EdTech Avenue

Back in early 2008 I was reading an article from Ed Tech Magazine (referenced below) regarding eDiscovery. For those of you not so fimilar with it I’ll try and sum it up. eDiscovery is a law congress enacted stating that any institution that may face litigation in US courts must be able to produce data related to a case that may come up. This may include documents, emails, net usage, and instant messaging logs. I called up one of my knowledgeable suppliers and asked him what he knew of the law and how it applied to schools. I was told not to worry about it. But in the articles below it sounds like schools need to comply with eDiscovery laws.

http://www.edtechmag.com/k12/issues/february-march-2008/the-e-discovery-question.html
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9024018&pageNumber=2

At Faithful Shepherd we currently have no official data retention polocies and only inbound emails are being logged. What I would like to know is this. 1. Is eDiscovery something Catholic Schools need to be compliant with? 2. If you have it, what kind of retention polocies do you have for your data?

This year’s NECC will be slightly different for me as I get back into the groove of work. I’ll also be bringing my family with me for the first time, including our new little one. It’s been a few days of getting packed up, but I feel like we’re just about ready! We will not be arriving until Sunday so we can attend a friend’s wedding tomorrow, so I’ll miss EduBloggerCon once again. Maybe next year…

I’ll be live-blogging my sessions as I did last year and will try to get my tentative schedule posted before the sessions start on Monday.

I also joined the online NECC 2008 community and created a group called “Small School Tech Coordinators” in hopes that I can network with others in our similar situation of low enrollment and tiny budgets.

View my page on NECC 2008I do feel a bit more connected this year after having a full year of blogging and reading blogs under my belt. I started my blog in February of 2007. I haven’t posted nearly as often as I want; I always say I’ll try to do better, and I will keep trying. I have found that I probably need to have a posting-day and or time to get used to posting on a regular basis. I frequently start with my RSS feeds in Google Reader and end up not posting myself because I either run out of time or figure someone else has already covered it. I have to just get over that.

Stay posted here for posts and photos from NECC 2008! I will likely also be using Twitter – I’ve had an account and followed others for a while but haven’t sent Tweets myself!

There are many different ways to report problems with technology, as well as many different problems to report. Anything from user issues to software issues (is the application frozen or is your computer frozen?) to hardware issues can eat up hours and hours of a technology coordinator’s time. And when the technology coordinator is all you have in a school, that could mean teachers and students aren’t getting the personal attention of the technology coordinator either.

Many schools have formal reporting processes such as problem “tickets,” forms to fill out on paper or online, or other procedures. I have yet to find something that works. I haven’t worked out a system of my own, even after six years, because quite honestly, as technology changes, so do the problems and possible reporting methods.

I take requests any way someone wants to give them, although I do handle them a bit differently, depending on my current status of busy-ness and projects. Electronic methods are, of course, my favorite. Email is great because I can flag messages and set reminders – but along with those benefits comes the inevitable problem of old messages getting pushed further and further down the Inbox list. Windows Messenger is becoming a little more common for us as well. I trained my teachers in using IM for tech support in preparation for my maternity leave in February. I will not be having a sub for my position and have worked out a leave that allows teachers and administrators to still contact me with questions. I also have LogMeIn installed on my main workstation, which allows me to log in remotely to my machine, connect to the school network, and access any tools I would have when sitting at my desk (Windows Messenger, Remote Assistance, files, Remote Desktop). With Windows Messenger, I can address problems immediately and my users are able to see if I am available at a given time (online, away, offline) rather than waiting to see if I reply to an email.

Very rarely do I get written requests, although they do still pop up occasionally. These frequently get lost in the paper shuffle on my desk, and I have to be reminded later that they exist.

My least favorite method is verbal. Not that I dislike talking with people, but my mind ain’t what it used to be… I forget! So often someone will wait until they see me at lunch to report a problem, and there is little chance I will remember what they said once I return to my office. I ask them to email me instead. I realize how powerful the visual is – they see me and then they think of what it was they were going to ask – but the fact remains that while I may answer the question and file away the issue in my brain, the likelihood of remembering to actually act on it is slim.

What do you use in your school? Do you have suggestions that would work in various situations? Do you have any comments to share on what works and what doesn’t work for you? Please join the conversation!

We installed a new Windows 2003 Server this week to update and streamline our network.  We had some issues with the initial install (I should say Rich had some issues with it, I didn’t really touch that part), and the software had to be reinstalled after we had moved all the data over… so the 49 hours spent on the project overall probably could have been 45, but oh well.  I am excited to have more control over the network in terms of administering rather than having much of the security on the workstations.

We decided to stick with hosting our own email for now.  My biggest complaint has been the spam administration (Symantec Mail Security is not worth the media it is printed on), but we didn’t want to give up the functionality of shared calendars and administration.  We updated Microsoft Exchange Server, migrated the mailboxes, and are using an outside service for security and spam.  MX Logic now hosts our MX records and provides spam and virus filtering, sending only the “safe” items to our server.  That transition went fairly smoothly.

As I mentioned, the whole project took 49 hours.  25 hours (times 2 people) was for the install of the main server, moving data, Exchange migration, and setup.  Another 12 (times 2 people) was setting up workstations at one campus, and 10 more setting up the other campus myself today.  All in all, it could have been much worse, but I’m glad it’s over.  I am extremely grateful for those who helped: Rich Whitney, a parent who is a network consultant (I couldn’t have done any of this without his help), my husband who gave up his Saturday, and a couple of hours by my nephew too.  Without all of their help I would no doubt still be at work now instead of having finished a little while ago and ready for a good night’s sleep!  There is still more work to do, but the essentials are done and ready for everyone to return from spring break!