10/3/13 Tech Cabinet Minutes
Carlsbad Unified School District Technology Cabinet
District Office, Conference Room, 8:00 - 10:00 am
Attendees: Bryan Brockett, Margie Giordani, Kimberly Huesing, Rick Lewis, Chad Lund, Cesar Morales, Aaron Nelson, Rob Nye, Sharon St. Clair, Maggie Stanchi, Richard Tubbs
Questions asked at the September Meeting
Rob Nye’s answers after the Sept meeting, additional discussion during the October meeting, new
questions/action items
- Feasibility of typing certification tests at middle school level? We can look at type 2 learn and see if it expands to the middle school. Type 2 Learn has been approved for elementary schools. Licenses for home use as well. What does Valley use?
- 40 new computers/school? Yes...This is part of the facility master plan upgrades and we are using Prop P money to upgrade all existing computer labs. Down to 38 computers now (excluding CHS and SCHS and one Valley lab). Reallocate existing labs to other locations in the school or to other sites as needed. Hopefully this will be completed by January 1, 2014. Installation is starting at Hope during Thanksgiving Week. Also replacing servers and the teacher computer.
- Purchasing Type 2 Learn 4 vs. using Typing Web.com for free? We wanted to get a consensus from elementary principals that they wanted us to go with the paid version or look at other options. If everyone wants to go with type 2 learn that we will purchase a district-wide account. Type 2 Learn was approved by the CC Expenditures Committee on 10/2/13. Kimberly Huesing is working to complete the purchase and then district wide implementation will be planned.
- What is the plan for outfitting all schools with technology for the Common Core Assessment? Labs are being upgraded to a consistent level. We are also going to look at devices with Common Core money but again that needs to be prioritized and vetted by a panel. This is an ongoing discussion. Much will have to wait until we hear more about the Smarter Balanced pilot testing in ELA and Math in the Spring.
- What is the plan for lab techs at the elementary level? What about the secondary schools? This would need to be part of a larger discussion. I think we would need to prioritize the money we are receiving from the state. if this is an area that the panel feels is necessary then we could look at it. This was a topic at the CC Expenditure committee. Paying for salary positions with one-time money is difficult. The new tech at AOE/PR has been selcted.
- What is happening to Google Apps for Education? I have been piloting but it has not gone smoothly...There are many issues that we need to continue to work through. Next steps would be to have Matt turn on some administrators and teachers who would voluntarily want to make the switch. I think we should invite Matt to the next meeting and he can discuss the challenges. I think he has them all worked through however. AOM will possibly pilot this earlier. A meeting will be set to discuss this further with Ashley Crawford, Aaron Nelson, Matt Taylor, Rob Nye, and Sharon St. Clair.
- Where are we with the secondary individual log on credentials for students? Currently it is being used at SCHS. If we get through September without any major issues we can look to roll that out to more schools. Laptops have to be hardwired to authenticate the first time. Issue with iPads and forgetting the network must be resolved. A temporary work around was to create four new student wi-fi accounts for use in each math teacher’s room and the library.
- What is being done to ensure AP/WiFi connectivity is equitable across the district? That was also just approved in the facility master plan upgrades. We will be looking at companies to go out to bid to complete that job. I believe that all the wiring is pulled for the additional AP units. I think Rick Lewis could answer this. I will check on the timeline with him and William. Replacing AP units is a part of plan separate from the new computer labs. We must determine where all the units are first and if the wiring is already there behind the ceiling tiles. Funded by Prop P. Every classroom will have an AP. Coming Summer 2014
- Will any of the Common Core funds be used to assist with our tech needs, and can the Tech Cabinet be involved in those decisions? We are creating a committee of teachers, site admin and district to create a needs list based on the three categories that the 2.1 million dollars of CC money that the district received. That committee will have the ultimate oversight of how that money will be spent and it what areas. The three general areas are professional development, instructional materials, and technology and infrastructure. Proposal forms shared district wide. Tech Cabinet can submit proposals as well.
- DataDirector vs. Illuminate for next year? Data Director for one more year. In the meantime we can look at other item banks that are out there that may work well.
- What is happening with SPMS? We have not been really impressed with the item bank in SPMS….all multiple choice. I would rather wait then have teachers trained on something we do not feel looks anything like smarter balanced at this time. We would be happy to share our access codes to principals and see what they think. They want us to identify teachers to train but we are hesitant that they will not use it based on the items in the bank. There are some misconceptions by the teachers regarding what SPMS really is. Unfortunately, the piloting done in Spring, 2013 left an inaccurate impression of what we now have access to. Send out SPMS log in information with the Tech Cabinet to get a feel for it.
BYOD? Find some BYOD policies to shore up the language first. Should be Internet only.
School Loop Translate - Sharon will contact SL to see if the translation feature can work after logged in.
Update on K-5 CC report cards provided by Kimberly Huesing.
Aeries Parent Portal at the elementary level - can we open it up to them? Can the teachers use the standards based gradebook for communication with parents?
Destiny - do iOS devices have scanning apps that will work with this program? E-Books? - still in process.
TAC - Technology Advisory Committee meets the Friday after Tech Cabinet
