Tech Tidings

The end of the year always brings mixed feelings.  When I was in the classroom I was already looking ahead and planning for the new school year.  I was usually one of the last teachers to leave for the summer.  One year ended and it would be a new beginning.  Now, I am in a job where I must walk away from whatever tasks are incomplete.  They have to wait until I return to work in August.  It feels different…never seem to finish, multitasking has taken on a new meaning.

This coming year will be more difficult due to budget cuts.  Decisions are being made regarding salary, benefits, using in house staff before substitutes are hired.  Spending per child is down statewide.  Florida depends on sales tax revenue.  No surprise that it is at an all time low.   Even the lottery money that was supposedly going to help education amounts to about $5 per child.

A teacher popped her head in my office this afternoon and said, “thank you”.  I said, “for what?”  Her reply was “for always working so hard.  I never see you slack off.”  Compliments aren’t always easy to hear.  That one made my day.

Leopard 10.5.3 will be released shortly.  I cleaned 35 iBooks today and ran updates for Safari 3, Quicktime, 10.4.11.  More to do tomorrow.  The machines are 7 years old.  Can’t replace them at this time.  Must accept the things I can not change.

As Annie says, “the sun will come out tomorrow.”

I’ve set up the Leopard Server 10.5.2 and am using iWeb for the school web page, intranet page, and “back to school” page. Three web sites easily built in one program. I have been able to set up the blogs for users and have three individuals who created pages thus far. The teachers have expressed that they like having access from home and can manage the page themselves. Others are interested, but there just isn’t time for more training this year. I’d like to see some team/teacher pages using iWeb. With Easy iWeb Publisher, http://www.plyxim.com/free, teachers can easily upload their pages to the server at work.

Class configurations and team members are changing for next year, so it is a good time for the teachers to make the transition.

Our old WebStar server, running OS 9.2, lacked the memory and capability for Web 2.0. I am having trouble setting up Wiki’s on the Leopard server. Any suggestions?