Going Digital 5: Laptops Required for all High School Students for 2009-10 School Year

As WBAIS continues its evolution into a 21st century school, it is important that students have access to the tools that will build their digital literacy skills and prepare them for a 21st century workforce. For the past two years we have strongly recommended that students use their family-owned laptops to complete digital assignments at school. Next year, all high school students will be required to follow this college-model 1-to-1 laptop program by bringing their family-owned laptops to school when needed for learning activities. Currently 50 percent of our high school students have registered their family-owned digital assistants (laptops, net books, and/or itouches) for use on our school network. Our requirement is for 100 percent of our high school students to have their family-owned laptops registered and used on campus for the 2009-10 school year.

Why family owned in high school?
As opposed to the elementary and middle schools, our high school has a more diverse approach to laptops, in part because increasing numbers of family-owned laptops have been brought to the high school by students over the last three years. During the 2006-07 school year an estimated 40 family owned laptops were used on campus; this number has more than doubled with the move to the new campus and the increased use of computer resources by high school courses.

This diversity serves the high school students well because some benefit from inexpensive laptops, while others benefit from tablets or expensive laptops. Instead of trying to implement a uniform program as in middle school, this broad range of laptops in high school allows families to address the individual needs of their students. Fulfilling this goal for all students would be very difficult for a school our size. In addition, this makes sense in that high school students should develop the skills and maturity to care for their own laptops, as they will when they go on to university.

Why do we use the term “family-owned laptop”?
We believe in the importance of parent involvement when it comes to the use of the Internet and other digital tools by our students. Our young high school ladies and gentlemen still need parental guidance in the area of digital citizenship, digital manners and laptop care. Family-owned indicates that the laptop is shared by the family. Its use and data should be appropriate for any member of the family to operate and view. It is important that parents take an active role in monitoring the use of the laptop. The student needs to feel a since of responsibility to the family for the care and use of the laptop. While your high school student may be the primary and sometimes only user of the laptop, parents and other family member should feel free to use the laptop when not in use by the primary user. However the actual ownership, responsibility and use of the laptop are a family decision.

What laptop should our family purchase?
Your choice of laptop should match your child’s or family's needs. The educational program of some students only requires them to do Internet research, word processing and occasional multimedia presentations. In this case, simple, somewhat inexpensive laptops known as netbooks (such as the HP Mini Note or Lenovo IdeaPad) may meet their needs. Some 1-to-1 programs are even exploring the use of smart phones (such as the iPhone or Palm Treo) with Internet, word processing and spreadsheet applications to satisfy their school computing needs, but students should check the requirements of their class syllabuses before selecting this option. Some students who take multimedia-rich electives probably will prefer high-end laptops that easily handle video and other large graphic editing.

The nice thing about our program is that the choice and expense is up to you. To help you with this, you can use the following specifications as a guide when purchasing your family-owned laptop. Most school-related tasks can be accomplished with the following generic hardware specifications, the same guidelines we use for purchasing our desktop and laptop computers. Both Mac and PC models will meet these specifications. The laptop you choose may meet more, less or the same specifications depending upon your student’s needs.

* At least a 1.7 GHz processor,
* At least 1 GB of RAM
* 80 GB hard drive or higher
* 802.11 b or 802.11g integrated (internal) wireless network card
* Network/Internet: Built-in 10/100BT network card
* Combo drive DVD-R/CD-RW
* Ability to set multiple network connection location profiles
* Ports include Fire wire, USB x2, Ethernet, sound in and out, and data projector connectivity
* Built-in mic and speakers
* Battery life of 4 or more hours
* Good anti-virus software and spyware protection programs
* Three year repair and replacement warranties

Optional add-ons or replacements
* Software: Vendor’s educational bundle if available
* Protective case and bag for extra care and easy carrying.
* Extra battery of 4 or more hours of use between charges
* Extra power unit (cord and transformer)
* Additional memory and hard drive space is recommended for students doing video editing

To further explain the 1-to-1 family-owned program in high school and address some of your questions, we will have two information sessions during Parent Teacher Conference Day, on March 6, at 11 AM and 12 PM. Please plan to attend one of these sessions as your feedback will help us further customize the program to meet the needs of our school community. At that time we will also have local computer vendors on campus who can talk to you about their laptops and other digital assistant devices.

For more information about our 1-to-1 laptop program feel free to visit our Going Digital blog (currently being developed) and Tech Talk blog (which archives all our technology-related newsletter articles).

Keep Computing!
The WBAIS Tech Team

Going Digital 4: ES Tech Program

Many of our recent newsletter articles have addressed our one-to-one laptop program. This program is being implemented this year in the 7th and 8th grades and will be extended to the entire middle school (school owned computers) and high school (family owned computers) next year. One may ask, “What about elementary school?” This article will address our current technology program for our younger students, highlighting ways we prepare them with 21st century skills.

Elementary school students work both in the lab and in the classroom on integrated projects as well as acquiring and reinforcing basic skills, sometimes through whole class instruction with the use of Smartboards and projectors and other times individually or in small groups on computers.

The kindergarten, first and second graders have a weekly time in the computer lab and third, fourth and fifth graders visit the lab according to projects they are working on. There are times when weeks may pass between projects but there are other times when these students may work in the lab twice or three times a day!

K-2 children’s weekly classes alternate between using educational software and online activities that reinforce topics covered in class and doing integrated audio, video and graphics projects. Some of the programs used include:
• Kidpix - Graphics (Grades K, 1 and 2)
• Mango Plumo Space and Weather (Grade 2)
• Fun with Architecture (Grades K and 1)
• Millie’s Math House, Sammy’s Science House and Trudy’s Time (Grades K, 1 and 2)
• Map Machine (Grade 1)
• Scholastic Keys (Grades 1-2)

Lower elementary students’ activities and work can be viewed by logging in to the class’ Blackboard site. Here’s how you do this:
1. Go to Blackboard by clicking on “Blackboard” on the right hand side of our school site or by going there directly at http://nesa.blackboard.com
2. Log in with the username “esfamily.wbais.il” and password “ShalomK-5”
3. Click on your child’s grade
4. Click on “Computer Projects”

An integral part of our third and fourth grade program is keyboarding. All third and new fourth graders have basic keyboarding classes and returning fourth graders work on improving their skills. Students in these grades also work with images to create presentations (i.e. the third grade rock project) and they do some guided research through selected sites (i.e. fourth grade sea mammals work). Fourth graders are introduced to Inspiration to brainstorm and learn formatting as they word process various projects throughout the year. This year third and fourth graders are also invited to contribute to our library’s WBAIS Book Review Blog, preparing them for future digital collaboration projects.

Our oldest elementary school students jump fully into the world of the Internet and Web 2.0 tools. Participating in the NE/SA Virtual Science Fair for 5th Graders (NVSF5th), these kids contribute to group blogs and wikis, produce multimedia projects and collaborate with high school mentors in another school. In addition, fifth graders learn research skills through various social studies and science projects, produce various types of digital projects, and they participate in grade level Blackboard blogs about literature and more.

Getting school email accounts, independently researching via the Internet and using Web 2.0 tools may be new to many fifth graders. As a result, digital citizenship is emphasized with them and lessons are taught in web etiquette, advanced searching and Internet safety. It is our hope that these skills, along with all technology skills covered in elementary school, will serve as a solid base for our students as they enter our one-to-one program and throughout their lives.

Happy Holidays from the entire tech team! See you next year!

Going Digital 3: Technology Tools Commonly Used at WBAIS

At WBAIS we strive to meet the growing demand for access to digital tools and develop a culture of digital literacy, citizenship and productive use of technology in the learning environment

While working with computer technology, students develop a set of skills with various digital tools that they utilize at school and at home. Some programs have been purchased by the school but as more and more alternate Open Source software is available we are providing students with a wider variety of tool choices to get their work done. Here are some of the programs that are presently installed/used on school computers:

Office Tools (Word Processing/ Spreadsheets / Presentations)
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
Google Docs *
Open Office *

Graphics Editors:
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Macromedia Fireworks
GimpShop *

Internet Browsers:
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox *

Multimedia: 
Photostory 3 for Windows
Windows Movie Maker
Adobe Premiere Elements

Creating and Editing Audio Files:
Audacity *

Learning how to Keyboard:
UltraKey

Graphic Organizers:
Inspiration

Tools used primarily by K-2 students:
Clicker
Kidpix

Please note that all programs marked with an asterisk (*) are free Open Source software and can be downloaded on to your home computer by following the links provided. You may also be interested in other Open Source alternatives, listed in the article The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives, or in reading about the pros and cons of Open Source Software.

We hope that by familiarizing yourselves better with the tools your children use in school you will better understand them as they discuss their laptop and other computer use. If you would like further information about technology tools used on campus, feel free to contact anyone on the tech team .

As always, you can learn more about our school's technology program by reading the WBAIS Tech Talk Blog .

We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

WBAIS Tech Team

Going Digital 2: Future School Plans

Laptop Initiative Expands K-12 in 2009-2010
As part of our new campus vision, 2007-08 marked the beginning of an initiative for WBAIS to become a laptop school. Following a successful pilot program with 7th grade, plans were put in place to phase in 8th grade, recommend the required use of family owned laptops in high school and explore the use of laptops in elementary classrooms. This initiative supports our technology mission with a focus on Digital Literacy, Digital Citizenship and enhancing the learning opportunities that multimedia and collaborative communication bring about. It is a student centered educational program designed to use digital tools in the learning environment while meeting our growing demand for student access to computers. Students are learning to digitally receive, organize, produce, communicate and submit course materials and how to make choices about learning tools.

The WBAIS laptop initiative is a natural progression from the teacher laptop initiative implemented 5+ years ago. Students' skills and knowledge will be integrated into the instructional program the same way that teacher laptops digitized the way teachers manage, create and present learning materials, as well as report on student progress. The term laptop in this document includes any personal digital assistant tool that can be used to meet the academic computer needs of a student.

As teachers, students, parents and administrators prepare and plan future educational opportunities, the general statements in the box below will be included in next year's school documents to inform the WBAIS community and guide our evolution in the use of laptops as a learning tool. In addition, the MS 1 to 1 laptop project FAQ document will contain similar statements to reflect our current direction in each division. While these statements speak primarily about the distribution of hardware the initiative is very much an educational initiative with a focus on laptop use as a learning and management tool.

In Order to meet the growing demand for access to digital tools in the learning environment and develop a culture of digital literacy, citizenship and productive use of technology in the learning environment,

By the school year 2009-2010:
• ES Program: School owned laptops and handhelds will be used in kits to provide 1 to 1 computer use in classrooms (primarily 5th and 4th grade)for projects and activities at scheduled times. Computer lab will be available for instruction and project use (Primarily K-3).
• MS Program: School owned 1 to 1 student laptop program for grades 6 – 8 to provide 24/7 access to a standard set of digital tools and resource for all Middle School students. Thus developing a culture of productive use of these learning tools. Tech support provided by WBAIS and laptop support partner.
• HS Program: Family owned 1 to 1 laptop program is required for all students following a college model. This program is designed to meet the individual computing needs of the student's program of study. A list of basic computer specifications will be made available. Tech support is the family's responsibility. Two computer labs are used for high end technology rich courses and special projects.
• Teacher Program: Teachers will continue to be provided with a laptop to serve as their teacher computer for school to home to school use. This will be instead of a desktop not in addition to a desktop. All desktops currently in classrooms will remain but will not be replaced or upgraded
once they are retired. Teacher laptops are upgraded annually by request and recommended on a 4 year use schedule.

Why school owned in ES and MS:
• We are establishing a culture of laptop use as a learning tool not an entertainment and recreational tool. School owned laptops gives us the control needed to begin establishing this kind of culture.
• Equality of computer need is standard in elementary and Middle School. Providing school owned laptops maintains this standard and equity among student peers.
• School owned Laptops can easily be configured for our network, supported through a cloning process and installed with software needed for MS courses ans ES classes. This would be very difficult to manage with family owned laptops and elementary and middle school students may not be as capable as high school students in managing their own tech support and formatting needs.
• We have the option of clearing hard drives and reformatting laptops in instances of inappropriate use with school owned laptops. We would not have that option with family owned laptops.

Why family owned in HS
• The diversity in courses and the interest of the student requires different standards of computers for different groups of students.
• This diversity serves the HS students well because some benefit from inexpensive handhelds, netbooks, PCs or laptops, while others benefit from tablets or expensive laptops.
• We are moving toward the use of a broad range of laptops in the high school instead of trying to implement a uniform program as in the middle school.
• HS students should develop the skills and maturity to care for their own laptops, as they will when they go on to college and universities.
• Managing the Tech Support for this diverse use of laptops is better achieved on an individual basis by the student's family.

We believe "as so eloquently conveyed in The World is Flat, there is no turning back. New technologies will constantly emerge—and, with them, will come social, political, educational, and civic change. One-to-one learning ensures that students will be ready to seize such opportunities competently, intelligently, and with social conscience." (From "One-to-One Learning, A Review Analysis" by the Metiri Group).

Our staff is spending in-service time this year preparing for our expanding laptop program. Families of students entering grades 9-12 next year should be preparing to purchase a laptop for their high schooler if they have not already done so. Suggested laptop specifications are available near the end of the student handbook in the section titled, "Recommendations for Home Computers."

Going Digital 1: Technology-Related Terms used at WBAIS

This year marks the second year of our 1 to 1 student laptop initiative. The purpose of this program is to meet the growing demand for access to digital tools and develop a culture of digital literacy, citizenship and productive use of technology in the learning environment.

Currently all 7th and 8th grade students have school owned laptops. In addition, a growing number of our high school students are registering their family owned laptops for use on campus, following a 1 to 1 laptop model that is similar to those used by colleges. This year we also hope to begin exploring the use of laptops as an integrative tool in our elementary school. While working with our computer technology, students develop a vocabulary of digital tools that they use at school and at home. Here are a few of those terms with a brief explanation of each.

• Our Network: The system that connects all campus computers, printers, wireless access points and other devices to each other and provides these devices with access to the World Wide Web (Internet). This is also call a Local Area Network (LAN) because it covers a small geographical area like our campus. Students who move with laptops from home to school sometimes need to reconnect to our network through an IP switcher or other device when they return to campus.
  

• Servers: are computers with large hard drives designed to store teacher and student files. WBAIS school servers can be accessed from any school owned computer on our network but they cannot be accessed from home.

• G Drive: is how our student and teacher server is identified on our network. As the G Drive is one of our school servers it is not available off campus.

• Novell: This is the WBAIS user management and security system which students and staff must log into in order to connect to the servers on our network. Novell is currently only installed on school-owned computers and it is not available off campus.
  

• Squirrel Mail: This is the WBAIS web based email system used by students in grades 5-12 and staff. Students are expected to use Squirrelmail for all school communication and they are given the option to use it for private mail from home as well. Squirrelmail is available through the Internet at school or at home.

• Blackboard: Blackboard is a secure online course delivery system that provides students in grades 5-12 with a web based portal to access class materials, have class discussions and turn in assignments. In addition, parents and students in grades K-5 may find class newsletters and other information by logging in to this system. Also referred to as the NE/SA Virtual School (NVS), our Blackboard site is shared by 19 schools in the Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools. Blackboard is available both at school and at home.

• PowerSchool: is a WBAIS secure web based system that facilitates communication on students academic progress to students in grades 6-12, parents of children in grades 6-8 and staff. This system is available both at school and at home through the Internet.
  

• Google Applications: These publicly accessable web based applications are accessed by logging in to Google with any email address. They may be reached from school or at home and are managed by Google.
  

• GoogleDocs: This system includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentation and online forms. It is used by many staff and students to share documents, collaborate on projects and manage course materials. This system is available to anyone through the Internet at school and at home.
• GoogleCalendar: This web based calendar is used by students and staff in grades 6-8 to show major projects and tests coming up. Some students in these and other grades have also set up a private calendar through this system. Staff members use Google Calendars to share meetings, events and facilities use with each other and the community at large.
• GoogleBookmarks: This is an online system that allows users to set up a bookmark system with links to individually chosen web sites that can be reached whenever a user logs in.
  
• iGoogle: This is a web page set up by an individual with links to various applications. For example, students in grades 7 and 8 have set up their own school iGoogle pages with links to their calendars, documents and bookmarks.
  

We hope that by familiarizing yourselves better with these terms you will better understand your children as they discuss their laptop and other computer use. If you would like further clarification of technology terms used on campus, feel free to contact anyone on the tech team.

You can learn more about our school's 1 to 1 laptop program by reading these upcoming Tech Talk articles: Going Digital 2: Future School Plans and Going Digital 3: Digital Tools. Previous articles are also available to you in the WBAIS Tech Talk Blog.

We wish you all a happy, healthy fall holiday season!

WBAIS Tech Team

Digital Citizenship 4: Avoiding Bandwidth Wasters

Our growing use of Internet resources brings with it increased network traffic and a concern about Internet connectivity slowdown. WBAIS believes that educating students is the best way to address these concerns so that the same understanding, respect and responsibility that apply to our social, professional, hardcopy world applies to our digital world. The fifth WBAIS Technology Standard, adopted from the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE), includes a statement that students at our school will “advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.”

Digital citizens use technology wisely, responsibly and for the common good. They understand that using a home computer or small home network is different than using a large network devoted to academic purposes. At WBAIS we strongly believe that everyone should strive to be good digital citizens. This includes being conscious of the effect our use of a shared network has on other users.

The amount of data transferred through a network is called network traffic. Just as traffic on a highway can slow down when use is at its highest, traffic on a local area network (LAN) can slow down its users’ connectivity to the Internet. Good digital citizens help to keep network traffic down by avoiding certain sites when on a LAN, such as our school network, which is shared by many users for academic use. Examples of sites to avoid include the following:

Bandwidth Wasters = traffic slowdowns

• Sites that are dedicated to instant messaging and chat should not be used in school. Even running these sites in the background while waiting for contact from another user causes repeated packets of data to be sent to and from your computer, increasing network traffic. WBAIS network users should make sure that these sites (i.e. Skype, msn, icq, etc.) do not automatically open on their computers when started up and that they are not used during school hours, unless a teacher has specified using them for an academic activity.

• Music and video download sites can cause network slowdowns for other users as these files are often very large. Any downloading for academic purposes should be limited to after school hours.

• Network and Internet gaming sites and software which require a constant connection between computers can also increase network traffic as data is constantly traveling between computers. Unless used for an academic activity, we ask that these sites not be used at WBAIS during school hours.

Other Sites to avoid on shared networks

• Time Wasters – On-line game sites and sites about how to cheat at games. Staying away from such sites helps protect our network from spyware that many of these “free games” sites install on computers. Spyware can open a window to your computer from outside and may also send repeated data packets to and from your computer.

• Inappropriate Content Sites – Sites with content of an “adult” nature, bullying and harassment. Other than the fact that they are non-academic in any way, these sites can often install a series of POP up windows that appear automatically whenever using a browser which slows down a network.

• Up-To-No-Good Sites – Sites dedicated to hacking, virus creation, and defeating content filtering are in direct violation of the school AUP. I suggest you check with your home network providers as using such sites may also violate their policy.

Help us maintain plenty of bandwidth for academic purposes. Stay away from bandwidth wasters!!

The Tech Team

Digital Citizenship Part 3 - Netiquette

WBAIS believes that through education, students can learn and practice digital citizenship so that the same understanding, respect and responsibility that applies to our social, professional, hardcopy world can be applied to our digital world. The fifth WBAIS Technology Standard, adopted from the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE), includes a statement that students at our school will “advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.”

Using good manners on the Internet are extremely important. The way that a person presents him/herself reflects who s/he is, whether it is in person or online. In addition, one must remember that there is a human being on the receiving end of messages written online so the “Golden Rule” should be remembered and followed at all times – do unto others as you'd have others do unto you.

The term “Netiquette,” a contraction of the words Internet and etiquette, is commonly used to refer to the etiquette of cyberspace. In other words, netiquette is a set of rules that we follow for behaving appropriately online.

A few basic rules of netiquette include:

• Avoid hurting someone's feelings with e-mail, while chatting, etc. Remember that the written word is hard to interpret. When you speak to someone, that person can hear the tone of your voice. If they can see you, they can take visual clues from your face and body to better understand your meaning. All of this is lost in text, and sometimes responses can come across as mean or rude, even when you did not intend them this way.
• Always identify yourself and what you are going to write about. Never send e-mail, messages in online social groups, etc. without including a subject on the subject line and your name at the bottom. Similarly, don't post forum messages without identifying yourself, this is seen as rude. If you have set up an online name for your child instead of his/her real one, that's fine – but one name should be used consistently.
• Don't be hasty when you send... if you write a message when you're upset, wait before you send it.
• Respect the privacy of others. Don't share someone's email address or private information without their permission.
• What's perfectly acceptable in one site may be considered rude in another. Before asking or responding in a newsgroup, discussion board, etc, take the time to feel the group out. Spend a while listening to the chat or reading the archives. Get a sense of how the people who are already there act. If the site seems like one that is appropriate for you, go ahead and participate.
• Respect other people's time and bandwidth. If a message is personal in nature, send it via email or in a personal message area instead of posting it for large groups. Set up group addresses to send mass messages, i.e. jokes. only to those who have asked to join your group. Unless they are to be printed, resize photos before sending them or upload them to a site and send the link for others to view them. Think twice before sending large audio and video files via email as well.

The WBAIS tech team suggests that before the summer begins, you go over these basic rules of netiquette with your child and explore some of the reference sites below together.

We wish you all a fun, safe vacation – both at home and in cyberspace. See you in the fall!

The Tech Team

References

The Core Rules of Netiquette
A Kid’s Guide to Etiquette on the Net

Boston Public Library – Netiquette for Kids

Email etiquette