Keeping Your Desktop Free of Clutter and Deleting Those 100 Folders in Your My Documents Folder

Computers are great things. In addition to being an excellent instructional tool, they can also be tools that make our jobs as educators easier. The problem is, many times we do not take advantage of the capabilities of that technology. In fact, we often take what we know from the real world and apply it in the cyber world. For example, the idea of using folders in which to place individual items. We have what I call the “file-cabinet” mindset. We think if we place all those forms in a folder labeled “Employment Forms” we will be able to find them easier. Not always true! The file cabinet mindset tells me to look through the folders alphabetically and I will find it quickly. The truth is, there is a much quicker way. In fact, I do not use folders at all on my computer, except for a docs folder, docs-archive folder, and a program shortcuts folder. The folks at Lifehacker.com came up with this organizational scheme. Because the files on your computer are fully searchable, you do not need to place them in neat, individual folders. Using Google Desktop, I can find it twice as fast as someone who is searching in their folders.

At any rate, I am going to be doing some efficiency training with teachers and administrators August, and I wanted to share some of the materials I have developed for that. Below is a presentation I have developed for one of those sessions. It focuses on strategies for making files accessible on your computer and for keeping your desktop organized.

Making tasks easier

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Technorati Tags: technology,computers,management

Keeping the Email InBox Empty: How to Manage Email Before It Manages You

In preparation for some upcoming presentations that I will be making to administrators and teachers, I have completed a series of sessions that focus on making the most of the technology management tools we use every day as educators. One of the hardest things for educators to do is managing the email load. Administrators and teachers receive numerous emails during the course of the day, and trying to find a system that 1)minimizes the time spent processing email, 2)maintains access to previously received email, and 3) makes timely response possible, is quite a challenge. In the presentation here, I adapted some of the advice offered by the folks at Lifehacker to make sure I am in control of email and that it is not in control of me. Here's that presentation. I hope you find it useful.

Keeping the inbox empty

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21st Century Book Review: Safety and Security: Balancing Safety and Productivity in the Digital School

“Could concerns over security be generating a fear that is now hindering the the integration of technology?” With that question, LeAnne Robinson, Abbie Brown, and Tim Green, authors of Security vs. Access, capture the whole essence of the tension felt by technology advocates and administrators as they try bring schools into the 21st century. The authors of this book have written a clear, no-nonsense description of all the contentious areas between technology integration and concerns over safety and security, and they offer some suggestions to would-be policy-makers and decision-makers about maintaining the balance between technology that enhances learning, and technology that is impossible to use due to security restrictions.

In chapter 1, the authors focus on inappropriate content. They adequately point out that trying to prevent undesirable Internet content from entering the school  is impossible. This is a common misperception that policy-makers have. They think inappropriate Internet content is like adult magazines in a convenience store. All you need to do is place it on the back shelf out of reach. Reality is, such content can’t be completely blocked. Instead, educators would do much better educating our students to make better choices about the content they do access.

The rest of Security vs. Access focuses on all the other security concerns that educators and policymakers have. In Chapter 3, the authors focus on Internet Predators. They once again point out that while the sexual predator danger is real, it has been sensationalized by shows such as MSNBC’s To Catch a Predator. Reality, according to the authors, adolescents engage in risky behaviors that make them targets for online sexual predation. Some of those risk behaviors include:

• sending personal information to people they do not know.
• talking to unknown people online about sex.
• visiting chat rooms targeted toward adolescents.

The authors of Security vs. Access suggest one of the best ways to target this problem is encouraging young people to have open and honest communication with caring adults. They need to know it is okay to talk to adults about these things, and parents and guardians need to proactively monitor teens’ online activities at home.

In the remainder of the book, Robinson, Brown, and Green take on one security issue after another: cyberbullying, network security, inappropriate use of network resources, copyright infringement, and data and identity theft, Using a common format, the authors examine the realities of each problem, describe the common response to the problem, misperceptions about the problem, realities about the problem, and recommendations for a balanced approach toward addressing the problem.

In the end, the authors argue that educators must make reasonable decisions that balance the protection of students and school technological resources with providing flexible access to computers and the Internet. As a part of this balancing act, all educators must become as well informed as possible and learn as much as possible about how the technologies work.

This book is an excellent addition to the 21st century administrator library, and I am sure I will refer to it again and again when having to make decisions that seek the right balance between security and access in bringing education into the 21st century.

Technorati Tags: security,access,technology,computers,safety,cyberbullying

Life of a Multi-Book Reader and Why I Haven’t Bought an E-Reader Yet

Barnes and Noble loves to see me walk in the door, because chances are, I am going to walk out with two or three books every time I visit. I have shelves of books that are on my “to-read” list. I am a multi-book reader. I usually have five or six books going at once. For example, I am currently reading the following titles:

Education Nation: Six Leading Edges of Innovation in our Schools by Milton Chen

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan

Junk Science: An Overdue Indictment of Government, Industry, and Faith Groups That Twist Science for Their Own Gain by Dan Agin

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr

Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us-And How to Know When Not to Trust Them by David H. Freedman

Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate by Stephen H. Schneider

Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher

Yes, I am actually reading all these at once. I did not include my one indulgence title In the Name of Honor by Richard North Patterson, but that is my fun read but I might as well confess and add it to the list.

I have three times as many titles purchased and sitting on my shelf, all lined up to be read. Perhaps I am not normal, but I am a multi-book reader. We have mutlitaskers. You have now met a multi-book reader. I read multiple books at one time. Of course I can’t read them all simultaneously in the since that I have all books open at once, but I will read a bit in one, set it down, pick up the next one and read a bit, set it down, and so on, you get the picture.

Now my reading practices means that when I finish a book, I usually finish four or five at once too. Just this week I finished Clay Shirky’s Cognitive Surplus for the second time. Security vs. Access by Robinson, Brown, and Green which I hope to write a review for in a day or so. I also finished Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway.

I really don’t say this to brag. I am a multi-book reader who can’t stop. There’s just too many books out there. Which brings me to the other point of this post, why do I not get an E-reader. My wife wishes I would. The book stacks around the house have been a bone of contention for some time. The truth is, there are two reasons. One, I am still waiting to see who wins the E-book war. Will it be the iPad, the Nook, the Sony E-reader, or the Kindle? I just don’t know, but I almost got burned with the high definition DVD war. I seriously almost bought an HDDVD player, but for some reason I didn’t. As you know Blue-Ray won out, and I have mine and I’m glad I waited. So one reason is I am waiting is to see who will be the winner of the E-Book wars. Secondly, I still look at that Kindle, or Nook, or iPad and something about them is missing. I like falling asleep with a book in my hands. Sometimes the book falls to the floor in the middle of the night, but it survives. Would a Nook survive? I am doubtful. I am afraid I would have to put my Nook down before I fall asleep. My habit is I fall asleep with the language of those sentences flowing into my mind. These e-readers probably wouldn’t last through a single night. The other thing is, I like the smell of a new book. If a Kindle could someone capture that smell, I might show interest.

Well, let me get back to my books. Happy reading everyone.

21st Century Diversion: Taking a July 4th Hike on Blue Ridge Parkway and Reflecting on Being a 21st Century Trailblazer

There is something to be said for living less than an hour from the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have always loved the beauty of the mountains, and on those real crisp days in the winter, when the sky is clear all the way to the edge of the horizon, I treasure the silhouette of the North Carolina Mountains in the distance. I grew up in a time when the family visit to the mountains was exceeded in rank by nothing else. I can remember looking forward to an anticipated visit so intensely, that I prayed fervently the night before that God would withhold rain the next day so that we could go.

Yesterday, I took time away from computers, books, educational issues, and home to visit the Blue Ridge Parkway with my wife and some friends. We had lunch in Boone, North Carolina at a restaurant called Char (For more information see here.) Then we took a short walk to the Expresso News Coffee shop for coffee. The temperature the entire time was a bearable 76 degrees. That’s why Boone, North Carolina is one of my favorite places to be in North Carolina.

After the coffee, we drove to the Blue Ridge Parkway to take a hike on one of the many hiking trails. The trail we chose on which to hike was the Green Knob Trail, located just outside of the Boone-Blowing Rock area. (Another blogger has captured the experience very effectively here.) This trail does offer a variety of scenery. It starts at Sims Pond and follows a stream bed until you find yourself climbing a hill. The trail then leads you through heavy forests and grassy meadows, and it changes so often there is quite a bit to see.

Sims Pond Overlook

Green Knob Trail

One of the Many Spectacular Views on Green Knob Trail

Rhododendron Blooms Along the Trail

There is a great deal to be said for the quiet experiences to be found along a hiking trail, and the temptation is often to take the advice of Ralph Waldo Emerson who once wrote, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Perhaps there is something inside of us that still burns to be a trailblazer, to walk off the path and create our own trail. That is probably what explains our passion for technology, teaching, and learning. We are all 21st Century Trailblazers. Educationally we do live in exciting times. We have an opportunity to “go where there is no path” and create an education system unlike anything the world has seen if we just don’t lose sight of who is most important, our students. Their futures depend on it.

MS OneNote 2010’s Sleek Design and New Features Make It Must-Have Note Taking Software

I have been a fan of Microsoft Office all the way back when Windows 3.1 was the standard operating system and CD-ROMs were the newest “gotta-have-feature” computers. Office has always bombarded users with features and functionalities too difficult to ignore. In those days MS Word, MS Powerpoint, MS Excel were the backbone of the Office Suite, and Microsoft successfully cornered the market. MS Office has been just too powerful to ignore and has been must have productivity software.

Honestly, because I use Google Apps so heavily, I was tempted to opt out of getting Microsoft Office 2010, but after reviewing some of its new features online, I had to give it a try. The version I purchased was the Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 version with the Family Pack option that allows me to install it on three of my home computers. The current retail price for that package is $149.00. I purchased my version from Office Depot.

The Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 version actually only has four of the applications offered as a part of Microsoft’s productivity lineup. Home and Student 2010 has MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, and MS OneNote. Some would question why I purchased the Office Suite without MS Access, MS Outlook, and MS Publisher. The answer is easy. I honestly never used MS Access. As an administrator I just never had a need to develop databases to use during the course of my job, and I never used it at home. I also never used MS Outlook at home. Let’s face it, with all its bells and whistles, it is an excellent business app, but for my home email use, I just do not need all that stuff. Now, I perhaps will miss MS Publisher a bit. I used it all the time as a classroom teacher. Creating handouts and activity sheets was just too easy in Publisher. But now that I have been in administration, I just don’t use it any more.

So, what do I like about MS Office 2010 so far. I love the new MS OneNote interface. The design now has the same task button ribbon across the top that all the Office 2007 programs had.

MS OneNote’s 2010 Fluent User Interface

This makes OneNote’s menu items more accessible and easier to find during use. Microsoft calls this user interface “the Microsoft Fluent User Interface.” This makes it easier for users to find and use the functions available in all MS Office applications.

The big plus of MS OneNote 2010 is the ability to now sync OneNote with Windows Live and in turn sync OneNote on my Laptop with OneNote on my desktop. It is now possible to edit OneNote Notebooks using Microsoft OneNote web application. That allows me to use this product on computers that do not have OneNote installed.

One final plus I have found so far is the Windows Live Skydrive feature. I can upload notebooks or any Office documents for that matter and access them with other computers, and even share them with others. (Look out Google Docs.)

I have only tinkered with Microsoft OneNote 2010 so far and I love all the new features. Some of those are:

• Quick styles for creating headings
• Support for mathematical equations
• Docked OneNote
• Information Rights Management (IRM) protected printouts
• Print driver for 64 bit operating system

For more about changes see Microsoft’s site here. I have not fully explored OneNote 2010, so I am sure I will have more to say about it later. I also have not even checked out MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel 2010.

Technorati Tags: software review,computer applications,educational Technology

21st Century Administrator Book Review: Christopher Wells' "Smarter Clicking: School Technology Policies that Work"

"Technology policies and procedures often suffer from being too limiting or too nebulous, both of which are almost impossible to enforce." With that single statement, Christopher Wells captures, in his book Smarter Clicking: School Technology Policies That Work, the monumental task administrators and technology teams face when trying to develop technology policy. A technology policy that is too limiting hampers teachers and students' efforts to use technology for legitimate instructional purposes. Draconian technology policies serve to keep school systems and schools out of innovation and in the status quo. But even these efforts are akin to trying to plug holes in a dike with the proverbial finger. The dike has actually collapsed and our schools are flooded with iPhones, iPods, netbooks, iPads, and notebook computers, and no matter how much we try to keep them out, "It ain't happening." Smart technology policy according to Wells is flexible but clear.

Early in his book, Wells quotes Bruce Scheier from a book called Computer Crime Hype. "Beware the Four Horsemen of the Information Apocalypse: terrorists, drug dealers, kidnappers, and child pornographers. Seems like you can scare any public into allowing the government to do anything with those four." There is truth in that statement. Oftentimes, much of the efforts to create common-sense technology policy is hampered by the fear-mongering Scheier alludes to in his Four Horsemen of the Information Apocalypse statement. The truth is, developing technology policy is hard work. As Well's points out, it involves balancing three main things: legal requirements, safety of our students and staff, and protection of our school system's technology investment. The legal considerations involve considering stipulations under the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Any policy and procedures can't ignore the law, and Wells does a fantastic job in his book outlining all the considerations surrounding each of these. He also goes into great detail about creating policy that addresses the safety of students and staff. One aspect of safety involves preventing our students from divulging too much personal information on the Internet, and the other is protecting them from inappropriate web content. Smarter Clicking provides a comprehensive list of safety considerations for policy makers. In addition to providing valuable information about Internet safety, Wells also provides a complete overview of what areas administrators need to consider when developing policy to protect the school system's investment in technological resources. He provides ideas for controlling access to network resources and for the protection of school system data. Both of these are important components of protecting the district's investment.

While Wells advocates flexibility for technology policy, he also recommends ongoing review of both technology policies and procedures. He suggests that administrators and technology teams get teachers and community members involved in the process of development. Technology policy and procedure development is a process that needs the input of each of these parties.

In the end, Christopher Wells' book is an excellent addition to the 21st century administrator's book shelf. At only 127 pages, it is an excellent starting point for discussions regarding what a technology policy should look like. In almost textbook fashion, he takes you through every single consideration for a "School Technology Policy That Works." While it is not what I would call an entertaining or even thoughtful read, it does provide a comprehensive reference book about school technology policy. It is certainly a book that I will be returning to again and again as we seek to keep technology policy current and workable.