STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY PLAN COMMITTEE
March 5, 2012 MEETING NOTES
Kaitlyn Manns, Rick White, Hal Westwood, Leslie Blake-Davis,
Melinda Gowdey,
Gary Stergis, Dave Lennon ,
Jared Shannon, Andrew Garcia , and
Rob Putnam
Identifying the
Issues Facing the Committee
The initial discussion touched on several issues that figure
into the work of developing a strategic technology plan.
• The point was raised that our plan must address all of the
aspects necessary to enabling and promoting the use of technology in CBRSD. We
need a strategic plan to provide devices that have an adequate lifespan and to
ensure adequate access through infrastructure, and bandwidth. While this is
essential, these are preconditions to the work of helping teachers to deliver
and enhance content. The difficult work is getting all staff to use the
resources
effectively.
• Professional development was identified as an essential
part of any strategic plan. The
development will have to be differentiated for the various
levels of expertise that currently exist among staff. The point was raised that
everyone has to be trained and that it can’t be optional. It was observed that
many teachers are reluctant and wary of adopting technology in their classrooms
and our plan will have to address those issues.
• Technology staffing is another issue that arose. CBRSD is
a 241 square mile district with a thousand computers. The strategic plan must
ensure that there are enough staff to keep it all running.
Members offered examples of districts that are making good
use of technology. It was suggested that examining these districts might offer
ideas of what is possible.
Palm Beach County Schools http://www.palmbeachschools.org/
http://www.palmbeachschools.org/it/ .
Andy Garcia cited this school as being a nearby model of
technology excellence. Rick Wagner shared a link http://www.edutopia.org/blog/transitioning-digital-textbook-organizing-andrew-marcinek
written by the school’s technology director about the implementation of an iPad
initiative. Andrew put
Rob in contact with the principal and he is exploring the
possibility of a site visit.
Microsoft Office 365 now FREE for Students, Faculty and Staff!
ReplyDeleteMarch 27th, 2012
We’ve spent quite a bit of time on our blog crowing about the benefits of Microsoft Office 365, but we just had to share this news.
Effective this month, Microsoft is now offering Office 365 for FREE to students, school faculty, and staff members! Offered as the Microsoft “A2″ plan, the free service includes the standard Office features you know and love like Word, Outlook, and Excel. But Microsoft ups the ante by the including power-packed applications Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync.
Microsoft is cutting prices for Office 365 across the board to make it more easily affordable for organizations of all types, and will be releasing a full Office 365 for education service this summer. But you can get the jump on it and get your faculty, staff members, and students using this great service today, free of charge.
For more details check out the full announcement from Microsoft.
Microsoft is “all-in” when it comes to preparing K-12 students for the future!
K-12 institutions have a very specific set of requirements for cloud-based messaging and collaboration solutions. No one brings a richer set of free hosted solutions to the K-12 space than Microsoft Live@edu. Not only are our enterprise-grade services cost effective and flexible, but they also prepare students for the next step with professional tools used in higher education institutions and businesses the world over.
Hoover City School District – Hoover, Alabama
Control Costs – "With Live@edu, we’re saving approximately $150,000 in product-licensing costs, and by eliminating server, storage, and off-site back-up resources, and we benefit from product enhancements added regularly at no extra cost."
- Keith Price, Chief Technology Officer, Hoover City Schools
http://www.makingtecheasy.com/2012/03/microsoft-office-365-now-free-for-students-faculty-and-staff/
http://www.microsoft.com/liveatedu/liveatedu-for-primary-education.aspx?locale=en-US&country=US
http://www.microsoft.com/liveatedu/learn-about-office-365.aspx
Kelly:
DeleteThis appears to be an advertisement. Has the technology committee been discussing aquiring Microsoft Office 365 on a large scale? I'm dubious about certain features of Word. It's spell check and grammar functions are quite inadequate.
---Bill Cameron
Bill,
DeleteWhen I read that Microsoft is offering a version of Microsoft Office 365 to schools for free, I thought it was wonderful news and a great idea.
I did a bit of research and posted relevant sections from the information that I found, along with links the the sources, to this blog to share it with the tech committee.
~Kelly