June 22, 2011

Wednesday found me running all over the place, literally.  Got to the office and helped set up the programs I could at 730am.  Most presenters do not show up until 830a or 845a, and on Wednesday, I was long gone by then.

Trish and I drove separate cars to Historic Washington State Park in Washington, AR.  The site was presenting a 3-hour multi-faceted program to various sites around the state.  I have to say, this is one of the coolest things I've seen.  A couple presenters dressed in character and presented their program in Civil War era costume, speech, and props.  They showed the teachers around the state how to spin yarn, make thread, and more!  We did hit a few snags and I spent most of time there troubleshooting and getting the programs up and running. 

One issue: the mic was not plugged in completely.  We also had to adjust lighting.  The other sites could see and hear us, but we could only hear them.  This was okay since we were presenting. ("we" is actually the Washington staff, not me and Trish!)

After several calls to AT&T, though, we did manage to get the remote sites to show up. Just as that was getting under control, I got a call from the co-op that one presenter was having trouble with her Mac.  She did not know how to move the DVD player to the extended desktop because her projector is set up to mirror her desktop.  I walked them through that, but by the time I got to the co-op, they had to swap computers anyway.  Not sure what was going on there.

I worked on the grant for DL equipment - gathered invoices and copies of checks - then took the info to the UACCH offices.  One conference room was warm according to the participants, so I grabbed a ladder and checked the vents to make sure cold air was blowing - it was.

I checked on the distance learning program we were hosting to make sure everyone was doing well. They were.

I ordered new switches for the network core in the building.  This was a project I had wanted to start back when we moved in, but we were watching dollars to make sure we had enough for emergency building fixes, etc.  I felt very fortunate that I had money in my budget to upgrade the core (I had just brought the equipment from the old building), adding management to our central network.  This will provide major flexibility!  Layer 2/3 switching will let me plug a compressed video system into any live jack and with a few clicks, I can have that system live on the "video network."

As it turns out, the switch upgrade was also part of our grant matching, so I kicked out a copy of the invoice and carried over to UACCH.

I managed to get a Server 2008 training set up with DIS, too!  Wahoo! That is a HUGE plus.  I also held multiple email conversations regarding cell phones, erate, grant evaluations, budgets, etc.

Whew! BUSY day!

June 21, 2011

Tuesday, I spent the day offering tech support to the various programs being offered.  This included set up of PA systems, getting laptops hooked up for presentations, and monitoring the distance learning video conferences we had going on.  I also began work on my annual grant evaluation.  At 4:00pm, Trish and I headed to the UACCH office to meet regarding a distance learning grant we are receiving (along with six of our area schools).

June 20, 2011

Monday after vacation, I started the day by helping other presenters get their programs started.  Then, from 9a-Noon, I taught our early childhood teachers, staff and paraprofessionals how to use their iPads and we checked out all kinds of pre-k apps. It was a lot of fun!

In the afternoon, I demonstrated the iPad to Career and Technical Education teachers.  We then looked at Google Apps and Google Docs.

June 10 - June 19, 2011

My family and I drove from Prescott, AR, to Washington, DC, and spent the week in our nation's capital! It was awesome!  Feel free to read about it at my personal blog: http://www.poppedinmyhead.com/

June 6 - June 9, 2011

This week has been BUSY with workshops!  This is the first week of summer workshops at the co-op, so in addition to TEACHING workshops this week, I have been helping keep the technology up and running for everyone else's workshops as well.

As for me, on Monday, Harry Dickens taught an iPad workshop in which I served as a co-teacher (when I wasn't taking care of burned out air conditioners and other issues).  We had 50+ people in the workshop and it was a lot of fun!  I'll post a list of Apps here later.

Tuesday, I held a SurveyMonkey workshop in the morning and an "Arkansas History Through Technology" workshop in the afternoon.  Those resources are here: http://www.delicious.com/david_henderson/arkansas

Wednesday and Thursday - Teaching "Technology Coordinator 101" to a group of folks new to the position.  We're covering E-Rate, terminology, IP addressing, switching, wireless, tech plans, site notebooks, DIS Helpdesk, and much much more during the two-day workshop!