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Thought for the Week
"Dreams are the touchstones of our
character." -- Henry David Thoreau |
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Five
Years and Still Going Strong!
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As we complete our fifth 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. We would love to hear from
you.... let us know how we might improve
Tech
Connect
next year....we welcome your
feedback. Send us your thoughts!
Email
tech.connect@cpsb.org.
Have
a great summer,
CPSB Technology Department
Sheryl Abshire, Administrative Coordinator of Technology
sheryl.abshire@cpsb.org |
Please Note - Windows 95/98 Upgrade Information
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 As
you may be aware, the district has been working over the
last several years to improve the security of the district
network and standardize computer operating systems logging
on to the CPSB domain. We are now at the point where in
order to increase the network security level, we must change
the network settings that are not compatible with the old
Windows 95 / 98 operating systems. These changes are
scheduled to occur on October 1, 2005. At that time, Windows
95 / 98 computers will no longer be able to operate on the
network. They will however still be able to serve as
stand-alone workstations for other software installed on
those computers such as Microsoft Office, Inspiration and
other educational software. However, these computers will
not be able to connect to the Internet unless they are able
to be upgraded.Some
of these older Windows 95 / 98 computers are capable of
running the Windows 2000 or XP operating system. The
district is starting a process of upgrading the OS on these
computers during the summer. The upgrades will be done only
on computers meeting the following minimum hardware
requirements:
- The computer must be a
Dell, Compaq or HP CPSB computer with Windows 95 / 98
currently installed on it
- The processor must be
at least a Pentium II / 400 Mhz or higher
- The RAM on the
computer must be at least 128 Mb or higher
Each school has a hardware
survey of computers that could possibly be upgraded. This
survey was compiled by the tech contacts last school year.
Each school should consult their list to see which computers
meet the criteria above and then deliver these computers to
the Tech Support Center by June 3, 2005 to ensure that they
are upgraded by the start of the new school year. Because
the upgrade process will wipe all information on the hard
drive of the computers, each person should backup any
important information on the computer before sending it.
Please note that this upgrade notice applies only to Windows
95 / 98 computers; we are not upgrading Windows 2000
computers to Windows XP. We are also not upgrading any Apple
Macintosh computers at this time.
If you have any questions
regarding this memo or if you cannot find the previous
survey for your school, please email
tech.help@cpsb.org.
We are expecting several hundred computers to be delivered
for upgrades so the sooner the computers are delivered to
the Tech Support Center, the better. A work order for each
computer will need to be completed but if you are delivering
10 or more computers at a time, please contact us for an
easier process of doing multiple forms. We look forward to
working with you to improve the network security in your
school or department. Please do not hesitate to contact us
if we can be of any assistance to you. |
Password Protection for Word and Excel
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 Do
you want or need another source of protection on your
Microsoft Word or Excel documents? Check out this site:
http://www.uwo.ca/its/doc/hdi/email/word-excel-protect.html
that shows you exactly how to set this up. You will have to
enter a password each time you access or modify the
document. This will help if you have to forward the document
for read only purposes and do not want to have the end user
making changes. |
Pink Flamingo Resources
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 This
site offers educators, students, writers and web page
designers a one-stop find for e-learning resources. It links
to subject-specific resources for online educators,
including lesson plans and technology tutorials, and
provides up-to-date information on current e-learning
topics, including how Web logs (blogs) and digital games are
being used for learning.
http://www.ibritt.com/resources |
TEAMS Teaching Circles
|
 Are
you looking for ideas to help integrate technology into the
content areas? The Teaching Circles website has recently
added resources for integrating technology into the content
areas of history/social studies, science, mathematics, and
language arts.
Go to
http://teachingcircles.lacoe.edu
Scroll down the page to the eWorkshop "Using Technology to
Enhance Teaching and Learning".
Registration is required but is free. Contact Pam Nicholson,
pam.nicholson@cpsb.org,
for log in information. |
A Gadzillion Things to Think About
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 A
minds journey begins with a single Why? –Confucius. This is
just one of the vision statements for this thought provoking
site. Over 12,000 thought provoking questions on a large
variety of topics are offered. To extend the value of this
site a “Search for Answers” directory is provided.
www.gadzillionthings.net |
Study Shows Web-Based Learning Improves Reading Skills Among
Middle School Students
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 The
evaluation, conducted by ORC Macro, a Maryland consulting
firm, as part of a "Ready to Teach" grant awarded to
Maryland Public Television by the U.S. Department of
Education showed a statistically significant difference in
reading comprehension between the control group and the
treatment group. Specifically, the study showed that use of
online field trips in classroom instruction:
- Improved students'
reading performance on the Gates-MacGinitie Standardized
Reading Test and pre-post content assessments.
- Improved reading
comprehension most significantly among the poorest
readers.
- Improved reading
comprehension among low-income students.
For more information go to
the following link to read the article:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=46677
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Brain Teasers
|
 Looking
for some challenging activities for your students? Check out
Brainteasers. Each week Brain Teasers will post new twisters
for three grade ranges: 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8. Select one or all
three and see if you can get the right answer. Check back
the next week for the posted solutions, along with three new
puzzles. Click on this link!
http://www.eduplace.com/math/brain |
Changing Your Windows XP and 2000 Password
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 Did
you know that you can change your CPSB password?
Here's how:
- Press
[Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Delete]. The Windows Security dialog box
appears.
- Click CHANGE PASSWORD...
The Change Password dialog box appears.
- In the Old Password dialog
box, type your current password.
- In the New Password dialog
box, type your desired new password.In the Confirm New
Password dialog box, type your new password again.
- Click OK. Your
password is now changed.
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Top Ten Viruses Found on CPSB Computers
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| Here are the
top ten viruses and spyware found on CPSB computers in the past 7 days.
The stats are based on 3640
infected computers out of a total of
10583 OfficeScan clients.
The
latest OfficeScan pattern as of
5-24-2005 is pattern
2.637.00. Please
check your pattern by placing your cursor over the
OfficeScan icon and viewing the pop-up window that appears.
If your pattern is significantly
LOWER than this
(A HIGHER PATTERN NUMBER IS OK), please
email tech.help@cpsb.org
regarding this or any other question you have regarding
OfficeScan.
 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:
https://antivirus.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!! -- 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)
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of the CPSB Technology Department
If you have any questions or comments please e-mail the Webmaster.
For Technical Support:
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