearly or reviewed yearly. We have a great attorney associated with our school district who really understand copyrights, AUP and school law. He has helped us move forward with technology while at the same time protecting our students and district from issues.