HSC's Digital Take Off

VITTA Slide To Open

I was recently asked to attend the VITTA's (Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association) to sit in a product council for one of the peices of technology that we use at the HSC. Unfortunately, I signed a Non Disclosure Agreement so I can't talk about the product too much but I can talk about the conference! Most of the booths at the conference I was familiar with. Studywiz and Smarthboard, both had stands. I didn't really see anything of interest for HSC. Now, this doesn't disappoint me, just makes me realize more that the technologies in place are excellent, and the skills of all the stand using the technology needs to be updated and maintained regularly. In saying this I think Hawthorn has made significant leaps and bounds to implement PD strategies, ie The Introduction of more Interactive Whiteboards and the focused introductions to Studywiz.

A primary school in a growing suburb on the outskirts of a major Australian capital city decided to install interactive whiteboards in all teaching rooms. Within several months all teachers were using the technology. In fact, so rapid was the surge in teachers acceptance that the term 'digital take-off' was coined. - "Leading a digital school." Mal Lee and Michael Gaffney

I think HSC is in a bit of a 'digital take-off.' Most staff members I have approached have been trying to or using the technologies we have implemented into the school. To reiterate the point, with the Ultranet coming to Victorian schools in 2010, directed eCurriculum PD in the new year is a must.

Term 2 - First Day Back

First day back and I have been doing lots of things!

Answered and replied to numerous emails about Studywiz. Did have some immediate feedback from parents that it has worked for. I have documented this feedback and printed a hard copy to my performance and development folder. I have just made a standard email proforma that I fill in with the individuals information that seems to be working well.

Studywiz Parent Details

To access your parent account on Hawthorn Secondary Studywiz type this address into your browser:

http://studywiz.hawthornsc.vic.edu.au/

Then choose the option Enter as Parent. Your loging details are:

Username: XXXXXX

Password: XXXXXX

Made contact with the Education Consultant at Electroboard who organize and sell interactive whiteboard training and products.I received a response back straight away.

Hi Marcus,

So good to hear from you. I was beginning to think XXXXXX had maybe forgotten about me.

As it is very early in the term my schedule is pretty free. Let me know what day would be good for you and your staff and we’ll go from there.

From what XXXXXX has told me I assume I’ll be running a beginners session?

Looking forward to hearing back from you.

Cheers J.

Principal has asked me to complete documentation for Studywiz. I have started Teachers and Parents, and hope to have them all including Students finished by next week.

Also spoke to the Librarians about upgrading the ClickView system to their latest model. This is the description from the Clickview website:

Whether you forget to schedule a recording, hear about a great show that you missed, or see a relevant news and current affairs story at home, with ClickView 24-7, you never have to worry about missing a quality show.

By recording up to 6 channels of broadcasts for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ClickView 24-7 gives you a constant supply of digital television. A required show is simply extracted from ClickView 24-7 and made available on the ClickView Library Server.

With one 500GB hard disk drive per digital television channel, ClickView 24-7 features 3 Terabytes of storage capacity (equivalent to 640 DVDs). ClickView 24-7 gives you access to over 1000 hours of television recordings.

Tuesday, 31 March, 2009

So far, I have met with IT department every Friday for the whole of the year. They discuss their concerns and issues with the network. I am trying to understand their hardware issues. Most of them make sense, but I can't help to think that some of the "faults" or "issues" with the network could be fixed if some harder decisions were made. I guess that's easier to say, because I don't know much about IT infrastructure, and to be honest I don't really want to! The Prinicapal has asked to me to organize an external audit, and now that I know a little about the way things work, I am going to organize this.

I understand nearly all of their concerns with staff, as the staff do not often think hard about the solution before calling to IT for support. However IT can be somewhat short if the answer is obvious. Managing expectations of Staff and IT support has been a role, that's probably not written into the job description.

I have been dealing with many emails from parents and their access to the Parent Portal and Studywiz. The Parent Portal contains the online student reporting system. The system is outsourced to someone and we have no control over it at school. Parents are getting this confused with Studywiz itself. The parent access to Studywiz merely shows them what their son/daughter is doing on Studywiz. I have distrubted Parents of new students and year 7 passwords for Studywiz.

Some issues lie within Studywiz. I find the current way it's setup really awkwards and clunky. Next year, I'd like it if we could start the whole thing over again. That's the only way I can think to make it work better overall.

Student ILP's are being workjed on electronically and being saved to the Students Studywiz ELocker. This seems to be working well.

I guess I'm writing this because we are nearing the end of term. I feel like I have done the best, with the limited knowledge that was passed on to me, and working between to different learning environments, however at the end of Term 1, I do feel very tired and strected. I do feel that the students of PIC may have missed out on the more one on one consultation I am usually able to deliver, and uniqueness and individualised learning that PIC has to offer.

I am looking forward to Term 2 and exploring more e curriculum ideas.

Outcomes of Meeting

I need to book Studywiz PD for myself and other staff

I have booked Dean into talk to all staff about the E potential survey and how to use it properly.

Dean pointed me towards the e planning rubix and I have downloaded it.

I have sent an email to the TSSP about the SIPS road map.

Hi TSSP,

As I mentioned in my last email, I am looking at completing the sips road map documents. It seems we do have to do them again for 2009.

I been notified that the sips inventory due to be revised before the end of February?

Can please advise me of your timeline of completion so we can begin and complete the Sips road map.

It will also be great to have you input into sips road map.

I've spoken to Bob about the college website and he has told me you will look at it on Friday.

I will endeavor to drop in on Friday. Cheers.