Have you ever spent more time trying to find information on your computer than it would actually take to get the job done once you have found the information? Well lucky for you there are applications that will assist you in organizing your notes. These applications enable you to keep notes, phone numbers, files, tasks, lists, tags, images, directly record audio notes, share notebooks among colleagues, etc., all in one easy to use and organized place. The two applications I enjoy most are OneNote by Microsoft and BasKet Note Pads for Linux. If you work for APS you can start using OneNote right away. While at work, turn on your computer, click “start,” “run,” and type in “aps2007,” and click, “ok.” Wait 10 or 20 minutes while it installs on your computer. Do not stop the process. Once it’s finished installing you’ll have the Office 2007 suite which includes OneNote. To learn more about using OneNote, log in to One Place and go to Atomic Learning where you can search through over one hundred tutorials on using One Note. You can also go to Microsoft’s One Note website to find lots of helpful training resources. If you have a friend in the district that is hopelessly disorganized, send them this link. Give them the necessary tools to empower the organizational wizard within them. Let’s all get organized.

For a low, low price, you can have set of tools for your students that will help them communicate asynchronously, frequently and with authentic purpose. It will also encourage students to attend to the details and quality of their published work. But wait there’s more! Research shows that these tools increase student achievement! How much would you pay for these tools? Fortunately for you the monetary price is FREE! It will only cost you time. You’ll need time to explore these tools. Time to share these tools and time to teach these tools. These tools are the Web 2.0 tools. While time is always at a premium in the teaching profession. It is not an insurmountable obstacle. Here are some links to web 2.0 tools that you can start using now, email (epals), blogs (WordPress), & wikis (pbWiki). You can find helpful resources at Atomic Learning through One Place. Do you want more support? Contact your local technology coach/trainer for assistance. Take a look at the research. Becta recently publish research based on 11 - 16 year old students in and out of the classroom.

The reports found that young learners are prolific users of Web 2.0 technologies in their leisure time but that the use of Web 2.0 in the classroom was limited. However, schools and teachers who are innovating in this area have found benefits, such as:

• Web 2.0 helps to encourage student engagement and increase participation – particularly among quieter pupils, who can use it to work collaboratively online, without the anxiety of having to raise questions in front of peers in class – or by enabling expression through less traditional media such as video.
• Teachers have reported that the use of social networking technology can encourage online discussion amongst students outside school.
• Web 2.0 can be available anytime, anywhere, which encourages some individuals to extend their learning through further investigation into topics that interest them.
• Pupils feel a sense of ownership and engagement when they publish their work online and this can encourage attention to detail and an overall improved quality of work. Some teachers reported using publication of work to encourage peer assessment.

Read the details of the research. Thanks to Ewan McIntosh for pointing this out.

Have you ever wondered why your laptop battery doesn’t seem to have the juice to get you through a meeting? Or conversely, have you ever wondered how you can ensure your laptop’s battery can continue providing 4 hours of juice?

Well here’s the scoop from Jason Braddy. If you don’t know Jason, he (and his department) are behind the scenes ensuring that our computers, networks and printers work flawlessly.

Here’s what Jason has to say about laptop batteries.

We have found that some District laptop batteries only last 12-18 months before the battery’s run-time is severely impacted. However, a normal healthy battery could last as long as 4-5 years before run-time is severely impacted. If a laptop battery has any difficulty within the first 12 months of its life, it is still under warranty, and a HEAT ticket should be submitted so we can come out to work on it. After the first 12 months, we will still come out to work on laptops with battery issues, and we are happy to order replacement batteries for you and initiate a budget transfer to cover the cost.

To help prolong the life of you laptop batteries, we recommend the following:

1. Completely charge a new battery/laptop before using the laptop without the AC adapter.

2. Completely discharge a laptop battery periodically. I’d recommend at least once a month. Doing it more often will not hurt the battery.

3. If a laptop will be stored for an extended period of time and not used (ie. laptop carts over the summer) completely discharge the batteries and remove them from the laptops before storage, then follow #1 after storage.

I’ve found that I can use my laptop on battery before lunch, charge over lunch, then use it again after lunch, and charge over night. If I work to conserve my battery (run with CPU in low power mode, screen on dim, no CDROM, limited wireless, etc) I can get close to 5 hours straight out of my standard 6 cell D600. By using Stand By mode when I’m not using the laptop (traveling between meetings, etc), I can usually make it through a day on one charge. My D600 is on it’s second battery now. The first one lasted ~4.5 years.

Here’s a clear list of the steps needed to create and publish an audio podcast using a PC. ~Thanks Ivan.

Ivan notified us this evening that Discovery Education has opened up the Health tab for Aurora Public Schools through September.  The site is well organized and contains lots of useful instructional resources. There are lessons, videos, multimedia, etc. You can get there by logging in to One Place. Then click on “Discovery Education Streaming” and the “Health” tab. Check it out!