Author Archives: William Stites

About William Stites

Currently the Director of Technology for Montclair Kimberley Academy, occasional consultant, serial volunteer for ATIS, husband, and father to two crazy kids who make me smile everyday.

Learning from and overcoming the past to move forward.

Posted on 01/05/2013 by William Stites

When you make a decision about something… anything… big or small you are setting a precedent for things to follow. The bigger that decision is the more people will remember it and turn to it in the future as a … Continue reading →

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Google is offering a $99 Chromebook! Wait…does cheap make it right?

Posted on 12/10/2012 by William Stites

This is a quick reactionary piece to two things I read today that have me scratching my head.  Both related to Google and the Chromebook. As reported on Engadget “Google (is) offering $99 Samsung Series 5 Chromebooks to public schools” … Continue reading →

Posted in 1to1, EdTech, Technical | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Picking the right wireless for your school.

Posted on 12/09/2012 by William Stites

Prior to the deployment of our 1:1 Learning Initiative we spent over a year working on our infrastructure.  Switches, firewalls, access points and other network devices/appliances were demoed and tested to handle DHCP, DNS, RADIUS, content filtering and connectivity.  We … Continue reading →

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Your school, COPPA and Evernote.

Posted on 11/21/2012 by William Stites

In the summer of 2011 while attending the Lausanne Laptop Institute (now the Lausanne Learning Institute) I was having a conversation with my friend Hiram Cuevas (@cuevash) about our use of Evernote.  He told me how excited he was to … Continue reading →

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Evernote Forever on the Out of School podcast.

Posted on 11/21/2012 by William Stites

On November 20th (2012) I had the opportunity to talk with both Bradley Chambers (@bradleychambers) and Fraser Speirs (@fraserspeirs) about “Evernote Forever” on their Out of School podcast. The discussion moved between many topics including the experience at my school … Continue reading →

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Educators! Stacked Shared Notebooks in Evernote 5 is the BEST!

Posted on 11/19/2012 by William Stites

Evernote recently release a substantial update with 5.0.  There are some really cool new features, some amazing navigational changes and a much cleaner and appealing user experience. After watching the video you  get a quick glimpse into some of what … Continue reading →

Posted in Data Management, Evernote | Comments Off on Educators! Stacked Shared Notebooks in Evernote 5 is the BEST!

User data migration in our 1:1 scares me!

Posted on 11/18/2012 by William Stites

I am continually impressed by what we have achieved in our 1:1 Learning Initiative. We planned like no other school I know, we came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, all of our users – 4th-12th & faculty … Continue reading →

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iPad Layered Model more manageable with iOS 6

Posted on 11/18/2012 by William Stites

With the release of  iOS 6 Apple no longer required the use of a password for the purchase of free apps from the App Store and more importantly for your institution, for the updating of apps. Why is this so important? In … Continue reading →

Posted in 1to1, iPad, Schools, Technical | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Tale of Two Posts. Using analytics to talk about writing.

Posted on 11/12/2012 by William Stites

When I talk to teachers about getting them to have their student write and publish online I talk about a number of things. When you look at the research and writing process the last part of that process is publishing. Writing … Continue reading →

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School Community. In celebration and in crisis.

Posted on 11/10/2012 by William Stites

October brought our school two big community events. The Gathering, which is a full school (PK-12 – 3 campus) event where we showcase and celebrate all the school, it’ students and faculty have achieved over the year. Everyone comes together … Continue reading →

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