As staff members throughout School District 21 begin preparing for the coming school year, lots of time is spent in calendars marking down important events for students, parents, and ourselves.

Of course, all staff members benefit from using your Exchange calendar. Staff members with laptop or desktop computers assigned to them individually can benefit from using Entourage or Outlook as their Exchange applications, and all staff members can also access their Exchange accounts via webmail.ccsd21.org. These calendars are great for sharing with one another and creating meetings in efficient ways that the majority of participants can attend because their schedules have been pre-checked for availability. To learn more about the specific features of the calendars in Outlook 2007 and Entourage 2008

While the calendars in Entourage and Outlook are great for productivity and keeping organized as a professional, these calendars are not designed for specific publication in newsletters or for distribution to parents and students.

So, how do I create a calendar for students and parents?

Microsoft Office 2008 comes with pre-created templates built right-in, and these are a great way to get started in a variety of projects. Included among these are templates for building calendars as pictured below.

Tags: Excel

Like being a star athlete, a great singer, or a super-effective classroom teacher, there are very important fundamentals that must be followed in order for one to be successful in any of these fields. Often times, these fundamentals are completely transparent to observers, except for the most expert. The same is actually true of the use of spreadsheets. While PC Mag has acknowledged that mastering Microsoft Excel can take years, some very basic fundamentals make an enormous difference in what can be accomplished with a spreadsheet.

Some important rules for successful spreadsheet use include:

Working Environment

• Spreadsheets on Screen--Spreadsheets are designed to be used on a computer. It’s not to say that we never print spreadsheets because we do at times, but 99% of the time, we work with a spreadsheet in the most efficient manner on the computer rather than for how it will look for printing.
• Normal View--Always use Normal View (View > Normal) for data entry and manipulation.
• Toolbars--Select View > Toolbars > Standard & View > Toolbars > Formatting. Most importantly, also select View > Formula Bar, which will show you exactly what is really in each cell as you select it.
• Workbooks & Worksheets--Don’t be afraid to use multiple worksheets within a single workbook. Label them carefully.

Layout

• Columns & Rows--Columns are for data fields/variables. Rows are for records.
• Header Row--Row 1 should always be used as a header row. Headers should be short and descriptive. Each column should have a header.Depending on the spreadsheet’s purpose and audience, headers may be free of spaces.
• Align Data within Columns--Whether it is left-aligned, centered, or right-aligned, depends on the data in the column, but all data within a column should be aligned.
• Separate Distinct Data--It’s not difficult to split data in to separate columns from a single column (i.e., split “last, first” to two columns--“last name” and “first name”), but it’s even easier to push data together from separate columns in to a single column (i.e., from “last name” and “first name” to “last, first”.) So, keep separate data separate from the start.

Content

• Grab Starting Data from Elsewhere--Teachers, support staff, and administrators all have the ability to export data from PowerSchool. Get your IDs, Names, etc. from there!
• Student IDs--ALWAYS use student id numbers for each student when collecting data on students. Typically ID numbers will fill Column A or Column B.
• Use Columns/Fields for Categorizing, Not Colors--People like to organize their spreadsheets by color. This is fine. Do not only organize by color. Rather than represent a category within a spreadsheet by color-coding cells, use a new column, create the proper field, and categorize that. Data can then be sorted, counted, analyzed using that.

Tips

• Use a Mouse and/or Tab and/or Return--When doing significant and/or extended work in Excel use a wired mouse plugged in to your laptop to make work more efficient. Better yet, for data entry, use the Tab key to move to the next cell to the right in a row and the Return key to move the next cell down in a column.
• Right-Click--When you “right-click” in Excel a contextual menu will pop up with a number of options that you can apply to the selected cell, column, or row.
• Plan Ahead--Before beginning to work in your spreadsheet, consider what fields you are going to use, how your records are going to be used, etc. This will help you visualize how your schedule ought to be laid out and will make your organization of rows and columns much easier.

Tags: Excel

Even with great tools, such as the PowerTeacher Gradebook and Inform, spreadsheets remain the most critical of tools for success in collecting and analyzing student data. Whether we are collecting data before uploading it to Inform or we are exporting it from the Gradebook to graph, spreadsheets are used to systematically collect, sort, manipulate, and analyze data. Currently, School District 21 does utilize Microsoft Office. Staff members who are using Windows PCs are typically using Office 2007 as we begin our transition to the new Office 2010. Staff members who are using Macs are using Office 2008.

AtomicLearning.com (which requires a username and password) features great tutorials on Excel 2008. These tutorials are broken up in to three different sections of tutorials:

• Intro (76 tutorials)
• Intermediate (86 tutorials)
• Advanced (85 tutorials)

That’s right! There are a total of 247 tutorials on AtomicLearning.com about Microsoft Excel 2008 alone!

In addition to all of the resources in AtomicLearning.com, there is also built-in support available right in the application itself. Microsoft, like Apple, has included a lot of information to provide help and support to end users right on the desktop from within the application itself. Simply select Help from the Menu Bar at the top of the screen as pictured below.



Either enter your search terms in the Search text field or select Excel Help from the menu and then search for more information.

“But wait, there’s more!” The Microsoft Office for Mac website also has great resources for learning more about how to use Office products, include Excel 2008.
Microsoft.com/Mac Office 2008 How-To Courses

Tags: Excel, AtomicLearning

One of the most powerful, easy-to-use tools for newcomers and advanced users to Microsoft Excel is the AutoFilter. The AutoFilter allows you to quickly and easily sort and or select certain data from either a pull-down menu or by custom defining your search criteria. Enabling the AutoFilter is as simple as clicking on AutoFilter in the Data > Filter > AutoFilter menu command from the Menu Bar as pictured above. Once the AutoFilter is enabled, you will see arrows in the header row of each column on the right side of the column as pictured below.



By simply clicking on the arrow, it will open up a new menu as pictured below.



Choosing from this menu, will allow you to only see the rows, or records, that you have selected. Choosing the Custom Filter option will allow you to specify exactly what data you would like to see. For example, you could choose to see all students who scored a 90 or higher on a particular assessment. While your other data will appear missing, it will really still be there. It is just hidden--or filtered out.

When you have filtered a column, the arrows in that columns header will appear blue. To unfilter, simply choose the Select All option from the pull-down at the top of that column, and all of your data will re-appear.

Simply by following our steps for entering data using Excel best practices and by using the AutoFilter, you can uncover all kinds of very important information about your students!

Tags: Excel

So, The Modern Pen looks strange in comparison to how it has looked? What happened?

An update to the software used to compose and publish The Modern Pen left the entry for each header too small to read, and correcting it in code was not having any impact in any of the three browsers tested. So, an alternative theme has been chosen.

While the new theme may satisfy the tastes of some and leave others desiring an improvement, we hope it serves to allow users to access the content until we can find a more permanent, and completely web-based, solution for posting to The Modern Pen.

Thanks for reading!

Tags: Modern Pen, Design

Previously, we had anticipated being able to begin allowing CCSD21 staff members to access Exchange via their personal smartphones as early as today. Unfortunately, our current mix of staffing and other ongoing summer projects is going to cause us to delay this. As we move through our summer projects, we are continuing to re-evaluate how best to accomplish all of them in an efficient and timely manner while continuing to provide training and resources to staff in order to accomplish these projects. As soon as we are ready and able to begin scheduling appointments with staff regarding signing up to access your District 21 email, calendar, and contacts on a personal smartphone, we will communicate that to all staff via email. Again, we thank you for your patience.

Tags: Staff MacBooks, Exchange, SmartPhones

What do I do if my computer isn’t working right and it’s summer?

First, you need to call the Help Desk. They will try to help you over the phone, but if that doesn’t work, the next step will be that the user will have to bring the computer in to the District. Especially during the summer, if the computer is operational, it is critical that the user logs in and logs out of the computer inside of the District 21 network to ensure that another home sync takes place, thereby securing their Documents and Desktop folders. This may also resolve the issue. In the event that the computer is still not working, the computer will need to be left in the Technology Office along with some Summer Contact Information for the user. The ticket will be reviewed by one of our field engineers. They’ll check with AppleCare and the Support Forums to see if there are any OS-related fixes that they can apply first (and/or firmware updates). If there’s not and they believe it that it’s an isolated hardware issue, then the ticket will be transferred to our Operations team, and they will send the machine to AppleCare. When we receive it back from AppleCare, depending on what was done to the machine, we may need to do the pre-set-up (Binding, Place in Group in OD/WGM, etc.) again. We will ask the user to arrange a time with us to come in. Then, we will have the user log-in before we do the rest of the set-up—Entourage, iChat, Office Default Save Locations, Deletion of Safari and Firefox Bookmarks, etc. After that, the user can take it home. (The user will be in the office for about 10-15 minutes at this point if a field engineer is available.) So, first, call the issue in to the Help Desk—847.934.8100 and press 2.

Finally, please do remember that summer is actually the busiest time of year as we try to take care of projects when students (mostly) and teachers (mostly) are not around as much, so our field engineers are not sitting and waiting for individuals to come in and address tickets. Rather, the projects alone keep us very busy. As a result, typically, one should not expect to be seen when the computer is brought in the first time by a field engineer. Rather, the user should plan on coming in to the District, logging in to the computer, and checking to see if the problem is still there after the log in is complete.

Tags: Staff MacBooks

During the last two weeks of July 2009, we installed 30 new Apple Xserves, and we completely re-configured the relationship between users (people), clients (regular computers you use), and servers (servers!). At this time, we also set-up two dedicated wiki and blog servers--one that is designed to serve the public (teacher blogs for parents, classroom projects with students, etc.) and one that is designed to be used collaboratively by teams (to support teaming).

When we installed the servers, the operating system was at 10.5.7. Shortly after the school year started, we upgraded all thirty servers to 10.5.8. Then, Apple released 10.6, Snow Leopard. This type of update was too significant to perform over a weekend. (It is taking us nearly three weeks to do during the summer!) In the past, we’ve typically left servers running with whatever operating system it was using when it was originally set-up. Now, with new servers in place along with lots of new clients, we have upgraded the servers to Snow Leopard. Specifically, each of our Mac servers will be running OS 10.6.4 by the end of this week.

We’re excited that by the end of this week, all of our open directory and file servers will have been upgraded. We have already upgraded the iChat, wiki, and teams servers, yet there is additional work that has been required on each of these before we can be fully up and running. So, here’s the run down on exactly where these servers are at right now:

iChat
After an extensive period of tweaking settings and testing, we are pleased to officially announce that iChat is back open. It seems to be working just fine with both text and video chats working. iChat is open right now as this is written, so chat away!

Teams
The teams.ccsd21.org wiki server that is used by teams is also working, but we’re needing to go through and reset permissions for each group. We had worked extensively with Apple prior to this upgrade in order to determine what type of issues we may have with blogs and wikis. Even from inside Apple, we heard very different reports on how this update might go. Overall, this update went well, but we are having to reset permissions on each of the approximately 200 wikis that we have in use for teams in District 21. We hope to have this work done later this month. Once this work is done, we will ask iTech teachers to go in to Active Directory and update which staff members are in which groups. When this work is done, everyone will be able to be a part of whatever teams they are a part of for the 2010-2011 school year! We do thank teachers for their patience as we work through this process for the first time.

Wikis
The wiki.ccsd21.org wiki and blog server has seen the same issues as the teams.ccsd21.org server. Here, though, there will be additional testing that we are undertaking as we look to potentially utilize Active Directory to manage the users on the wiki server. (Prior to now, we have had to enter each user individually on this server. We have done so in order to meet our web page policy that requires us not to post the first and last names of students.) Individual wikis and blogs will come back online as we can (with sites in which only staff post being up first), and we will let the individuals running those sites know when they are up.

Tags: Staff MacBooks, iChat, Wikis, Teams, Blogs

One thing you can do to personalize your desktop is use a picture to make it more personal. To do this, you do not need to open any System Preferences. If you already have the picture or graphic on your computer, it is very simple.

First, navigate to the location on your computer that the picture is sitting. It is easiest if it is just on the Desktop, like in the picture below. Right-click on the picture (see Managing Your Trackpad for more information on learning how to right-click on your MacBook), and choose Set Desktop Picture. See the picture below.



One potential problem that may occur is that the picture may become pixilated (showing all of the little squares/pixels that make up the picture). The best way to avoid this is to use pictures of high resolution, such as a full-size picture from a modern digital camera.

If you would like to use a picture that is stored online, that, too, is simple. First, you can only use a picture if the copyright allows you to do so--either because it is open source under something like Creative Commons or a picture that is now in the public domain. Then, go to the online site that hosts the picture that you would like to use. Next, you will typically be on a page that displays thumbnail images, smaller versions (lower resolution) of each picture. So, click on the picture you want to use in order to enlarge it to its highest resolution (to avoid or minimize pixilation).

Next you will right-click on the picture, and you will choose Use Image as Desktop Picture.




At that point, your picture will be set on the Desktop. Depending on the size of the original photo, you may only see a portion of the photo on your Desktop.

Tags: Staff MacBook, System Preferences, Display

How do I check my Exchange email when I don’t have my Staff MacBook with me?

If you are without your laptop and want to check your email, calendar, and contacts, simply go to Outlook Web App (OWA), also known as Exchange Webmail. This is linked on the left sidebar on the Staff homepage, and can be found at:

webmail.ccsd21.org

There is also a PDF document that is available to help you navigate using OWA. To access this document, which is on the CCSD21 Exchange Support page, you will need to enter your Active Directory Username and Password.

Tags: Staff MacBooks, Webmail, Exchange

On Thursday, May 20, 2010, the new CCSD21 wireless network will be up and running. Over the following week and a half, there will still be additional testing, surveying, and troubleshooting.

For those computers that are Staff MacBooks, the computers will just automatically see and connect to the CCSD21 network (as pictured in the image below).

For existing laptops, such as student laptops and administrator laptops, the Tech Office will need to connect your laptop to this new network. We will be doing that over the coming weeks to all student and administrator laptops. In the meantime, to use a wireless connection, student laptops and administrator laptops need to connect to CCSD21_Temp (pictured below). This network does not require a password. In June, this network will be eliminated.

Tags: Wireless, Network

Can the Technology Office access staff laptops remotely?

Inside, the CCSD21 network (in any of our 14 buildings), we do have the ability to access your computer. We will only do this after either specifically announcing that we will be accessing your machine or after asking for your permission. This is a great advantage for everyone as we can provide remote support immediately upon your initial phone call in many cases.

The only ways that the Technology Office can access your computer outside the District is with the IP address of your computer and knowing that the appropriate ports are open in your firewall or through an iChat conversation. In either case, you would have to provide information or accept the iChat invitation, and we will not access your computer remotely without your permission unless some type of investigation or process required us to do so.

Tags: Staff MacBook

When at school most of the schools computers have been automatically added to your printer list. However, if there is a computer missing, or if you need to add a printer for a different school, the process to add a printer is very simple. The first thing you want to do, is open System Preferences, which is found in the menu underneath the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen on the left side of the Menu Bar (the white bar that runs across the top of the screen).


Next, from among the buttons in System Preferences, choose Print and Fax.


Once this Print & Fax preference pane opens up, you will see the already configured printers for your school. Under that, you will see the + button. It is important to note, that although the lock is shut, you do not need to unlock it, nor use the computer’s administrator password to add these printers.


At this point, the “Add Printer” dialog appears. There are three important steps you need to do in this dialog. First, choose the IP icon. Then, choose HP Jet Direct for the Protocol field if the printer you are adding is an HP printer. If the printer is from any other brand, chose Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) from the pull-down menu.


At this point, you will need to put in the ip address of the school printer you want to add. You may find this number posted on the printer or perhaps your iTech teacher has made a school-wide list for your school. Otherwise, ask your school’s Itech teacher, who has all of this information. You also want to “name” this printer so that you can remember which printer is which when you go to actually print. Then, press the Add button.


Once this process is complete, you will notice that your printer has been added to the list of printers for the computer.

Now, you can go ahead and use this printer just like any of the school printers that appeared on the list already. Just remember, you must select the correct printer to which you want to print before printing!

Tags: Staff MacBook, Printing, System Preferences

How do I set-up right-clicking with my trackpad and learn more about what gestures I can use?

The trackpad below your keyboard on your staff MacBook is made out of glass and is similar to the screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch, supporting a variety of different hand movements as types of computer inputs. Additionally, there is no easily identifiable and separate button. As you’ve learned by now, the entire trackpad (particularly the bottom half) is the button.

To learn more about what your trackpad can do and to set specific preferences yourself, first, go to System Preferences by choosing it from under the Apple icon in the white menu bar at the top of the screen.


Select the Trackpad button by clicking on it.


Once you are in there, you can select the options you want to enable and watch the videos built-in to the System Preferences dialog to understand what these options really do!


Try some different options, and please do not be afraid to experiment with these settings!

Tags: Staff MacBook, Mouse, Trackpad, System Preferences

If I receive a prompt to upgrade software, should I allow it or not?

You should not allow it, but even if you did, you do not have the technological permissions to do software upgrades. You should not actually see dialogs asking you about updating software, though.

All software upgrades will typically be performed remotely and on a schedule to all computers in a school and/or across the District at the same time after we have tested the software upgrade to be certain that it does not create and/or cause new problems with our staff laptops.

During the summer of 2010, a software system will be installed to allow us to perform these upgrades en masse. More information will follow as we run such updates.

Tags: Staff MacBook

Bookmarking a frequently visited website is easy! If you find a website that you would like to go back and visit and would like to bookmark it, when in Safari, simply go to the Bookmarks Menu option in the white Menu Bar at the top of the screen.


Choose Add Bookmark...


When you add your bookmark, you can either put it in the Bookmarks Menu like the one that appears below...


...Or if you think you’ll use your bookmark frequently, you can add it to the Bookmarks Toolbar in the browser, which is pictured below.


To add a bookmark to the Bookmarks Toolbar, when you add your bookmark after selecting Add Bookmark..., you will see a new dialog box pop up. It looks like the one pictured below. Before you click the Add button, choose where you want to put the bookmark from the pull-down menu.


If you want it out of the way and listed in the Bookmarks Menu, choose that. If you want it in the Bookmarks Toolbar, select that. You can even put it in to your Top Sites view.


Once you have lots of bookmarks, you can even organize them, by organizing your bookmarks. In Safari, doing this is as simple as clicking on the Bookmarks Button in the Bookmarks Toolbar on the far left side.


Once there, you can organize with folders, re-order bookmarks, and/or delete bookmarks.

Tags: Staff MacBook, Safari

Due to technical and legal (i.e., licensing) reasons and our current level of manpower, we cannot install software individually on individual computers. The software provided in the base image for the MacBooks provides the vast majority of software for nearly everything that they need to do, yet we realize that some teachers have very specialized needs in terms of specific software.

Beginning during Fall 2010, we will be able to plan projects with schools or central office departments to install needed software for which we have licensing on specific groups of computers. Even once begun, this process will not be quick and easy. We will need to:

• identify exactly which computers need the software
• determine whether or not we own the licensing or if it needs to be purchased
• test the software on test MacBooks to make sure it does not conflict with other software on the machines and works within our larger deployment
• schedule and prepare to install software on multiple laptops

Once we’ve done all of that, we’ll be able to actually install the software.

More information on this process will be made available during the Fall 2010. In the meantime, staff members can and should continue to use their specialized software on the existing computers on which they have been using it.

Tags: Staff MacBook, Software

Over the past few years, staff members have been strongly encouraged to consider the role that podcasting might play in their classroom. Audio podcasts can be made very quickly with little production time, allowing students to create fantastic, authentic products that are available to the whole world via the Internet and our media server. With tools like USB microphones, iPods with voice recording capabilities, and Garage Band, students can create a podcast in no time, and instead of spending lots of time working on the computer producing, they can move on to learning new concepts and content and skills.

Producing video rather than audio typically requires a much greater investment in time working on the computers. In spite of this, there are many times and reasons why teachers will want to use video in the classroom. From capturing video on new iPod Nanos to Flip cameras to more traditional Canon, Panasonic, and JVC video cameras, there are lots of different types of video cameras available for schools to purchase and use with our MacBooks.

One of the changes that has taken place in the video cameras in recent years has been the shift from recording on tape to recording on hard drives (not so good for a school environment) or flash memory (ideal for tapeless cameras). While hard drives and flash memory can offer lots of storage, there are more complications in terms of compatibility with different operating systems and software depending on how the video is being encoded. To be sure that a compatible camera is being purchased for use with iMovie 09 on the Staff MacBooks, visit Apple’s guide to compatible cameras.

Tags: Staff MacBook, Video, iMovie

The one topic that has been hit-or-miss in terms of coverage during opening trainings with Staff MacBooks has been iChat. iChat is a program installed on the Mac that allows users to conduct text and video chats as well as do screensharing. As part of our server work during the Summer of 2009, we set-up an iChat server in the District, and with that, we are launching iChat as a service to support our Professional Learning Community Goals as we distribute the Staff MacBooks.

iChat uses a chat service called Jabber, much like AOL’s Instant Messenger (AIM). iChat is completely housed on a District server. This allows all chats to be logged (for legal and safety reasons), just like District email. While iChat has a video chat component (as well as screensharing), this cannot be used inside the District before or during the school day due to bandwidth concerns. Video chat can be used when both (or all three!) individuals are outside of District 21.

To use iChat, simply launch iChat and enter your Active Directory password when prompted. iChat is already configured for each user when the laptop is deployed. If you want to add colleagues to your iChat “Jabber List,” you can do so by clicking the “+” button at the bottom of the iChat Jabber List window.


In the next dialog that pops up, enter the following information:

• Account Name = Active Directory Username + “@district21odr.d21.k12.il.us”
• First Name = Enter the First Name as you want it to appear in your Jabber List
• Last Name = Enter the Last Name as you want it to appear in your Jabber List

See the example below...


After you click “Add,” a message will be sent to your Buddy the next time she or he opens iChat asking if they want to accept your request. If they currently have iChat open, they will receive your request almost immediately.

When a request is pending (such as Debbie Willing or Sue Werneske in the image below), the user’s name will be grayed out until they accept (or deny) that request. Other users who appear grayed out are individuals (like Tracy Crowley in the image below) who are Buddies in your Jabber List but are not currently online.


Online Buddies appear in the top portion of your Jabber List with their current status. If they are marked with a “red dot” status, they can contact you, but you cannot contact them, such as Sofia Klein and zzzsxk in the image below.


To change your status, you can simply choose from the pull-down menu that appears beneath your name at the very top of the Jabber List window.



What are some uses of iChat?
iChat is super-useful when doing “individual deskwork” for getting help or quick questions answered. Rather than having another email queue in your Inbox, if your teammate or colleague is also online, you can throw the question or comment to them via iChat, and they can respond. Following the exchange, both individuals can get right back to work. In our iTech team, we find that this is a great way to stay in touch across buildings and to get quick questions answered “on the fly”. It has significantly enhanced our ability to provide the information needed to one another to increase the productivity of staff members around us and to enhance student learning.


Can I use iChat with non-District 21 employees?
You can set up other Jabber or AIM accounts in iChat, but we are not able to provide support for doing so. Additionally, for personal chats, there are lots of free, online text and video chat services that can be used. For conversing via video, audio, or text chat with and between our students and other students, authors, or experts in the field, we currently are using Skype. We have dedicated Windows computers to handle this as we also need to, again, control the amount of bandwidth. If you are interested in doing a project such as this, please contact the Tech Office well in advance of your project, and we will be really excited to support you and your students in this. In the future, we hope to people to, through additional testing, ensure that District 21 staff members can connect via their District 21 iChat account with users of Google Talk. As we solve our need for ever-increasing bandwidth, we also hope to possibly add Skype to Staff MacBooks when they are re-imaged during Summer 2011.


As you use iChat, we would love to hear your specific examples of how it is improving instruction through enhanced collaboration and teaming. Please email those stories to us at tech *AT* ccsd21.org!

Tags: Staff MacBook, iChat

AtomicLearning.com is a great resource for staff members to learn countless details for effectively using Office 2008. Featuring short, specific How-To videos, staff members can be well-versed in learning the features that they want and need to learn when they want and need to learn them. (Remember, AtomicLearning.com does require a District 21 username and password for students and staff to access it. If you do not know this, please contact your school’s iTech teacher or the Technology Office.

In addition to AtomicLearning.com, there is another great resource for learning more about Office 2008, the Mac Business Unit at Microsoft. The Mac Business Unit has put together a number of great videos with additional information about Office 2008 and the software contained within it. View these additional Microsoft Office 2008 Help and How-To Videos!

Tags: Staff MacBook, Office 2008

When home, the process to add a printer is very simple. If your printer uses a USB cable to connect to the computer, the first thing you want to do, is plug in your printer to one of the two USB ports on the left side of your MacBook. If your printer is wireless, you want to make sure that both the printer and the computer are on the same wireless network and that they both can “see” the network with no apparent problem. (To test this, be sure that an already existing computer can print to the printer and be sure that the computer can get on the Internet.)

Then open System Preferences, which is found in the menu underneath the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen on the left side of the Menu Bar.


Next, from among the buttons in System Preferences, choose Print and Fax.


Once this Print & Fax preference pane opens up, you will see the already configured printers for your school. Under that, you will see the + button. It is important to note, that although the lock is shut, you do not need to unlock it, nor use the computer’s administrator password to add these printers.


At this point, your printer should be recognized and pop up in a new window. Click on the printer you would like to add. Then, click on the Add button.


Now, you will see the computer “thinking” and determining if/what options should be installed. Many printer drivers come packaged with Snow Leopard (this Mac Operating System on your computer at the time we distributed the machines, which is also known as 10.6), so it is often unnecessary to add drivers. This is the step in which the Operating System is installing the options necessary for your printer to function with the computer and the applications installed on your computer.


Once this process is complete, you will notice that your printer has been added to the list of printers for the computer.

Now, you can go ahead and use this printer just like any of the school printers that appear on the list. Just remember, you must select the correct printer to which you want to print before printing!

Tags: Staff MacBook, Printing

As per the CCSD21 Staff Laptop Policy, you can house Movies, Music, and Pictures on your laptop, and this does include Movies, Music, and Pictures that have been purchased. Remember, that due to bandwidth and server space limitations, these items do not sync to the server, so they should be backed up separately, using DVDs or CDs or an external hard drive. It is important that Movie files are kept in the home directory’s Movies folder, and the same is true for Music and Photos respectively. These items should never be stored in the Documents or Desktop folders. If these items are purchased for school use, and the staff member is reimbursed by the District, these are property of the School District, and a copy should be made to left with the appropriate individuals--i.e., the LMC Specialist, the iTech teacher, etc.

Purchases can be made through Amazon and through iTunes. Purchases may also be made through other online or brick-mortar-retailers as long as no software needs to be installed to import the purchase. (For example, no software is needed to import the contents of a physical audio CD that has been purchased as this feature is built-in to iTunes. Accounts are needed for each of these vendors.

Tags: Staff MacBook, Music, Movies, Media

With over 600 white Apple MacBooks being distributed to certified staff in School District 21, staff members continue to ask what they can do to tell their laptop apart from others. First, remember that regardless which company’s laptop was chosen to be the District 21 laptop, they would all look the same. This is also true in other school districts as well as in the corporate world. Typically, organizations will deploy similar or identical laptops to all staff, and the same question/issue would be true in those cases.

First, when you are logged in, you will know your laptop is your laptop because you will see your Desktop and your Documents. Additionally, under the Apple in the upper left-hand corner, you will see your name at the bottom of that menu (pictured below).


Second, you should know your laptop’s number, which is located on the bottom of the laptop on the CCSD21 Inventory Tag. (This is a five-digit number, and this is also the name of your computer.) This is on the bottom of your laptop.


Finally, no matter what you do, please do not use any adhesives on your computer, power pack, or Mini-Display Port adaptor. Likewise, do not use a Sharpie or similar marker to mark the surface of these objects.

Tags: Staff MacBook

As we move all District 21 staff members over to Exchange 2010 from CommuniGate during the closing months of the 2009-2010 school year, many staff members are interested in being able to access their email, calendar, and contacts on their personal smartphones. With certain parameters, District 21 is going to allow staff members to gain access to ActiveSync and their Exchange data beginning during the Summer of 2010. (Unfortunately, the CCSD21 Technology Office will not be able to devote time to supporting this until July 2010.)

Initially, we will only be able to support the iPhone/iPod Touch, and users will need to be running iPhone OS 3.0 or newer. From there, as described in the policy form, we hope to add Android OS 2.1 or newer to our supported devices. Then, in the Fall, when Windows Phone is released, we intend to add that OS, as well.

Beginning July 12, 2010, staff members can begin to contact the Tech Office to make an appointment (approximately 15 minutes) to get their phone enabled in the iPhone Management Software. For details on the policy, read it now!

UPDATED-12 July 2010

Tags: Exchange, SmartPhones

How do I have students use the Staff MacBook as the classroom computer?

One of the key components of the Staff MacBook deployment was that the Staff MacBook would also serve as the primary classroom computer. This decision was made initially and later affirmed by District 21 teachers through the Tech Plan process in 2008 and again in 2009. Based on this, the use of the Staff MacBook as the primary classroom computer was part of what was presented to the Board.

Of course, we do not want students (or other staff members) to be able to access an individual’s email nor files that are not being shared collaboratively via a team wiki or email. So, how do multiple users share the same computer without being able to access an individual’s private files?

Both Windows and Mac computers allow for the creation of multiple user accounts on a single computer. The MacBooks deployed to staff take advantage of this. As a staff member, you log-in and log-out of your account on the computer. Assuming you do not share that password with anyone, only you can access that email and those files.

When you want students to use your computer, to share their documents from the server, to create a new document, or to use the Internet, you first need to log-out of the computer. A student should never be on a staff laptop while the staff member is logged in!

Option 1--Use Generic Student Account
Each staff laptop contains a generic Student account. The username for this account is Student. The password for this account is student. Students can log-in to this account. From there, they can use the Internet. They can access their home directories on the server, and use files already saved or save new files. From this account, if the student needs to access the server, the student should use the Go > Connect to Server option from the menu bar.


Then, you will need to enter the address of your school’s file server. Just replace “field” with the name of your school. Then, hit enter.


Now, the student will enter his/her username and password and can access existing files or save new files.

This option is ideal when a number of different students will be accessing the staff laptop in a relatively short amount of time.


Option 2--Students Log-In with AD Username
The other option is that students can simply log-in with their own username and password, just like they do in the Labs/LMC. This will require the computer to be connected to the network, which will be no problem once the wireless network is up and running in May 2010. When the student logs-in like this on the staff laptop computer, the student’s home directory will pull down from the server. This will take just a few minutes for most students. Then, the student will work on the computer, and the work will sync back to the server every 10 minutes. It is important that the student logs out at the end of the work time.

This option is ideal when a single student will be working extensively on the staff laptop.


There are pluses and minuses to each of these options. Choose whichever seems to make the most sense at the time for you, and don’t be afraid to choose different options in different situations.

Tags: Staff MacBook, Classroom Instruction, Students

Converting Appleworks Documents

Many staff members continue to have files that were created in Appleworks. The file format for Appleworks has the extension .cwk at the end of the title of the document/file. This is a file format that has not been supported since 2002. As a result, Appleworks is no longer included on any current computers in District 21--the Mac Minis, the Staff iMacs, the new iMacs in the Labs, or the Staff MacBooks. So, it is necessary for users to transfer their documents to file formats that will continue to work well in to the future. We recommend using the default formats for Microsoft Office.

While there is a single file format for Appleworks documents (.cwk), Appleworks included the following types of applications and files:

• Word processor
• Spreadsheet
• Drawing
• Database

Fortunately, the word processor and spreadsheet files can still be opened using either Microsoft Word or Apple’s Pages.

Converting a Single .cwk File
When you want to open one of these files, first you need to click the document so that it is highlighted in your Documents folder (or the folder within your Documents folder in which the file resides). For example, the file fractions.cwk has been highlighted in the picture below by clicking on it one time.


At this point, it is very helpful to know if this is a word processing or spreadsheet file. (How would you know this? You’d know it because you created it, and you’d remember it or know from context clues, like the folder it is in.)

Now, you will right-click on the file name. When you do, you will choose Open with from the contextual menu that pops up.


If the file is a spreadsheet, click on Numbers.app. If the file is a word processing document, click on Pages.app.

Once you have the file open in Numbers or Pages, you can re-save it as an Excel file (.xls) for spreadsheets or a Word file (.doc) for word processing documents. You can do this by choosing File>Export.


Then, you can open the new file in Word or Excel. Do a Save As, and you are ready to use your new file well in to the future. In many cases, some components of the formatting will be lost, and unfortunately, in the case of database or drawing documents, entirely new documents do need to be created.

A Potential Shortcut for ALL .cwk Files
If ALL of your old Appleworks files (.cwk files) are of the same type (i.e., all word processing documents), then, you can take the following shortcut.

Again, highlight the .cwk file. Once you highlight the file, either press Command + I at the same time or right-click on the file and choose Get Info from the contextual menu that pops up. The following dialogue box will appear.


The important part of this dialogue box is the section labeled “open with”. Here you will notice a pull-down menu. This pulldown menu gives you the option to choose an alternate application (usually Microsoft Word and/or Pages) to open the document. Then, click the “Change All...” button to make that the default application. The computer will now automatically open all files of that format with the chosen application in the future.

Tags: Appleworks, Staff MacBook

What can I do to prolong the life of my laptop battery?

The Staff MacBooks that are being distributed during Spring 2010 are rated for 7-8 hours of battery life. Often times, this will mean that the laptop can be used throughout an entire school day by teachers and students. Nevertheless, to ensure this, there are some settings that can be changed that can maximize battery life. Staff members are encouraged to set these settings in this way, and then change them only when necessary. Changing them back when done with the need for that setting.

Turn off Bluetooth radio
As we have stated during initial trainings, staff members should not bring wireless devices, such as a Bluetooth mouse, to school. There are just too many wireless devices that we want to minimize the amount of interference. We have left the Bluetooth radio in the computer open to use, though, so staff members can take advantage of it when they are outside the District or if it should be needed in the future for a specific accessory at school. When your Bluetooth setting is on, which it is by default, the computer is constantly using power to search for other Bluetooth devices that might be in range to connect to. This is an unnecessary use of power if you are not going to use those devices. So, to save power and extend battery life, just turn off the Bluetooth radio.

Turn off the Bluetooth radio, by clicking on the Bluetooth icon in the white Menu Bar at the top of the screen and choosing “Turn Bluetooth Off” from the menu.


Once the Bluetooth is off, the Bluetooth icon will be grayed out in the white Menu Bar at the top of the screen.


If you should need the Bluetooth at some point in the future, just go back to this menu and turn it back on.


Dim your screen
Your laptop comes with a bright and glossy monitor. It looks beautiful, but your computer’s monitor uses tons of the machine’s power. To conserve energy and prolong battery life, you can dim the screen. In most lighting conditions, particularly inside our school buildings, you can easily use your monitor at the lowest brightness setting. This will save lots of energy and can significantly prolong battery life.

To dim your screen, simply use the decrease brightness key on the top row of the keyboard.



Keep as few applications as possible running
On a Mac or PC, you can have multiple applications (also known as programs or software) running at the same time. For example, when doing “desk work,” we typically leave Entourage and iChat open no matter what else we are doing (i.e., using Word, Keynote, or Excel). While it can increase productivity to have multiple applications running at the same time, you should also only have applications open that you need open. Running applications unnecessarily requires your computer to work harder, running more processes in the background, and this uses more energy, decreasing battery life.

You can easily tell which applications are open by which ones include a white dot to the right of the application icon on the dock. (See the picture below, which shows that Microsoft Word is open.)


To close applications, be sure to quit the application when you are done with it. Do not simply click the red dot in the upper left corner of the application window.


Rather, quit applications by:

• - Holding down “Command” + “Q” on your keyboard as the Quit keyboard shortcut
• - Choosing Quit from the application’s main entry on the menu bar

-Holding down the mouse over the application’s icon on the Dock and selecting Quit from the contextual menu that will pop up after a moment


These tricks will help your battery last even longer when you are not plugged in!

Tags: Staff MacBook, Energy Settings, Battery, System Preferences

Do I need to contact my insurance company to let them know that I now have a District 21 laptop?

We would not discourage any staff member from contacting her or his insurance company. The language used in the Staff Laptop Policy is consistent with past practice in District 21 regarding laptop checkout. It is also consistent with the language used in numerous other area school districts. While we have only had a small amount of experience with lost or stolen laptops up until this point, we have seen personal homeowners/renters insurance used to reimburse the value of the laptop. Finally, in the event that a staff member does need to utilize her or his insurance to provide reimbursement for the laptop, the District will provide a proof of the model and value of the laptop assigned to the staff member.

Tags: Staff MacBook

In your Documents folder in your Home Directory, there is a folder called “MIcrosoft User Data”. This folder is auto-created by Microsoft Office and holds important user data related to the applications in Office 2008.



While typically your Documents folders is a place that you should put what you want, move items around, etc., the Microsoft User Data folder should never be touched if you want your Office applications to most consistently work!

Tags: Staff MacBook, Office 2008

What is syncing?
Syncing is the process that allows users to save files locally on their computer’s hard drive, while also syncing those same files to the server when the computer is inside District 21. The most recent version of the file is the one that is saved. This allows the items to continuously be backed up. If something happens to the user’s computer, they can sync their files to the new computer from the server.

Syncing versus Saving
Syncing does allow the user’s files to be saved locally on the computer as well as on District servers. Syncing goes a step further than saving by cross checking with the server to see what changes have occurred. Then, a sync finds the most recent file and is sure that is saved in both locations.

Sync Errors
A sync error occurs when the computer finds two versions of the same file, one older and one newer. However, it does not know which one should be saved. When this happens, you will see a dialogue box asking which file is the one you would like to be saved. Sync errors can be avoided by only being logged into one computer at a time and by using your laptop as much as possible.

Logging In and Out
Every time a user logs in or out, a sync is performed. Also, a background sync is happening every ten minutes (the user can tell a background sync is being performed when the two houses at the top of the screen are alternating black and grey).



The best thing to do to keep files syncing smoothly is to log out before entering or leaving the District network. For example, log out at the end of the school day before going home, and again right after entering the District in the morning. If you forget to log out before leaving the district, the computer will be looking for the District server once you open your computer at home, and it will not be able to find it. Then, it will save locally to your computer. You may notice some sync errors when you log out, so it is best to get in the habit of logging out at the end of the day--each and every day!

Tags: Staff MacBook, Portable Home Directory, Sync

Should we ever use the option “Sync Home Now” under the Portable Home Directory icon in the menu bar?



If you look in the upper-right-hand corner of the menu bar, and click on the Portable Home Directory icon, you will see an option labeled “Sync Home Now”.


There is really no reason to choose this option, because the computers are set to automatically sync every 10 minutes during your work session. However, underneath this same option, you can ease your mind and verify this fact because it will tell you the time of the last home sync.

Tags: Staff MacBook, Sync, Portable Home Directory

Do we have to check in the computers at the end of the year or can we keep them through the summer?

Since the initial Staff MacBooks are being distributed late in the 2009-2010 school year, you will keep them through the summer of 2010. However, in future years, we will most likely require the computers to be brought back for short windows of time (i.e., three weeks) during the summer in order to do updates and maintenance. Once that task is completed, teachers will be able to pick up the computers and continue to use them during the summer.

Tags: Staff MacBook

Downloading Pictures to iPhoto
As soon as you connect a camera to your computer, iPhoto will pop up. You will see the pictures in iPhoto that are on your camera. Next, you will be asked if you would like to Import All of the photos or only Import Selected photos. If you only want to import certain pictures, first highlight the pictures and then choose Import Selected. If you would like all of the pictures to be saved into iPhoto, choose Select All. Now your photos are saved in iPhoto and you may remove the connection to your device by clicking the eject icon next to where your camera is listed in the left column of iPhoto.



Saving and Moving Photos to iPhoto Pictures Folder
If you already have photos in your Documents or on your Desktop, you can--and should--move these photos to iPhoto by simply dragging the picture over the iPhoto icon in the dock (pictured below). Even if iPhoto is closed, it will start opening and automatically import the photos in to iPhoto.


All photos stored in photo are also housed in the Pictures folder in your home directory.

Tags: Staff MacBook, Photos, iPhoto, Pictures

Should CCSD21 staff use flashdrives?

If you are using your staff laptop as intended, there really should be no reason to use flashdrives. Remember, all of your data is portable and can move to and from school with you on your laptop. All files in your Documents folder are automatically synced (backed up) on your school’s file server. Therefore, the use of flashdrives is really not necessary, and using flashdrives poses security risks as they are easily lost. If you do find yourself needing to transfer or archive data (perhaps movies, music, or pictures), your best option is to burn these onto disks, such as CD or DVD. The computer is equipped with a CD/DVD burner, so this process is very simple. (See Apple’s support article for more information.)

Tags: Staff MacBook

Changing Default Font
In Entourage 2008, you can change your default font and font size, however, you cannot change the default color. The default color will always remain black.

To change the default font style, first open Entourage, and then, under Entourage in the menu bar at the top of the screen, choose Preferences.


Then, in Preferences, choose Fonts from the column on the left side.


On the right-hand side, you can choose how to set different parts of your message to different font sizes and styles by using the drop-down menus. Once you are done, hit OK.


Manually Changing Fonts for Individual Emails
You can change the color, size, and style of the font for individual emails manually. To do so, first open a new email in Entourage and enter in the usual information (recipient, subject, etc..) for composing an email. Then, select the new font color, size, and style you would like to use from the menus, just like you would in a word processing document.

Once you begin typing you will see how the new font looks. When you are done with the content of the message, hit Send. Your next email will go back to your default settings.


When choosing fonts, colors, and styles, please remember that your text communicates voice and tone in an email, so when choosing to use bold characters, all uppercase letters, and/or specific colors, you are communicating non-verbal cues via email. Choose carefully!

Tags: Staff MacBook, Entourage 2008, Exchange

Which printers can I use at school with my Staff MacBook?

Before distributing the computers to teachers, the District 21 Technology Office worked with each school’s iTech teacher to make an accurate list of printers throughout the school that teachers would need for printing on a regular basis. These printers were all added on a district-wide server. From there, we can quickly and easily add a printer to all computers in a school’s Staff MacBook group.

However, there may be situations that a classroom printer is not included in the list, most likely because it is not in a common area, and/or will not be used by many teachers. If you find that you need a printer that is not included in the list, you can add it yourself by following the directions labeled Adding a District Printer (to be published shortly and linked here!). These instructions will work anywhere within the District, so if you go to a different building within the District and would like to add the printer, you can, and it will stick in your list of preferred printers on your Staff MacBook.

Tags: Printing, Staff MacBook

If you are using Entourage 2008 from home, when you begin to enter an email address, Entourage 2008 will remember the email addresses of people you’ve recently emailed or who have recently emailed you as well as the users that will pop up from Active Directory. Of course, if you’d like, you could add anyone in as a contact (See Atomic Learning). Then it will be stored in Entourage 2008 and on your computer, and it will sync to your Exchange account. Remember, though, that once everyone is switched to Exchange/Entourage, everyone’s default email address will be firstname.lastname@ccsd21.org.

If/when you use Outlook Web App (OWA/Exchange Webmail) feature through your web browser, only the users that you’ve written to before will be stored.

Tags: Entourage 2008, Exchange

What is the Home Directory?
Each user has a home directory. It is represented by the house icon and the user’s username as pictured below. Until the deployment of MacBooks to staff, these home directories have really only existed on the school server. Now, with the MacBooks, they will exist on the laptop, and that home directory will sync to the server when the user is in the District.


Inside your home directory, you have a series of folders that are automatically created as part of the home directory. (These are pictured below.)


Everyone’s home directory should look just like this—with these same folders in the same order (alphabetical).

There should not be any other files or folders laying out at this level in the home directory. In many cases, staff and students do have files and folders sitting here. These should be moved, typically to the Documents folder. (The Desktop folder will also sync, but we recommend having as few files on your Desktop as possible.)

Until now, these home directories have only existed on the server. For staff members who are assigned an individual computer for their use, such as a Staff MacBook, this home directory will automatically sync from the server to your computer when the Technology Office team sets up your computer. Thus, it is critical that all of your files are correctly organized in this folder prior to your school’s MacBook Set-Up Day.

So, get your Home Directory in order ASAP!!!

Tags: Home Directory, Staff MacBook, Server

Beginning in March 2010 and continuing through May 2010, new Apple MacBooks will be distributed to all non-administrative, certified staff members. During this same period, all District 21 staff members will be moved from the CommuniGate email server to Microsoft’s Exchange 2010 server.

Certified staff members will utilize Entourage 2008 with Exchange Web Services as their primary application for accessing their Exchange 2010 email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes. Entourage 2008 is installed on individual Staff MacBooks. Initial training with Entourage 2008 will take place when staff members receive their laptops. From there, staff members will be able to access the wealth of resources available on AtomicLearning.com to learn more about Entourage 2008.

Non-Certified staff members, such as assistants and custodians among others, will access their Exchange 2010 accounts through the web browser using Outlook Web Access. These individuals receive their initial training from District Technology Office staff or building iTech teachers.

(Central Office staff in the Business Office, Human Resources, and Operations will use Outlook 2007 as the client through which they will use to access their Exchange 2010 email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes. Training for these individuals, where necessary will come from District Technology Office staff and via AtomicLearning.com.)

Some important information about the move from CommuniGate to Exchange:

• Email from CommuniGate will not be transferred to Exchange. When you are first moved in to Exchange, you will have an empty Exchange 2010 Inbox.
• You will have continual access to your CommuniGate Inbox until June 2010. No new emails will come in to that Inbox, but it can serve as an archive during the transition to Exchange. On a daily basis, it will only be necessary to check this email daily.
• If you would like to do so, you can forward your CommuniGate messages to yourself, but this is not recommended. You will not be able to reply to the original sender of those messages. Rather, it is recommended that if you would like to archive certain emails, you should do so by saving them as PDFs and filing them as documents in your home directory. You can do this by using the Print dialog box on a Mac and choosing Save as PDF from the lower left corner of that Print dialog box.

• In Late June 2010, the CommuniGate email server will be permanently disconnected and will no longer be accessible.

Finally, the day before staff members receive their MacBooks, users will cease to receive new emails in their CommuniGate Inboxes. They can log in to CommuniGate and send emails during the interim period, but no new emails will arrive there. Users will be able to view new emails once they have logged in to their Exchange client, Entourage 2008 or Outlook Web Access (OWA).

Tags: CommuniGate, Exchange, Staff MacBook

This summer, new servers have been installed throughout School District 21 schools. With these new servers, we are also instituting a very exciting, completely new infrastructure. Through this infrastructure, we will more tightly be able to control the user experience in different ways for different users--so teachers have the tools that they need and so that elementary school and middle school students have the tools that they need. Additionally, we will be able to provide far better support as users’ work is centralized on the servers.

Coming this year will be even more changes. With the addition of staff laptops and the move of all staff members over to the Exchange Email, Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks Productivity Server, we are instituting a new consistent username standard that will minimize the number of conflicts between District 21 students and staff members who have similar (or the same) names. This new firstname.lastname format is already in effect for current Exchange users and is now in effect for all individuals to access their server folders.

During the two weeks prior to the start of the year, iTech teachers are available in schools to help users access their new server home directories and to ensure that users are best prepared to use those home directories effectively. (For teachers, once laptops are deployed later this year, your data will sync to and from the server when you are in the district, providing a safe back-up! Thus, using your home directory effectively now is critical.)

Please note: Assuming you were not already in Active Directory* at the end of the 2008-2009 school year**, the first time you login to the new server, you will need to do so from a computer running OS 10.4 or 10.5 that has already been connected to Active Directory. These computers include the Mac Minis in the computer labs and the aluminum 20” iMacs for staff use.

The Technology Office has prepared some documents to help individuals log-in to their new server folders.

• Directions for logging in to the server from OS 10.4/10.5 computers (including initial login) and OS 10.3 computers
• Logging in to OS 10.4/10.5 computers (Mac Minis/Teacher iMacs) video
• Logging in to OS 10.3 (Classroom) computers video

*Active Directory is an underlying system for managing student and staff users.

**With only a few exceptions, like Business Office staff members, the individuals who were already in Active Directory at the end of the 08-09 school year, were the same individuals who were using Exchange. These individuals included: Administrators, Tech Office staff and iTech teachers, Support Services staff, Psychologists, Social Workers, and Speech Pathologists.

When working with lists on a computer, including in PowerSchool and the PowerTeacher Web Gradebook, you may want to select multiple items from that list at one time. If so, there are two ways to do so that will typically work.


Selecting multiple items in a row

Click on the first item that you want to select, such as Algebra below.


Then, go down to the last item in the column that you want selected. Hold down the shift key, and while holding down the shift key, click.


Voila! All of the items that you want selected are now highlighted.


Selecting multiple items that do not appear consecutively

This time, click first on any item that you want to select. (It does not matter where it falls in the order of the list.)


Now, if you are using a Mac, hold down the command (apple) key to the left or right of the spacebar. If you are using a Windows or Linux computer, hold down the control key.

While holding down either the command (Mac) or control (Windows/Linux) key, click on the other items you want selected.


Voila! Now, just the items you want selected are selected.

This little trick works in lots of different software and on lots of websites, so take advantage of it.

Throughout history, scam artists have used the culture and technology of the day to do their work, and the 21st Century is no different. Today, email is often used, and much of the world’s problem with viruses and identity theft is the result, not of computer or technological issues, but of us actually clicking on something that we should not.

Yesterday, at least two District 21 staff members received a phishing scam email that was more well done than is typical. In spite of this being more professional than most spam, it is still pretty easy to detect that there is nothing to worry about and that the email should simply be deleted. The email is pictured here with some tips for identifying a phishing email below.




Ways to detect a phishing scam…
• What is the actual email address, rather than the name, in the “From:” line?
In this example, which is fairly rare, it is tickets@nwa.com. Normally, it is some form of “mumbo-
jumbo” that changes daily. If it is not from the organization’s actual URL (after the @), it is not real.

• Is there a company logo, a privacy statement, or anything of the kind?
If not, it’s probably not real.

• Watch for inappropriate grammar or use of English
In this example, the “t” in “ticket” is not capitalized. In the last full sentence the word “printer” is written
as “printed”.

• Is it written like a real e-mail given the organization and purpose?
Airline ticket reservation emails do not begin with “Hello!”.

• Finally, if you are really unsure about something, call and talk with an actual
representative of the organization.

Over the past year, on multiple occasions, we have offered a workshop helping CCSD21 staff members develop more effective presentations than those traditionally that have been developed, particularly professional presentations given to other adults, such as for a workshop or a Curriculum Night. Many of the important tips, which are also captured in this Modern Pen post, are also well defined by these two older blog posts that were identified on the web by Longfellow Learning Coach Catherine Joy and Tarkington Learning Coach Tracy Crowley. For more information on a good presentation that is not overwhelmed by the wrong colors on your slides or the use of too many different words visit:

- Learning from Bill Gates & Steve Jobs

- Gates, Jobs, & the Zen aesthetic

These directions are Mac-specific. Some differences for the PC are noted in italics.

Setting up Thin Client in Full Screen mode:

1. Full screen > You have to quit out of Remote Desktop Connection for these actions to take full effect, so go ahead and quit now.
2. Re-launch Remote Desktop Connection but do not connect to the remote computer yet.
3. In the menu bar at the upper left of the screen, go to RDC > Preferences. On the PC, click the Options button in the RDC Connect dialog box.
4. In Preferences, go to Displays. In Options, go to Displays.
5. Select Full Screen in the pull-down menu in that dialog.
6. Next time, you connect, you will go into full screen.

Notes:

• While in Full Screen, you CAN still see your Mac’s dock and menu bar by dragging your mouse all the way to that part of the screen and holding it there. The dock/menu bar will pop out after a moment’s pause.
• Also, to toggle between Thin Client and some software on your Mac, like Firefox or Safari, go ahead and use the key command, “command” + “H”. This hides most Mac programs. They are still open, but they are running in the background. Go back to it by clicking on the icon, the RDC icon in this case, on the dock. In full screen on the PC, you will see a little bar at the top of the screen that features a minimize (_), maximize, and close (X) buttons. To go back to other elements (applications, documents, etc.) of your local PC, just minimize RDC from that bar at the top of the screen.

So, you have sat down at one of the shiny new iMacs to log on to use PowerTeacher and the PowerTeacher Web Gradebook. You type in your user name and password, click submit, and--Boom! A new page pops up in your Browser that says, “Bad Request.”

While we are, and have been for months, investigating this issue with Apple, Mozilla, and PowerSchool, here is the quick fix thanks to Kevin at Poe:



Hit the refresh button, and you will be sent straight to your PowerSchool start page!

If you are a District 21 employee who is on the Microsoft Exchange e-mail, calendaring, contacts server, you also can, and should be using Thin Client, via Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection. Printing in Thin Client has stymied many in the past, but District 21 has begun using Thin Client technology at just the right time because printing is easy.

First, whatever machine you are using needs to be set-up to print to a printer. So, if you are on a Mac at school or a PC or a Mac at home, it needs to be set to print to a printer from its regular programs, such as a word processor or the web browser. Your computer, particularly at school, may actually be set-up to print to more than one printer. For example, as you can see below, my MacBook is set to print to printers all over School District 21. (If you go to File > Print, then, click on the pull-down menu next to where it says Printer, it will show you all of the printers to which the computer is set to print.) **To have your computer set to print to additional printers, in the case of a laptop, contact your school’s iTech teacher. For District staff, including District-wide Support Services staff, you will need to call in to the Help Desk.



Again, any computers in this list can be used to print from within Thin Client.

The next step is quite easy. In Remote Desktop Connection, you need to open the Preferences (RDC > Preferences). On a PC, you will click on the “Options” button in the main RDC dialog box.



In the preferences box, click on the printers tab. This tab is very simple. Check the box so that the remote machine can see the printers connected to your “local” machine, or the machine on which you are actually typing. (In some versions of Remote Desktop Connection as well as in some Linux remote desktop programs, there will simply be a checkbox to connect to “local” printers in the main dialog box.)



Then, when you go to print in Thin Client (File > Print), you can choose from among the same printers that are available on your local machine as you can see in the picture below.



If you look carefully at the list of printers, you will notice that they are the same printers as were available when printing “normally” on my Mac.

Did you get a smartphone this summer? If so, you may be wondering how you can access your District 21 email account on your smartphone. Unfortunately, due to the configuration of our firewall and the CommuniGate email server, you can only access it outside of School District 21 using webmail via a web browser, such as Firefox, Safari, Flock, or Internet Explorer. This means that you have to see if your smartphone’s web browser (IE mobile on a Windows Mobile phone or Safari on an iPhone) will support CommuniGate.

At the same time, please be aware that over the next year and a half, we will be migrating all of District 21’s employees to our new e-mail, calendar, and contacts server--which uses Microsoft’s Exchange server solution. As a matter of fact, by the end of the first week of the 2008-2009 school year, there will already be more than 6 dozen District 21 employees who have begun using the Exchange server. The bulk of the staff members in School District 21 will be moved to the Exchange server during the first half of the 2008-2009 school year. At that time, if your phone supports Exchange, you will be able to access your e-mail via your own smartphone, though we will not be able to actively support you personal smartphones.

Tags: SmartPhones

A great question came in yesterday from a District 21 teacher:

"I recall hearing somewhere that Appleworks will no longer be available and that staff should be moving their server files to a .doc format.

I did a search in The Modern Pen and did not find an entry on this topic. So, I have two questions for you.

Am I preparing for the future or wasting my time? If Appleworks is indeed going away, do you have an expected date that files need to be converted by?"

Way back at the beginning of the year, this was discussed during the Road Show, but only at certain venues. So, here's the full scoop. Appleworks was last updated with version 6.2.9. This version was released on January 14, 2004. Officially, the product reached its end-of-life status on August 15, 2007. What does all this mean? Well, Appleworks still works--even on OS 10.5 Leopard, but Appleworks will no longer be installed on new Apple computers in District 21 or anywhere.

So, at some point, Appleworks documents may not open on newer software.

Converting to .doc format documents, the basic format of Microsoft Word until recently will allow you to open your documents for a long time in lots of different software, including Microsoft Word on a Mac or on Windows, Apple's Pages on a Mac, OpenOffice on Linux, Mac, or Windows, or NeoOffice on a Mac, among others.

There are lots of ways to convert your documents, and in most cases, you will need to do a little fine-tuning of the new Word document. The easiest and most controlled way is often to have Word and Appleworks both open. Go in to your Appleworks document, and choose the Select All command from underneath the Edit menu bar. Then, copy. Now, go to Word, and go to Edit > Paste. Then, do your fine-tuning.

Alternatively, you could download and try the Magic Word Converter from local guy, Nick, an IT colleague in another area school district. This cool little application will convert word processing and spreadsheet documents from Appleworks to Word. It will not convert drawing documents. For those, you have a choice--re-do them or risk hanging on to them in the hopes that there will always be a machine/software that can open the documents.

So, this summer, you might consider beginning to transfer your important, old documents from Appleworks to Word. Then, as you start planning for and working on next school year, please do not use Appleworks to create new documents!

Did you know that you can "right click" on a Mac just like on a PC? When you do, a specific sub-menu will pop (which varies by software) like that pictured below.

So, how do you "right click" on a Mac? If you have a USB, two-button mouse, that can be plugged in to the Mac and used as we do throughout our schools. Then, just click on the right button and the menu will pop up. If you have a one-button mouse or are using a Mac laptop, you can hold down the control key (ctrl) and then click the mouse button. This combination also functions just like a right-click. Try it, and see what hidden menu options you discover in your most frequently used software programs.

(This entry was adapted from an e-mail sent to all District 21 staff members on August 20, 2007.)

Recently, we have once again faced an increase in the number of inquiries by District 21 staff members about the receipt of unwanted e-mails in their District 21 Inbox.

What is Spam?
While we ought not yet be convinced that Wikipedia, the Internet's communal and editable encyclopedia is the best source of students to gather information, it is the perfect place to find general technology definitions of something like spam. In a nutshell, spam is the e-mail version of junk mail. Of course, the Internet is far-less regulated than what comes through the United States Postal Service as well as being far more anonymous and far more international in scope. This combination makes the Internet fertile ground for unseemly activities. For more information on spam, see the Wikipedia encyclopedia entry or the Wikipedia dictionary entry.

The Spam Filter
In District 21, we use a very powerful and popular spam filter. This computer appliance sits in "front" of our e-mail server in relation to the Internet, and it intercepts messages before they arrive on the e-mail server. Thus, the software on the e-mail server does not make any difference--for better or worse.

The Spam Filter does work
Below you can see charts showing the activity on the spam filter. The first two graphs show the e-mails that hit the spam filter during a 24-hour period. (The first one is from August 19, 2007, and the second one is from April 21, 2008.) The second set of graphs covers a four-week period (July-August 2007 and March-April 2008). It is very similar to graphs from all seven days of the week. Notice that the filter blocks nearly all of the e-mails! (All of the red e-mails are blocked!) Only a small percentage of e-mails come through, and of course, many of these are the spam that has made it to your Inbox. Frustrating? Yes--very!

How does the Spam Filter work?
We must set the filter on a scale of more to less restrictive. This is a balancing act. If we set the filter to be too restrictive, then the e-mails we want to receive will not come through. If we set it to be too permissive, we will receive all kinds of unwanted spam. As you can see from the charts on the attachment, the filter DOES block TONS of e-mail. Nevertheless, in order to receive e-mails from parents and colleagues, we need to live with the fact that some spam e-mails will come through.

What can you do?
First, do not sign up for unnecessary services with websites using your District 21 e-mail address. The more that your e-mail address is "out there" in cyberspace, the easier it is for it to be picked up by spam services. Second, when you receive e-mails from people you do not know, delete them--particularly if there is an attachment or if the subject tells you that you've just won some money! Finally, never open an attachment unless you are expecting it. (Those with student interns this year--Encourage them NOT to send their resumé directly to a principal as an attachment. Principals won't/shouldn't open them. Hey, Principals! Don't open attachments from prospective candidates!)

Some people think that documents are not compatible on a Mac or a Windows computer if they were created on a machine that uses the other platform. Nearly every feature in a basic Microsoft Office document (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) has been compatible since Office 1997 for Windows and Office 1998 for Mac came out--a decade ago! Sometimes, though, these documents can use a little extra help being read. One thing that always helps a document open correctly on any system is the extension, the period and letters that follow the document's title that you have created. Different types of files each have their own unique extension. Some familiar extensions include: .pdf and .jpg.

Each of the three major Microsoft Office programs has its own unique extension, too. These have always been:
- .doc - Word
- .ppt - PowerPoint
- .xls - Excel

In Microsoft Office 2007 (Windows) and Office 2008 (Mac), the default file format has changed to what is known as XML. The new extensions are:
- .docx - Word
- .pptx - PowerPoint
- .xlsx - Excel
The addition of the "x" DOES make a big difference. Files with this extension will not open on Office 2003 or Office 2004 machines, the standard version of Office used in District 21.

Of course, when you are creating and saving your work, you can use the "Save As" command, and choose to save the file as a ".doc" file rather than a ".docx" file. (See the picture below for an example of where you would make this choice in the pull-down menu in the Save As dialog box.)

There are converters for both Windows and Mac computers that allow one to convert a file from the XML format (i.e., .docx) to a standard Office file (.doc). Of course, using such files can be simplified if the original creator of the files simply saves them using the standard format. So, if you are working at home on a computer with a newer version of Office or if your students are doing so, learn and teach everyone to use the standard file to make collaborating and sharing such files easier!

For more information on using word processing, spreadsheet, or presentation software, visit AtomicLearning.com or call the Help Desk (847.934.8100--press 2).

Are you one of the many teachers in District 21 who speak English and Spanish (and possibly other languages, too)? If so, you likely communicate with students and their families in both English and Spanish. Of course, when writing in Spanish, there are additional characters that do not exist in English, and while it is no problem to include accents or punctuation marks when using handwriting, it is necessary to know how to create these same symbols in the computer--especially since leaving an accent out can dramatically change the meaning of a word or sentence and negatively impact communication with parents and/or students.

On both Apple's Mac OS X and Windows, there are multiple ways to enter these characters, the fastest and easiest (once you memorize it), is to know the key command shortcuts. A shortcut is when you typically use multiple keys at more-or-less the same time to quickly accomplish a task that otherwise must be down by using the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Click here for the PDF of these key commands, print it, and keep it nearby when you are typing in Español.

Does your e-mail Inbox overwhelm you? If so, Microsoft has some tips for helping you manage your Inbox. While these are great tips, and they do really work, they also require tools that are not available currently to all District 21 staff members at this point through the CommuniGate webmail interface we use.

We have begun migrating individuals to our new e-mail/calendar/contacts server, which is called Exchange. Exchange is fully functional with Microsoft's Outlook e-mail/calendar/contacts/tasks software as well as "mostly" functional, and fully compatible, with Microsoft's Entourage 2008 for Mac, part of Microsoft's Office for Mac suite. As we move to Exchange, District 21 staff members will also be able to utilize "Thin Client," which provides access to another computer through your computer. The picture below was taken on a Mac in District 21, and it shows a full screen view of Outlook in Windows. With software such as this, everyone can use the type of tools described in the article above!

As has been clear in recent weeks with the Consumer Electronics Show and Macworld, mobility in the form of laptop computers, is king in the computer world today. With more District 21 laptops employed now than ever before, and with more and more District 21 employees owning their own laptops, they can take their work "on the go"--to the public library, a friend's house, or the local coffee shop. While using wireless connections can be really exciting and very easy-to-use, it can also include increased risks to both your computer and the data with which you are working. To keep yourself safe and secure, check out these tips from Microsoft.

Did you ever wonder how to type with appropriate punctuation in Spanish, such as accent marks and punctuation that doesn't exist in English? If so, you need the secrets afforded by the option key in Apple's OS X operating system. (The same tricks can be done in Windows, but there are different ways to do them.)

The option key can be found along the same row as the spacebar. On a full size desktop keyboard, there are two of them, one on each side of the spacebar. (The command key is between the keyboard and the option key on each side.) On an Apple laptop keyboard, it can be found just two keys to the left of the spacebar. A picture of the keyboard can be seen below, and it shows you what all of the keys will produce when holding down the option key.

While I know that this has been passed around by our iTech teachers for some time, it was recently re-distributed at Cooper Middle School. Below, you can see the handy list of keys and what each key produces when used in conjunction with the option key. You can also print the PDF version here.

So, use the option key, and type what you want to type!

(Yep. That's how the computer people actually spell it.)

The listserv is an e-mail tool that can be used for communication to a large group of recipients. Listservs are designed as e-mail sharing tools. They essentially do the same thing that one could do manually, by hand-entering lots of e-mail addresses, but putting everyone on to the listserv makes this process much easier for the user.

In their most pure form, anyone who is on the listserv CAN post to the listserv, and everyone who is on the listserv receives e-mails posted to the listserv. Often times, listservs are configured to automatically "reply to all", and while this can lead to an embarrassing accidental response to everyone, the idea is that it makes it very, very easy to share communication with everyone on the list.

Listservs can also be structured to function more like "subscription services," allowing the listserv's owner to send e-mails out to an entire group. Again, this could be done with the owner hand-entering each e-mail address. Now, though, the e-mail recipients can sign themselves up--simply by e-mailing the listserv!

Who would have a listserv in a school district? Well, over the last few years, lots of listservs have been developed in District 21 (see picture below). There are staff listservs, parent listservs, and even one student listserv!

In the case of the staff listservs, these typically function as "electronic meeting places" in which anyone on the list can post to the list. For example, on the e-mail below from Erin Schlenger to the Whitman listserv, she provides other staff members at Whitman with some web-based instructional resources that they may find useful. Rather than getting a paper memo in their mailboxes, paper and ink were saved, and more importantly, the end user (recipient of the e-mail) can just click on the links and go directly to the websites listed.

Our parent listservs have been constructed as subscription services, providing school staff members another way to communicate with parents. We have listservs in action as E-mail Subscription Services for Parents from a Kindergarten classroom to middle school teams to entire schools.

Teams can use these to remind and update parents on general information, such as the e-mail below from Team Unity. At Riley, Cooper, and London, teams (and a Kindergarten teacher) are using these tools on a regular basis.

Likewise, Riley's Learning Coach has established an electronic Parent Subscription Service for GaTE parents at Riley. Again, the use of a link in the communication allows parents to go directly to the website of the National Association for Gifted Children with just a click.

At the school level, electronic subscription services for parents are great for sending out reminders about upcoming school events as well as for getting the word out quickly about last minute changes, such as a meeting or event cancellation due to weather. In those cases, while not everyone will receive the e-mail, those that do may communicate its contents to others via word-of-mouth, thereby helping to spread the word.

Things to consider...

First, there are significant ethical issues in that not all of our families have Internet access available to them at home. In fact, many do not have such access. Thus, other than those last minute cancellations, anything that goes home in electronic format should also go out in print to ensure that all parents have access to critical information.

Second, it is important to understand that only one person can "own" the listserv, and depending on the type of listserv created, that individual may be the only one who can post to the listserv. If teammates provide useful information to share electronically, this is not a significant burden for that person, but if this person has to type every message from scratch, this may prove unwieldy.

Third, once you start to communicate to parents using such a tool, you should do so with some regularity. It does not need to be weekly or on a perfect schedule, but a pattern should present itself to end-users in order to help them know what to expect and when.

Fourth, if you begin a parent listserv, you will need to plan a "launch" and market it to parents. Encourage them to e-mail one another to sign up. It is as simple as them sending an e-mail to: whateverthelistservisnamed-on@ccsd21.org. You will not need to hand-enter all of their e-mail addresses. You will need to encourage them to sign-up, though.

Fifth, if you initiate or are part of a staff listserv, there should be clear rules communicated to everyone on the listserv about how it is to be used, and these rules do need to comply with our Acceptable Use Policy.

Finally, it is cheap and easy! Using our existing e-mail system, it only takes a few minutes to set-up and use a listserv. If you have a need that a listserv may help resolve, contact Jason Klein.

During professional development activities over the course of this week, principals and teachers have been encouraged to begin getting in to the habit of taking a few minutes two-to-three times per week to look at the most recent postings on The Modern Pen. After skimming what is there, if something is relevant to the reader, that individual can read further and/or follow any related links. Like with most websites over the past twelve years of the world wide web's emergence in people's lives, this strategy requires the reader to remember to go visit the website. He or she must also know the website's address, or URL, or have it bookmarked.

The Modern Pen, like many popular websites as well as many blogs and podcasts, is enabled with an RSS feed, which actually turns this interaction with the web on its head. Through an RSS feed, the web comes to the reader, just like an e-mail or a phone call! Websites that have an RSS feed enabled will have one of the symbols below in the URL, or website address bar, at the top of your web browser window.

___ ___

So, what is an RSS feed? RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. A great description of it was produced through this short video by Common Craft. Check out the video definition of an RSS feed now.



Most up-to-date web browsers can also capture RSS feeds. For example, FIrefox comes with the BBC's Breaking News RSS feed built right in to the browser. Of course, it can be taken out, but it's a great way to keep up on what is taking place around the world. It is as simple as clicking on the "Latest Headlines" link in the Bookmarks Bar, scanning the headlines, and then, clicking on one if you would like to go read the entire story. The headlines simply come down like a traditional computer pull-down menu.



So, if you would like The Modern Pen's RSS Feed to be placed right in to your Bookmarks Bar, just click the RSS feed icon in the website address (URL) bar at the top of your browser window. It will ask you what you would like the title of the link to be and where you want it. (The title is set to default to "The Modern Pen RSS Feed," and its default placement is the Bookmarks Bar. (See below for an image of what this will look like when you click on it.) This will make it very easy to remember to check out The Modern Pen a few times a week and to do so!

If you have previously visited The Modern Pen, you'll notice some changes in its style and structure. While it is still a blog, a website which publishes individual entries--using categories to help organize them and putting the most recent entries first, the color scheme has changed and a category navigation bar has been added.

New colors--The color scheme has changed to look a bit more professional, make links noticeable yet more subtle, and to allow for easier reading and printing (though this is an online source and need not be printed).

Navigation bar--Along the top row of the website, a series of buttons includes the names of the main categories within the website. These categories also appear at the bottom of the sidebar on the left side of the page. Click either the button or the link at the bottom of the sidebar, and you will see all of the entries for a particular category, but only the entries for that category.



While so far, The Modern Pen has primarily focused on all-things PowerSchool, over time, it will become a central hub for up-to-date professional development information and links on all of the most important topics in School District 21's Professional Learning Community.

1. Use an up-to-date browser--Firefox works very well on a Mac and Windows. It can be downloaded for free here.

2. Download Quicktime (Mac | Windows) and Flash. Then, keep them up-to-date.

3. If you want to have the best viewing experience possible in most District 21 schools, watch in the lab with the white Mac Minis. Of course, these machines do not offer much in the way of sound with one tiny little speaker, so bring some headphones!

4. Realize that Internet-based video is watched on the small screen and is designed to enhance your understanding of a topic, concept, or process. This is why even websites from major multimedia outlets do not stream their video full-size. Even when they do, the picture quality decreases.

5. Web-based video provides 24/7 on-demand programming! This allows us to communicate more quickly and in a manner that can be more easily digested by anyone at any time--even over and over if you'd like!

Recently, there have been a number of requests from people wanting to know how they can archive sent mail using the District’s CommuniGate Pro webmail system. If you want to do this, please remember that you are still limited to only 50 MB of space in all of your mailboxes (and that includes attachments). So, from time-to-time, you will still need to clean out your mailboxes.

Open the PDF instructions!

Since last night, we have been working to move the District 21 website over to a new server at the Net56 Data Center in Palatine. We will now begin the process of migrating our buildings to this server, too. This new web server will have a number of benefits, including:

Improved Back-Up Capabilities, which will increase uptime in the event of a power outage, hardware issues, or other calamity
24/7 FTP Access for Webmasters, which will likely increase the frequency of website updates--particularly for components such as this blog.

Increased Bandwidth to the Internet, which will enhance our ability to share audio and video with staff and community members beyond our school network and outside the school day.

Support for Future Website Improvements, which will allow us to enhance our websites with future components that require infrastructure and support that we are unable to provide on our own as a school district

While we will not be engaging in any type of overhaul of the District 21 website during the 2007-2008 school year, we will begin to update certain pages more frequently as well as begin the process of eliminating outdated pages. Likewise, this blog will be regularly updated with tips for District 21 staff members, who should check back frequently. As a matter of fact, there will likely be a number of posts in the coming week as items are added that have been held in anticipation of this server move!

AtomicLearning.com is a great resource for students and staff members in District 21. It is a subscription service that is available at low cost to the District, and 24 hours-a-day and 7-days-per-week, their topical videos on demand showing how to do a wide variety of tips and tricks! The videos actually show the computer screen, and as one watches, the mouse moves around while the narrator describes exactly what is happening and why!