Category Archives: Administration & Management

Understanding Open Source

Posted on 05/26/2012 by William Stites

I am a big advocate of open source software.  We’ve used it at our school for a number of years.  Our firewall is an appliance called Untangle. We use open source software in the classroom including tools like Open Office … Continue reading →

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COPPA and Verifiable Parental Consent

Posted on 05/22/2012 by William Stites

If you’ve spent anytime talking about an iPad deployment, AppleIDs, social media – particularly Facebook, how you can use Evernote (or many other web-based services) with students under the age of 13 you’ve more than likely been confused by COPPA. … Continue reading →

Posted in Administration & Management, COPPA, EdTech, Teaching & Learning | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

Geeking out at the PSU MacAdmins Conference.

Posted on 05/06/2012 by William Stites

If you’re not pushing yourself you not growing.  Finding good opportunities and ways to push yourself professionally are often hard to come by, so when my colleague came back from the PSU MacAdmins conference last year and said “WOW” I … Continue reading →

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The journey to a 1:1 Initiative.

Posted on 04/24/2012 by William Stites

What does a 1:1 Initiative look like and what did it take to achieve it? When you visit other school that have programs in place you often see the end result of what could have been a very long process … Continue reading →

Posted in 1to1, Administration & Management, EdTech, Teaching & Learning | 2 Comments

Who owns the data in your school?

Posted on 01/24/2012 by William Stites

[Part 3 in a series on institutional data] When an address change comes into your school who owns and enters that data into your system(s)? When standardized testing scores come in, who enters the data? If an alum, who is … Continue reading →

Posted in Administration & Management, Data Management, Schools | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Is there an educational rationale for BYOD programs?

Posted on 01/22/2012 by William Stites

I spent the morning pouring over a number of blog and ISED listserv posts to try to catch up on the latest talk around the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device or BYOT – Technology) debate in education. I found many comments … Continue reading →

Posted in 1to1, Administration & Management, Schools | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Pressing Pause on Lion

Posted on 01/21/2012 by William Stites

[UPDATED – 1/26/2012] There is doing something and doing something right. When you take on any project, particularly one effecting 1000+ people you better make sure you’re doing it as right as possible. My school is a year and a … Continue reading →

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I say 1:1, you say…

Posted on 01/20/2012 by William Stites

NOTE: Originally posted on the Educational Collaborators blog on 1/18/2012 – Update for Ultrabooks below – 1/21/2012. When you hear people talking about a 1:1 program they could be talking about a lot of different things. A few years ago … Continue reading →

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Dealing with COPPA: Compliance, the lies and the future.

Posted on 12/11/2011 by William Stites

I don’t know about you but I am struggling with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). As we look to use different online tools in the classroom we evaluate them on the service(s) they provide, whether they meet our … Continue reading →

Posted in Administration & Management, COPPA, EdTech, Teaching & Learning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Defining Data Domains for Entry, Ownership and Support

Posted on 11/13/2011 by William Stites

[NOTE: This is the second in a series of posts on the issue of Data Management in Schools. Read the first post here.] In an earlier post I discussed a project I was undertaking to define “a clear set of rules and style … Continue reading →

Posted in Administration & Management, Data Management, Schools | Tagged , , | 2 Comments