BOE+Staff



Board of Education Staff add your information here!

Amy, thanks for inviting us to join your Wiki. What a great way for us all to share what we've learned at the eTech Ohio Conference and for most of us, try a new technology. I've visited Wikipedia, but I've never participated in a Wiki before. My guess is that this might be blocked at school and if so, I'll check with Brett to see if NOECA could open access for us. I'm sorry that everyone's conference was cut short due to the weather, but here's hoping you found something of interest on Monday!

I visited several sessions and would like to mention a few here.
 * On Wednesday I saw a Google Earth session that was pretty cool. If you are unfamiliar with Google Earth, go to Google, go to "extras" and there you'll find its link. GE allows users to zoom in on satelite images of any spot in the world. Each map has overlays to show the topography, roads, stores, etc. I stumbled upon this site a few years ago, but it's much enhanced since then. This is a tremendous tool for teaching geography, math, science, you name it. The IT Department was not ready to tackle the installation of this program two years ago, but I'm going to see if they could handle it now.
 * [|Plasco] is a company that offers scannable ID badges for use in the cafeteria, library, and to track student behavior, including tardies and classroom infractions. The last item is what caught my eye for SHS. (I think Vicki also saw this one.) Your school would be equipped with stationary and portable scanners. In the early morning when students are stumbling into school LATE, the device would scan their ID and automatically print them a "late to class" ticket--NO WRITTING REQUIRED! The student information is entered into a discipline database so on the ticket it might say, 2 hours detention, or this is a warning, etc. A multitude of reports can be generated to track student behavior. This technology looked like it would save hours of time for both SHS and the junior highs.
 * Like many of you, I visited Elyria SmartBoard session. It was full of great suggestins on how to train staff, install equipment, and begin the process of creating activities. It was an excellent presentation, and I hope to use many of their suggestions with our district.