LTAC meeting November 20

LTAC met in the DL room. Auburn, Port Byron, Cato-Meridian, Union Springs, CNYRIC and Cayuga Onondaga BOCES were present.

Tony DiMento from CDW-G presented a demo on AVerMedia document cameras, mini-notebooks and DyKnow.

Linda announced that e-rate budgets had been submitted to NoraLee at OCM. She reminded districts that the EETT staff (Peter and Dennis) can provide staff development data on the cohorts for your records. Linda noted that it may be advantageous to shift e-rate and telephone interconnect services to OCM. Rick Dillon said that the OCM charges for 601 and 602 are about $6000.

Rick talked about staff changes at the CNYRIC. Joe Scott has moved into Mike Heller's position. Mike moved into Fred Lawrence's position. A new tech will be at Moravia. The RIC to RIC network is now active with CNYRIC, WNYRIC, Monroe and NERIC. Tony asked that intermapper be available for trouble shooting on the DL side. A new mainframe is scheduled to be installed on December 13. SIS will be down for the morning.

Tony spoke about the DL scheduling meeting on December 5. The expectation is that the courses for next year will be firmed up. He distributed a list of the videoconferences since September.

Linda reported for Ann that reduced State funding will likely impact the databases such as CERF. Sandy asked for statistics of database usage.

Larry is asking Apple to make a presentation at the next meeting.

Next meeting is December 18, 10-noon.

Digital Use Going Up

The October statistics for media usage show that 85% is digital.
Learn360 34%
EdVideo 47%
Cay digital 4%

Daily Almanac

We have a new service available at dailyalmanac365.com. A short daily video with events, word for the day, extremes and health tips. All of the schools should have IP access available. If you are asked for a password, please contact us.

September Media Statistics

The September media statistics show a large increase in digital requests. Learn360 was 23.6% of the items shipped or viewed. EdVideo Online was 9.5%. The digital videos on our own server were 45.4%. These figures are a little high because I have done a number of trainings where I have shown teachers how it works. 16% of the shipments were videotapes and 4.4% were DVDs.

All teachers with accounts for the media catalog can search Learn360, EdVideo Online and our own titles as soon as they login to the media catalog. There is no need for a second login.

LTAC Meeting Notes - September 18

LTAC (Learning Technology Advisory Committee) met on September 18. Moravia, Auburn, Port Byron and Union Springs representatives attended.

Roundtable discussion included reports from the districts. Moravia reported that they now have layer 3 switches and are using the RIC firewall. Union Springs is changing to VOIP. Auburn replaced core switches and fiber. They are using School Messenger and reported it worked well with the school closing on Monday. Port Byron realigned to a K-6 and 7-12 configuration. They purchased I-Macs to replace PCs.

Tecnology plans were discussed. Additions to plans for the year beginning July 2009 need to be submitted by October. Budgets for 2009-10 need to be submitted by October 1. Kathy Smith, E-rate person from OCM BOCES will join us prior to the next meeting to discuss e-rate requirements.

Tony discussed the data network and the RIC to RIC connection. We are hearing that it will be active soon and that it will have access to Internet 2. Internet 2 requires IP6 at the building level. It was mentioned that the shaper at the CNYRIC doesn't seem to be working and that DOTs need more training.

Distance Learning is running 5 courses which is up from last year. Polycoms are available in the 7 districts in the distance learning co-ser.

Ann addressed the start of the school year with 3 more buildings on OPALS. Everyone thought that the download of student information from SIS was very efficient.

Tony and Linda explained NovaNet. The purchase order has been sent and training will be scheduled as soon as possible. Port Byron, Union Springs and Jordan-Elbridge have signed on.

Tony talked about an announcement system that would allow the server to be shared. Each building could have a monitor and have control of the announcements, cable TV, etc, which will appear on the screens. More information will coming.

Tony announced that the Seward House in Auburn now has a Polycom and FIOS so they are able to host videoconferences. They are considering purchase of a WI-FI video camera which would allow them to move around the House for videoconferences.

The next meeting is scheduled for October 16. Kathy Smith will join the group at 9 AM for the e-rate requirements. Superintendents and business officials will be invited. The regular meeting will be from 10-12. Jennifer Fosegan from NovaNet has been asked to attend to answer any questions.

Important Upcoming Dates

SEDDAS training September 12
TAG committee September 17
LTAC committee September 18
School Library System September 30

Open House October 9
Data Warehouse Meeting October 9
CSAC (CNYRIC Customer Service Advisory Committee) October 10
Media Council October 14
TAG Committee October 15
LTAC Committee October 16
Distance Learning Committee October 17

Welcome Back

Welcome back to the new school year. We have been working over the summer to add new materials to our media catalog. More than $25,000 worth of titles have been added. Many of the new resources are in digital format. More will be added through out the year. Check out the media catalog and look at the new titles. During the months of July and August the top 10 requested titles were Driver Education subjects including Defensive Driving, Distracted Driving, Driving in Bad Weather, Night Driving Tactics, Dying High: Teens in the ER.

We have added logins for new teachers. If you need a login or need help in using the catalog please ask for help by calling us.