My favorite first grade teacher asked me last week if I knew of any good tech money available to teachers. She has iBooks in her room, but they’re definitely showing their age. Working in a school district where sustainability is a huge problem, there’s no plan for her school to replace them. So if she wants updated equipment, she’s on her own.
I asked the network, and they responded. This is the time of year when lots of opportunities are available. Here are a few options:
Best Buy Teach Awards: The Best Buy Teach Award program recognizes creative uses of interactive technology in K-12 classrooms. Winning programs focus on kids using technology to learn standards-based curriculum, rather than on teaching students to use technology or educators using technology that children aren’t able to use hands-on. Teachers can apply for $1,000 – $5,000, which is awarded in Best Buy gift cards. Additionally, 15 projects serving 9th grade students will be awarded $10,000 each as part of their new @15 philanthropic focus. The application deadline is October 12, 2008.
Kids In Need Teacher Grants: The purpose of the grants is to provide funds for classroom teachers who have innovative, meritorious ideas. Your project may qualify for funding if it makes creative use of common teaching aids, approaches the curriculum from an imaginative angle, or ties nontraditional concepts together for the purpose of illustrating commonalities. Innovation and merit account for 40% of the evaluation. The grant amounts range from $100-$500, and they won’t buy computer hardware. But if you need some software, or consumable supplies, this might be a good source. The application deadline is September 30, 2008.
Toshiba America Foundation Grants: The Toshiba America Foundation has separate grant programs for K-6 and 7-12 math and science teachers. Elementary proposals of up to $1,000 are due October 1. Secondary proposals of more than $5,000 are due on February 1 and August 1. Smaller secondary proposals are accepted throughout the year. The focus of the grants is to support innovative projects designed by math and science teachers to make their own classrooms more exciting and successful for students.
NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants: The NEA Foundation provides grants to improve the academic achievement of students in U.S. public schools and public higher education institutions in any subject area(s). The proposed work should engage students in critical thinking and problem solving that deepen their knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students’ habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection. Deadlines are October 15, February 1, and June 6. Awards of up to $5,000 will be considered.
Have a need that doesn’t quite fit into any of these? Check out Grant Wrangler. This is a clearinghouse of educational grants, awards, and competitions, organized by application due date.
Smart Solutions K12 – June 2009 Newsletter
June 3, 2009
Welcome Back!
SSI K-12 has taken an 7 month hiatus and has returned with a new look! We hope that you like the new version of our monthly newsletter and welcome your comments. Please email Jay White if you would like to be added to this newsletter: jwhite@smartsolutionsonline.com.
Education Technology Trends
Have you made using an RSS reader a habit yet? If not, the summer is a great time to get started! RSS readers are a great way to “subscribe” to your favorite websites; using an RSS reader allows you to save time while keeping up with the latest information in your field.
This quick video can help you get started: http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english.
Here are some of the interesting things that have recently come across our RSS Readers:
- 10 tips for Creating effective professional development in a difficult economy from the National Staff Development Council
- An online community where teachers can find partners for global collaborative projects from Free Technology for Teachers
- A new way to download YouTube videos from Free Technology for Teachers
- A recent article by Bill Ferriter in Educational Leadership, Learning with Blogs and Wikis, describes the potential of blogs as a resource for ongoing personal and professional learning and provides some advice for getting started.
Contact akelton@smartsolutionsonline.com if you have any questions. To find out more, please contact Abby Kelton.
SSI K-12 Blog
SSI K-12 Vice President Nitin Julka writes on our company blog. This month, Nitin shares a variety of useful sites and links. Visit the SSI K-12 Blog
Did You Know?
This spring, Ohio launched Ohio on iTunes U, a collection of digital media resources including educational materials, professional development resources, and student video. As stated on the eTech website, the project allows Ohio to share educational resources, professional development materials, and student videos which have been produced by members of higher education, the K-12 community, and community partners free of charge with unlimited access. Click here to read more. (More Details)
New Products and Services
In working with schools and districts for twenty-five years, it has been our experience that HR departments use ineffective home grown databases and have a need for HR software to significantly enhance business processes and improve time management. In response to this need, Smart Solutions has developed an HR Management Suite for Schools called SmaHRt People. SmaHRt People has been developed in partnership with Lakewood City Schools and will be offered as a web-based product hosted by Ohio ITC partners OMERESA, NEONET, AND LNOCA. There are 2 pricing options, and special discounts are available through July 1, 2009.
For more information or to schedule a demonstration, please contact Paul Karlin.
Recent Projects – A Typical School Year!
For our managed services clients, Smart Solutions keeps technology running. We monitor and administer the network, respond to trouble tickets,and generally make sure technology is available and working in classrooms and offices. When it comes to implementing NEW technology projects, Smart Solutions keeps very busy as well. This past year at just one of our managed services districts in NE Ohio, here is a list of projects we completed:
- installed laptops, projectors, and whiteboards in 51 classrooms;
- set up new PC’s for the entire Administrative and support staff;
- configured, tested, and put into service 2 Citrix servers and 2 file servers;
- deployed wireless campuses at the middle school and high school;
- assembled 3 new computer labs;
- built a new district website;
- updated the district’s outbound dialing system;
- and converted 50 Macintosh computers into thin client workstations.
Our managed services clients love the way we manage and complete projects on time and on budget.
If you are considering a new technology project this summer or fall, contact Doug Jones to see how Smart Solutions can help.
Company Information
SSI K-12 is the Education Division of Smart Solutions, Inc. Smart Solutions K-12 provides products and services to increase IT efficiency and enhance student achievement. Our team includes experienced educators, highly skilled engineers and technicians, and curriculum and technology specialists. Smart Solutions is a 25-year-old company with over 75 employees and offices in Cleveland, Canton, Columbus, and Detroit.
Contact Us
Nitin Julka
Vice President
njulka@smartsolutionsonline.com
216-765-1122 ext. 8370
Doug Jones
Managed Technology Services and Data Solutions
djones@smartsolutionsonline.com
216-765-1122 ext. 8380
Paul Karlin
E-Rate and Technology Solutions
pkarlin@smartsolutionsonline.com
216-765-1122 ext. 8371
Abby Kelton
Professional Development and Software Solutions
akelton@smartsolutionsonline.com
Random Sites and Links
May 13, 2009
I thought that I would share some of the latest random things that I have read or seen over the last few months.
Finance
I have tried to stay away from politics in this blog. But everyone realizes that we are in the midst of one of the worst financial crises in our history. Therefore, I think it is important to share two of the best articles that I have read about the current crisis in the last few months.
“In Praise of Primitive Finance” by Amar Bhide
“Making Banking Boring” by Paul Krugman
Design
This neat site, 99Designs, allows individuals to bid on logos and web designs. It is a really innovative Web 2.0-ey way to do design work.
Voice Chat
Voxli is an extremely easy to use internet-based group chat service. I believe it was actually developed for use by computer game players, but I think this service could easily become the next standard in phone conferencing. If you are using another application, your chat continues without disruption. Imagine combining this with Google Presentation and we have a distance learning platform.
The Greatest Product Demo Ever
An Open Institutional Learning Network
This blog post is an informative window into the future of course management and data management in a school district.
6th Sense
Awesome video from the Ted Talks.
Datasets
This web site has links to hundreds of datasets from around the internet. As a former data junkie in my previous life as a consultant, I get very excited when I find easy access to data!
Top 25 Social Enterprise Web Sites
Open Source Textbooks
I recently discovered this awesome web site of Open Source textbooks. I believe the publishing industry, particularly the textbook industry, is ripe for disruptive innovations due to technology. It seems highly natural for the industry to move towards a more individualized wiki-style organization rather than large centralized publishing companies dictating the only texts to be used. The school publishing industry will soon follow the fate of the encyclopedia market.
University of Chicago 6to16: College Success for More Urban Students
April 22, 2009
My friend is a Consultant, and is currently working on a project called 6:16 College Success for More Urban Students at the Urban Education Institute at University of Chicago.
Here is a YouTube video of the program:
From everything that my friend described to me, this appears to be one of the most technologically advanced and innovative school programs that I have ever heard. I may not be getting the details of this program correct, but let me recap some of the ideas from our conversation.
Apparently, the goal of this program is to prepare Urban students for college. It is currently being piloted as a school based initiative, but the program is being designed to serve in a variety of situations including during after school programs, through community based organizations, or in the home.
There are many components to the program, including: Virtual Worlds; community mentorship; eLearning; Social Networking; and an advisory-based curriculum.
One activity is that students participate in a Virtual Game in which their objective is to best prepare your character for college. The purpose of the game is to teach students about the importance of college and socialize them to soft skills necessary to “win” in the game of life. Students can see how College acceptance and readiness leads to life and career success.
The premise of this game and the rest of the program is that Urban students have simply not associated the idea that getting into college is the path to success. Therefore, the game allows students to create and reinforce this connection. Once the connection is made, the students are better focused and perform better in their classes.
The results of the student’s game (and other activities) are also posted on a social network where everyone can evaluate each other’s results. In addition, the social network connects students with community mentors who provide real-life examples of people creating successful lives for themselves by getting into college and getting a quality education.
The program sounds fascinating, and I have never heard of something this innovative happening in any schools today.
Short Book Reviews
April 4, 2009
I wanted to post short reviews on some of the books that I have read in the last few weeks.
Ready for Anything by David Allen
This book is an easy read! It is a great book to read in a few hours to refresh your personal productivity strategy. Even if you do not follow Getting Things Done to a t, Ready for Anything will have insights for you. There are also a bunch of great quotes along the margins throughout the entire book.
Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
One of the weird things about this book is that along the back cover, it states that Gladwell is the author of two of the most influential books of our time, Blink and Tipping Point. I read Tipping Point, and read book reviews about Blink. I found it a bit pretentious to claim that your own book was one of the most influential books of our time.
Outliers was a creative idea taken too far. The original nugget of an idea is that an individual’s success is somewhat a function of his or her unique ability, but mostly a function of the unique time, place, and context of where this individual was born. Gladwell gives a lot of interesting examples of this phenomenon.
The problem with this book is that it was boring. Once you read the first few chapters, there was really no benefit to reading the entire book. In fact, once you have read my summary, there is probably no need to read anything else.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
My top 3 business books of all time are:
- Feiner Points of Leadership by Michael Feiner
- Getting to Yes by
- and Getting Things Done by David Allen
7 Habits has now claimed the top position above all 3 of these books. It is difficult to describe how transformative an experience it is to read this book. Covey does it all. He is able to tie together fundamental negotiations, leadership, values, principles, and day-to-day tactics and personal productivity.
The funniest part of the book is that it is very human and imperfect. Covey readily admits that he is unable to follow the 7 Habits, particularly the “seek first to be understand, and then be understood.” He admits his inability to listen. He gives the reader insights into some of the bizarre arguments that he has with his wife.
But this superb book about leadership in the voice of an imperfect man makes it an even better read. I highly recommend this book to all individuals.
Jump the Curve by Jack Uldrich
I did not like this book. I thought Uldrich is not technical enough to have any interesting techncial insights. But he is not too business/strategy minded either. I do not have much more to say about this one.
Crash Course on ASCD – My Day 1
March 15, 2009
I am one of the lucky few who is currently attending the ASCD conference in Orlando. ASCD is a “nonprofit educational leadership association that develops programs, products, and services essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead.” I am quickly learning that ASCD is the leading curriculum and professional development organization in the world. Apparently, they have a whopping 175,000 members from over 119 countries.
My initial impression of ASCD is that they “get it.” The conference theme was the excellent “Learning Beyond Boundaries.” There was also a focus on 21st Century Skills – and particularly how to inspire creativity in students.
I felt more comfortable at this conference than others ed tech conferences because it was centered around teaching and learning. Often times, education technology conferences seem disconnected from instruction.
The conference organizers have also been extremely friendly to mew media. The organizers created a Twitter tag, #ASCD09, and have been giving bloggers and members of the press equal conference privileges. The ASCD communications team is also doing their own live-blogging on the ASCD web site.
There was a variety of vendors at the conference including: technology; professional development; furniture; garment; publishers; and others.
The technology companies that attend ASCD are mostly established players with a demonstrated track record who are selling enterprise level solutions. The other unique aspect of the vendor crowd is that senior level executives were manning the booths that I visited.
While I only had the chance to attend one workshop today, I understand that they were a mixed bag.
The workshop that I attended was Borderless Learning: Using Technology to Connect Classrooms Worldwide. I was hoping this session would present a guidebook on “how to meet international partners.” Unfortunately, it went over the same tired Web 2.0 tools that I was already familiar with. One person asked the great question, “How do I connect with people in other countries?” The presenter’s answer was weak and uninformative.
I have been studying how to find international partner schools and the best examples that I have found are The Flat Classroom Project, the Global Education Collaborative, or Classroom 2.0. (There is also this great thread on Scott McLeod’s site with more ideas.)
One of my colleagues attended a session titled, Grading that Facilitates and Reflects Learning. The session was taught by Assistant Superintendent of Grand Island Public Schools, Stephen Burkholder. My colleague described the session as “excellent.” The overall idea was to stop using grades as punishments or as rewards – but instead to start using them to reflect what the students are learning. For example, instead of a grade for Reading, they may have rubric-based marks for Fluency, Decoding Strategies, and Comprehension.
Overall, it is wonderful to see an organization as large as the ASCD embrace global collaboration. Collaborative technologies create a wonderful channel to connect with like-minded individuals who are passionate about similar topics. Technology allows us to build Personal Learning Networks beyond boundaries. The ASCD is doing a great job of helping educators understand this trend and ready themselves for the massive changes underway.
Re-imagining the classroom
February 23, 2009
(FROM THE HP WEB SITE)
Re-imagining the classroom
The 2009 HP Innovations in Education grants for secondary school districts in the US fund school districts to launch innovative pilot initiatives that support the administrators and teachers responsible for student success in math and science in middle schools and/or high schools.
In the US, HP plans to award approximately 25 grants to public or qualified private school districts Each grant is valued at more than $270,000 in HP technology, cash, and professional development to support innovations in the following areas:
- Leadership Capacity – creating a network of school administrators and key teachers who implement innovative approaches to curriculum, instruction, and the use of technology to enhance math/science learning
- Digital Learning Environments – using technology to fundamentally redesign the learning experience in ways that lead to increased student engagement and academic success; can include innovations in online learning, virtual worlds, gaming for learning, and simulations
- The Secondary Student Design & Research Experience –making math and science real and relevant by involving secondary students in design and research challenges that address real needs in society; can include local and/or global service learning
- High-Tech Career Awareness – engaging administrators, teachers, and students in ways that increase awareness and interest in high-tech college degree programs and careers
Future of Technology
November 30, 2008
My friend wanted me to help him write some multiple-choice questions about the future of technology. This was my initial list of questions:
When will computers be able to pass the turing test (ie “If the judge cannot reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine is said to have passed the test.”)?
- 30 years
- 50 years
- 80 years
- never
When will we pass the singulairty (“ie. this would open up all sorts of new possibilities, including abrogation of the laws of Physics, interdimensional travel, and a possible infinite extension of existence (true immortality)”)?
- 30 years
- 50 years
- 80 years
- never
When will we be able to solve an NP-Complete problem (NP-complete is a subset of NP, the set of all decision problems whose solutions can be verified in polynomial time; NP may be equivalently defined as the set of decision problems that can be solved in polynomial time on a nondeterministic Turing machine.)?
- 30 years
- 50 years
- 80 years
- never
What technology is going to drive the next wave of search?
- Semantic Web technology. (ie. structured data)
- Natural language processing. (ie. computers “reading” text)
- Other? _______
But then he wanted me to create a list of questions that an average college student could understand. Therefore, this was my new list:
Will the majority of consumers move to web-based office apps (eg. Google Docs) within 4 years?
- Yes
- No
What % of the world will be using the internet in 4 years?
(Source)
- 20-25%
- 25-30%
- 30-40%
- >40%
Who will be the dominant technology player (bottom line) in 4 years?
- Microsoft
- HP
- Other______
Will IP based household devices in the consumer marketplace grow over 200 million within 4 years?
(Source)
- Yes
- No
What is your list of questions about the future of technology?
E-rate: More Important Than Ever
September 30, 2008
This is a guest post written by our Director of K-12 Operations and E-rate Expert, Paul Karlin
The country is facing serious financial challenges. Our nation’s school districts will experience the fallout through declining tax revenues and budget cuts. Will schools have to cut technology? How will our schools pay for their everyday technology costs, or keep up with technology changes that occur so often?
As 21st century educators, we recognize that technology is not a luxury or frill, it is a necessity. Thankfully, the E-rate program recognizes this fact, and helps schools cover their ongoing technology costs and infrastructure improvements in cases of financial need. The Federal E-rate (“Education rate”) program was started in 1998. It provides discounts of 20% to 90% to schools for typical tech costs such as Internet service and telephone service, as well as for the purchase and maintenance of network equipment. Eligibility for different types of products depends upon a school or district’s financial need. While it is common for all schools to receive discounts on, for instance, long distance service, only a small percentage of schools receive funds for hardware. Because E-rate funds come not from taxes but from the “Universal Service” fee on phone bills, it is a program that will not be cut – very important in today’s economic environment!
If your school or district is going through tough financial times, it is worth taking a close look at E-rate to see if there are ways to get more E-rate dollars, reduce local spending, and maintain or even improve their technology programs. Some entities are able to redistribute savings to areas of need. Many schools and districts maximize budgets in other creative ways that we would be happy to talk to you about.
Important questions to consider are:
Is your entity applying for all of the eligible products and services that it can? Surprisingly, many applicants do not realize that services for which they pay thousands of dollars are actually eligible for discounts.
Is your entity correctly filling out all required paperwork? As a federal program, E-rate is considered a pain to school administrators. But missing a date or filling in a form incorrectly can be very costly.
Has your free and reduced rate increased? Eligibility for free and reduced lunch is the measure used to determine program discounts. If your eligibility rate has increased, this means your entity is eligible for more money –- perhaps very significant dollars.
When the program first started, the $2.3 billion a year in funding for the entire nation seemed huge! Compared to the size of federal assistance to banks and other institutions, $2.3 billion seems paltry today, yet this program has effectively enabled our nation’s schools to connect to the Internet, join the 21st century, and to help address our current technology challenges.
Paul KarlinDirector, K-12 Operations
Smart Solutions
216-765-1122 ext. 8371
cell: 216-926-5997
pkarlin@smartsolutionsonline.com
Grant opportunities
September 30, 2008
John Schinker from Brecksville just posted this great list of education technology grant opportunities. Check it out!
Teacher Leadership to Effect Change in Education
July 28, 2008
Leadership is a major theme on most educator’s minds.
A typical example of school leadership usually involves an enlightened principal, or great superintendent – but rarely involves a great teacher affecting the school beyond their classroom.
Teacher leadership should move to the next level to include the question: how can a teacher effect change in their district?
I believe that institutional change will be driven by teachers who are committed to changing the culture of their districts.
It is no longer tenable for enlightened educators to act as silos of innovation. Teachers should target educational leaders, curriculum directors, superintendents, and boards to help educate them on the importance of 21st century skills and the role of technology in teaching these skills.
The ed tech blogosphere would benefit from more discussions about implementing change management programs and less talk about the latest gadgets or web sites.
An ideal school culture would award risk-taking and innovation in instruction. An investment in technology is often a tough, risky decision that requires genuine leadership and buy-in.
But leadership does not need to happen solely at the principal, or administration level. Leadership can function at the teacher level as well.
Educators are great leaders and experts in consensus building, aligning students around a vision, gaining political capital, managing conflict, and driving change. But, educators are typically not trained in applying these skills to effecting enterprise-level change. In essence, teachers should apply their classroom leadership skills to their entire districts.
The education sector can borrow from change management, turnaround management, and leadership classes from traditional business schools to learn how to apply these skills to district-level change.
Genuine leadership at the teacher level is the key ingredient to institute systemic, sustainable change in school districts.