Issue 35, Volume 9 May 28, 2009     Thought for the Week Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience. --- Victoria Holt   Nine Years And Counting... As we complete our ninth 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. If you have any suggestions about making Tech Connect more useful to you, please email us at tech.connect@cpsb.org. Have a great summer, CPSB Technology Department Dr. Sheryl Abshire, Chief Technology Officer sheryl.abshire@cpsb.org CPSB Help Desk Notice Important End of School Year Technology Information If you have any supported equipment that is need of repair, it must be brought to the Tech Support Center by 4:00 P.M. on June 1, 2009 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 June 1, 2009. If you have any questions, please contact the CPSB Help Desk at tech.help@cpsb.org  It's Not Too Late To Register For Summer Tech Classes! More classes have been added, so check back! Are you proficient in every standard? Need CLUs for highly qualified? Just want to learn more about how to use a certain software program or how to engage your students in the classroom using technology? Visit the following link to view the summer class offerings: https://www.cpsb.org/techclasses. If you have taken a tech class before, then all you have to do is to enter your Email Address and Password in the box to login. If it is your first time at this site, you will need to click on Create Account. Then, click on the link entitled SUMMER Tech Center Classes. You can select to attend sessions such as Promethean - Introductory through Advanced, Intro to Assistive Technology, Do You MP3?, Video Spin, Blogging in the K12 Classroom, Podcasting, Power Outlook, Digital Video, Photostory, InspireData, Kidspiration, ImageBlender, Palms in the Classroom, LabNBag Certification, Wikis, Microsoft Office 2007, Introduction to Using Blackboard as a Classroom Website, Utilizing Blackboard to Support Curriculum, StudyMate, Network Resources, BoardMaker, ePals, Web 2.0 Tools, Google Tools, Web Freebies, Phone system Use, and many more. Administrator News From Education World   Want the latest articles on leadership, setting goals, funding, parental involvement, technology and more? Join this mailing list to receive Education World's weekly Administrator's Desk Newsletter. Written for superintendents, principals, and other school administrators, this newsletter includes articles on leadership, setting goals, funding, parental involvement, technology, the current education news, interviews with senior-ranking education officials, and much more. Use this link to access the subscription page: http://www.education-world.com/maillist.shtml#admin. Administrators can also find help with a wide variety of issues leaders face on a regular basis. The top 10 Admin Desk Features include Admin Topics, PR for Principals, Principal Files, instant meeting ideas, and more. Check them out at http://www.education-world.com/a_admin/.   Outlook Calendar Tip You can use Microsoft Office Outlook to print a blank calendar. Blank calendars may be useful to take notes on or to consult when you meet to discuss a project with your team. So, how do you print a blank calendar? Here's how: 1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Folder. 2. In the Create New Folder dialog box, in the Name text box, type a name for the folder. 3. In the Folder contains list, click Calendar Items. 4. In the Select where to place the folder list, click Calendar, and then click OK. 5. In Calendar, in the Navigation Pane under the My Calendars section, select the check box for the calendar you created. 6. On the File menu, click Print. 7. In the Print dialog box, under Print this calendar, click the calendar you created. 8. Select the print style options you want, and then click OK. HippoCampus   HippoCampus provides high-quality, multimedia content on general education subjects to high school and college students free of charge. Once you have created an account at Hippocampus.org, and logged in, you can customize your myHippo page in a number of ways:   You can edit the content of the Announcements block and add new announcements. You can hide unwanted subjects and courses in the Subjects menu. You can remove unwanted textbooks from the Textbooks tab. You can bookmark specific multimedia topics. Check it out at http://www.hippocampus.org/. Of Mechanical Things And Backups Hard drives are a major computer component that is basically mechanical in operation. A hard drive works sort of like a record player. A song on a record can be analogous to a file on a hard drive. The difference is that a song is an unbroken groove read by a pivoting arm, while the computer file is split and scattered all across a hard drive platter. In order to read split files in a reasonable amount of time, the hard drive platters and arm must operate at high speed. Hard drive platters spin at around 5400 rpm on normal hard drives up to 10,000 rpm on higher performance drives. It is unfortunate then that the standard means of storing data rely so heavily on high-speed mechanical methods. Hard drive arm failures are very common. When the hard drive arm fails, there is a very good chance that it will damage the hard drive platters. When you hear the clicking noises from your hard drive which signal a hard drive arm failure, back up all necessary data immediately and power the system down as soon as possible. No drive platter is manufactured perfectly. There will always be some bad spots on the platter surface. Modern hard drives automatically mark those bad spots as unusable and do not store data there. Sometimes bad spots will develop during the life of the hard drive. The hard drive will mark that spot bad and attempt to move the data to a good spot on the hard drive. This may, or may not, result in the loss of some data. Serious hard drive platter failures can occur as a result of hard drive arm failures. In these cases, the hard drive platters are being scratched. Your data is being scratched right off the surface of the platters! You can often hear this damage occurring. These failures are very expensive or impossible to recover. Don’t suffer data loss due to mechanical failure. Make backups on CD, flash drive or the network share. Create Better Graphics 2007 The 2007 Microsoft Office system looks so different from earlier versions. Why would you want to take the time to relearn features that you already know and use daily? Well, you might be amazed at how easy it is to get up to speed with the new user interface that you see in several of the 2007 release programs, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The purpose of the new interface is to make the features you need more accessible, and to make it easier to find useful features that you might not already know. It's also about taking full advantage of what technology today has to offer to help you get more done, more easily, with better results. When it comes to working with documents, this means a wide range of new features, from incredible formatting tools that work across Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007, to beautiful graphics that might amaze you. For instance, how would you like to convert a bulleted list into a flawless diagram? Create charts that look like you hired a professional designer? And, get it all done in about the time it takes to pour yourself a cup of coffee? It's not too good to be true—this is what the new technology is all about. Check out some of the things you can do with the new graphics engine in the 2007 release. The new SmartArt graphics tool replaces the Diagram and Organization Chart tool that you may know from earlier versions. But, don't look for a simple upgrade here. SmartArt graphics provide an entirely new approach to business graphics. SmartArt graphics are available from the Insert tab in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. However, when you create SmartArt graphics in PowerPoint you get additional tools, such as the ability to convert a bulleted list to a diagram. Learn more about crafting SmartArt graphics at the following web address: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA012058671033.aspx.  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) Summer Crafts http://www.freekidcrafts.com/summer.html  For a whole host of ideas to help you welcome summer, try the activities suggested here, including Chalk Shadows, CD Sun Catchers, Bubble Pictures, Washer Windchimes, and more. Build A Castle http://www.highlightskids.com/Magazine/Feb07/h1magazineFlashObjects/h10207FebruaryArtist.asp  The sound effects sound like a creaking drawbridge over a moat as students select different parts and backgrounds to build their own castles with this interactive game.  Move Our Principal http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/MoveOurPrincipal/default.htm  Students will use the basic types of simple machines in order to help move their principal in this online science game. An official publication of the CPSB Technology Department If you have any questions or comments please e-mail the Webmaster. For Technical Support:  tech.help@cpsb.org Calcasieu Parish Homepage  Technology Department  Teacher Link  Best on the Net Tech Guides  Computer Purchasing Information  Tech Connect Archive