Week 8 Skype Conversation

Iphone 4

It is not uncommon to experience technical difficulties when trying new technology or even just using a different piece of equipment. Dan and I had this experience on Saturday during our Skype call leading us to explore the instant messaging feature which works quite well for trouble shooting microphone problems. Upon overcoming the bad microphone we encountered a significant delay or latency and frequent static noise, prompting Dan to reach for his Iphone. I must admit I am jealous and cannot wait for Verzion to release their version of the Iphone in just a few weeks. Dan used the very clean and clear iphone microphone for a great call focused on troubleshooting in the classroom.

Dan and I are both responsible for computer lab maintenance and repairs with limited support services.  We discussed the impact machine failures have on the classroom and content we teach.  We often trouble shoot machine failures in the lab with students because there is a lack of backup or replacement equipment.  What is the correct choice in that situation?  Fix the problem so everyone can get to work or have one student unable to work?  This is a real problem for many classroom teachers. 

A major difference in the labs Dan and I use is the student login process and servers. Dan’s students all have their own network account were my student’s login as a general student with no tracking or accountability.  Dan’s school is using a windows 2003 server environment and my school does not have a dedicated server.  My district uses servers for student portfolio work shared by all thirty plus school buildings.  

Lacking a school server and network accountability means teachers do not have work accounts to store  and access work, preventing student work from being electronically corrected without going to each individual machine in the lab.  The lack of a network environment where each person is identified and accountable is a disservice to the students and limits teachers from viewing student work in process from their desktops helping to ensure ethical student environment. 

Another less obvious issue with our student portfolio accounts is access.  Frequently, one or more of the servers will be unavailable, sometimes for a few days making it a poor choice for storing daily work in process.  Our portfolio design prevents student access to work and materials from outside the school building.  I'm sure that we have all be able to revise a PowerPoint, Excel, or Word document for another project because we kept and accessed it for modification, which I think our students should be able to do as well.

Sharing of issues, resources and workarounds gave both of us some ideas to explore in the classroom.  I created a shared folder for Dan within my Google docs account to better assess how this option could be used for his students.  Also visit the Google Doc Community on YouTube for help and ideas from the whole community of google doc users.  Dan gave me some ideas on using Dropbox although it could be an obstacle without network logins with scripts connecting to a unique dropbox for each student.  Dan also faces the issue that students cannot easily access their work from outside of school. The lack of student email accounts makes the tracking of student work activity within a wiki impossible. 

We both agreed some of the network settings and maintenance could be done on the local machine to alleviate network login problems.  I have found that obsolete software and hardware can be an issue to identifying and correcting problems prompting a suggestion to view Windows lifecycle data sheet to verify the latest service pack for the product and/or the product retirement date. Another good resource for classroom teachers trying to resolve issues is Tech Republic   a website devoted to resources for IT professionals.  I also use box.net  offering free 30 day trails with many of the same share features as Google but an added option of commenting on a document without modifying it.  I found the comment feature great for notation on grading of individual documents.