Tic-Tech: Response to Tic

From: Foltos, Les (lfoltos@seattleschools.org)
Date: Tue Jan 02 2001 - 12:23:44 PST

  • Next message: Jim Meyer: "Tic-Tech: Response to Tic"

    --- TIC-TECH message:
    Mark raised a good question about having more than one tech meeting a month.
    I agree with Charlie that it is difficult to find a time to do more than one
    district wide tech forum per month. But what is needed may not be another
    tech forum.

    In the past we had some user groups meeting on a montly basis. Currie
    Morrison and Neil Rockwell hosted a networking group, we have had multi
    media groups hosted by Dwight Harris, Karen Meyer and Gary Cranston. Karen
    and Cheryl have met with some people recently who are interested in using
    digital cameras in their classrooms.

    Does it make sense to create some of these more subject specific user
    groups, and have them meet separately. If so what topics seem worthwhile to
    focus on? Once we hear from you we can begin to schedule some of these
    meetings.

    Les Foltos <lfoltos@seattleschools.org

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Walker, Charlie [mailto:CHWALKER@seattleschools.org]
    Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2000 3:16 PM
    To: TIC-TECH@tic.ssd.k12.wa.us
    Subject: Tic-Tech: Response to Tic

    --- TIC-TECH message:
    First I would like to apologies for the delay in responding to several of
    the concerns voiced on Tic during the past couple of weeks:

    In response to Wes' concerns about the "computer count" for the levy
    computer purchases, I want to assure the folks at schools that are recycling
    computers with their students, that we will be working with them to
    distribute donated computers to other schools in need. The recycle schools
    have the benefit of not only receiving computers to use for teaching
    technology to the students, but they have ongoing access to additional
    high-end computers through the donation program. We you do the count of
    computers for the levy purchase we will take into consideration the number
    of computers in the recycle program.

    Some things we do need to improve in the donation process are the
    distribution and support of the donated computers. We have an excellent
    source of computers through the City of Seattle surplus. They are
    higher-end computers and they even deliver! We are working with the State
    of Washington to fix some of the Department of Corrections donation issues.
    In an effort to help support the donations I have contracted Jessie Lenihan
    (he is a great guy and everyone who has meet him have expressed great joy)
    to work with the schools to deliver higher quality computers to the schools
    in need. Donations that have not been through our recycle process should
    not be delivered to any school that does not have a student recycle program.
    Exceptions may be made to schools that have Uwired students or technical
    savvy volunteers.

    In response to Mark's request for more timely notes and handouts etc, I do
    apologize for the delay in getting the notes out sooner and we will try to
    do better after the next Tech Forum. My only excuse is that we have Amy
    Markishtum doing triple duty supporting the Help Desk, Training and
    Webmaster for Inside and then asking her to take the notes and make sense
    out of the verbal discourse.

    Regarding the handouts: This is a problem we have with all paper
    communication. We sent information in the past to school offices, it
    disappears and the teachers never see the flyers. We will use all means of
    distribution to reach the widest audience possible. Most issues that cause
    folks concern are quickly remedied when all the facts are shared. All
    handouts are also located on "inside.seattleschools.org" and anyone who
    would like hard copies may request them via e-mail to
    helpdesk@seattleschools.org. <mailto:helpdesk@seattleschools.org.> Please
    include your mailstop code (such as AC-350 for me) and we will put a packet
    together for you. Once we have all the schools online with some decent
    computers we will be able to employ new multimedia techniques.

    The idea if questions and issues for the forum is a great one! Amy has
    responded with a new front page to Inside. Check it out and lay the
    questions on us!

    It is a very tall order to have more than one Tech Forum per month due to
    time constraints. However, let's keep an open mind and explore alternative
    ways to get the word out. The Q&As we can post as a start.

    One final note:

    I know we have all been so busy during the past few months that it seems
    impossible that we were able to get anything done. However, if we take a
    break and look back at what we have done with so few resources, one has to
    be amazed. We have installed and setup 29 schools on the wide area
    network. We have installed hundreds of computers and loaded volumes of
    software.

    We could not have been successful without the outstanding support from our
    friends within the schools and the support of our volunteer parents. All
    the folks here at Information Services extend our thanks to all of you for
    your support and patience while we launch these new technologies into our
    school structure.

    Thanks Again!
    CW

    Charlie Walker
    CHWALKER@seattleschools.org
    Seattle Schools
    Support Manager
    206-252-0303

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