Final Post

As I finish this project, I am extremely proud of the work I have done. I made one last modification to the Moodle course. Teachers in my school district will already know how to conduct discussion boards because of the way we currently train, so I removed that module. Other than that I think everything looks great.

Feedback, Please

At this time I know I still have a few lessons to completely finish, but I would like to know how things are looking so far. If anyone wants to take a look the address is http://www.lorenzoisdtraining.net/training and the course is 1:1 Integration

Thanks

Update

I intentionally put in a lot of work at the beginning of the semester because I knew this would be TAKS season and everything would be hard to get to. I love my Macbook Pro. I did not like Safari (Apple's web browser) so I downloaded Firefox and I like it much better. It is more compatible with most of the online sites I deal with. I went to a training two weeks ago and learned a little bit about iMovie and Garage Band and these are very powerful pieces of software that come free. They are much more robust than the preloaded software that comes on a PC. My staff is still nervous, but I think once they start playing with it they will like it too.

It has been awhile

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been transitioning to a Mac and I am learning how to take screen shots and video to make the trainings. I have added a few things to the Moodle site.

Another Week

In addition to setting up the other websites last week, I also set up a podcasting website.  I know not all of these will be used the first day, but I want to give teachers a chance to explore and play with as many different instructional tools as possible.  I added some blogging information to the Moodle site.

More Websites

Also in preparation of our 1:1 initiative I have learned how to install and set up the following websites:

· http://www.lorenzoisdtraining.net/training - Moodle Site
· http://www.lorenzoisdtraining.net/help - Help Desk Site
· http://www.lorenzoisdtraining.net/blog - Our own blogging website
· http://www.lorenzoisdtraining.net/wiki - Our own wiki website

  http://www.lorenzoisdtraining.net/podcastgen1.1 

This has been a learning experience, but it has also been fun.

Rockin’ Along

I have really hit my stride this week. I have been updating Moodle with different files and trainings. I also explained that if my videos were made on a PC platform the processes are very similar on the Mac Operating System. I have also set up a blog site on our website that will be better explained when I finish the Blog module in Moodle. The new website address is: http://www.lorenzoisdtraining.net/blog

Apple?

Part of being an educator is learning to be flexible. I just learned that when we go to our 1:1 program, we may be making the big switch to Apple. Therefore; I will need to go back and make some of my training videos more generic (not so Windows specific). That is what I should have done, anyway. My job as an educator is to make my students (whatever their age) to think critically and apply concepts. I will now do this. There are a few things posted on the Moodle site now.

Test

This is just a test to see if I can really post to this blog site directly from MS Word

Extremely Frustrated

I started trying to upload some of my training files and I got an error message that my file size was too big. I went into the Moodle settings and the largest I was allowed to upload was a measly 2MB! I started searching forums on how to increase this filesize and that is where I got bogged down. I have spent the past 3 hours reading forums and documentation learning how to create php.ini and .htaccess file (files that control the uploading portion of the hosting server) only to then find out that my web hoster does not allow me to modify that. I guess I will call tomorrow and ask them to modify it. Not cool. I have created several of the training documents for EBSCO and United Streaming, however, so everything is coming along.

New Moodle Course

We worked all week and now have a new Moodle server. You can access it at: http://www.lorenzoisdtraining.net/training/
To request access:

1. Click "Login" in the upper right hand corner of the page
2. Click on the "Create New Account" button on the right
3. Follow the instructions

You will now see more information up each week. Thanks

Moodle Sub

As we continue to try and get Moodle installed on our servers, I began setting up the course on another Moodle server I set up last year for another company I work for. http://www.crosbycofuel.com/training/

You can sign up for an account if you want to. Let me know when you do so I can grant you access to it. I began designing a banner utilizing Adobe Photoshop CS3. I also began putting place settings in Moodle for where I would be placing content. I was sick two of the days this past week, so I did not get as much done as I wanted.

Week 2- Moodle Problems & Standards

Moodle, while being free and easy to use once installed, is hard to install. I worked several hours this week trying to install a Moodle server. My problem is I do not have the technical expertise to install web based programs onto servers. I also think we are installing it to a server that is too old. I will try again next week.
As I try to plan my professional develepment for teachers I would like them to stay aligned along certain standards. I have chosen two sets of standards: The NETS for Teachers and SBEC's standards for beginning teachers.
NETS for Teachers was created by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and includes five domains.
State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) is the governing body regarding teacher certification in Texas. These standards also include five domains that every beginning teacher in Texas should know and will be formally tested over. These standards were adopted and modified from the NETS standards.

Please go to the links to view both sets of standards.

Week One- Setting Up

We are going to begin implementing a 1:1 intitiative in Fall of 2009. According to our framework (see right), one of the most important aspects of this initiative is the teacher training. Teachers will recieve their laptops in the spring of 2009 so they can use them all summer. I will be setting up a Moodle website with custom created training modules for teachers to begin utilizing over the summer. At this point, this is the topics that will be covered on the Moodle website:

I. Laptop Support
a. Power
b. Battery
c. Turn On/Off, Sleep, Hibernate
d. Solutions to Common Problems
II.Basic Laptop Functions/Uses
a. Textbook
b. Writing Assignments
c. Internet Searching
d. Database Searching
e. United Streaming
III. Technology Instructional Strategies
a. Webquests
b. Blogs
c. Podcasting
d. Wikis
e. Discussion Boards
f. Instant Messaging