Minutes+Sept+29,+2010

**  Wednesday September 29, 2010   ** Members present:  Kyle Tammen, Heidi Dudley, Diane Frank, Mike Mahoney Kent Sauls, Matt Keenan, Jill Schrader, Kevin Keena, Barb Bolen, Mike Schreiber, Jentry Byleveld Staff present for “Tech Bytes” Robin Mitchell, Tony Winger, Bill Foster, Robert Eudaily  1) **   Linking Google Docs to Your Web Page   **    Kevin Keena did a demonstration on how to link a Google Doc on your teacher page so that updates to documents become an easier process versus having to go through the steps of breaking links, uploading new documents and then re-linking documents as teachers do now on the website. There are definite pluses to using this method if your document needs frequent updates. Kevin showed a marching band calendar list he created as a Google Doc that contains links to more Google Docs he created for that particular event. For example, if you click on Western Welcome Week, a document will pop up with specific parade day info for the marching band. While this may seem daunting to set-up, Kevin says once you have your page set-up this way it will make your life so much easier. Teachers who constantly have to relay and update information will get the most out of this feature. Kevin said he is glad to help anyone on a one to one basis and to contact him if they want to learn more. Kevin made a “Prezie” presentation (another Web 2.0 tool that he likes) that can be viewed by going to his main teacher page and clicking the link under “Google Docs Test Module.” 2) **   Student Google Accounts and lpsk12.org Site   **    Kevin, Heidi, and Diane helped with getting attending staff into the Google Apps site. Staff who attended this meeting that could not get in were staff that had not tried to access their Google Apps site yet. The district sent out a warning at the start of the school year stating that any staff that had not accessed Google Apps by September 15 would have their accounts disabled. Staff at this meeting that wanted immediate access and had not logged in to LPS Google Apps before were asked to contact Joe Burnham (Google Doc Support Specialist for the district) to reactivate their accounts.      Kevin’s Presentation and Google Apps access took up most of the meeting time, so looking at Google Apps and how to use it with students will be the topic Heidi will share for the next “tech bytes” at the October meeting.      3)  **   Moving Outlook Personal Folders to the Outlook Inbox and IE 7 and Java Updates    ** Heidi informed everyone about how the district is no longer going to use the “** Personal Folders **” part of Outlook to store saved email. At the end of this semester, the district will eliminate these folders. Any saved emails that people want from the Personal Folders will now be stored in the Inbox of Outlook. Heidi has some directions for how to make this move and is sending out a copy of these directions to committee members. Once members test them out, she can make any changes necessary before the instructions go out to all staff. Tech Committee members were asked to check on who within their departments still have IE 6 loaded on their computers(both classroom and office). She handed out a staff sheet for members to mark who needs ** IE 7 ** (IE 6 is just a blue “e” logo; IE 7 has a blue “e” with a yellow halo). Staff whose computers have not been updated to IE 7 have been having issues with viewing certain websites and watching videos (like You Tube). When members know who needs the update to IE 7, they can then either give Heidi or Diane the list, or direct those people to the IE update file that Heidi has placed in the teacher folder (** 0: **) under HHS>HHS-Technology. ** Java updates  ** were the last item mentioned. When members have their people do IE7 and Outlook checks and updates, they also need to go into the Java control panel and make sure that it is set to check for updates automatically. Heidi will have directions for checking this (a simple process) stored along with the instructions for moving Outlook personal folders in the HHS-Technology>Directions and Tips folder. **  *Next meeting Wednesday, October 27. **
 * HHS Technology Committee Meeting Minutes  **