Newsletter+-+2-07-2008

News WIKI
February 7, 2008 Edition Tom Frye - Director of Media and Technology Email: tfrye@harnett.k12.nc.us 

nc wise
The Department of Public Instruction has notified Harnett County Schools that problems with the Data Migration Utility (DMU) have been corrected. NCDPI’s plan is to convert our data over the weekend of February 8-10. We will begin verification of our converted data on Monday, February 11. As soon as our data is certified, we will begin training teachers on how to take attendance in NC WISE. I will send an alert to all staff members to notify them of projected training dates and how to sign-up for the training. Training will be conducted during the school day and during planning times for use of the Teacher Assistant Module (TAM) to report attendance and marks. Please remember that every person who is issued an NC WISE username and password is required to attend a 45-minute training session and must sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Training sessions have been held at every school site. If you have been unable to attend the training, there is a make-up session scheduled for Monday, February 11 in the Boardroom of the Lillington Education Complex. The training will start promptly at 3:45. Please make plans to attend if you have not already attended the training. Network Security and Personal Computers As we deploy information resources such as NC WISE, it is important that network security maintain a high priority for the district. Harnett County Schools Board of Education Policy requires that technology staff implement safeguards to protect the district’s technology and information assets. A district safeguard that is in place to protect the security of the network is the ban of personal computers in any district facility, **whether connected to the network or not**. Employees or students who possess personal computers on district property are in violation of the district’s network security standard and ultimately Board of Education Policy.

SCHOOLCENTER© WEBPAGES
Training sessions are available for teachers to create FREE websites for their classrooms using the new SchoolCenter webhosting service. The training consists of 4 hours of face-to-face instruction and at least of 2 hours of outside work to complete a classroom/teacher website. Technology credit is awarded to those teachers who complete the 4-hour face-to-face training and then produce a website (0.6 technology CEUs). To sign-up for the upcoming (next week) activity, please see the upcoming professional development opportunities listed below for “SchoolCenter Teacher Web Page Training.” More sections of the workshop will be added if these sections “fill-up.” Any teacher who plans to create a classroom website should familiarize him/herself with [|Policy Code: 3227/7322 Web Page Development].

Technology Professional Development Requirement AND OPPORTUNITIES Each certified employee of Harnett County Schools is required to earn 3.0 technology CEUs per 5-year renewal cycle. For new employees, the technology CEU requirement is 0.6 technology CEUs per year of work with the school district during the employee’s current renewal cycle. In addition to SchoolCenter training opportunities, there are additional upcoming, district-sponsored activities.

LEC Computer Lab || Samantha Stewart || 10-273 || 2/18 || 8:00 – 3:00 || LEC || Samantha Stewart || 10-228 || 4/7 || 12:00 – 3:00 || LEC Computer Lab || Lynn Deese || 10-205 || 4/7 || 8:00 – 3:00 ||
 * SCHOOL CENTER TEACHER WEB PAGE TRAINING ||
 * LOCATION || PRESENTER  || ACTIVITY NUMBER  || DATES  || TIMES  ||
 * Anderson Creek || Susan Equils || 10-288 || 3/6, 3/10 || 3:00 – 5:00 ||
 * Harnett Central High || Tammy Poole || 10-281 || 2/18 || 8:00 – 12:00 ||
 * Overhills Middle || Denise Clark || 10-287 || 2/19 & 2/26 || 3:00 – 5:00 ||
 * Wayne Avenue || Wanda Padgett || 10-273 || 2/18 || 8:00 – 12:00 ||
 * Overhills High || Angie Jones || 10-285 || 2/19, 2/26 || 3:00 – 5:00 ||
 * Benhaven Elementary || Brian Graham || 10-277 || Saturday - 3/1 || 8:00 – 12:00 ||
 * Harnett Central Middle || Beth Blanchard || 10-292 || 2/12, 2/19 || 3:30 – 5:30 ||
 * OTHER TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOPS ||
 * Digital Cameras in Instruction
 * Presentations with Pizzazz
 * Assistive Technology – Augmentative Communication
 * Note: These opportunities will fill-up fast. Click the link to the right to register now on the** [|SEA System]:

In addition to the many technology professional development opportunities offered by the staff of Harnett County Schools, there is a multitude of worthwhile opportunities available through other resources and/or agencies. Many of the opportunities are available as online activities. Please be advised that just because a professional development activity or course is offered online, that does not mean that **technology** professional development credit will be granted. Technology professional development credit is awarded only if the content of the activity is related to instructional technology.

If you find an activity that you would like to complete as a technology professional development activity, simply put in a [|SEA System] request for the activity and designate the activity as “All Other Activities.” The request will first be forwarded to your principal for approval and then to the Media and Technology Department for approval. Please note that for any of these activities that incur a cost, it is the responsibility of the staff member to cover the cost.

The list of activities that are included on this page is by no means exhaustive. By putting a Sea System request in ahead of time, the participant is notified if the activity is approved via email. Some of the links below will display many activities that are not related to technology; however, the activity may be of interest to you. Simply put in a SEA System request and indicate the proper discipline focus to see if the activity will be approved.

Once you complete an approved technology professional development activity, please submit (through County mail) an original of any certificate or transcripts provided **and a** copy of the SEA System proposal to: Media and Technology Department Attention: Tom Frye**
 * Board of Education

[|Learn NC] – Technology professional development as well as many content/specialty area activities [|PBS Online] – A multitude of courses/activities is available: Technology, reading, mathematics, etc. [|iSafe.org] – Become a certified iSafe trainer and be availed of the many resources that iSafe provides to teach children and parents about Internet safety. Participants should participate in the “Professional Development Plan” or PDP program offered by iSafe.org. The actual “training” can be done either through iLearn Online or through the Virtual Training Academy. The actual training takes about 4 hours to complete; however, the “training” is only a portion of the activity. Participants receive 6.0 contact or 0.6 technology CEUs by submitting documentation (lesson plans, sample student reactions, etc) of completion of the Implementation Plan (IP) that iSafe requires following participation in the PDP. This documentation must be submitted with an original copy of the Certificate of Completion that iSafe provides. [|eBistro] – Online professional development activities for technology. Participants should complete a separate SEA System proposal for EACH module. Once you complete a module, please submit ALL documentation of completed work along with a copy of the SEA System proposal to the Media and Technology Department.
 * //Online Opportunities//**

Curriculum or Continuing Education Courses (Technology-Related) [|Wake Technical College] [|Central Carolina Community College] [|Johnston Community College] [|Campbell University] [|Fayetteville State University]

Some graduate programs require an instructional technology course. Please complete a separate SEA System request for the course and submit a copy of your transcript showing completion of an instructional technology course to the Media and Technology Department.

Note: A 3.0-hour curriculum course is equivalent to 4.5 CEUs (45 contact hours).

====GroupWise® Email System  ==== The email system is back up and running following issues earlier in the week. We are in the process of adding an automatic “public records” notice to every email that is sent from the district email system. The notice reads: “E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.” The Harnett County Schools email system is provided by the taxpayers of the State and is available for employees to conduct “school business.” To preserve this resource, users should “clean-up” their email account and remove personal emails from both the mailbox and the sent items. “Public” (i.e., school-business) emails are to be treated just as official paper documents and are to be retained as regulated by [|NC Public Record laws]. Therefore, email account users should retain “official” email messages. As a result of a Federal requirement, Harnett County Schools will soon begin archiving all email messages that are received by or is sent from any Harnett County Schools email account. On average, 90% of all messages destined to Harnett County Schools email account holders is identified as SPAM and blocked by the SPAM firewall. Messages blocked by the SPAM firewall are not actually delivered to an email account holder, and are therefore, not archived. Once the email archival system is in place, all email is captured into a separate system and cannot be deleted by the email account holder from this “separate system.” More information about archiving will follow. In the meantime, employees should clean-up their GroupWise email account and delete personal emails from the mailbox, “cabinet” and sent items. 