Photo by D.Gilmour

This Issue

Snow Report
 

Where should I save to?

Keeping USB data safe

Work Smarter with the new Outlook 

Glow Accounts

New in Glow

Literacy software for High Schools 

Apps Testers wanted

ICT Team

Team Leader
Karen Haspolat
01620 827137
 
Curricular Enquiries

Shirley Lawson
01620 827108
 
Edubuzz Website – www.edubuzz.org
David Gilmour
01620 827114
 
Administration
Suzanne Todd
01620 827130
  
IT Technical Support
01620 827205
 

Did You Know?

East Lothian's eduBuzz blogs are now getting over 1000 comments per week.

There are over 2600 registered users, contributing to over 1000 sites.
 
Over 3.5M page views are recorded each month, from all around the world.

USB Memory Sticks: Keeping data safe

Use of non-encrypted portable storage devices has now been disabled on computers in council offices.
 
Normal, unencrypted sticks can still be used in school with everyday learning materials and student work.
 
For anything else, especially if it might include personal or confidential information, you'll need an encrypted stick.

 Edit Google Docs on the go!

 

A whole new set of possibilities has opened up with the announce- ment that Google Docs are now editable on mobile devices – up till now only spreadsheets could be edited this way.

 
It might take a day or two before you see the Edit button in your mobile browser, though.
 
Read more, and watch some videos, on the Education ICT News site.

 Projector Support

 A projector support contract has been successfully procured and will come into effect before the end of term.
 
School staff will have a Helpdesk number to call if there are any problems. If the fault can't be identified and fixed over the phone, an engineer will be on-site within 24 hours. 
 
More details to follow shortly on the Education ICT blog.
 

Literacy support software for High Schools

 
Read and Write Gold is award winning software designed to assist individuals of all ages who require extra assistance when reading or composing text.
 
The software allows students to develop their literacy skills and enjoy greater independence.
 
All high schools have site licences, which means it can be installed on any PC or laptop and multiple pupils can take advantage of this additional support: 
 
  • check spelling on selected words, entire documents and as you type.
  • read aloud letters, words, or sentences as you type.
  • reads text aloud and simultaneously highlights the words and sentences on the screen
  • read text on web pages.
  • can convert text into WAV or MP3 audio files
 Please log a call with IT if you would like this installed.  (Note: High schools only)
 
 
 

SNOW HITS EAST LOTHIAN

Using ICT to Support Learning

 

 Despite the schools being closed for a week, pupils have been provided with a wide range of suggested activities, good weblinks, homework, revision advice and general contact from teachers via their school website.  Edubuzz has had 1827 posts and 2477 comments added, which is an average of about 800 'contributions' per day  – and 25,000 visits per day. It's proved to be an effective channel of communication for staff, pupils and parents.

 

Everyone who has a school email address is eligible for an Edubuzz account which will allow you to upload a post to your school site.  You can sign up today on the main Edubuzz page at the top right.

 

My Computer: Where should I save to?

 
Some staff are still a bit unsure about the pros and cons of saving files in different places, so tend to stick to what they know. Sometimes, though, that can be the wrong choice.
 
So what are the choices, and why does it matter? The month we'll look at the main options.
 
"My Documents": a place on your computer's own disk
Anything stored here goes into a folder on the computer's internal storage disk. That's a great place to temporarily store a big file, like a downloaded video, which you need to access quickly. For most other files, though, it's a bad idea, so it's not recommended. Files stored here:
    • can't be shared with people on other computers
    • are not backed up by IT, so can't be recovered if they become damaged or corrupt
    • will be lost if the computer is lost, stolen or replaced
    • will be lost if the internal disk fails, common when laptops are dropped.
    Network Drives: a secure, shareable space on a network server
    These have weird names, like "hqgilmd$ on hq-server1", and you don't usually see them on your home computer. So what are they? Network drives do the same basic job as the disk inside your personal PC, except that:

    • Instead of being inside your PC, they're part of a larger computer, and live in a secure computer room.

    • They're accessed over the network, so we can store and retrieve files from any networked computer in the school.

    • They're large capacity, always on, and backed up regularly.

    This makes them the right choice for information we need to rely on.

     
    Which network drive should I choose?
     As well as a network drive with a name like <username>$ on xx-server1, you'll see others with names including "staff" or "departments". The one with your username is for your personal files. The others are places to store files you want to share with others in your school.

    Working Smarter with the new look school email

    Did you know? The new Outlook version isn't just a pretty face: it now lets you create simple rules to take some of the drudgery out of handling your email. For any rule, you can:
    • set conditions: to select which emails it affects
    • add actions: one or more things to be done automatically
    •  add exceptions:based on content, size, date or addressees
     To get started, click Options (beside your name in the top right) and choose Create an Inbox Rule.
     

    Glow Account Management in your school

     
    Have you got your Glow log in details? 
     
    Each school now has a nominated and trained Glow ASM (Accounts & Services Manager) contact who will be able to provide you with your details or reset your forgotten / lost password. 
     
    Please can schools inform staff who their Glow ASM contact is.

    Good things to look at in Glow

     

     
    The Daily What News can be found within the External Resources on Glow.  Click on the  National Site tab on the left hand side of the front page  (note:  If your front page is Glow Light, click on News then National Site).  In the box titled Most Popular you will see the Daily What icon.
     
    Or use: http://shortlinks.www.edubuzz.org/dailywhat (Glow login required)
     
    It offers a range of current, topical news items in a variety of formats.  At the top of the item you have the choice of clicking on the What's More tab which gives readers a more in depth look at the same article.  Both versions are linked to Curriculum for Excellence outcomes and experiences; both offer suggested lesson ideas and extended activities.
     

     
    Again under the National Site, have a look at Glowing Thursday to see what events are scheduled o be aired through Glow Meet, the video conferencing tool within Glow.
     
    Pupils can watch a national event from their own classroom and can ask or type in questions too.  If you do plan to link up for an event, have a practice first to ensure that there are no technical hitches on the day.
     
    The very popular Scotland's Got Christmas Talent is happening again this year so put the date in your diary – 15th December –  and sign your class up at http://shortlinks.www.edubuzz.org/glowingthursdays

    Testers needed for Google Apps upgrade

    Would you like to help pilot the next phase of eduBuzz Google Apps? If you're fairly confident with the existing system, we could do with your help.
     
    We're looking for a few interested staff to start exploring the new services. There might be some rough edges at this stage: but the point is to discover them.
     
    Google's "Apps for Education" service is expanding to include additional useful services that up till now you had to register for with a personal Google Account. If you already use eduBuzz Google Apps, you'll have had an email to let you know this is happening.
     
    These include, for example:
    • Google Maps: create and share web-based maps
    •  Picasa Web Albums: online photo sharing
    •  YouTube: video sharing
    If you'd like to help with the pilot, please contact David Gilmour.
     

    Your digital images: size does matter!

    Do you recognise any of these symptoms?
     
    • Your slideshows take too long to load?
    • Your images take too long to upload to your blog?
    • Printing your documents with pictures in them takes forever?
     
    If so, chances are you're working with image files that are much larger than they need to be. Read on to find out what do about it.
     
    The more work you have to do, the longer it takes you. Computers are just the same; give them an easy job to do, and they'll handle it quickly. But if we're not careful, we can easily give them 20 times more work than we need to – and get those slow results. How can this happen?
     
    It's often because new cameras default to high-resolution images, often thousands of pixels wide, and over 1MB ( 1,000,000 bytes) in size. That's great if you need to print large, glossy photos – but we usually don't.
     
    We're often in too much of a hurry to change the settings – but, if we did, we'd save a lot of time.
     
    Set your camera resolution down to a low-res setting, (e.g. 640 x 480 pixels) and the images will be fine for classroom use in web sites, slideshows and documents. Often you'll hardly notice the difference – except n speed. For web use, an image of about 50 Kilobytes (50,000 bytes) is fine – a twentieth the size of a 1 Megabyte (MB) file.
     
    Tip: Set all the cameras in your school to default to low-res images, and everyone will share in the benefits of much faster printing.
     
    Benefits will include:
    • faster printing: there's much less data to be processed
    • easier manipulation: copying, uploading and editing become faster
    • faster camera work: you camera is ready for the next shot sooner
     Photo credit: Edtechie99 on Flickr