Volume 1, Issue 2
HINSDALE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
October 31, 2010
Tech Times
More SharePoint Trainings Available
Hinsdale Academy Offers a Fall Cohort for SharePoint!
The Hinsdale Academy is offering a SharePoint Cohort at Hinsdale South to be led by Steve Moore and Katie Aquino. Sessions
will be held on Mondays and Tuesdays for the first 3 weeks in November from 3:30 to 6pm. Please follow this link to register
http://www.hinsdale86.org/emp/EmployeesInfo. All trainings will be held in the Black and Gold room, with the exception of
11/1, which will be held in 302. Participation in the Hinsdale Academy Cohort will earn you one hour of graduate credit on the
salary schedule in addition to providing you all the information you need to create a functional SharePoint site for communicating with your students and their parents.
Hinsdale Central will be offering the first round of Lunch and Learns beginning November 11th!
Stop by the Teacher Training Room (124B) before school or during lunch periods on Thursdays in November and December for
more technology training. Based on the interests indicated in the faculty survey, topics will include (11/11) SharePoint Calendar,
(11/18) SharePoint Permissions, (12/02) SharePoint Discussion Boards and Surveys, (12/09) SharePoint Quick Launch/Top Link/
Views customization and (12/16) SharePoint Multimedia files, Wikis, and Blogs. By the end of the session you will walk away
with an understanding of the topic that will allow you to put it to immediate use for your class(es). There is no need to sign up
in advance—just bring your lunch (or breakfast) and your tablet! Kris Frees will lead the sessions before school. Kristen Bronke
will lead lunches 4 and 5. Jen Dalrymple will lead 6th period lunch, and Jeff Waggoner will lead periods 7 and 8. If you have any
questions, please feel free to contact any of the tech team members in advance of the session.
TLT Highlights
On the October 6th Late Start Day, the TLT focused on the eSchoolPlus upgrade, the results of the Lunch and Learn survey, and a brief tutorial
of SharePoint permissions. The eSchoolPlus upgrade is not likely to happen until second semester. Very minimal training will be needed for
teachers, and we will offer this during the Late Start time as close to the upgrade’s implementation as possible. The results of the Lunch and
Learn survey indicated a high interest in continued, focused training opportunities for SharePoint topics. Our brief tutorial on SharePoint permissions dealt with removing students who had been added individually to sites rather than automatically. Please see your TLT department
representative or Jeff Waggoner if you have any concerns about this topic.
Our TLT meeting on October 20th provided the opportunity for department representatives to voice celebrations, questions or concerns on
behalf of their colleagues, reviewed the final schedule for Lunch and Learns, and briefly discussed the District Technology Advisory Committee’s issue of teacher web presence. Several departments shared comments, including the continuing issues with LCD projectors, the installation and training for SMART boards in some WL classrooms and the Library, and the need for a fair and efficient use of computer labs. The
Lunch and Learn schedule approved for first semester will address SharePoint topics as indicated by faculty interest. Finally, the DTAC is looking for a volunteer from Central to be on the committee and look at the need for teacher web presence. This may include SharePoint, TAC
updates, Department or Building-wide Facebook Fan Pages, etc. If interested, please contact Bill Walsh.
Tech Times
Page 2
Media Specialists—Bitstrips Training
On September 27 and 28 we trekked back up to the library with all of our Spanish 2H students
once again for more training and practice, this time with an online program called Bitstrips.
After telling Kathy Krepps that I wanted my students to make a comic strip and that I had heard
of sites like Bitstrips or Toondoo that we could use, the media specialists took over from there.
They did all the research to check into the features available and choose the best program to
meet the needs of our classes based on the project description that we sent them. We gave
Bitstrips is a free online
comic strip creator that your
students can use at school
or at home.
our students homework to write the script about their daily routines the night before we went
to the library. Instruction from the media specialists on the first day included accessing the site,
setting up an account, and the basic functions available to add pictures and text. Our students
got plenty of work time and were able to accomplish at least half of their project on the first
day. The second day the students received more instruction on how to edit and finalize the
project as well as submit it to their respective teachers via email. Thanks to the perfect balance
of instruction and work time provided by Ashley, Kerrin, and Myles, our students finished a
SharePoint Tip#2
Link your SharePoint
great cartoon that practiced vocabulary and grammar in a creative way. We look forward to
our next project with the media specialists!
calendar to Outlook for
an easy way to enter
Tech Terms— What is an RSS feed?
events without ever having
When visiting your favorite website, you may be asked if you’d like to sign up for an RSS feed.
to visit your SharePoint
instead of you having to go to that site each day to find out the latest news. This is especially
site. Come to our Lunch
helpful if you find yourself visiting multiple sites each day to get your fix for educational (or
and Learn sessions on
Nov. 11th to find out
how!
Basically this means that you would receive regular information sent to you from the website
other) happenings that interest you. You can have an RSS feed added to the favorites bar of
your web browser or even sent to your Outlook email account depending on what the website
offers. For more information, check out this site… http://www.whatisrss.com/ Look for this
type of icon to know if an RSS feed is available.
Teacher Website of the Month— Discovery Education
Puzzle maker, lesson plans,
videos and more! http://
school.discoveryeducati
on.com/
Discovery Education offers an assortment of free tools for teachers, including a puzzle maker
and a library of lesson plans. The site also offers access to a variety of streaming videos, a format for sharing web-based content, and resources for the science and health classrooms.
There are resources available for all curricular areas in a range of formats spanning multiple
ability levels. Thanks to Kathy Krepps for providing us with Central’s access code so we can all
take full advantage of what Discovery Education has to offer.
The school pass code for Central Campus is: 9838 6AC3
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/
Volume 1, Issue 2
Page 3
Teacher Spotlight— Chris Wilbur
Chris is in his 8th year here at Central. In his time with the district he has attended professional
development sessions on using the tablet in the classroom as well as the Exam View assessment
program. Chris also gives big kudos to the HelpDesk, A/V, Library and IT office for all the support
they have provided in his endeavors to employ different technological tools. Chris’ natural love
of computers and his brief stint learning database management and maintenance in college
have stuck with him for years and inspired him to come up with some great applications for
teaching with technology. He believes programs like Photostory help his students reach beyond
the ability to read from PowerPoint slides and really lend their creative voice to projects and
Chris Wilbur
Social Studies Tech Guru
presentations. Additionally, Chris takes advantage of all the internet has to offer for web-based
lessons in his Global Issues course relating to current events. In the future, Chris can also see the
potential for such tools as videoconferencing, wikis, and student-created interactive websites to
keep learning meaningful to a generation of tech-savvy students.
Windows 7
Article Review—”Developing a Tech Bill of Rights”
Tip #2
Some schools have super liberal policies allowing (and sometimes requiring) students
There is a shortcut to
to bring and use laptops, PDAs, Smart Phones, etc. and providing them access to the
your desktop hidden in
school’s network without restrictions. Other schools ban the students not only from
the far right bottom
brining in their own technology, but also from accessing any number of websites when
using the school’s computer resources. This article discusses the need to strike a balance between these two extremes in order to connect with today’s students and avoid
creating potential stressful or dangerous situations by promoting “online citizenship
and media-literacy education”.
corner of your screen by
the clock. Hover to see the
desktop, click to minimize
all open programs.
http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/09/01/developing-a-tech-bill-of-rights.aspx
Techie to Know—Kayle Prejean
Kayle comes to us from the University of Wyoming and serves as our HelpDesk contact for all departments of both schools. She has been with the district since August of 2009 and has a multitude of duties including troubleshooting faculty technology problems, assisting the Director of
Technology, and managing special Technology Department projects. Kayle is an advocate of
SharePoint and has been able to see its many advantages as a communication tool within the
educational community. She encourages teachers to try all the technological resources available
and not to be afraid to ask for assistance or attend Hinsdale training sessions to learn more. In
addition to her responsibilities at the HelpDesk, Kayle is working on creating a website that will
help with many of our troubleshooting needs and give tips on using technology efficiently.
Kayle Prejean
HelpDesk Coordinator
Extraordinaire
Tech Times
Page 4
The HelpDesk really is helpful...
As of today, November 1, 2010, there are currently 51 Open Technology Help Desk Tickets. Hinsdale Central is considering a Student Help Desk System, based on your interactions with students, is this a need?
January 21 is the next scheduled Institute Day. While it seems a world away, logistically it is around the corner. Last year there were several Technology Workshops to choose, each one 90 minutes in length. Our
needs have changed, what would you like to see offered?
Help is just a phone call or
an email away…
7-6180
helpdesk@hinsdale86.org
-
Examview Training
Office 2007
Screen casting Demo
Please let Bill Walsh know your feelings on such ventures; Student IT Team & Technology Training topics.
Contact him via email (wwalsh@hinsdale86.org) or voicemail (8215). He welcomes your suggestions.
Did you know???
Kris Frees and Jeff
Waggoner are available
to help you with tech
issues during the day.
Kris is free periods 1, 3
and 9. Jeff is free
periods 1, 2, 3 and
7/8.
Word / Windows Shortcuts
Many people have told me they never knew some of the common keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Word.
Here is a list straight from Microsoft and a few others I happen to know…
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
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




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
CTRL+C: Copy
CTRL+X: Cut
CTRL+V: Paste
CTRL+Z: Undo
CTRL+B: Bold
CTRL+U: Underline
CTRL+I: Italic
CTRL+P: Print
CTRL+F: find on page
SHIFT+F3: to toggle between caps and lowercase letters of highlighted text
SHIFT+F7: thesaurus
Other stuff:
Windows key+P or FN+F5: changes the display mode when you are hardwired to the projector