Great tool to embed documents in your blog entries

Hi All -- a solution for attaching documents to blog entries. Definitely worth checking out:

http://www.diigo.com/annotated/315042157aafbd1ab3f21fc09e4fd21d

Embed Documents into your Blog or Website

You can share and display any document (.doc, .pdf, .xls, .ppt) in your own blog or on any website where you can add embeded codes with the docstoc flash player. Here are some examples of other sites using the player.

Power Media Plus

Power Media Plus is now free for all NYCDOE teachers and administrators.
I want to share this information with all of you. Please read below.


To create your Power Media Plus teacher account, you would need a general passcode. The New York Department of Education passcode is Xqy2BeX79m
The passcode is case sensitive. Please log into http://powermediaplus.com click on New subscribers log in here link and type in the general passcode and click Log in. The next screen you will see will be to create a teacher profile. Enter the information click Save and get started.

New FAMIS pricing sheets available

Lexmark FAMIS pricelist: http://cid-7f0b8df452ed99fe.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/OITR%20Public/FAMIS%20Pricelist%203-10-08.pdf

Adobe FAMIS pricelist: http://cid-7f0b8df452ed99fe.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/OITR%20Public/NYCDOE%20ADOBE%20LICENSES%20WITH%20FAMIS%20CODES_March%2011%202008.pdf

Apple FAMIS pricelist: http://cid-7f0b8df452ed99fe.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/OITR%20Public/NYCDOE%20Price%20List%20-%20March%202008.pdf

March Meeting Agenda

Topics scheduled

· Using Excel to Analyze School Data: Agenda
Sample Data
· Promethean Whiteboards

Scholarship Opportunity for Spring Robotics!

Vision Ed Inc. and Make are pleased to announce an exciting new scholarship opportunity for Robotics teams grades K-6 throughout the New York City Area. This scholarship will allow one team of up to 12 members to compete in the first annual ROBOFEST NYC, a new robotics event that will be held at SONY Wonder Technology Labs on April 12th.

ROBOFEST NYC was designed as an opportunity to celebrate creative work by children in the field of robotics. The event will feature both a student expo of original projects and a robotics performers competition. Teams and exhibitors may work with any robotics system including RCX, NXT, and Pico Cricket, and medals will be awarded for ingenuity, design, and programming.
For more information about ROBOFEST NYC, please visit: http://www.visionedinc.org/robofest/index.htm


The ROBOFEST NYC scholarship will cover the cost of a team coach for 8 sessions and the competition registration fee.

To apply, please submit the name of the school or organization at which your team will be based, contact info for the team organizer, and a brief summary (500 words or less) of why you think your team should be chosen to receive this scholarship. All applications are due by March 12th. No experience in Robotics necessary!

March Computer Liaison Meeting

Hi all --

We had a problem with the Flatlands meeting scheduled for the month of March and had to change the date. Unfortunately there were no other dates available for the Flatlands ISC and we could not secure a school in time to provide a local meeting for you. Therefore we decided to combine the two meetings for this month and hold them at the Bay Ridge Learning Support Center. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause we and hope this does not dissuade you from attending.

We hope you can make it!

NYSTL Spending Guide

OIT has created a handy NYSTL spending guide with materials you can consider for purchase geared toward elementary, middle, and high school settings. Enjoy the recommendations:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p6pwYrPKv6ipKW2klJlTVLA

Competition Opportunity: Doodle for Google

http://www.google.com/doodle4google/

School competition where students can win laptops/computers for their schools. As well the winner will win a 10,000.00 scholarship and a laptop…..

Welcome to Doodle 4 Google, a competition where we invite K-12 students to play around with our homepage logo and see what they come up with. This year we're inviting U.S. kids to join in the doodling fun, around the intriguing theme "What if...?"

At Google we believe in thinking big, and dreaming big, and we can't think of anything more important than encouraging students to do the same. So we hope you'll gather those art supplies and some 8.5x11 landscape paper and encourage your kids to enrich us all with their creative visions of our world, as it is and as it might be.

You'll find everything you need to get started here, including detailed lesson plans to incorporate the competition into your curricula. Registration closes on March 28th, and entries are due by April 12th. A panel of judges will select 40 finalist doodles, from which the public will help select a favorite to be featured on our homepage on May 22nd, 2008.

P.S. We'd be thrilled if you spread the word to your fellow educators.

Software Survey for Training and Support

Hello all -- We are trying to assess the need for training and support for vendor products usewd at your schools. Please take a few minutes to complete the online survey below.

Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=iSQbmPE02j717rP15H4ugQ_3d_3d

February Computer Liaison Meeting:

Come join us as we discuss recommendations for NYSTL Spending: grade appropriate software, hardware, and subscriptions. Items to discuss include:

Budget

-- Famis
-- Recommendations for NYSTL Spending
-- Grade appropriate software, hardware, and subscriptions
-- Vendor presentations

Agenda:

1. New OIT website, ways to communicate with us, blog resources, 9:00-10:00
2. Tech 4 Learning 10:00-11:00
3. Apple 11:00-12:00
4. Lunch 12:00-1:00
5. Riverdeep 1:00-2:00

Resource:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p6pwYrPKv6ipKW2klJlTVLA

Share the iLead Institute with your principal

Register for Instructional Technology Leadership Institute

The Office of Instructional Technology (OIT) is offering New York City principals an additional opportunity to participate in a year-long iLead Instructional Technology Leadership Institute, beginning this spring with a 4-day prerequisite session. The goals of the institute are to prepare principals to meet the technological challenges of leading a 21st-century school, to guide instructional leaders in promoting the effective integration of technology into their classrooms, and to provide principals with the technology skills to view, manipulate and analyze data to inform instructional decisions.

This spring, the institute will guide leaders through four days of instruction focused on relevant research and alignment to the National Education Technology Standards for Administrators. During the course of the institute, participants will have the opportunity to visit a model school that demonstrates effective use of technology. Participants will also work with an on-site consultant to extend and expand the use of technology for instruction and school management. Participants will have access to online communication and collaboration tools created for this program.

OIT will fund selected applicants to participate in this year-long program. To learn more about the program and how to qualify for full funding and participation, see the online application at www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=7oTqSpKeBaYYi_2fmFverGVw_3d_3d. The application deadline is February 7 at 5 p.m. Please note that the program is a year-long commitment. Confirmation of acceptance into the institute, including the weeks of your attendance, will be forwarded to you via e-mail. For additional information, contact iLead@schools.nyc.gov.

Conference Opportunity: Teaching and Learning Celebration

On Friday, March 7 and Saturday, March 8, 2008, thousands of educators will come to the Hilton New York to attend the third annual Teaching & Learning Celebration. The Celebration features internationally known speakers, compelling panel discussions and hands-on workshops that can't be found anywhere else. We hope to see you there. Join us and learn more! Click here to register!

http://www.thirteencelebration.org/

Rollout of Improved Internet Filtering Software

In response to feedback from principals and teachers regarding the limitations of the existing instructional web filter, we are rolling out a new internet filtering software package in the coming weeks. This new system will ensure that fewer instructional websites are blocked, will state more clearly why certain pages are blocked, and will help web pages load more quickly.

Although you will not experience any interruption in your internet access as we roll out this new software, customizations you made to the old filter will not carry over. The new filter allows you to block categories of websites rather than individual ones. To customize the new filter to block or unblock certain categories of sites, you can fill out the form available at www.nycboe.net/adminorg/divisions/diit/sws/.

The implementation schedule is as follows:

• Week of January 22 – Districts 13-23, 32
• Week of January 28 – Districts 24-31
• Week of February 4 – Districts 1-12

For more information or to report any issues with the new filter, please e-mail ProConSupport@schools.nyc.gov or call (718)-935-5483.

Why not present at the NYSCATE Metro Conference in May in Rye, NY

Do you have expertise in an emerging technology?

Have you incorporated technology in your classroom in a way that transforms teaching and learning?

Present at our conference on May 16-17, 2008 at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye Brook, NY. The Request for Proposal is available using the link below.

Deadline date for proposals is January 31, 2008

http://nyscate.org/conferences.cfm?subpage=284

Registration links corrected

Hi All -- We apologize for the inconvenience some of you experienced when trying to register for upcoming Computer Liaison meetings. The problem has been rectified. The links on the right are the correct ones. Sorry for the inconvenience. If you need further assistance, please email oitsi@schools.nyc.gov or ilead@schools.nyc.gov.

Thank you.

January Meeting: Alan November

We changed the January dates to accommodate special guest speaker Alan November: Expanding the Boundaries of Learning: Becoming Global Leaders.

Alan is a renowned visionary in the field of instructional technology and a gifted speaker with exciting insight into how to create rich learning experiences with global partners and global impact.

January 14, 2008 for Districts 31, 21, and 20 (click to register)
January 16, 2008 for Districts 17, 18, and 22 (click to register)

Both meetings to be held at the 89th Street ISC at 415 89th Street, Brooklyn, NY (click for directions)

Light lunch will be served.

Alan will also be speaking to administrators and you might want to bring it to your principal's and assistant principals attention: January 15, 2008 at Court Square Training Center in Queens (link for administrators to register)

Hands-On: Google Apps for Educators

Google continues to innovate with their suite of applications accessible from the Internet. In the last year they've created and refined their "Google for Educators" resource to show teachers how to use their products to enhance teaching and learning. One of the nicest things about these tools is that they're free. The best thing is that they don't require installation as they are web based (with the exception of Google Earth which is well worth the installation). Today we're going to learn how to use Google Apps in the classroom.

Goals: To show participants the suite of Google Apps and the resource materials that can help them create meaningful learning experiences with them.

Objectives:
1. Review iGoogle and the new Share tab feature.
2. Explore the Google for Educators resource.
3. Learn how to use Google Docs for online collaboration.
4. Get an overview of Google Earth.

Resources:
iGoogle: http://www.igoogle.com/
Google for Educators: http://www.google.com/educators/index.html
Google Docs: http://docs.google.com/
Google Earth: http://earth.google.com/
Juicy Geography: http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/googleearth.htm

Agenda:
1. iGoogle: account, RSS, adding content, sharing tabs (20 minutes)
2. Google for Educators: Tools for your classroom, Teaching Collaborative Revision with Google Docs, Google for Educators Discussion Group, What have you done? (30 minutes)
3. Break (10 minutes)
4. Working with Google Docs: new file, edit, insert, revisions, share, publish (10 minutes)
5. ACTIVITY: Collaborative Revision: one person from each table send their google email to jmcdermott@schools.nyc.gov. I will invite you to a document to collaborate (30 minutes)
6. Demonstration: Google Earth, KML files, and Juicy classroom integration ideas (10 minutes)

Evaluation:
Please take a moment and complete the evaluation for today's computer liaison meeting. If you haven't done so already, please put yourself on our mailing list by clicking the link below.

Agenda for December 10, 2007

8:45 – 9:15: Welcome: Celine Azoulay

9:15- 9:40: Touro College: Jay Lefkowitz

9:45 – 10:30 A new look into Learning.com

10:30 – 11:30: Update: Professional Development services: iPrograms

11:30 Lunch

12:30-2:30 Break out Professional Development: Review igoogle/RSS , Google Aps for educators.

Elementary School 4th floor Conference room
Middle/High school: Room 508

Register to be on the new mailing / notification list

Using the link below, register to receive future invites, meeting notices, and other offerings from OIT.

District 31, 21, and 20 click here: http://list-manage.com/subscribe.phtml?id=27f07ad5fb

Districts 17, 18, and 22 click here: http://list-manage.com/subscribe.phtml?id=f4e19ddbe8

December Computer Liaison Meetings

For Districts 31, 21, 20

December 10, 2007
8:30am to 2:30pm
89th Street Integrated Service Center
4th floor conference room

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

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For Districts 17, 18, 22

December 17, 2007
8:30am to 2:30pm
89th Street Integrated Service Center
4th floor conference room

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO YOUR COLLEAGUES!