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Thought for the Week
"All things are difficult before
they are easy." -- Thomas Fuller
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Four
Years and Still Going Strong!
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 As we
complete our fourth year of providing Tech Connect, our online
electronic resource for Calcasieu Parish employees, we want to
thank all of you for the support and information you have
provided. Remember, all past issues of Tech Connect are
archived and located at:
http://www.cpsb.org/techdepartment/tech_connect
We hope you enjoyed the newsletter and have found it to be a
useful tool for professional development, let us know your
thoughts. Email
tech.connect@cpsb.org.
Have a great summer,
CPSB Technology Department
Sheryl Abshire, Administrative Coordinator of Technology
sheryl.abshire@cpsb.org |
Summer
Computer Repair and Equipment Recommendations
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The following is a Summer
checklist from the Tech Support Center:
- If you have any supported
equipment that is need of repair, it must be brought to the
Tech Repair Center by 4:30 P.M. on Monday, May 31,
2004 in order for it to be scheduled and repaired before
the beginning of school in August. If you have any repaired
equipment, and you have been notified that it is ready for
pick up, be sure and pick it up by the end of the day on
May 31, 2004.
- School servers and network
rack equipment (hubs, switches, routers, etc.) should NOT
be turned off during the summer. However, classroom
computers can be turned off and power cables unplugged from
the wall. Make sure that when you return from the summer you
check your classroom computer’s OfficeScan pattern version
and Windows updates to catch up on the current versions.
- If you do not check your
CPSB email during summer, your mailbox will fill up and all
messages sent to your account will begin to be rejected.
Shortly before the start of the new school year, the network
staff will delete ALL messages in full mailboxes in order to
prepare the mail server for the start of school. If you wish
to avoid a full mailbox and having all of the messages
deleted at the end of summer, you will need to check and
manage your mail. You can check your email by using any
Internet service and browser you have access to and going to
http://mail.cpsb.org or
by going up to school periodically and downloading your mail
to your computer.
- If you are checking out a
classroom computer for use at home during the summer, please
be aware of the following items:
- Most desktop computers
do not have phone modems installed in them. You cannot
plug your home phone cord into the network jack on the
computer to get Internet service. This will damage the
network connector. Please don’t do this.
- Do not install America
Online (AOL) software on the computer. It can disable
the computer’s built-in networking and cause your
computer not to operate on the CPSB network when you
return.
- CPSB computers are
only to be used for work related tasks so do not install
video games and/or other personal software or
peer-to-peer file sharing software (KaZaa, Gnutella,
etc.) for copyrighted music and software. Not only is
this a violation of CPSB copyright policy, the file
sharing services are also the primary place where new
viruses and worms are release onto the Internet.
- Send your computer’s
network name into
tech.help@cpsb.org if you will have it on a home
Internet connection. We can configure the computer to
keep the OfficeScan pattern version up-to-date during
the summer.
If you have any questions,
please contact the CPSB Help Desk at
tech.help@cpsb.org |
Outstanding
Language Arts Teachers will be Awarded
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 The
National Council of Teachers of English is accepting
nominations for national or international elementary
language arts teachers, who have outstanding contributions
to their field or who have influenced classroom practice.
Deadline is November 1st, 2004; rules and forms are
available at:
http://www.ncte.org/about/awards/sect/elem/106865.htm |
Outlook Tip
-- Send a Distribution List to Someone
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 If
you have created a Distribution List on your computer and
need to share it with someone, follow these steps:Open a
new message. Click the message body. Do one of the
following:
If Microsoft Word is your e-mail editor:
- Drag the distribution list from Contacts into the
message.
- Send the message.
If Microsoft Outlook is your e-mail editor:
- On the Insert menu, click Item.
- In the Look in list, click the folder that contains
the distribution list that you want to send.
- Distribution lists are saved in the Contacts folder
by default.
- In the Items list, click the distribution list that
you want to send, and then click OK.
- Send the message.
You can save any Distribution Lists you receive to your
Contacts folder in a flash. To save a Distribution List to
your Contacts:
- Open the message that contains the Distribution
List.
- Double-click the attachment to open it.
- Click Save and Close.
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What Kind Of
Graphics To Use On A Web Page
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 If
you're new to Web page design, you may wonder whether you
should use GIF or JPG graphics. You'll see many examples of
both on the Internet. In general, you should use JPG files
for photos and full color drawings (JPG allows 24-bit
color--16.7+ million colors). However, you can use GIF files
when you don't need full color. GIF files only allow a
maximum of 256 colors. Animated graphics always require GIF. |
Create a
Text Box from Existing Text
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 People
often use text boxes to highlight a specific part of their
document. But when you want to use a text box, there's no
need to retype the text.
Follow these steps:
- Copy the text you want
to include in the text box to the location where you
want to insert the text box.
- Select the copied text
and go to Insert | Text Box.
Word inserts a text box
displayed with a crosshatch border and eight handles around
the selected text, so you can resize or move it within the
document. Any remaining document text automatically wraps
around
it.
The selected text retains the format of the original. As
with any text box, you can reformat the text by selecting
it, right-clicking the selection, and choosing Font. |
Visit Bubble
Town this Summer
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 Looking
for great fun this summer? Blow huge bubbles, long lasting
bubbles. All you need to become a bubble blowing expert is
in Bubble Town. You will find building instructions for a
very special bubble blowing tube, learn how to mix
industrial strength bubble solutions, play bubble games,
download a free poster and have fun.
http://www.zurqui.com/crinfocus/bubble/bubble.html |
Summer Class
on Basic Troubleshooting
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This is a reminder to the Busy
Teacher that is interested in learning some Basic
Troubleshooting. Tech Help is holding two classes on Basic
Troubleshooting for the Busy Teacher on July 8th and August
5th. We will go over some of the basic things to help you
keep your computer(s) up and running and to better help you
understand your computer. We look forward to seeing you this
summer. To register for this FREE class or many others, go
to:
https://www.cpsb.org/techclasses. |
Interactive
Investigator
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 The
site contains good information on forensic science and may
be of use for the Grade Six unit on evidence and
investigations. Plenty of information in both English and
French versions.
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Myst |
Disable The
Image Bar In Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
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 In
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, any time you move your mouse
over an image, a little toolbar pops up asking if you want
to save, open, mail, or print the image. This is okay (we
suppose), but it gets annoying after a while.
To eliminate the image toolbar, run IE 6 and choose
Tools|Internet Options. When the dialog box opens, click the
Advanced tab. Now, scroll down to the Multimedia section and
deselect the "Enable Image toolbar" radio button. |
Top Ten Viruses Found on CPSB Computers
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Here are the top ten viruses found on CPSB computers in the
past 7 days. The stats are based on 1710
infected computers out of a total of
7234 OfficeScan clients.
 The
information shows the name of the virus, the number of
infected files found, and the percentage of the virus from the
total.
ALL school board employees need
to ensure that their Dell, Compaq, HP, IBM or other PC
classroom computers stay virus free. Go to the
following link to download the district copy of OfficeScan:
http://teacherlink.cpsb.org/officescan and your computer
will automatically be updated daily to scan for the latest
viruses. You must install the software using Internet Explorer
4.0 or later (Netscape will not work!!!!!) Please answer "Yes"
to all prompts as the software installs. If you have any
questions, please contact the CPSB Help Desk at
tech.help@cpsb.org.
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Best on
the Net!! NEW FEATURE!! -- 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)
LETTER BOXES AND GEOCACHES:
http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2002/04/042202_letterbox.jhtml
Geocaches and letterboxes--introduce your students to the growing
phenomena of treasure seeking through these unique activities, and
then perhaps start a quest of your own as a student project for the
summer. Your students will love both planning and executing these
searches, while your class or school can keep its own logbook of
discovery. Consider pairing up with a penpal class to exchange logs
and discoveries.
WEB WEATHER FOR KIDS:
http://www.ucar.edu/educ_outreach/webweather
Learn what makes weather wet and wild, do cool activities, and
become hot at forecasting the weather on Web Weather for Kids! This
site contains Teacher Tips, a glossary, games, and activities for
the kids. They will find weather forecasting fun and learn to make
clouds in a jar.
STANDARDS LOCATOR:
http://www.riverdeep.net/pro_development/standards/standards.jhtml
Find a handy reference here with national standards, or select your
state to locate standards for each subject area. It's good for
cutting and pasting into lesson plans.
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of the CPSB Technology Department
If you have any questions or comments please e-mail the Webmaster.
For Technical Support:
tech.help@cpsb.org
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