Open Source - Has it finally arrived?		Is Open Source ready to go fulltime? Many would have a us believe that this is so. How can we find out if it is time for Open Source in our environment? Typically the Open Source advocates point to a strong return on investment (ROI) as the main justification for going Open. Of course all the vendors can produce an ROI showing their product as delivering the best bang for the buck. A lot of times this is just window dressing so that the decision makers can justify what they want. What we need are some simpler and easier to present criteria.
Laptop Initiatives - why do they fail?		One of the reasons laptop initiatives fail is that districts overlook the cost and effort of sustaining the system. Everyone gets all excited about deploying the system and having a laptop. However, this is an everyday situation for teachers and students. After a year or two the novelty is worn off and the laptop is just another tool they need to use. Teachers start slipping back into old patterns of instruction and the lessons become more lecture again. As the learning slips into its old mold, students find that the laptop does not help as much and it is still just as heavy.
What is our position on laptops, are they unnecessary, inevitable, or essential?		The schools with comprehensive programs that were properly funded, that adequately prepared the teachers, parents and students, that had on-site repair abilities, and that had administration support showed a lot of success. Those schools that were missing any of these key components had varying degrees of success or failure. Yes, laptops are essential to quality technology integration - but only for all students after you have the school, staff, students and administration ready.
Try Open Source - For your students!		We will have Windows through out most of our schools for many years to come, but our students may be walking into a shop that is all Linux in the near future and we should at least expose them to some of the technology. Even in the US, a bastion of Microsoft, a number of government entities have switched to open source only. With technology budgets the way they are, we are stuck with software and equipment longer than we should be. However, with Open Source we can bring in new software all the time and at least that area can be leading edge for our students.
Should we support or oppose the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA)		Educating kids on what choices they should make is wonderful and we need to do that all the time. Assuming that just because they know what they should do means that they will do it is dangerous and wrong. We can, and should, still teach the technologies in question safely. We can prepare our students for this wide-open world without exposing them needlessly to danger before they are mature enough to handle it.
Floppy Disks - Time to throw out?		Why are we using floppy disks? Does your organization have an application that requires floppy drives? The key here is whether your organization has a specific need for floppy disks. Most organizations eliminated the need for floppies a long time ago. However, that does not mean they quit using floppies. Some people are very attached to them and feel strongly about not wanting to give them up.
E-Mail Retention in Texas - A possible solution!		If your district directs your staff to use e-mail for transitory information only, then there are no retention requirements. Below you will find the links to Texas' Records Management web site. They have a specific e-mail section and policy to peruse. http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/slrm/recordspubs/index.html
Technology Department Job Descriptions & Pay Scales		I surveyed schools and businesses, locally and around the state, over a number of years about technician salaries. The biggest problem with just comparing salaries is that the job requirements and job duties are vastly different from organization to organization. The following information includes the detailed job descriptions for the positions and recommendations for pay based on those job descriptions.
Keyboarding Speeds and Testing Out		Letting students leave high school without touch typing skills is hurting their chances for a successful, high paying career. I have participated at a number of schools in testing students for a Keyboarding class exemption and the most important part was not the software that was used, but the conditions of the test.
Do Corporate Methods work in a School District?		There is a major difference between the corporate world and the local Independent School District. The school district is run by administrators who are hired by the taxpayers with high quality education as a goal - not profit. These taxpayers may be highly educated, may not be, may be financially literate, may not be, may be technologically literate, and may not be. Therefore, they do require a different approach than corporate stockholders and most administrators have adjusted their methods to match the situation at their school.
Thin Client Savings Using Old Computers - Maybe Not!		The Promise from the Vendor: Using old computers as thin clients will save you money. Comments: There are many cases where thin clients are a good solution. However, in the case where the cost savings involve using old computers I have a few concerns.
Slow Computer? Slow Internet? Before you spend money ...		Not only is Internet slow and sluggish, but every application on the local machine is sluggish as well. -- Before you spend any money perhaps you can try a few simple and free things.
Too Much Work!		How do we measure "too much" work? I have to say that the biggest complaint I receive from other Technology professionals is that they have too much work.
Beware the E-Rate Seductions		I have noticed a disturbing pattern arising. Many school districts and administrators are being seduced into major changes in their technology processes and infrastructure by the phrase "its E-Rate-able" in all of its varieties.
Keyboarding in Elementary		Keyboarding in Elementary is always controversial. Over the years the discussion seems to boil down to a few questions.
Flowcharting as a separate class before programming courses?		Who is teaching programming languages without flow charts, logic structures, and/or modules? The teacher that is just giving them the code without teaching the logic is not teaching programming.
One-to-one computing - Can we pay for it? Is it possible?		For every study about the value of one-to-one computing there is another that shows no significant gain in test scores and some that show losses. So why are we surprised that administrators do not want to commit the funds required? Now if the laptops were $100 to $200 would that change?
Free Linux Software for your students & staff - comes with CDs and manuals		1488 copies of SUSE Linux were donated to Westbrook ISD for distribution to area High Schools, Colleges and Universities for students and staff.
Files from Home - Firewalls, Viruses & Student Work		All the firewalls, Internet and network security that most districts have are worthless if they allow students access to computers with floppy drives and cd-rom drives. (Actually this applies at all businesses and with all staff, guests, students, etc.) Most of the viruses brought into school districts are on the students' disks.
Netstorage & iFolder - more details		If you just use the iFolder without Netstorage, then you can use a Netware, Linux or Windows server. The Netstorage will only run on a Netware server. However, you use the Novell's Identity Manager to synch with Active Directory.
Low Pay for Technology Workers		The reason some schools abuse their technology people is because they can. So long as technology workers continue to work forever for nothing some schools have no reason to change.
Religion & Teacher Web Pages		Can a teacher put religious items on their web page?
Cutting Tech Budgets - Does Technology and Technology Integration help students learn?		It does good to remind some of the budget cutters about the new TAKS testing being piloted today. The State is clearly moving toward having all the TAKS testing online. Is your district ready?
Login name/IDs - Student & Staff		The support staff wanted a login that was tied to the year the student graduated so that the class stayed together, the login did not change and the network admins could do the yearly updates easily. The teachers did not want to use the ID number, because they always had to look it up, they wanted something that you could figure out with the student's name.
Student & Staff network access from the home or anywhere via Internet		File access with iFolder &/or Netstorage is available for Windows, Linux & Novell in different varieties and is a wonderful and easy thing.