Even more Powerful
It is official, we have upgraded to PowerSchool version 7.
Besides all of the great "behind the scenes" changes Pearson made (all Java, etc.) there are some great changes that Teachers and Parent/Students will notice right away.
Here is a video about the major changes to the Teacher Gradebook!
Also see this cute clip about the "Making of PS 7"
iLike the iPad for day-to-day
I attended the PSUG of Michigan Summer Conference in Battle Creek, June 27-28.
My friends from Brother Rice let me borrow a gen1 iPad (thanks Br. Rice!).
I used it both days of the conference and while not everyone agrees (see 10 Things Netbooks still do better than iPads), I found it to be an adequate replacement for carrying my notebook.
One of the things I kept thinking about during the conference was "wouldn't this be a great device to use if I was still in school..." Bingo! I think the iPad or a like device is only a year or two from changing students' lives.
Here are a few things I found:
- Middle School Math a Perfect Fit... (iPADModo)
- 10 iPad Apps that Preschoolers will Enjoy... (Examiner)
- Replacing a Pile of Textbooks with an iPad (NY Times)
Summer cleaning
We did a little cleaning in the Tech Services office this week -- cleaning that was years overdue.
Tasks: re-racking equipment, new cabling, new electrical. We did switch most equipment to 240v and we should see some reduction in temperature as a result.
Cyber-free Sabbath
Just read an interesting article from the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis about the pressures our "always connected" lifestyles can put on our ability to truly celebrate the Sabbath as a day apart from the week.
Could you go 24 hours without checking email, facebook or twitter -- let alone to repeat it again every week?!?
Regis in the news: Internet connection
St. Regis didn't get top billing but we did have a nice feature in the local Observer and Eccentric newspaper. click here for the article
The article references a bandwidth upgrade project we completed in August 2010 with Marian and Brother Rice High Schools. See the previous post here.
Since the connection went live earlier this year, we have only averaged 6 Mbps out of a possible 100 Mbps. Looks like we still have some work to do!
iPhone Confession app makes national news
I know what you are thinking -- you mean that I can now confess my sins to my iPhone instead of a priest? Nope. But this great new iphone app will help you prepare for the real thing -- with a real priest. Not bad for only $1.99!
There are other apps like it out there but none to my knowledge with an official imprimatur (permission from the Church) -- in this case from Bishop Rhodes of Fort Wayne/South Bend.
Read more at Reuters.com.
Regis LibraryAnywhere
Would you use the St. Regis School Library catalog more if you could search from your mobile phone?
Well the truth is you can view the catalog already but not in a mobile-accesible format.
Enter applications like Library Anywhere. I think we are going to look into this program which allows complete access to the catalog -- even reserving books. Currently available for iPhone and Android devices.
What if we even had a few iPod touches for the library so they students weren't tethered to the OPAC computer?
Read more about the app on LibraryThing.com.
Also see the product website for a live version of the app that you can try out.
Texting and Driving
This is a kind of public service announcement from AT&T about the dangers or texting while driving. It is done well but -- CAUTION -- could be a little disturbing.
Internal IP address migration …
Internal IP address migration is complete. All services and websites available. #christmasbreak
Status website
We have created a new status website! This website will show the status (up or down) of our main websites. Also, whenever a website is down -- visitors will automatically be forwarded to the status site. Of course we are hoping for no downtime!
You can also see some nice uptime and response time graphics.