The TWAIN blog

So tonight we had a board meeting and my thoughts wandered a bit. I was thinking about Google Voice and how to apply it for use in schools but I wonder how possible these ideas seem. Where else to post ideas and (hopefully) get feedback than this blog??

1. Meetings – A presentation tonight on Special Education referred to how the ARD meetings can be audio recorded and then give the participants a tape copy of the meeting. Now this is a district that serves a community that may not have Internet or even computer access in the home. So I can see why tape would be a necessary requirement. But what if Google Voice could record and transcribe the message of the meeting? Do you need audio of the entire meeting or could a summary at the end be the recorded message? I mean, how many people actually listen to the entire taped archive of the meeting? Is this something to listen to in my car while driving?

What if at the end of the ARD process meeting, the summary and major points were dictated via Google Voice. GV then transcribes the message and mails it. I know the tech isn’t there yet for perfect transcription but it’s pretty good. Especially if the voice sending the message is clear and speaking slowly as such a summary could be. A meeting itself may have too many voices going on at once and that could cause problems.

Apply this to any meeting and you can have a transcribed summary in your inbox before you get back to your desk?!

Actually, if you have an iPhone with 3.0 installed and VoiceRecorder, you can record the entire conversation and email it as an attachment. It might be too big of a file so I don’t see the point of archiving an entire conversation. But again, summarize and points of agreement by all in the group could be a good start. How about recording board meetings? I wish it could transcribe all that!

Perhaps in the future (and I know this is in development), the system will achieve voice recognition and tagging capability so that archived sound bytes are searchable….

Yep…it’s coming!

2. Security and Crisis Management – If I programmed a GV account to be the one number to contact all principals, security, and maintenance folk who needed to be in the loop should a crisis occur; then the system should contact all these people via email, text, and/or phone to any of their phones we have in the system. One call. One number. One message. Information sent instantly to all stakeholders who need it and sent to all their message systems at the same time. Seems like something to consider, right?

3. Work Orders – Our technology office could have the one number be our WO contact system for requests. I wonder if I could create GV account and then embed the phone badge on our website. If anyone is experiencing a technology emergency, they can call the one number and leave a message which is transcribed to all of our accounts at the same time. If anyone is in the local area, they can take care of the request. The system then archives all the requests as messages so we can still track them as work orders. Do you think this would work (or should)?

So…whaddya think? Possible? Impossible? Too much of a stretch? Too late for me to be up???

So tonight I visited my local bookstore to pick up a book I was wanting to read and I found a treasure!! In the computer magazines, there was a full size UK mag with “Google Special” as the header. Without even flipping through it, I decided to pony up the $16 for it and take it home.

I haven’t even made it past the Table of Contents yet because it is bursting with so many goodies on just the back cover. A giant cartoon cloud on white with the word “Cloud” in it and a new logo that simply says “g OS”. And this website – http://www.thinkgos.com as its message.

The magazine is actually Linux Pro (direct link to the Special Edition on Google Tools) and it has a boot-able CD in the front jacket that allows me to run the Google Toolset without installing the entire OS on my computer. The instructions say that this new OS is “based on Ubuntu Linux 8.04″.

So is Google releasing an operating system??

Why not?! Well, I don’t think it is an operating system like what most would consider an OS. An operating system in its purest sense is one that allows the user to interact with the operations on the computer. But for Google, their operating system is housed online! The cloud is the OS! So the device doesn’t matter.

We saw this coming when they released their own browser! Chrome was the first generation of their own operating system. They extended their resources beyond a web page to the frontier of the browser itself. Now they supply the tools needed to access resources online without the limitation of the hard drive.

And yet we keep buying machines with keyboards, mice, and monitors….

The rest of the magazine contains articles on all the great Google tools out there: Documents, Calendar, Groups, Reader, Chart, Earth, Sky, Sketchup, Picasa, Purchasing, Sites, Blogger, Maps, and some of their desktop gadgets as well. It is BURSTING with resources for Cloud computing!

I highly recommend it. I don’t think this Google-thing is going away any time soon! And while the rain clouds in Kerrville turned out to be false hopes today, the Cloud remains a possibility for many applications we use day to day.

Check out the magazine. Darn! That book I purchased is now under a pile of magazine must-reads.

*Note: After reading the info on the G-OS website, I discovered that it isn’t a Google OS nor is it created by Google. The G stands for “Good” and it is a Linux-based OS that uses Google tools. Still….it is pretty cool to think about.

I give you Google Earth 5

Beyond the content, I like that it features the ability to record your own tours without having to go through all those steps to make a KHM (?) file. That always lost me at step 12 when I had training on it before.

Oceanic tours that travel through time?? Sounds like an episode of “Lost” mixed with Gilligan’s Island but sign me up anyways!

So Monday was the first day of my week at TCEA. It started with the Tech Coordinator’s Academy which is a 5-day workshop spread across the year. The first 2 days were in the fall in Dallas and I attended (and blogged about) them. They were fantastic! Very motivational!

This week’s workshop wasn’t so motivational. And I say that only because the topics were on the security side of running a district technology system. It wasn’t a bad workshop. It just wasn’t so “up” because the topics were about the security side and reality of what we can do to make our networks secure.

Our reflection for journaling is this topic: What is my vision of how the network, hardware, and software will help us accomplish our goals in my district? What are my next steps in regards to infrastructure?

After yesterday’s session, I see how my district needs to do more to provide a more secure network and to keep our data safe. I don’t think we are doing a good job at this. I can see how spending needs to go toward providing this before we start adding more “stuff” to our network.

We discussed ways to figure out the TCO – Total Cost of Ownership for adding to our network infrastructure and the idea of sharing this with our stakeholders. We just can’t add resources to the system without building up the system istelf.

One of my main goals here this year is to visit the exhibit hall to get more information about these types of security resources. I hear from vendors almost daily so it is important for me to go and look at all the products to find the perfect fit for our district. Cost is a major factor for us and some resources just offer too much than what we need.

Disaster recovery was another topic and Kari shared how her district prepared for hurricane damage. Her plan is so detailed that I would think this type of planning would be almost a full time in itself. While Kerrville isn’t in danger of major hurricanes, we are open to other types of disasters and need to come up with better planning. I like not only that Kari explained the plan but she also provided each staff member with a list of who is responsible for what and at what point do they “pull the plug”.

She even shared that the district has a stand-by 1-800 number for if the phones go down that will still allow them to answer calls. Every instance is covered.

Currently, I meet with city resources in our town and one of our agenda items is planning for how we can all help each other with disaster recovery. Could we all provide a temporary NOC for another system from our own location and maintain our own system security? Could we work together in case of a real emergency? I think so.

The final part of the workshop was spent on 1:1 computing and the idea (or is it a mandate?) from TEA that districts are to test all freshmen in 2012 online for end of course assessments. No funding provided of course. To me, this seemed like something I could push back until we figured out who gets projectors next! But with this deadline looming, we have a lot to do in Kerrville to get ready for this!

So, I left yesterday with a heavy heart. So much to do and so little time! I appreciate not only the discussions we had in the room but the knowledge that all of us are ill-prepared for these types of mandates. I’m not the only one in this boat! Plus, Lori shared resources on how Bastrop is going with 1:1 computing. Her candid perspective on this type of venture was appreciated!

I like how she explained that adding the laptops/netbooks to the campuses wasn’t the answer. The real way to get it to all work together was to get the curriculum to change for the use of technology. If you don’t change the way we teach, then the laptops won’t add to your instruction. They will detract.

So much great information shared. Another hit of a workshop! I can’t tell you how much this Academy has really helped a newbie like me! They gave us another file full of resources to use and they are REAL resources, each one.

Tech Directors – I just want to implore that you take this Academy when they offer it next year. It is a pricey cost, I know! But if you really want it to work well – invite your curriculum director to attend with you. Two for one training! It is really worth it!

Can I tell you how excited I am about TCEA this year?

This is my 11th year attending this conference. My dad was one of the founders of the organization back when there were a handful of people meeting in a tiny conference room. They weren’t technology directors. There wasn’t technology yet in the classrooms. These were people in different districts who thought the concept of the computer could be of use in schools.

I remember my dad going to the conference and bringing back all sorts of toys and pens from all the different vendors that my brothers would fight over. I remember one hammer-headed pencil from a company that I took to school only to have it stolen during lunch. I still have a coffee mug he received from Apple Computers back in 1985 and it sits close to my desk at work.

When I started teaching, I would drive down to Austin and stay with friends so I could go to the conference. I would take a sick day and pay my own way to get there. I would mostly spend the evenings out on the town and attend a few sessions. I would spend most of my time in the vendor area looking for something cool to take back to school to share with my students.

Most of the time at the conference, I would tag along behind my dad only because I didn’t know anyone except the people he worked with in his career. For years, I would attend the conference to be introduced as “Bill Adkins’ son”. No name. Just that title. And people who knew my dad shared how much they respected him and enjoyed his company.

A few years ago, my dad retired from education. He attended the conference a few times and the roles reversed a bit. He was introduced as “Joel Adkins’ dad” to a few of my friends. I think he might have enjoyed this a little bit more than I did – though I enjoyed it very much!

His last year of attendance marked the 25th anniversary of TCEA and his 25th time to go to the conference. I remember him telling me at that conference that it would be his last. I told him that I would get him to the next one somehow. Sure enough, I received the Instructional Technology Specialist award and I invited him to attend the banquet for all honorees. I came through on my promise.

A lot has changed with technology over the years. Education has changed in some ways and stayed the same in other ways. The conference gets bigger each year with more attendees and more offerings of training.

I look forward to this conference more and more each year because of what it represents for those of us on the frontlines. It’s a time for us to refocus, refresh, and connect with others in the same boat all over the state and now the world. Twitter is great for posting those quick little bits of info and questions but there’s nothing like like seeing that person in real life for the first, second, or next time.

This year, I am taking 10 staff from my district to this conference. Over half of them have informed me that they have never attended a conference before; much less professional development that takes place over several continuous days.

I am excited about not only visiting with old friends from all over the world, but for the week after the conference listening to what these newbies will experience. I am looking forward to them sharing what they saw, experienced, grabbed (free pens!), and heard.

Blogging is a new concept for them. The wiki is something I started them on when I arrived and they are still figuring it out. Most of the district doesn’t understand YouTube or the relevance of why I unblocked it (for staff only). Some of our computers at the campus level don’t even have Microsoft Office on them.

And all this seems foreign to some who will read this.

But to me, it is the most exciting thing about my job. I am so excited for them to go! After 11 years, I can get jaded about a conference or session and how it “wasn’t anything new”. For this crew, the entire experience of a conference of this magnitude is new. And that is the start of their history with TCEA.

If you are going, give me a shoutout! You can find me via Loopt, Facebook, Twitter, this blog, and just by finding me in the crowd. I would love to see you and shake your hands!

See you in Austin!