**12-17-09+Agenda**


 * = [[image:Website_Dir__of_Tech_logo.jpeg width="180" height="170"]] ||= School District of Lower Moreland Township

__**District Technology Committee Meeting**__  December 17, 2009, 3:45 pm


 * __Agenda__** ||

· **// Murray Avenue //****// Inservice review //**// (Attachment) // · **// Best Practices in Video Conferencing //**** - 3:30pm - 5:30pm **  - Magpi Video Conference · **// Web Filtering Discussion //** As users become more reliant on Internet resources, our district will need to look closely at websites that impact our bandwidth. We estimate that 20-30% of our total bandwidth was being used for internet radio. For example. Here’s how it breaks down. One popular website, [|www.Pandora.com], uses a 128kbps audio stream. 1Mb of traffic is 1000kb We have a 20Mb internet connection which equals 20000kbps. If 50 users listen to a 128kbps audio stream, that’s 6400 kbps which equals 30% of our total Bandwidth (Continuous)
 * // Recap of November meeting //**

The district pays roughly $24000 a year for our internet connection So using internet streaming radio not only uses valuable bandwidth, but can cost the district about $7200 a year.

Employees and students all share the same internet connection. Please keep this in mind when using the internet. To ensure that unblocked websites are educationally sound, the District Technology Committee will review the needs for the future. · **// Web 2.0 Tool of the Month //**  - MCIU Educator’s Community – community.mciu.org  Murray Avenue – Foresight Testing High School – PASA Testing SAS is a collaborative product of research and good practice that identifies six distinct elements which, if utilized together, will provide schools and districts a common framework for continuous school and district enhancement and improvement. (Student Achievement: Clear Standards, //Fair Assessments//, Curriculum Framework, Instruction, Materials & Resources, and Interventions)  [|21st Century ICT Literacy Maps]  January 14, 2010 1:00pm - 2:00pm, January 21, 2010 3:00pm - 4:00pm , March 24, 2010 10:00am - 2:00pm Gerda Weissmann Klein, renowned motivational speaker and Holocaust survivor, talks about her // liberation from six years of Nazi rule, Gerda Weissmann clung to life at the end of a 350-mile death march. She weighed 68 pounds, her hair had turned white, and she had not had a bath in three years. She survived with courage, grace and dignity. // Get connected with netTrekker, the leading educational search tool trusted by millions of K-12 educators and students every day. netTrekker connects you to a wealth of standards-aligned digital resources and technology tools specifically designed for engaging students in a learning experience that supports their unique needs. Your free trial account is active through January 13, 2010; please feel free to share your username and password with anyone else in your district who would be interested in exploring netTrekker. We will discuss whether to pursue Nettrekker as a resource for our district at the next meeting.
 * // Act 183 2010 Grant Update //**
 * Comcast Digital Transition discussion **
 * Cable services will be limited to basic service
 * Three Digital Terminal Adaptors (DTA) have been provided to allow schools to continue to receive all programs and to tape those programs.
 * Computers with DTAs installed will not receive Video Studio broadcast information
 * What Comcast Cable channels are currently being used by teachers?
 * <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; msoansilanguage: EN; msobidifontweight: bold;">Assess staff and report by to Sue by 1/8/10
 * // Data Systems – Performance Tracker/Assessment Builder Update //**
 * // Standards Aligned System – SAS [] //**
 * // [|2010 Computer Fair] //**<span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; msoansilanguage: EN; msobidifontweight: bold;">March 15, 2010, 8:00 am – 2:00 pm
 * National Education Technology Standards (NETS) and 21st Century Learning **
 * // Upcoming MAGPI Events //**
 * [|Stand Up, Speak Up, Lend A Hand.] **
 * // Learning & Leading with Technology Magazine //****// - [] //**
 * // Nettrekker Free Trial //****// – [] //**

**//__ Free Trial __//** To access netTrekker, please go to [|http://school.netTrekker.com] and log in with the following: (*The above are case sensitive.) Using Fodey to Make your own Newspaper [|www.fodey.com] "Augmented Reality" Demo //** //** <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o January 14, 2010 <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o February 9, 2010 <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o March 11, 2010 <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o April 13, 2010 <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o May 25, 2010
 * Username: ** ** lmtsdft **
 * Password:** ** lmtsdft **
 * // Web 2.0 Tool of the Month –
 * // []
 * // School Concerns/Issues //**
 * // District Technology Committee Meeting Schedule //**

As the workplace changes and becomes increasingly global, today's students must be educated with a 21st-century mindset. Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills are no longer just "good skills" to have; they are increasingly vital to a 21st-century education—and students should begin cultivating these skills as early as possible. Attracting students to the STEM disciplines is the first hurdle, and retaining student interest in these areas is the second. But once student interest in STEM-related fields is established, they will discover they are on a successful path not just for higher education, but for the workforce as well. **__ Video games take bigger role in education __** Thu, Dec 10 2009 By John Gaudiosi RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Teachers trying to get students interested in molecular biology or space now have a new tool -- video games.
 * __ Did you know? __**

As more children grow up playing video games, educators are partnering with game developers and scientists to create new interactive experiences for the classroom. A trio of new games were developed to make subjects like world culture, molecular biology and space exploration more accessible and fun for young minds. According to a new "Kids and Gaming 2009" report from The NPD Group, among all children in the United States aged 2-17, 82 percent, or 55.7 million, are currently gamers. Of these gamers, 9.7 million are aged 2-5, representing the smallest segment, while 12.4 million are aged 9-11, making up the largest segment.

Just as kids have embraced music videogames like Activision's "Guitar Hero 5" and MTV Games' "The Beatles: Rock Band" and sports games like Electronic Arts' "Madden NFL 10" and "FIFA 10," educators and researchers are hoping games like "Immune Attack," "Discover Babylon," and Virtual Heroes' "Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond" will engage and educate youngsters. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) game developer Escape Hatch Entertainment created "Immune Attack" to plunge 7th through 12th graders into the microscopic world of immune system proteins and cells. The goal of the game is to save a patient suffering from a bacterial infection. Along the way, players gain an understanding of cellular biology and molecular science. "This is a first-person shooter in which the objects you need to activate with your ray gun are proteins on the interior surface of the veins," explained Melanie Ann Stegman, PhD, a program manager at FAS. "This integration of molecular science with the game took a big collaboration between scientists at Brown and our game designer." Stegman said data from kids who played the game show that they're picking up much more than just vocabulary.

Students are learning intuitively how the cellular world works, including complex concepts like the functions of Monocytes and the molecular interactions among human complement factors and bacterial surface proteins. A sequel is already in development for next year. "As long as games are designed to be engaging, exciting and competitive I think they can be easily tailored toward educational purposes," said Tad Raudman, a science instructor at University Preparatory School in Redding, California, whose students played "Immune Attack." "Approximately 10 percent of lifetime learning happens in the formal (K-12)educational setting. If games are played several hours a week on average, they can have a significant outcome on learning in both formal and informal settings."

The FAS also worked with UCLA's Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative and the Walters Art Museum to create "Discover Babylon," a game aimed at 8 to 12 year-olds that teaches about the significance of Mesopotamia in world culture using library and museum objects. "Quality videogames are very important in education because they reach some students who otherwise could not be taught," said Clara J. Heyder, physiology and pathology teacher at Bayside High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. "Cideogames encompass visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning which are very important for learning." On January 18, serious games developer ARA/Virtual Heroes will release a free downloadable prototype game called "MoonBase Alpha," which has been designed in conjunction with NASA engineers and astronauts to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education to students across the United States. The first-person perspective game thrusts players 30 years into the future and requires players to team up and use real match and scientific thinking to overcome challenges that astronauts might one day face. "MoonBase Alpha" is a free predecessor to a new massively-multiplayer online game, "Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond," which will be released later in 2010. Jerry Heneghan, founder and CEO of ARA/Virtual Heroes, said the game will be an immersive platform, allowing multiple curriculum modules for teachers to incorporate the game into learning about science, technology, engineering and math for both the classroom and at home. "Students can pick a role like a roboticist, science officer, commander, or space engineer and work as a team on missions to perform experiments, solve space problems, and save the colonies from a myriad of potentially catastrophic situations," he said. Melanie Ann Stegman, PhD, a program manager at FAS does workshops at conferences and in meetings as outreach.