Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Fine Tuning the Budget & More!
What's small, expensive, requires electricity, can do amazing things, and you feel like you just can't live without? Probably something we are considering for our Carson Elementary Technology Budget! But alas, there is only so much funding available to make the dreams come true. Enter the Technology Planning Team. We have been dreaming about great possibilities, fantastic opportunities, and imagining 21st century teaching at its technological peak. So, how do we determine which ones, what for, how many, and ultimately how much? We prioritize! Our budget proposal spreadsheet has been taking on new form as the list has been refined, revised, and, yes, expanded! OK, so we know there is not enough money to do it all, but we will be ready to make it work to meet the needs of our newly forming school community!
What's next you may ask?
Task #1: Follow up on several items that need bids, quotes, or further info for consideration.
Task #2: Get out to a few new school sites to see what else there might be that we have not envisioned in our imaginary journeys through the new Carson.
Task #3: Draft the principal letter for initiating the Panasonic Grant application. There is a lot to consider here as we develop a program that will surely be a central conveyer of the spirit and enthusiasm of the Carson Coyotes!
Click below to access the latest cost proposal spreadsheet...
Google spreadsheet!
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Planning & Budgeting
Kid Witness News
Panasonic provides grant opportunities for schools to run a KWN (Kid Witness News) program. Please review the web site below and share your thoughts about us getting a grant application under way right now. Currently Maplewood, Brouillet, and Firgrove have active grants with the KWN program in our district. It would be great if we could get this program in place to start off the year, but I'm not sure if they will let us get it together while Carson is under construction.
http://www.panasonic.com/meca/kwn/index.html
Please share your thoughts and interest about pursuing the grant in the comments section.
Working Tech Budget
I have done a little work putting costs together on our tech budget planning Excel chart. Please go to the file download page and download the latest Carson Elem.xls document. Once you open it, there are three views (bottom left corner) that show varied proposed costs for different student workstation combinations. I need to meet with Chris Tillman for ITC to get prices for the yellow areas. Also, the budget does not include tax at this time. Please review carefully and let me know of any errors or omissions. I have not made a budget with proposals for a combination of desktop and laptop machines for classrooms or considered the needs of various grade levels. Definately lots more for us to talk about soon.
http://homepage.mac.com/erdly/FileSharing2.html
I really like the idea of ceiling mounting a bright high lumens video projector in the cafeteria area to project on the large screen on the stage. I am sure the contracters will need to know about this soon for wiring purposes so we will have to think through how and where we want access for hooking up a laptop or DVD player to the system. Sound access should also be located at the same source. We can look over the plans for that area at our next meeting. I will post some proposed dates as soon as I can meet with Chris Tillman and get some more of the costs filled in on the budget proposals.
Panasonic provides grant opportunities for schools to run a KWN (Kid Witness News) program. Please review the web site below and share your thoughts about us getting a grant application under way right now. Currently Maplewood, Brouillet, and Firgrove have active grants with the KWN program in our district. It would be great if we could get this program in place to start off the year, but I'm not sure if they will let us get it together while Carson is under construction.
http://www.panasonic.com/meca/kwn/index.html
Please share your thoughts and interest about pursuing the grant in the comments section.
Working Tech Budget
I have done a little work putting costs together on our tech budget planning Excel chart. Please go to the file download page and download the latest Carson Elem.xls document. Once you open it, there are three views (bottom left corner) that show varied proposed costs for different student workstation combinations. I need to meet with Chris Tillman for ITC to get prices for the yellow areas. Also, the budget does not include tax at this time. Please review carefully and let me know of any errors or omissions. I have not made a budget with proposals for a combination of desktop and laptop machines for classrooms or considered the needs of various grade levels. Definately lots more for us to talk about soon.
http://homepage.mac.com/erdly/FileSharing2.html
I really like the idea of ceiling mounting a bright high lumens video projector in the cafeteria area to project on the large screen on the stage. I am sure the contracters will need to know about this soon for wiring purposes so we will have to think through how and where we want access for hooking up a laptop or DVD player to the system. Sound access should also be located at the same source. We can look over the plans for that area at our next meeting. I will post some proposed dates as soon as I can meet with Chris Tillman and get some more of the costs filled in on the budget proposals.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Tasks 1,2, & 3
Ok, so after meeting last week, $187,000.00 (with all those zeros) doesn't seem so much anymore. But thanks to the great tech subcommittee team consisting of Jo Ann, Cherie, Amber, Lisa, and myself, I think we will build a well planned expense plan that will handle the deployment of our tech needs. I am trying to figure out a way to link our excel file list of technology items to this blog, but worst case, I will send to the committe via email for additional brainstorming for additions, expansions, and possible deletions, although I think we should wait on cutting things until we prioritize the needs.
Right now lets be thinking of a date to get together soon. The teamwork and collaboration group is meeting this Tuesday after school, but I am unable to do so because of a Pope/ERHS meeting conflict. How about this Wednesday or Thursday afternoon? We could always meet at portable city behind ERHS on those days or I could hussle down to the valley, maybe at ESC or Stewart (Sandi, is there a good meeting space there?) by 4:15. Please reply with your thoughts and which location(s) works best for you.
Things to have in mind for the meeting:
- let's think about our essential questions for prioritizing our list so far. ex. maximizes student learning; essential management technology; offers essential support for improving classroom instruction, assessment, and/or differentiation for accommodating all students
- software and infrastructure needs of items on our list
- training and support for items on our list
- phase in plans for some high cost items (how would we fund the later phases?)
I am going to put a web page together for Carson documents that you can access to download. Try the following web address:
http://homepage.mac.com/erdly/FileSharing2.html
Let me know if this works out or not. We'll keep trying! Hopefully we'll be smarter than the fox in the photo above!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
What Carson Has...
Carson is designed so that every classroom will have a smart board, ceiling mounted projector, and a surround field (audio system). In addition, the building is wired for Closed Circuit Televison (CCTV). These items are included as part of the expense of building the school and so will not be deducted from our technology allocation.
What We Could Have...
The options are almost endless because we do need to stay within a budget. However, the real strength is that we have an opportunity to determine the role that technology will play in the building. It stands to reason that it should be a significant role due to the fact that it will be one of two buildings with the most updated hardware and capability to run every piece of software that has been adopted/supported by the district.
In the right hand column I will try to list teacher management/instructional programs that could be used at Carson. Two good examples include the Simplified Website Interface For Teachers (SWIFT) program this is supported by the district and that some teachers throughout the district are using, and School Notes. School Notes is a great parent communication tool. You can do a lot or little.
So what do we have to work with? We have $187,000.00 (yes, all the zeros are correct).
What are our parameters? We are currently working those out. Some questions still to be answered for us next week so far:
* Does this include office equipment, networked printers (non-instructional technology)?
* If the Lead Team chooses to go with other options, does the budget only incur the hardware/software expenses or does it also include infrastructure requirements?
* The technology goal is currently a 4:1 (student:computer) ratio. If we go heavy in another direction then it will impact this goal. What is the built in ratio of the $187,000 knowing that other items are needed?
So who wants to be on the Technology sub committee? I am looking for 4 people total (Miles not included). Please let me know in the comments only if you're interested. I would also appreciate by the end of the day on Monday any questions you might have at this point. Your questions may bring something forward I am overlooking. I will then have an opportunity to bring it up next week with the facilities and student learning department before our meeting.
Our first sub committee meeting will happen on the sub day next week.
Carson is designed so that every classroom will have a smart board, ceiling mounted projector, and a surround field (audio system). In addition, the building is wired for Closed Circuit Televison (CCTV). These items are included as part of the expense of building the school and so will not be deducted from our technology allocation.
What We Could Have...
The options are almost endless because we do need to stay within a budget. However, the real strength is that we have an opportunity to determine the role that technology will play in the building. It stands to reason that it should be a significant role due to the fact that it will be one of two buildings with the most updated hardware and capability to run every piece of software that has been adopted/supported by the district.
In the right hand column I will try to list teacher management/instructional programs that could be used at Carson. Two good examples include the Simplified Website Interface For Teachers (SWIFT) program this is supported by the district and that some teachers throughout the district are using, and School Notes. School Notes is a great parent communication tool. You can do a lot or little.
So what do we have to work with? We have $187,000.00 (yes, all the zeros are correct).
What are our parameters? We are currently working those out. Some questions still to be answered for us next week so far:
* Does this include office equipment, networked printers (non-instructional technology)?
* If the Lead Team chooses to go with other options, does the budget only incur the hardware/software expenses or does it also include infrastructure requirements?
* The technology goal is currently a 4:1 (student:computer) ratio. If we go heavy in another direction then it will impact this goal. What is the built in ratio of the $187,000 knowing that other items are needed?
So who wants to be on the Technology sub committee? I am looking for 4 people total (Miles not included). Please let me know in the comments only if you're interested. I would also appreciate by the end of the day on Monday any questions you might have at this point. Your questions may bring something forward I am overlooking. I will then have an opportunity to bring it up next week with the facilities and student learning department before our meeting.
Our first sub committee meeting will happen on the sub day next week.
