ICTeD Services

Baby Boomers & Kodachrome

Am I getting old or what? I open the The Age here in Melbourne today, to find that the new year [and decade] is headlined by the fact that Baby Boomers [or at least the first ones] are now 65 years old! O.K. do the math, yes it’s true. 2011 minus 1945 [ the end on WWII] equals 65.
But the bigger shock was on last night’s news which was that the roll ever of Kodachrome had been processed. This is sad news! I know that I never missed the decline of the 78 rpm record, or the 8 track cartridge or Betamax. I do now miss the decline of Pianola piano rolls, now that I have inherited a player piano.
But Kodachrome! Deserving of having a song written about it, it was so high tech in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Every Baby Boomer will remember being bored witless by the family slide nights, particularly if you had a uncle with a 35mm camera and enough money to afford those yellow boxes of Kodachrome. If you were really lucky he may have been on a trip to Europe and was prepared to show you all those slides at one sitting. Kodachromes from a moving bus or train were a particular highlight.
But hang on didn’t I go to Europe in the mid 1970’s? Didn’t I take endless Kodachrome slides? Yes I confess I did, but they are still in those little yellow boxes in storage somewhere, just waiting to be converted to jpgs with one of those little slide converter devices [ZOMG!]
For the historical record this is me captured in Kodachrome, out the front of my old house, probably on the way to Sunday School, circa 1959.

Links to the Kodachrome and its sad passing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZpaNJqF4po
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12095771
http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/07/23/128728114/kodachrome http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1343015/Last-roll-Kodachrome-film-developed-digital-revolution-brings-75-years-camera-history-close.html

What’s Burning in eLearning? Session 5 - “Zen and the Art of eLearning Maintenance”

Thanks to my guests Christian & Alvin for participating in this session. Unfortunately we had no other participants, however, we went ahead anyway. Fast forward through the first seven minutes. There is some really important information in this recording for all DEECD ICT Coordinators

Recording Link: [For optimum success here copy and paste this link into your browser [ Firefox works well]. rather than clicking on the link. You should be asked for your name and an email address to access the recording]
https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2010-08-17.2335.D.F6C8A4E7C96D1C9DD2FDBCA9E43F5B.vcr&sid=2007026

Key Questions
• What are the technical resources and support that DEECD offers its schools?
• What is the DEECD TSSP program all about?
• How can schools supplement these technical resources and support if they have further technical needs? 

My Guests:
Christian Enkelmann, Project Manager, eduSTAR, DEECD ITD
Alvin Prasad, Senior Service Delivery Manager, TSSP, DEECD ITD

 • The DEECD TSSP Program
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/ictsupportservices/tssp/ 

• The objectives of Technical Support to Schools Program are to:
• Assist schools with their technical support responsibilities through the provision of specialist technicians to meet the more complex technical support needs, as well as additional funding for routine and operational support;
• Ensure that enhanced learning outcomes are achieved through the effective use of and reliable access to learning technologies in schools;
• Free up teachers for teaching, rather than maintaining computers and associated infrastructure;
• Help develop a solid base for regional skilled technology support throughout Victoria, including the creation of over 300 new jobs for specialist technicians.
• Provide around 250 jobs (about 100 new jobs) to provide routine and operational support in schools 

Questions for Christian & Alvin

• How many TSSP’s are there?
• How are they chosen? 
• Who are they responsible  too? 
• What is a Service Delivery Manager [SDM]? How many are there? [Do TSSP Cluster Committees still exist?] 
• Can schools liaise with their SDM? 
• How can SDMs be located contacted? 
• Should TSSPs have skills in Win / Mac / Linux? 
• What professional development opportunities are there for TSSPs? 
• What responsibilities do schools have in relation to TSSPs? 
• Is there any other technical support schools can get from DEECD ITD? [What is the DEECD Service Desk]
• What if schools require further technical support [either high end or low end]? 
• The DEECD ITD Techroom. While this is primarily designed for technicians, is it of any use to schools [ and ICT Coordinators in particular]? 

• Questions on Notice: Panel Discussion
• Whose job is it to do the technical support at the back end of the Ultranet? 
• What are some ways to foster good relations between a school and a TSSP? 
• What are the tasks expected of a TSSP? Who should organise these? 
• If the relationship between a TSSP and a school deteriorates what should ideally happen?

• Where to now?
http://guidetoinnovation.ning.com/forum/topics/whats-burning-in-elearning-the
• View resources related to this session and the link to the recording. 
• Add your opinions to the discussion board on The Educators Guide to Innovation Ning.

Links from the session provided by Christian & Alvin
DEECD Edumail login & password required]
The eduSTAR Website 
https://edugate.eduweb.vic.gov.au/SERVICES/IT/ITSERVICES/EDUSTAR/Pages/default.aspx
Webcasts etc for DEECD technicians
https://edugate.eduweb.vic.gov.au/Services/IT/ITServices/eduSTAR/Pages/WebcastsandTraining.aspx
https://edugate.eduweb.vic.gov.au/Services/IT/ITHome/Pages/default.aspx

Ultranet CSG Help Desk 1300 331 955

Tech Road Test: Apple Remote Desktop 3.

If you are a system administrator with a lot of macs, Apple Remote Desktop is a great tool. I've used version 2 for years to shutdown computers, send out packages, monitor usage, deal with tech problems remotely, remotely access the XServe [10.4.], generate logs etc.. However, this year I started teaching in a lab of 30 iMacs and ARD became even more important. [ARD 2 works up to Tiger clients, but I had to get ARD 3 when I upgraded to Leopard clients].  The room I teach in, is 10m long x 6m wide and with primary school students and 20" iMacs it is impossible for them to see the digital projection screen at the front of the room.

Consequently, this could mean students leaving their seats, walking to the front of the room, sitting down, watching my demonstration projected on the screen, then going back to their seats etc. What a waste of time! The better alternative, and the one which was preferred by most of my students in the online survey at the end on semester one was screen sharing. With ARD it is easy to take over your students' computers with your screen to demonstrate a skill etc.. It is also great to share a student's screen with the class to show great work samples. Beware though, the ARD function of being able to lock everyone's screen, while I went on and on about something was highly unpopular with my students!

[As with any software recommendations in my blog, what I write about is my opinion only and I take no responsibility for anything going wrong with your computer, server, network etc.. Please read the conditions and product disclosures and EULA for each application. Always exercise care and caution!]

Tech Road Test: Flip Cameras vs. iPods to Create Content for iWeb

I had the students in my group at eTrain 2008 using Flip cameras and iPod Nanos [the model before the one released last week] with Belkin TuneTalks. The content from the digital video and soundfiles was then used as part of a website they made using iWeb. Both the content made with the Flips and the iPods was made in a outside location [at a children's farm]. The video was then edited in iMovie HD 6 and the soundfiles were edited in GarageBand 3. Here's and example of what the Flip can do.

The students much preferred using the Flip cameras and while these are a sensational tool for education the sound was not as good the audio recorded on the Nano/TuneTalk. But compare for yourself. Here's one of the Flip movies and here's a podcast recorded on the Nano/TuneTalk. [it's the same farm worker being interviewed in both]. Obviously both tech tools have a place and they both provide great content which can be dumped in iWeb. But with the group of kids I had, the Flip camera won the engagement stakes hands down!