Issue 1, Volume 12 August 18, 2011     Thought for the Week Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. -- Nelson Mandela   Welcome to the 2011-2012 School Year! Welcome back to the 2011 - 2012 school year and the twelfth year of the CPSB electronic resource - Tech Connect. This online newsletter is a collaborative effort of all the staff in the Technology Department. Each week staff members submit articles, and the articles are compiled and sent as the new Tech Connect newsletter. I am so proud of our Tech Department staff, and this newsletter is a “Quality” example of their commitment to providing employees with current and relevant technology information. The CPSB Technology Department had a very busy, but productive summer. We conducted training sessions for hundreds and hundreds of school system employees in preparation for the beginning the new school year. We provided over 100 face-to-face and online classes to help school district employees improve their use of technology. CPSB educators filled our labs as they learned critical skills in using iPads and iPods, and Promethean interactive whiteboards and peripherals to engage students in higher levels of learning. Blackboard training continues to be in huge demand as teachers, principals, and department heads explore the power of our online eLearning portal. The good news is this year we will be providing training, new computers and printers to all math teachers in middle and high schools, and second grade elementary teachers via our new IMPACT (Integrating Meaningful Practices Aligned with Curriculum and Technology) Grant. We look forward to not only providing these classrooms with the newest, up-to-date technology, but also providing support for the comprehensive curriculum. Additionally, we continue to support 24/7 engaged learning with email accounts, student log-ons and network storage space for all CPSB students. We are continuing to implement the CPSB AIR (Accessing Internet Resources) project, this year in all schools, which will allow students to bring their own internet capable devices to school and connect to the internet to enhance educational efforts. At the beginning of the school year, please remember we are a very small staff and we have lost many staff due to the budget cuts. We are supporting almost 40,000 users - students and employees - in the district; and, we are running as fast as we can….everyone seems to need tech help at the beginning of the school year. Submitting any and all tech help requests or questions to http://help.cpsb.org will result in your issue “getting in the line” and will assure you faster service. We routinely expedite emergencies from the online help desk system, but if you are not in the system, it is very difficult to get the proper support for your technology need. For the eleventh year we held the annual summer Tech Camp for students at our Tech Training Center. This year the theme was It's All About Your APP'titude! at which all participants utilized an iPod Touch. Nearly 160 students in grades 3-8 enjoyed a week of fun and intense learning with technology conducted by our technology staff. The CPSB and Region V Technology Staff provided students with a great technology-infused APP'titude experience with an award winning multimedia atmosphere using cutting-edge technologies. This year’s Tech Camp offered cutting-edge technologies as camp participants received an 8GB iPod Touch with video camera capabilities to utilize in the camp experience. Students utilized technologies as tools in inquiry-based, project-oriented activities that stretched the mind and promoted collaboration and cooperation, simulating real-world experiences. During Tech Camp, campers encountered learning projects that included video and audio podcasts, graphics, and video production. These tools empowered the students to produce masterpieces – complete with the look and feel of authentic productions. It's also a snap to share the finished product on the iPod Touch, a DVD, the web, and virtually anywhere else. Campers were captivated as they participated in a myriad of compelling virtual experiences at Tech Camp 2011! Check out the student projects at www.cpsb.org/techcamp. As you log on each Thursday morning you can expect to find waiting in your email inbox the latest in "technology happenings" in our district and current "tips and tricks" to improve your technology skills via Tech Connect. We hope you will join us in celebrating the numerous successes we have in technology by emailing tech.connect@cpsb.org any information you would like to share with our colleagues in the district. Please share any suggestions you have, and let us know what will help you in your specific job assignment. We will attempt to include your suggestions in our future issues. We look forward to working with you again this school year. Let us know what we can do to help you. Have a great school year! Sheryl Abshire, Ph.D. Chief Technology Officer sheryl.abshire@cpsb.org   CPSB Technology Department 337.217.4100 X 1001 “Advancing Quality Education with Technology” Tech Support Reminders for the New School Year The Technology Operations and Support (TOS) staff would like to welcome everyone to the new school year and take this opportunity to give you some updated information about technology issues you may encounter this year: When submitting a support ticket in the Desktop Support System, please include the following information to ensure we can troubleshoot your issue with efficiency: computer hostname and / or IP address. This information should be visible as white text on the Windows desktop background. When using the CPSB email system, please ensure you have entered information into the subject line. Any blank subject lines will be discarded by our email system and viewed as spam by the email filters; you will receive a “bounce back” email notifying you the email was not sent due to security policies. Wireless access is enabled upon proper registration of wireless equipment with the Technology Operations and Support Center (TOS). To ensure proper registration, please submit a tech support request at http://help.cpsb.org. Please include your name and the computer serial number (not the CPSB asset tag number). This process will also ensure proper administrative rights on the laptop. Remember, the TOS has very good technology information available, as well as technology guides, at the Tech Support Center website at http://help.cpsb.org that can help you. If you need to have a computer repaired, need price information and recommendations for a grant, or need to locate a tech guide, this site is the best place to start. If you are writing grants or buying any technology, please visit the support website at http://help.cpsb.org. Only the exact computer models and configurations posted there will be supported and placed on the network. Buying a Dell computer or any other type in a retail store will result in your having to return it due to non-support. The Technology Operations and Support staff is always busy with repairing computers and creating support materials to help you with your technology needs. Chop Video Clips Like a Pro- (Without all the Software) We've all been there. You watch a great video and want to share it, but it's too long and you want to avoid exposing others to all of the comments and side ads on YouTube...plus, you can't get there from here. TubeChop lets you create video clips from YouTube videos so you can share them safely with your students. Sometimes videos contain commercials or surround the useful information that you want to share with irrelevant or inappropriate material. With TubeChop, this is no longer a problem. Now you can access the useful clips of YouTube videos without having to wait for commercials, or worrying about showing something that might be inappropriate, with TubeChop. TubeChop makes cutting videos painless, in just 3 easy steps: Find the video on YouTube you want to chop and paste the URL into the search bar on the TubeChop home page. Select the time interval you wish to share and enter it into the "Start" time and "End" time windows and click "chop it." Copy your new URL and share it. Check it out at http://tubechop.com/. Change Case in Word and PowerPoint 2007 Have you ever typed a whole sentence or possibly even a whole paragraph in All Caps by accident? Or, maybe you received something via email that someone else typed in All Caps on purpose? STOP!!! Do not retype that text! There is a simple way to change the capitalization of words, sentences, or paragraphs after the fact. 1. Select the text that you want to change. 2. On the Home tab, in the Font group, click Change Case, and then click the capitalization option that you want.   To capitalize the first letter of a sentence and leave all other letters as lowercase, click Sentence case. To exclude capital letters from your text, click lowercase. To capitalize all of the letters, click UPPERCASE. To capitalize the first letter of each word and leave the other letters lowercase, click Capitalize Each Word. To shift between two case views (for example, to shift between Capitalize Each Word and the opposite, cAPITALIZE eACH wORD), click tOGGLE cASE. Start NOW Collecting Boxtops for Education Box Tops for Education has helped America’s schools earn over $400 million since 1996. You can earn cash for your school by clipping Box Tops coupons from hundreds of participating products. The beginning of a school year is a great time to start this project and collect box tops all year long by getting parents and the community involved. Box Tops also offers easy ways to earn even more cash for your school online. Learn more about Box Tops for Education and find out how this program can make a difference in your school. The URL: https://recipe.boxtops4education.com/g/Branded?WT.mc_id=paid_search_RM_BTFE_Branded&WT.srch=1&esrc=16201&keyword=boxtops+for+education Best on the Net!! -- Visit this site for hundreds of websites for teachers! We would love to hear from you about the best educational sites you have found on the web. Please submit, via email, the sites you feel merit inclusion. Send to tech.connect@cpsb.org. Please include the URL and a short sentence about the site.  Featured Sites: (These sites were submitted by teachers in Calcasieu Parish) Interactive Times Tables http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/timestables/game.shtml  Cool audio whirlygigs and blasts accompany this appealing online multiplication game. Students will select to work with or without a grid (probably best to work with the grid the first time around), with or without a timer, and with or without audio. They can select their multipliers, and choose between two games as well -- great multiplication practice that will keep your 3rd - 4th grade students coming back for more!   Henry and the Sugar Bugs http://www.abcya.com/flash_book_sugarbugs.htm  Use this story with your Interactive Whiteboard; it tells the tale of a little boy who generally eats quite well, but who also likes chocolate. What to do? Brush those teeth and avoid the Sugar Bugs!   Word Wall Activities http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/3317.aspx http://www.kllynch2000.com/wordwallactivites.html  http://teachers.net/4blocks/www_activitycards.pdf  Stock up on creative and inspiring activities for your classroom word wall. There are enough exercises here to help you throughout the entire school year.   An official publication of the CPSB Technology Department For Technical Support:  help.cpsb.org Calcasieu Parish Homepage  Technology Department  Tech Help Site  Best on the Net Tech Guides  Computer Purchasing Information  Tech Connect Archive