The IMD LAN Operations team shut down the last of the Novell in January. The LAN Operations team gathered for the “closing ceremonies,” where Terry Chapman, Coordinator of LAN Operations, gave everyone a chance to shut down one of the final remaining servers.

Terry wrote the following eulogy for this auspicious occasion:

On January 20, 2011 at approximately 1:51 PM, the last GCPS Novell server was shut down. We converted the final Novell clients to Active Directory before the Christmas break. After monitoring for a few weeks to ensure the servers were no longer needed, we shut down the remaining servers. A big thank-you to all the TSTs and IMD School Support staff who supported the Novell servers for so many years in

our schools and a special thanks to the LAN Ops team and the Central Office Support team for keeping some very old Central Office servers running until we could upgrade the clients who depended on them.

IMD Connection Educate, Celebrate, Innovate

Winter 2011

IMD is very enthusiastic about the newly-launched Strategic Priorities campaign a movement to connect employees with the district’s strategic priorities. Over the next ten months, IMD leadership will continue to build connections between what IMD employees do at work every day, and the positive impact of our work on class-room achievements!

The Strategic Priorities for 2010-2020 are a reflection of the excellence and commitment that GCPS hopes to bring to both the school district and community. Each month, a new priority will be highlighted throughout the division. IMD employees can look forward to interactive discussions, creative visuals in the halls, and special communications to remind the staff of the qualities and characteristics that will continue to move us forward to our vision as a system of world-class schools.

As each priority is examined, we continue to ask every IMD employee to reflect on how work activities help strengthen student approaches to learning, where IMD activities are invested in larger processes such as bus scheduling, purchasing, or equipment management. The Strategic Priorities campaign helps IMD staff understand how we contribute to operational excellence every day.

In January, the focus was on “Parents and Guardians,” the target audience of the Parent Portal. The Parent Portal is a unique approach that combines student data, a secure portal structure, and several data and commu-nication tools for parents and guardians. IMD employees can take pride in many of the initiatives, like the Parent Portal, where our work contributes to making this prior-ity a success and minimizes the gap between home and school.

How We Connect

Novell Servers Retired

Terry Chapman shutting down the last Novell server

this issueP2Parent Portal + Survey

P3NetSupportSuccess

P5LaptopsEarning Dollars

P6MinibarHoudini

a publication of the gcps information management division

supporting instruction and administration through technology

Children benefit academically when parents and educators work together. For this reason, parents’ involvement in their children’s education is a priority for Gwinnett County Public Schools. By assessing parents’ current thoughts on the school environment through perception surveys, schools can get a better idea of how they need to improve in the area of family friendliness. The relative family-friendliness of a school that emerges from responses refers to how inviting it feels to the families of its students, community members, and volunteers.The act of conducting a survey is itself a parent-friendly message to parents that a school cares what they think. A survey gives parents a voice in articulating what works and what does not work in the particular school community as related to parent involvement. Prior to the 2010-2011 school year, GCPS provided paper survey forms to a randomly-sampled group of parents. While these surveys provided good results, they were costly and resource-demanding. A typical annual survey costs the district $16,000 in paper and printing, required scanning equipment, staff to process received forms, and yielded a 20% response return.

Thank goodness those days are going away! Recognizing an opportunity for improvement, IMD, in partnership with the School Leadership and Operational Support division, developed an online survey that provided a cost-effective technical solution through the Parent Portal. In September 2010, IMD adapted the survey form into an easy-to-use online survey, specifically designed to explore the

parents’ perception of their child’s school. On November 1, the online survey was available in English and Spanish, and both were introduced on the Parent Portal.

A fresh new approach to the perception survey and additional features were incorporated into this online option. Parents who logged in were greeted by a pop-up window listing available surveys for all the schools attended by their children. In the past, when using a paper-based survey, parents were asked to comment on only one randomly selected school. Today, parents can complete the survey for several schools each year. Another key design consideration was convenience. With the Parent Portal open 24/7, parents can complete the surveys whenever they choose. What about busy parents with multiple surveys to complete? No problem! “A parent could complete a survey at their convenience and if they had more than one to complete, the surveys could be done at separate times,” explained Michael Quast, Coordinator of Assessment Data.

As a result of the online option, GCPS received 16,533 responses, a 168% increase over the 6,179 responses collected in 2009. Not only did GCPS see a boost in responses, there were other key benefits, too:

• Flexibility – school survey lists were easily updated with recently transferred student school information• Improved Accuracy – no erased or smudged answer bubbles to decipher, and parents are alerted if they attempt to submit an incomplete survey• Faster Receipts – parent responses were compiled nightly and query reports were ready for distribution the next day• Green Technology – elimination of significant printing costs, postage, paper supplies

Ensuring success for all GCPS students is a monumentally important task that requires the cooperation of those with the greatest influence in children’s lives—parents and teachers. Time-strapped parents can provide important feedback to their children’s teachers, but they need a clear way to provide their insights. Through the successful collaboration of many teams, the online Parent Perception Survey enables schools and parents to work together, too, improving both schools and student performance!

NEW VENUE FOR PARENT PERCEPTION SURVEY

Delivering Tools that Support Teaching and LearningAs the levels and categories of technology within education continue to expand, the need for effective teaching and management tools increases. Computer-savvy students present several challenges to teachers who want to maximize the benefits of computer led instruction. Instruction through technology is difficult enough without ensuring students are spending time on assigned tasks rather than allowing them to use the equipment as an extension of their social life! Stepping up to the challenge, GCPS implemented NetSupport School v10.5 classroom management software in a few pilot schools to evaluate its effectiveness. This software has already transformed the teaching and learning experience in pilot schools’ computer labs.

How does classroom management software work? David Hayes, consultant in Information Services, answered that question: “NetSupport is used to monitor student activity, and to interact with students’ computers where necessary, both on an individual- and class-wide basis.”

NetSupport helps teachers improve the overall efficiency of computer teaching by centrally instructing students on their computers. Teachers maintain student focus by monitoring application and web usage, tracking student activity, and supporting the overall learning experience. The software is easy to use and keeps the students on task during lessons. Teachers can even lock computers to get the whole class’ attention if they need to.

Working closely with Jody Reeves, Director of the Office of Technical Education, Computer Science, &

Work-Based Learning, and with Mary Barbee, Director of Media Services & Technology Training, the IMD Information Services Department deployed NetSupport in five pilot

schools: Harbins HS, Mountain View HS, Hopkins MS, Cruise MS, and Dacula MS. Asked why school classroom management software is so important, Jody Reeves responded, “This software helps teachers keep students on task, as well as focused on the applications and

content relevant to their studies.”

With internet metering and control built into NetSupport, potential problems and distractions can be avoided, since students will only have access to applicable websites or certain pages at selected sites. According to Rosemary Lengsas, Business & Computer Science teacher at Mountain View HS, “One of the major benefits of NetSupport is the ability to turn the Internet off when it is not needed. From my experience, blocking the Internet removes a huge temptation and distraction for students.” Another benefit is the time saved by using NetSupport for launching applications or websites simultaneously on all student desktops. With educational budgets under increasing pressure, NetSupport will enable GCPS to maximize the return from the technology infrastructure already in place.

As teachers become familiar with NetSupport and make use of it in the classroom, they discover more uses for this tool. Rosemary Lengsas is clearly pleased with her NetSupport experience, “I expected to utilize NetSupport in my classroom management, but was surprised to discover how useful NetSupport is in my instruction.” The “Show” feature in NetSupport allows teachers to place the image of their monitor in a window on the students’ computer monitors as a reference to their own activity while students continue to work. What a nifty feature, especially for students who cannot clearly see the projected image!

Implementing a classroom management solution is not simply about providing the right software tools; equally important is the coordination required to ensure all participants and computers in the school are managed and used responsibly. For this project, IMD staff delivered production support, documentation, testing, and training so that the schools could achieve the best results. Once the pilot is concluded, IMD will roll out NetSupport to all district schools.

NetSupport is only one tool to maximize instructional computer time. As the use of technology in education expands, IMD recognizes the need to distribute tools like NetSupport that will deliver a rich technology learning experience, while in a secure and high-performance

environment. As Rosemary Lengsas confirmed, “Many Business and Computer Science teachers are anxiously waiting to get NetSupport in their classrooms. They, too, are excited to utilize the features of NetSupport!”

Policy Corner

Q: A teacher asked if she or a parent could have an account on a photo-sharing site, such as Picasa or Shutterfly, that would be password protected. The teacher and parents would have access to the account. The teacher planned to take photos of class activities throughout the year, post them on the site, and let the parents choose which pictures to print.

A: Sharing student photos without explicit permission from the parents is not a good idea. Unless every child in your school has a Media Release form on file, then students whose parents do not wish to have their child’s pictures or work publicly distributed will have their rights violated. Even though this site is password protected and not public, allowing other parents to see pictures of potentially all school students violates the privacy of other students.

Q: Some science teachers in our school would love to produce podcasts to help their students with content related material. What are the GCPS parameters for uploading teacher video lessons to our teacher page?

A: At this time, there is not a standard “Podcast” set of guidelines, but any material posted on your website should be reviewed by someone designated by the administration, like a grade chair, administrator, or media committee, prior to posting. Podcasts or video-casts are just like any other resource posted on your website, and need to be appropriate and professional. Guideline on websites: Procedure P.EBCD - Web Site Development and Appropriate Use. See guidelines in Section IV

Q: A physics teacher wants to set up either a Wiki, blog, or Facebook page to help students with subject matter questions after school hours. It sounds like a cool idea to make the teacher more accessible for students who can’t stay after for help. Is there any specific direction that GCPS gives for this technology?

A: The smartest way to address this question is to go back to the need to moderate GCPS-sponsored content prior to posting for appropriateness. See page 2 in the March 2007 issue of the IMD Connection for a detailed answer: IMD Web Page -> Newsletters -> March 2007 IMD Connection.

Additionally, any content posted by the teacher should be conducted in a professional forum, which means that Facebook is not advisable. There are many solid blog options that are designed specifically for teaching experiences.

Retrofit Corner9,949 Laptops/computers installed2,501 Printers installed25,310 Students served63% High Schools completed

Thanks to everyone for the great questions. Lately, a lot of the questions received at Policy Corner have been on the subject of FaceBook usage. In the upcoming Spring 2011 issue of IMD Connection,

many of the articles will focus on FaceBook and social networking…its use, its abuse, and how you can successfully navigate its features. Stay tuned!

send your comments, ideas, and news to christopher wells via

lotus notes.

To access The newsleTTers online, go To

hTTp://gwinneTT.k12.ga.us/gcps-imdweb01.nsf/pages/

newsleTTers

at imd communication web page, click on “newsletters”

under the Quicklinks to access previous imd connection

newsletters

In 2004, the GCPS computing model was expanded to include personal laptops. This change gave teachers and administrators new flexibility and mobility to compute anytime, anywhere. Lightweight, mobile computers were easily moved around the classroom, and were portable for home use or to take to conferences. Laptops have become a way of life throughout GCPS, and the staff has grown quite accustomed to having computers available and operating 24-7.

As the initial laptops aged, however, warranties expired, and wear and tear on the laptops triggered technical issues and component failures. In 2007, IMD saw a drastic rise in laptop repair costs as these models came off warranty.In light of today’s economy, IMD is keenly aware of its role to be good stewards of the budget. Ken McClung, IMD’s Director of Customer Service and Support, examined several options to reduce laptop repair costs: extending the warranty on the laptops, continuing with outsourcing the laptops to a 3rd party for repair, self-insuring, and using IMD’s professional expertise to complete repairs in-house. At present, laptops are purchased with a 3-year warranty, which ensures teachers and administrators will have a quick repair that minimizes downtime if a laptop malfunctions.

Options to outsource or extend the warranty ranged from $210,000 to

$2.1 million annually, which is a steep price tag for a standard service. In 2008, Ken and his team developed a win/win process for the district. The team set two priority goals:1. Reduce laptop repair costs to the district

2. Minimize downtime teachers or administrators experience during laptop repairs

Using previous work processes specified in the initial warranty, teachers could wait up to a week, or longer in some instances, for their laptop and data to be returned while an external vendor conducted

the repairs. (If you have personally experienced this, you can attest to the crippling impact this has to your work and ultimately instruction!)

Ken and his team felt that this was not acceptable, and crafted a new process. An out-of-warranty laptop that needs repair is now transferred from EMTEC, our initial repair service, to IMD’s Customer Service and Support. Ken’s team then looks for a comparable replacement out of an on-site “pool” of laptops. These laptops are working or out-of-service machines that have been removed from a school as a result of a retrofit or single component failure. The teacher’s files, applications and software preferences are

expeditiously removed from the damaged laptop and installed on the replacement laptop. Voila … teachers are back in business within 24 hours! In most instances teachers are given an upgraded laptop to boot! Now, Customer Service and Support is able to repair the troubled laptop with the attention to urgent teaching and business requirements. By incorporating this new process, Mike Long of CSS confirms, ‘The cost of parts has been minimal, since most of the parts we used to this point have been taken from other laptops where only system

boards failed.’ In addition, CSS is seeing reduced failure rates, now that they are making the repairs themselves. This core repair team consists of Don Howell, John Summer, Mike Long and recently-retired Bill Stillwell. Their motto is “quality first,” and that is working to minimize interruptions for our teachers, staff and students!

So far, this repair program has earned $757,000 in realized

savings from the previous laptop repair costs. Now that IS a win/win process! These savings are used to fund new initiatives, increase services to schools and offices, provide TST substitutes, and other much-needed programs. Ken and his team are looking forward to celebrating the laptop that will equate to $1,000,000 dollars saved. Who knows, it may just be YOURS!

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Media Festival

The annual Gwinnett County Student Media Festival will be held at the ISC on Wednesday, March 30. Media Specialists from across the county will be onsite to judge student entries in categories ranging from video productions to podcasts. Winning entries will move on to the Georgia State competition, scheduled for April 29th in Clayton County.

This Spring on GCPS TV

The March edition of GCPS TV’s award-winning series “ParenTVision” features the Connect with Kids program The Digital Age. Facebook. Cellphones. Texting. Technology is the way kids communicate today and a new twist on the challenge of parenting and keeping kids on the right track. Hear from kids themselves about what they’re really up to and into online - and learn what experts say parents need to know to protect teens from others and their own behavior. Air dates and times: March 28-April 3 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Join GCPS TV for a special presentation of the ArtStage, featuring the Third annual Gwinnett County Dance Performance. Air dates and times: March 21-27 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

One of the few unfortunate things about getting a gadget present for Christmas is that the old gadgets potentially turn into environment-harming e-waste. Are you looking for an eco-friendly way to dispose of your e-waste? Then look no further! We’ve put together a list of ideas to either recycle or dispose those unwanted gadgets.

* Donate used (but still functional!) computer equipment to Goodwill* Drop off used electronics at U.S. Staples locations* Drop off used electronics at Best Buy locations* Donate to the National Cristina Foundation (www.cristina.org)

* Donate to the Nonprofit Recycling and Reuse Network (www.recycles.org)* Trade your computer in and get its used value towards a purchase

Many locations accept electronics for disposal without a fee. Some like Best Buy offer a Best Buy gift card where a fee is charged. Be sure to check with local stores before dropping off your gadgets in case there is a household limit per day. With so many disposal options, electronics should never be just thrown away. For more electronic recycling locations and ideas, see www.Earth911.com. What a great way to start a new habit for a better year!

Minibar HoudiniWord 2007 has an interesting feature called the Mini Toolbar. It’s one of those features you either love or hate…or love to hate. Here’s what happens: When you select text, Word displays the Mini Toolbar—right over the text you just selected.

If you are busy formatting, it can be convenient. However, if you are a straight-text kind of user and prefer to format later then the Mini Toolbar just gets in the way. Now, there are those who say “Just ignore it,” but why should we have to? If you don’t like the Mini Toolbar up all the time, you can turn it off as follows in Office 2007:

1. Click the Office button

2. Click Word Options

3. Click Popular in the left pane (the default)

4. In the Top Options For Working With Word section, uncheck the Show Mini Toolbar on Selectionoption.

5. Click OK

It’s so easy that you can turn it off while writing and editing, and then turn it back on when you’re ready to format. If you do that a lot, consider adding a macro button that toggles the option to the Quick Access Toolbar.