CALET Department Blog

Disaster Readiness - Lessons from Katrina

2005-12-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

Several of us tested our technology savvy this week by connecting through a video bridge in Keenesburg out to Louisiana for a dialog with several officials in the Higher Education system. Our lead contact was Mike Abbiatti who is the Associate Commissioner of Higher Education for the State of Louisiana and he provided an excellent 2 hour discussion on lessons learned from Katrina and Rita.

I will prepare notes from the dialog to distribute later, but one of the most memorable statements he made was right near the end of the discussion when he said "Disaster is personal." His message was about how important it is for everyone to get involved in emergency planning and to participate in regular disaster drills. When this crisis arose, people lost families, lost homes and lost livliehoods. The response teams struggled with knowing who to call, how to use resources and how manage an onslaught of volunteers.

Education, both higher ed and K-12, are listed in Colorado's Emergency Plan. But do we have a seat in the Emergency Response Center? Does everyone know their roles and how educational resources can be brought to bear to help people in need.

One of the most important messages: prepare to respond at the local level. The federal response cannot always be counted upon and self-reliance and awareness are key.

What started out as an opportunity for a personal dialog with a friend of mine, became a useful round-table across multiple states. We had a bizzare miscue in Pueblo and I am still not sure why the college was not ready for the meeting. For this error, I apologize.

The technology was not perfect and I suspect that communication lines into Louisiana are spotty still which may have caused some fo the transmission static we encountered. But all in all, it was a great experience in networking and in learning from colleagues who have gone through one of he worst crises in our Nation's history.

A big thanks to Neil Schaal, Past-President of CALET for providing the bridge system for the meeting.

NSBA T+L2 2005

2005-10-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

Once again, an exciting NSBA conference is underway in Denver. My personal favorite session so far has been John Kuglin's Luncheon where he demonstrated Google-Earth http://earth.google.com/, iPod technologyhttp://www.apple.com/ipod/ and Educationally Enhanced DVD http://www.mcrel.org/newsroom/SuperSizeMe.asp. The Google Earth was a great example of Google and satellite imaging of the Earth surface have come together for commercial purposes that are very useful for the classroom. The iPod was discussed as not just a fun way to listen to music, but can be a way to distribute audio and video to a large group of people... the idea being to use the technology our students are buying at record rates rather than prohibit them (hint: remember Alan November's comments at CASE 2004?). Speaking of record sales, John finished with the record DVD sales set by making it to 30 million units sold in just 5 years. He discussed his work on the EE DVD SuperSizeMe in which the documentary DVD has been enhanced to include lesson plans, student activities and standards-based curriculum. This is the medium of our world, it is fun to see how immersed we can be and what power we gain from that immersion.

-Dan Maas

Colorado Tech Week

2005-07-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

It seems the Governor has opened a new blog on Technology. You can visit it at http://www.coloradotechweek.com/

His blog indicates that October 17-21 will be Tech Week and there will be all kinds of events occuring all over the state. CALET may want to consider partaking.

I have some ideas:

Across the State Video Conferences with hot sites at key locations on:

Policy
Student field trips
State ET/IL Plan
Funding

Do you have some others?

-Dan Maas

Cell Phones at School

2005-06-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

In the "Maintaining Safe Schools" report Vol. 11, Issue 6, there was an interesting article on cell phones and school safety on page 9. Citing a discussion at the NSBA T+L2 conference, the author indicated that many of our schools are not equipped with adequate policies and procedures regarding cell phones. At issue:

With a high number of cell phones on campus, in the event of an emergency, parents may give instructions contrary to school policies and may even swarm to the campus interfering with emergency and rescue workers.
Cell phones often come with small cameras these days. Does your school prohibit such phones in bathrooms and locker rooms?
Phone etiquette is a huge issue in almost every public venue these days. Should a communications arts class address when it is appropriate to have your phone turned on? When should you have private conversations on your cell phone? How about driver's education... should we have a lesson on cell phones and driving?

Not mentioned in this article, since it was about safety, was the curricular value of cell phones. Alan November suggested our lessons these days should take advantage and be designed around the ease of communication cell phones afford. And one of my little issues is awareness of health risks associated with placing a high frequency transmitter against your head for a significant portion of your life. How many people have read the warning labels on cell phones? This might make for a great health class lesson.

My cordless phone at home had a recommendation from FCC to keep the device 22 centimeters from my head when using it. I bought a little headset to go with my cordless phone for that reason. Not only am I hands-free, but I think I am keeping myself just a little bit healthier too.

What do you think?

For some policy references, see http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/54/44/5444.htm

-Dan Maas

Security: Awareness is critical!

2005-05-10T09:02:00.000-07:00

Refer to eSchool News cover story "Data theft plaques campus networks" by Casey Murray in May 2005 issue for an interesting vignet into the ever-growing problem of cyber security. If stories about major universities, with their cutting edge IT departments, being hacked and personally identifying records from the most secure systems stolen without a trace does not scare you... well, my friend, pull your head out of the sand: we've got work to do.

Anyone in our realm of responsibility knows we've got to take responsibility for security and that means firewalls, intrusion detection, virus protection and ad-ware/spyware prevention and removal. Most of us work pretty hard within our limited budgets to design methods to protect our computing environment so it is a safe and workable place for our students to learn. But how many of us are spending time and even money on user awareness?

The truth is, most intrusions are not the result of a wizardly skillful hacker who compromises bristling security ala Mission Impossible... most instrusions are a result of the passwords falling into the wrong hands. How many of your users keep a password list on a sticky note on the underside of their keyboards? Kinda like the old wallet-in-the-shoe trick at the beach... no thief will ever guess that one! [;-)

We must be careful to engage in good practices like changing passwords on a regular basis, requiring interesting formats for the passwords, and use encryption technologies where we can.

But let's also consider the human element. Check out these links where a consortium has developed some tips and curricular elements to teach students and staff some easy do's and don'ts that will probably do more for your system security than any system you can buy.

Primary Level:
http://www.cybersmart.org/for/kids.asp

High School Level and Staff:
http://www.cybersmart.org/for/top_ten.asp

Concerning the E-rate Program and its effects on Colorado

2005-04-19T04:38:00.000-07:00

E-rate is that rare Federal program that is a funded opportunity rather than the traditional Federal unfunded mandate for Education. Since the advent of the Internet, schools were slow to connect. In 1994, only three percent of classrooms in the United States were wired. This crisis was recognized by Congress and the old Universal Service Fund, once used to connect telephones in very remote areas, was retooled into a $2.25 billion fund to help schools, libraries and health care facilities connect to the Internet. That same $2.25 billion remains the funding cap in 2005 just as it was in 1996 when the Act was put into place by Congress. So E-rate has another rare attribute for a Federal Program: it has not seen an incremental increase in funding allocations in nearly 10 years.

During the life of E-rate, and as a result of the program, nearly 99% of schools have become connected to the Internet regardless of location or socio-economic status of the community. The National Educational Technology Plan points out that 97% of Kindergarten students have access to a computer either at home or at school serving as one of many fundamental justifications for the goals established in the plan. Computers and the Internet are now mission-critical to education. The E-rate program does not help schools put computers into classrooms, but it does help offset the impact of the costly connectivity and Internet Access that all schools must have.

E-rate means something to Colorado. In the 2004-2005 school year, Colorado schools were approved for $22,674,256 to offset the costs of Internet and Telecommunications. In Centennial BOCES, this program will pay $199,520 of the total Internet and Telecommunications costs for the Thompson School District in Loveland. The St. Vrain School District in Longmont will receive $255,759 in E-rate discounts. Even the tiniest school districts in Centennial BOCES need E-rate; Briggsdale will receive $17,829 this year.

There have been terrible controversies regarding fraud and abuse, which makes E-rate not so different from other Federal programs after all. The convoluted manner in which school districts must apply for these funds was intended to head off such fraud, but whenever the payoff is large, there will be those who try to cheat the system. Those who would like to end the system on this basis fail to recognize the huge benefit this program has had and continues to have on education in Colorado and in the United States. Clearly the complicated manner of applying for E-rate funds did not prevent fraud, so rather than flushing a successful program, it should be retooled to eliminate bureaucratic nonsense and spend more effort on auditing and punishing rule-breakers.

The mission of E-rate is right: to connect America’s schools, libraries and healthcare facilities. Anyone who would oppose that opposes America’s future. Are you with us?

State ET/IL Plan Meeting at Consolidated App Meetings

2005-04-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

From today's meeting:
** Represent my comments in ALL CAPS

Agenda

Roadmap of EETT Funding
$5.6 Million for 04-05; 27.9% cut for 05-06; zeroed budget for 06-07
**CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL IF YOU WANT E2T2 FUNDS CONTINUED FOR THE 06-07 SCHOOL YEAR!
Program funding, Power Educators, COL, C2D3 and Power Results grants
Techniques to collaborate with other Consolidated Application Process
Tie in the ET/IL Plan and Accreditation Plan.
Update and newly released National Educational Technology Plan
Listed the Goals in the NETP and discussed correlation to CDE activity. Outlined the difference between a State ET/IL Plan and the CDE Agency ET/IL Plan. Working on both together. Concerning National Plans: First plan focussed on connectivity. Second plan focussed on 5:1 student to computer ratio. This plan seems to focus on e-learning and data-driven decisions using the same budget we currently have in place.
Status update on the new Colorado state ET/IL plan
Conducting online surveys at CDE to gather reactions to NETP and to the direction for ET/IL in Colorado.
Preliminary survey results from current online surveys
Check out http://www.surveymonkey.com/DisplaySummary.asp?SID=863033&U=86303341553

Title IID in Consolidated App

2005-04-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

Power Results is the new competitive grant opportunity coming out very soon in Title IID funds from NCLB this year. While NCLB cuts the Enhancing Education Through Technology (E2T2) amount to about 27.9% for next year, there will be about $500,000 available in an RFP soon. The areas to be emphasized include High School Reform, Online Professional Development and Project-based Learning.

Where CALET members need to get active is concerning next year's funding alloaction for E2T2. The new proposed budget from the White House zeroes out this line item. The bill is going through Congress... call your Congressmen and Senators to support this program and get the funding reallocated.

Bill Gates speaks on High Schools

2005-04-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

Bill Gates recently spoke at the National Education Summit on High Schools. He pointed out some harrowing facts:

India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States last year.
China graduates twice as many students with bachelor's degrees than the United States and six times as many majoring in engineering.
The United States has one of the highest drop-out rates in the industrialized world.

Bill pointed out that a student who graduates high school, but never goes on to college, on average earns about $25,000/year. He indicates that for a family of five, that's near the poverty line.

Hey Bill, what is the average starting salary for teachers (people who have a high school diploma, a bachelor's degree and a certificate)?

Bill goes on with several other points about rigor in schools, using data, closing "bad" schools and opening new "good" ones and so on.

Big Brother Bill is making the same mistake so many non-educators make when they try to point out what is wrong with education. I know a lady who taught at a school in an affluent community where the parental education level was on average very high. Her school was top rated and she was evaluated by her supervisors as a top-notch reading teacher. Because of that designation, she was transferred to a low performing school as an effort to help put the best teachers in front of the students that needed the most help. This new school had high mobility, and few if any parents with education past high school. Lots of them had spent time in prison and about half the families were broken homes. In a recent newspaper article, an editor lamented how it was too bad that the more affluent schools of the town had all the best teachers... AFTER the district had moved their best to the highest need locations!

Bill, we're ready to improve education and you are right: we need to. But it takes funding! Nobody expected the military to invade Iraq without "some" additional funding, why are we faced with conquering new realms of student acheivement, but we cut funds to higher education and we hold K-12 funding to the barest minimums? That's the toughest question to answer.

See eSchool News, Vol. 8, No. 4 April 2005 (p.35) for a synopsis of the speech by Bill gates.

Environment for a successful CIO?

2005-03-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

CIO, CTO, Technology Director, whatever term you use for your top decision-maker in technology, it is important to consider what makes such people successful. Reading this month's Computer World (March 14, 2005), I came across a great article on this topic by John Kost who is the managing vice president at Gartner inc.

What is the CIO's relationship with the CEO? - The CEO knows the CIO well and was actively involved in the hire.
What is the managerial landscape around the CIO? - The CIO reports to a hands-on executive.
What is the CIO role in budgeting, procurement and HR? - The CIO has direct authority over technology hiring, retention, training and is an approver in the technology-related budget and procurement processes.
What is the the CIO operational responsibility? - The CIO is repsonible for computing, networking, portals and management of all technology in the agency.
What is the agency's time frame for change? - The agency has aggressive objectives and firm deadlines.
How is the IT organization funded? - The IT organization is funded almost entirely by its customers.
What role does IT play in the agency agenda? - The operating units of the agency believe the future of the enterprise depends on the IT organization.
How does the agency view the CIO? - The agency includes the CIO as part of the top level leadership team.
Who owns project management? - The CIO is accountable for the success of IT and has the necessary resources to accomplish them.
What is the status of the enterprise architecture? - The CIO has the authority to create, implement and enforce enterprise architecture along with the funding to do so.
What role does the CIO play in strategic planning? - The CIO is integral to strategic planning.
How stable is the CIO position? - The CIO is established and plays a significant role in senior management

Adapted from article by: John Kost, Stacked Deck, Computerworld, 3-14-2005, p. 42-44
I invite comments from CALET members and other CASE members about these points.

-Dan Maas

EDAC - What is it?

2005-03-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

Senate Bill 05-019 "Concerning School District Data Reporting" is a piece of legislation that requires the existence of the Educational Data Advisory Committee (EDAC). This committee is an existing group that evaluates data requests from school districts by CDE to verify their validity and seek to eliminate duplicate data requests. All school districts should look for the EDAC stamp that indicates that the data collection form has been reviewed and approved by the committee. In my time on EDAC, we have reduced dozens of data collection forms into leaner documents that are easier to complete saving time for our districts. This new legislation adds the opportunity for school districts to request EDAC review of any data collections requested of school districts or BOCES. If your district is under pressure to complete a data request either from CDE or other source, and the collection does not have an EDAC stamp, you can request the collection be reviewed by this committee. You can contact Jan Rose Petro at CDE for more details: Petro_J@cde.state.co.us

Remiss

2005-02-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

I am remiss in not getting back to the blog recently. Sorry for my absence.

Reading an article by Dr. Geoffrey Fletcher, Editor-in-Chief of THE Magazine wrote an article in the October issue about the Integration of Technology Throughout Education. He discusses the fact that technology is transforming the entire workplace and creates a wide array of different jobs for which we must prepare students.

At the risk of being accused of being on a rant, but at the end of his well written article (well-written because I agree with him [;-) Dr. Fletcher admonishes states to review their Standards for their applicability to an Information Age: "Can we have English/Language Arts standards with no mention of technology when most everyone who writes a sentance in his or her job uses word processing..."

We need to think about our State Standards and our State Assessments not in terms of whether they should be discontinued, but rather updated to meet the new demands of a Global Technologically-Transformed Economy.

Rant over... or is it?

-Dan Maas

Who is the customer?

2005-01-31T07:49:00.000-08:00

After meeting with the Governor's Office of Innovation and Technology, some additional clarity over the Colorado Educational Technology Plan (CETP) process has arrived. This Spring, a series of events led by CDE and supported by CALET will gather feedback on what the customers of Public Education expect in the skills base of graduating students. To do this, efforts will be made to recruit a diverse array of stakeholders and customers from around the state. Keep a lookout for these events and get involved!

-Dan Maas

Winter Leadership

2005-01-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

Another interesting Winter Leadership Conference has gone by. I enjoyed the new hotel location at the Hyatt in the Tech Center although the drive was longer for me. The sessions were excellent and I felt the CALET activities were very useful. We have laid out plans to support CDE's work on a new State Educational Technology Plan including a series of luncheon sessions around the state and online survey tools. Keep an eye out for upcoming events and of course, plan on the Summer Conference in August.

-Dan Maas

What's it going to take?

2005-01-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

At the CASE Convention this summer, we heard Alan November speak about the powerful new technologies that can store all kinds of text books in tiny spaces. He advised us that paper is too expensive and that we have to let go. He indicated that the cost to produce the technology he was holding in his hand was getting cheaper every day and the trend would enable education to buy large enough amounts of this technology to simply replace text books and other out-dated forms of media storage.

This falling trend of the cost of technology struck me and has echoed since then.

Yes, I recall my first laptop purchase in 1996. A Pentium I ThinkPad that I cherished. Ir ecall taking notes at the TIE conference shortly thereafter and the speaker noted that the costs to produce technology were dropping and that the trend was going to enable schools to buy enough laptop computers for every kid and completely revolutionize educational practice. I had $2,000 for my little ThinkPad...

Last month, I ordered a new laptop from Dell for my office and got hold of a nice Pentium IV machine with wireless and all the goodies. Like my old ThinkPad, it isn't the top of the line, but is nothing to sneeze at. I paid $2,000.

What happened to that trend everyone has talked about? I thought this stuff was going to cheaper?

I'll tell you what happened. The costs did get cheaper. Indeed, we could get new Pentium I laptops for $200 but who would buy them? You can't get software for them today unless you decided to run a Linux OS or went out on eBay and hit every yard sale you find looking for old software nobody wants anymore... does this sound the activity a district procurement office will take on?

So what's is gonna be? Are we forever stuck buying $2,000 laptops that will be obsolete in 3 years and always unable to fund the kind of change in technological environment that we envision? Do we just need more money? Or is there another answer here?

I'll post my own comment to this but I'd love to hear from others!

-Dan Maas

Conference Call: Susan Patrick

2004-12-15T14:07:00.000-08:00

Susan Patrick, Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the United States Department of Education joined Kent Tamsen and several CALET members for a conference call about forming a new Colorado Educational Technology Plan. Some notes follow:

We asked Susan to address four questions:

What is the desired effect of the soon-to-be-released National Educational Technology Plan and what should we accomplish with a Colorado plan?

-The plan is intended for members of Congress to help them understand the state of education and how our schools can better utilize technology to transform education. Priorities around data systems integration and access, e-learning and virtual schools, and online assessment were established. Key to the process has been to get away from metrics concerning ratios of technology to students and to focus on student achievement as the measure for the impact of technology.
What would you recommend for inclusion in our process to write a state plan?

-The Federal Government is working toward a "customer-oriented" philosophy and the Educational Technology Plan aligns with that effort by involving students as constituents in the development. We recommend taking special effort to involve students appropriately, understanding that they want structure and guidance in providing their input. Recognize that the "millenials" are generally very tech-savvy and their knowledge and skills can be a great asset to educational improvement.
Are there any structure recommendations you have for the design of our state plan?

-The National Plan was designed for Congress and as such has significant space dedicated to background. The plan at the national level is intended for guidance and information for policy makers and state/local leadership. The state and district plans should have increasingly detailed information about actual activity and will likely spend less effort on the background section seen in the National Plan.
What further involvement do you and the Department of Education want in our planning process?

-The USDOE will assist any way they can. There are useful details at http://www.nationaledtechplan.org/

Some important points:

Make sure technology is helping to develop new teaching models and think about online content, effective instruction and transformational activities.
It is essential that we incorporate 21st Century skills for preparing today's students for a global economy.
Remember that the bottom line is student achievement.

Minutes by Dan Maas

A New State Technology Plan...

2004-12-02T14:24:00.000-08:00

At the AESA National Conference today, I had the opportunity to attend the National Educational Technology Plan session presented by Susan Patrick. While the plan is done, it is not available and is still being approved, Susan shared the seven elements:

Leadership
Innovative Budgeting
Teacher Training
E-Learning and Virtual Schools
Broadband Access
Digital Content
Integrated Data Systems

Personally I like these topics. However, I have one suggestion for a modification to consider for Colorado's EdTech planning activities which are forth-coming.

I believe Assessement should item number one on this list. I asked Susan about this and she indicated that online assessment was a portion of the E-learning topic. While I also support the concept of online assessment because of the possibilities of adaptive technology and immediate results, I don't think online assessment meets what I'm after.

In a recent blog comment I pointed out how the CSAP had forced my son's teacher to use industrial age models of instruction rather than information age strategies. http://calet.blogspot.com/2004/10/notes-from-nsba-tl2-panel.html

I think our state plan should call for an evaluation of the CSAP tests for their relevance in an information age society. And I think it should be job #1 to do that evaluation of the assessments becuase assessment drives instruction. Assesssment defines acheivement. And student acheivement goals should drive our technology planning.

So like good instructional practice, let us begin with the end in mind. Let us conduct an evaluation of how well the CSAP evaluates a student's readiness to function, nay, compete in an Information Age Global Economy.

-Dan Maas

What is Literacy in the Digital Age?

2004-11-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

It is every parent’s dream and wish that their children be more successful and prosperous than they were. This is true yet today. The parents of children born into the “Digital Age” want their children to be more successful and prosperous than they were. To that end, we in the state of Colorado, offer this living document of how the generation of the “Post Industrial Age” will pass on our knowledge, culture and beliefs to the new generation of the “Digital Age” .

Definition:
“Literacy In The Digital Age” includes communication, critical thinking, collaboration, creating new knowledge, sharing, cultural awareness and ethics.

Our children will need to choose and use the tools of the age to create communities of learning and be independent not dependent. This will allow our children to become the generation that moves beyond the “Industrial Age” where a person who had acquired simple reading, writing, and calculating skills was considered literate.

Kudos Fred Wilson

2004-11-18T06:57:00.000-08:00

I saw a spot on 9News yesterday that focused on Fort Lupton High School. How refreshing to see a segment focusing on something good at a school for a change. Fred should be pleased with the news cast because during the interview, the school representative had high praise for their technology and all the advanced things their kids can do with it including music, design, research etc. Plus, they teach scuba diving!

Thanks for contributing to a positive image, Fred.

-Dan Maas

Technology Literacy vs. Information Literacy

2004-11-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

I notice how it is very easy to get into discussions, debates, even arguments when using these terms. If I use the term Technology Literacy, it never fails that someone points out that merely knowing how to use "stuff" is too limited in scope for our educational purpose. If I use the term Information Literacy, it never fails that someone points out that minizing the "stuff" doesn't make it go away or make it work for us any better.

I think Technology Literacy is a fundamental skill, like reading, writing or math. Does that mean that I believe our curriculum efforts should be limited to developing an ability to communicate with and through technology? Certainly not. That's just a beginning that needs to lead ot higher levels of critical thinking using technology and other Information Literacy skills.

Have you ever heard someone ask a reading teacher: "Do you understand that this is not about the mechanics of reading, but what students can do with reading that counts?" I haven't. That's because everyone understands that both the ability to read and the ability to use reading in critical thinking activities are essential to educating children.

I believe the same is true with Technology Literacy and Information Literacy. They are not mutually exclusive, but are rather building blocks toward a modern education.

-Dan Maas

The Pokemon Reader

2004-11-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

OK, bear with me on this.

When my son was 4, we had taught him his alphabet and gone through basic phonics with Bob books. He was ready to learn to read and was making good progress on some simple readers designed for first graders, but we weren't pushing him. Things like "See Jane run." were coming along just fine.

That summer, we purchased a Gameboy for my son, after much pleading. Included in the pack was a game called Pokemon. Thus began a painful odyssey in our lives as my son became engrossed in this electronic game. At first, I was a little concerned about this game: the player keeps an arsenal of imaginary creatures and unleashes them into a battle with other imaginary creatures like some sort of electronic cock-fight. It had trading cards to go along with it and he always wanted a new pack whenever we went to the store. There was a TV show every afternoon, plus weekend mornings... With the Cartoon Network, a Pokemon episode was always available. Worse yet, a full motion picture showed up which my son had to see with his parents. Like the TV shows, this was an excruciating romp through the same dumb plot, the same dumb protagonists and the same dumb catch lines. The only thing that changed were the silly names for the imaginary creatures.

Near the end of the summer, I noticed a sudden burst in my son's reading capacity. Very quickly, he was reading near the end of first grade level and has never looked back since. In fact, I had to stop picking out books for him to read because I was always underestimating him.

I asked him how he could read the books I was introducing to him, to which he replied: "these are easier to read than my Pokemon stuff."

Pokemon. A reading tool? When you think about it, there is a very powerful combination of forces at work here. The game is entertaining and interests the young mind. The screen is small which requires the text to be very simple and accessible to an early reader. The monsters are totally alien and are named with excellent phonetic methods: the reader can't cheat in sounding out the names of these imaginary creatures. The names are reinforced in the TV shows and the movies. The playing cards extend the amount of reading the player has to do and also require the player to use some math and critical thinking.

I'm not saying the creators of Pokemon had a powerful literacy strategy in mind when they came up with all this. I rather believe that the creators speak English as a second language (hence the simple and accurate use of phonics) and designed a series of products that worked well together for marketing effect.

But consider the nexus of technology, reading, entertainment and reinforcement that is Pokemon. I believe it was a major factor (certainly not the only factor) with my son's development of strong reading skills. What other methods could we use to bring such powerful forces together to help children learn?

-Dan Maas

State technology Planning

2004-11-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

As part of our strategic planning session at NSBA T+L2, I heard a short dialog in the aftermath about how to put together the new State Technology Plan. If you have ideas or comments, please submit them here!

One intriguing idea comes from Lowell Ensey who suggested that we both follow the Federal Plan's example and practice what we preach and collect a student group to write the plan. We, as professionals would guide the process, present problems and facilitate the dialog. Ultimately, we could have a plan that not just included the kids, but was written BY THE KIDS.

I'd love to hear thoughts on this from you!

-Dan Maas

Student laptops in school

2004-10-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

Some students have expressed a desire to bring their own laptop computers to school. The student handbook states that students may not have any electronic device at school. What are your thoughts on allowing students to bring their laptop?

Fred Wilson

Notes from NSBA T+L2 Panel

2004-10-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some bullet points from the panel discussion ( in no particular order):

Our vision of schools, teachers, curriculum and testing needs to change; change will require us to redefine the very core of our profession. -Ian Jukes
A 10 year plan cannot work; we need a dynamic, living document. -Jared Polis
Students should be at the center of the plan. -Kent Tamsen
Prepare students to compete in a global marketplace. -Leroy Williams
Equality of access and opportunity must be a priority for all regardless of geography or economics. -Leroy Williams
Reorganize schools around freedom and access rather than limitations and barriers. -Kelly Craig
Technology literacy is not adequate; students can become literate on their own; what we need to foster is information literacy and critical thinking. -Ian Jukes
Students need to have learning opportunities to apply their skills. -Ian Jukes
School should produce opportunity in vocational endeavored, higher education as well as boost learning across all content areas and facilitate learning adaptability in our students. -Jared Polis
Support school services to be available at home to empower and involve parents. -Leroy Williams
Online schools are public schools too; they should be treated and measured equally. -Jared Polis
Students don't think they need to know all the facts, but rather be able to effectively and quickly gain access to valid facts and use them in their lives. -Kelly Craig
Justify investments in technology and any other instructional tool in terms of results expected. -Leroy Williams
Plan like a quarter-back: don't throw the ball where the target is now, throw the ball where the target will be when the ball gets there. -Ian Jukes
Begin with the ends in mind. -Ian Jukes
Don't be afraid to let students use laptops, pdas and cell phones. Let's reorganize our classrooms to so we can use these technologies. -Kelly Craig
Stop spending 6% of technology dollars on professional development: spend 20-30% instead. -Ian Jukes
Technology literacy (knows how to use the stuff) is not sufficient; technology integration (can infuse the stuff into what we are already doing) isn't either; we need to achieve transformational use of technology (by using the stuff effectively, we simply work and learn differently and better). -Ian Jukes
While some students are very technologically savvy, others are not. Close those gaps. -Kelly Craig
In last ten years, $60 billion spent on technology nation-wide with little to show for it. -Ian Jukes

-Dan Maas

NSBA T+L2 Colorado Strategic Planning Panel

2004-10-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

Today, CALET had the honor to host one of the most exciting discussions in which I have ever participated. Our panelists were outstanding and they lived up to their billing:

Leroy Williams, Secretary of Technology for Colorado
Ian Jukes, noted author and international consultant
Jared Polis, Chairman of the Colorado State Board of Education
Kent Tamsen, Education Technology Director, Colorado Department of Education
Kelly Craig, 10th grade student Weld Central HS

The dialog was very thought provoking and it was wonderful to hear so many affirm that our our technology vision for the future can't be about technology, but about student achievement. The meeting was "standing room only" in a room seating 80 people. Neil Schaal, our CALET President was an outstanding host and Frank Klein, our President-Elect, performed superbly as moderator.

After the meeting, Kent Tamsen indicated that the State Educational Technology plan process was well started and that next year, he would support a return to NSBAs T+L2 conference to present a new plan for our state and invite more discussion about the future of education.

-Dan Maas

Congrats to Neil Schaal!

2004-10-26T04:14:00.000-07:00

I just had a chance to review the Alan November "montage" that our CALET President, Neil Schaal has assembled for the Colorado Strategic meeting on 10-28-04 at 1:30 PM at T+L2 this week.

Neil did a great job and I think it will really set off our dialog that afternoon.

-Dan Maas

National Tech Plan Preview

2004-10-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

If you are coming to NSBA T+L2 you should be thinking October 28, 1:30 Pm for the Colorado Strategic planning meeting. We will get a Preview of the National Technology Plan...

If you are a blog reader, you get it first:

National Ed Tech Plan Preview
Susan Patrick 9/29/2004

Major Action Steps/Plans

1. Strong Leadership for Systemic Change
· Data driven decision making
· Leadership capacity building
· Organizational change
· Partnerships- both internally and externally
· Empower students in the decision making process
2. Innovative Budgeting
· Independent of one time grants
· Retooling processes
· Reallocation of existing resources
· Determining TCO
· Restructuring of budgets to represent a % of general budgets
· Refresh cycles and innovative planning
3. Improving Teacher Training
· Opportunities for online PD and courses
· Policies that support online delivery
· Must consider connectivity issues
· Focus on highly qualified teacher development
· Consider pre-service experiences with using data
· Customize instruction in purposeful ways
· Promote partnerships
4. Support of E-Learning and Virtual Schools
· Every student having access to e-learning
· Funding and policy barriers removed
· Ability to reach students of all abilities
· Knowledge opportunities
· Communications and coordination
5. Encourage Broadband Access
· Time to move past “just” internet connections for schools
· Access to data
· High quality digital content
· Infrastructure barriers removed
· Promote partnerships across communities
6. Move Toward Digital Content
· Aligned with state standards
· Different models vs. text based
· Students/Teachers have access to computers to access the digital content
7. Integration of Data Systems
· Planning to integrate all systems
· Provide real time access for all
· Instructional, achievement, administrative systems tied together
· Formulate relationships to help with decision making
· SIF compliance

-Dan Maas

Data Strategy at the Federal Level

2004-10-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to CALET member, Lowell Ensey, here is a link to a web page at the US Department of Education about a project make their data format more coherent. The project is just underway and its focus is to standardize the data they are collecting from the states under the No Child Left Behind Act. It would be a good idea for our State Department people to get in on this and replicate the strategies here in Colorado. I know many of us would like to see the data formatting burden reduced:

http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/sas/pbdmi/index.html

C2D3 Project

2004-10-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

Many of you are part of districts that participate in the C2D3 project and you may have heard rumors about the project budget. I encourage you to visit the project web site at www.c2d3.org for current information. The shortest version of this story is the project is fully funded for the entire term of the project, but a budget shift is required for FY05 due to funds availability.

-Dan Maas

E-rate Technology Plans

2004-10-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

CDE held a Peer Review of ET/IL Plan updates last week. It is important for everyone to know that the Schools and Library Company, which manages E-rate, is auditing the Technology Plan requirements for E-rate applicants. Most importantly, be sure you have a Technology Plan at least under development when you submit your 470. As part of the new processes, we all may be required to have a plan approval letter prior to the 471 rather than being able to wait until the 486.

Please be sure to keep your eye on the SLC web site as this process is reviewed and modified!

USAC: http://www.universalservice.org/default.asp

CDE Tech Planning for E-rate: http://www.cde.state.co.us/edtech/erate-certif.asp

SLC Tech Planning Guidance: http://www.sl.universalservice.org/apply/step2.asp

CALET Panelists at NSBA T+L2 Conference

2004-10-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

It is exciting to note that Jared Polis and Ian Jukes will be on our panel for Colorado Educational Technology Strategic Planning hosted at the NSBA T+L2 Conference. Our meeting will serve as a forum to dialog what the future priorities for Educational Technology should be in our state and begin the process for developing a new state plan.

Neil- I'm working on the November DVD and finally got it converted from the file system that we received the DVD in to MP3 that is compatable with my editing software. I think I am running.

CALET Member featured in CDW-G EDTech Magazine

2004-09-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

CALET member Ben Startzer is featured in this month's CDW_G publication EdTech. Ben is quoted in an article about Internet security around filtering, spam and virus protection. Kudos Ben and the Mesa Valley School District!.

If you don't get the EdTech magazine, you can see the article online at http://edtech.texterity.com/article/200409/18/. A free subscription will be required.... speaking of spam [;-)

-Dan Maas

CALET at NSBA T+L2

2004-09-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

The CALET Board is working with the National School Boards Association T+L2 conference to host a Colorado Strategic Planning meeting during the event on October 28th. From 1:30 TO 3:00, CALET will invite several speakers to discuss ideas and perspectives on where Colorado Educational Technology ought to go for the future.

The National Educational Technology Plan is due out in the coming weeks and Kent Tamsen will distribute this document during the meeting. Part of our discussion will be how our own State's Technology Plan will be revised to align with the National Plan and how the State process should work with the Districts and BOCES in Colorado.

If you are attending the NSBA T+L2 conference, make a note to attend the Colorado Strategic Meeting at 1:30 on Thursday, October 28th! If you are not currently signed up, this is a fantastic opportunity to attend one of the very best EdTech conferences in the country... right here in Colorado. Plus, if you designate yourself as part of the CASE group attending the conference, you can take advantage of the group rate of $250! Visit http://www.nsba.org/t+l/registration/index.cfm to register!

Check your CASE Bulletins for more information.

-Dan Maas

E-rate Form 486

2004-09-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

For many of us, it is 486 season. If you are not familiar with E-rate and its many forms, please visit http://www.sl.universalservice.org to learn everything you need to know.

It is interesting to note that many of the waves are later than usual this year. I've only been recently contacted about my form 471 submission from last February! Remember that your 486 is due 120 days after you get your Funding Committment Letter so your time is not yet short.

BUT, if you already received that special letter, your clock is ticking! Be sure to get the form 486 completed and submitted before the 120 days expires, or you will lose part of your funding. The biggest bit to remember about this form is that you must have your Technology Plan approved by CDE at this point in the process. At earlier points, you must have a plan in the works, but it did not have to be approved.

How do you know if your plan is approved? Check out CDE's web site at http://www.cde.state.co.us/edtech/plng-etil-plans.asp for a listing... not exactly an up-todate listing, but a pretty good start. If you don't like what you see there, remember there have been significant changes at CDE over the past 9 months, so a little contact to Kent Tamsen or Delilah Collins at 303-866-6850 will go a long way.

Don't snooze on this one!

-Dan Maas, CALET Past President

CALET Blogging

2004-09-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

CALET Members,

At the CASE Convention, Alan November described new patterns in student activities and communications methods. He cited the prevalence of blogs and their prevalence. He suggested educators grasp this method of communication and consider its power. Writing is the greatest predictor of student acheivement and blogging is an easy writing activity. As leaders in educational technology, we should model this activity for other leaders.

Therefore, under the direction of the CALET Board, I shall begin a Blog for CALET members. At our last CALET Board meeting, we discussed the need for a CALET Newsletter and this can easily be that solution.

Look here for updates about what CALET is doing and how you can get involved in Department activities.

-Dan Maas, Past President