This session on iPhone Apps: Building Apps without coding facilitated by Lynn Rosier, Paula McKinney, and Alison Soelter (not present) was shared at iPadpalooza 15 in Austin, Tx.Listen to Audio (only lecture part, not hands-on component)Get copy of print handoutMyNotesYou need a Mac to develop xcode programs, but there are also web based versions of programming.You can become an apple developer for free and put tools on your own device. This opens the door for high school and middle school students. That's a game-changer for kids.One of the things I like about Android, they can develop and share with the world for free.You can write your own apps, put it on your phone and show it to your friends.What will I need?You will need a Mac computer with Xcode installed, a development environment from Apple that is used to create apps and Mac programs from http://developer.apple.com/devcenter/iosan 8gig (at least) MacSSD driveDesigning different screens and how we move from screen to another another...a storyboard. Instead of page to page in a book, we'll go from one screen/view to another.We see Graphical User Interface (GUI) interfaces on all the apps that we run.The storyboard allows us to design view controllers, dropping GUI objects on top.The navigator runs down the left-hand side of the screen.Presenter did a walkthrough of Xcode.Apple has 100 reasons to fail your app submissionDon't pull pictures off the web to include in your app.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

What fun to listen to Guy Kawasaki, whose books I've read. Guy's keynote at iPadpalooza 2015 was titled, The Lessons of Steve Jobs. I couldn't help but laugh at some of the jokes Guy shared..."How many Microsoft engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?""None, Bill Gates has declared darkness the new standard."(For Apple engineers it was one--so they can wait for the universe to revolve around them.)Listen to Audiosource: Brant Farris via TwitterMyNotesIn regards to his presentation style: You may want to read up on Guy's approach to presentations.If you suck and you're short, it's OK. If you're great and go long, it's OK. But if you suck and you're long, that's not OK.Get copy of his slides here.10 Lessons from Steve Jobs are as follows:Innovators require naysayers. The naysayers are experts, happy to tell you what's wrong and there are usually two kinds of naysayers, both of which are losers:Regular loserWinner "bozo"...these are the ones dressed in black, rich, own things that end in "i" like Ferrari, Armani, etc. Rich, famous powerful does not translate into smart, just lucky.Customers can't tell you what you should do. They can tell you how to revise, but not what to create.Innovations happens on the curve. Most companies start on the curve and die on the curve. Most companies define themselves on what they currently do...instead, define yourself on the benefits you seek to provide.Design counts.Big challenges beget big changes. Referenced BHAG. Consider the goals of these companies:Apple's goal is to democratize computers.Google's goal is to make information accessible.Photo Credit: Kevin MillerCanva's goal (whom Guy is affiliated with) is design.Less is more.Changing your mind is a sign of intelligence and strength. One example of Steve Job's changing his mind is that he reversed himself about iPhone apps; they began as a closed environment for security purposes but then a year later, opened wide up for development...Steve changed his mind, and the experts told him this was great BOTH times (highlighting the fact that experts don't know what they are talking about). Great leaders are not afraid of changing their mind.Value does not equal price. Convince people of the value of your product."A" Players hire A or A+ players. Simply, they hire better than they are. B players hire people who aren't as good as them. Eventually, you end up with a "Z" player (which makes one think of zeroes).Marketing equals unique value.Bonus: Some things need to be believed to be seen. WHen people believe in things, they create...they make it real. If you want to change the world, believe it to see it. When someone tells you "Thank you," instead of replying, "You're welcome" say, "I know you would the same for me" then be specific about what they could do for you.Guy Kawasaki's pick of most influential book: : If You Want To Write by Brenda Ueland ow.ly/2btGig Influence by Robert Cialdini ow.ly/2btGohLesson #10 includes a chart...Photo Credit: Michael Hornback II via twitterEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Wow, it's hard to believe it's already time to "wrap-up" iPadpalooza 15! The last time I was here was in 2013, and I was amazed at the sheer talent of the Twittersphere that showed up, as well as the mass of educators--including 43 from my own school district--to worship in iPadlooza Kingdom Hall at the feet of the Grandmaster, Carl Hooker! It was an awesome show, and it's not over yet. One day remains.View Miguel's photo albumThere's no doubt that iPadpalooza easily rivals any other state conference in Texas, including TCEA...not necessarily in numbers, or crowd-size, but in innovation. While I was impressed to see TxCTO Clinic 2015 last week modeling some impressive "conference strategies," it's clear that everyone has a lot to learn from how iPadpalooza has been organized.Check out "Obvious to you. Amazing to Others." by Derek Sivers...every blogger has this experience:From 15 minute quick presentations, video wrap-ups at the end of each day that are played at the start of the next, the use of EventBrite (although I liked Sched.org more) to garner tickets, and EventMobi, there are many innovations. For example, the MiniKeynote on Day 2 was inspired, a way to cram awesome speakers and thinkers into their respective 3 minute slots.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Here is a round-up of my blog posts featuring sessions at iPadpalooza15. My thanks go out to the organizers, the people who presented, and my school district for supporting so many educators:Day 1Keynote for Day 1 - Adam BellowMinecraftMan vs MachineSet the StageDay 2Starting Keynote for Day 2 - MiniKeynotesEnding keynote for Day 2 - Guy KawasakiiPhone App: Building Apps without Coding using XcodeiPad Stop-MotioniPads and 3D PrintingAppSmashing eBooks with Book CreatorDay 37 Ideas for iPadpalooza AttendeesApp-mazing Math through Visible Thinking with @zigzagstechAre you a 21st Century Leader?We'll have to wait for Day 3, but I will add those in...By the way, since I must tweak the nose of my esteemed friends at Apple, all audio recordings and notes, blog posts were made using a Chromebook and Android phone. In fact, I didn't bring my iPad to the show on Day 2 (although I will have it with me on Day 3!).;-)Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

So...tomorrow is the unconference part of iPadpalooza, as if the first two days hadn't been great enough. Remember, for me, the best sessions weren't about apps but about the power of those apps. As Amy "@friedtechnology" Mayer said earlier today:People don't buy drills because they want drills, they buy drills because they want holes. We buy these devices because we want to improve education." By far, the best presentations could have had at their heart, any device...but the iPad was first on the scene and as such, it is the device iPadpalooza was named after. Of course, I'd be missing the point--the iPad is an awesome tool, but as one principal from a former district put it to me today, "Ok, we're not an innovative campus because we bought iPads...if that gave us a bump, then the only way we're going to stay ahead is to actually DO the work--do the experiments, do the projects, etc."Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Wise words...so, as I look forward to tomorrow from my vantage point, a person who has spent too much time with many devices, here are some of my ideas for sessions that I probably won't share:Connecting with People a la"Push to Connect:" Looking for a quick way to connect with others? You may be on Twitter, Google+, but if these leave you hungering for human voices, then consider "push to talk" apps that enable collaboration. Here are two that I use daily:Voxer: This app enables great conversations. Since there are different people in this space--albeit with some overlap--you get access to people who are focused on the spoken word, on ideas said aloud rather than written. This is an eye-opener for me. I hope my fellow Texas educators will join Voxer and #etdrive, an effort to bring Texas voices together and amplify.Telegram: I introduced a colleague in Florida to this app yesterday, and he fell in love with it. It's a powerful push to talk app that enables text, photos, voice messages...it's easy to use, you can create groups. In fact, I've worked to get my school district's leadership on Telegram because it facilitates communications in a crisis. Completely free and open source.Saving Time While Working: In one session today, I introduced someone to Readdle Documents app. Then, I walked them through how to use it. The person's response was euphoria, as he exclaimed, "This is exactly what I needed to know today! Thank you so much!!" I contrasted his use of Readdle Documents and the workflows mastered with this iPad app with a co-worker's casual use of Documents...for my co-worker, Documents was a necessary clearinghouse for data and content on her iPad. There are many other workflows that could be discussedCreating Content that Takes Your Breath Away: Although you can read more about app smashing here, the idea is simple--blend stuff you create from one app into another into another until you create content that is impactful and takes your breath away. You can edit audio with Hokusai audio editor, create slides with Haikudeck, video slides with 30HandsLearning and more.Communicating with Videos: After long-time use of an iPad, I have to say that my all-time favorite video editing app remains Pinnacle Studio. When you want to add pictures, video clips, sound and combine it all into one movie, Pinnacle Studio is the app to use. It's so darn easy.Eliminating Paper: If you have an iPad, you don't need a scanner (although a Fujitsu ScanSnap is great because of it's connection to Evernote, another must-have app). If you're looking for a way to quickly digitize packets of paper, less than 20 sheets, then get Evernote's Scannable app.Achieving Inbox Zero: If you get tons of email (and who doesn't?), you'll want to take advantage of two apps to simplify your email intake and archiving. For email, get CloudMagic which has built-in support for "cards" that allow you to file your email into Evernote.Secure Your Digital Documents: Wondering how to secure your digital documents? Take advantage of tools like ParanoiaWorks Text Encryptor (PTE) to encrypt email messages, or use apps like Telegram (secure 1-to-1 chat), Wickr, or Threema to have encrypted chats with others.There are a lot more apps to share, but these 7 ideas capture much of what I do with my iPad every day or week. I hope you find them helpful.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

This session, App-Mazing Math through Visible Thinking, by Meghan Zigmond (@zigzagstech)--http://zigzagstech.com--was shared at iPadpalooza 2015 conference. You can find resources online at http://bit.ly/AppyMath. Be sure to check out Meghan's ThingLink page.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Listen to AudioMeghan (@zigzagstech) getting going about 20 minutes before her 8:15am session. What a wonderful personality!MyNotes - PreSessionAbout Pre-Session ExpectationGreat music track running.Warm and friendly atmosphereSome apps Meghan is sharing:HyperlapseThingLink of Math App-mazing ToolsNumberRackNumber PiecesNumber FramesFlipagramThink 3D FreeFeltboardKey ConceptsApp Smash to Make Thinking VisibleShare your creativityApps to ShareBook CreatorTellagamiThinglinkExplainEverythingChatterpixFlipagramPopplet LiteSkitchPicCollageKidBlogTwitter[Some apps to make 3D creations]MyNotes - SessionI'm all about visible thinking.Lot of first grade, second grade teachers in the classroom. A few middle school students. You'll be seeing a lot of first grade examples. A lot of these things are applicable to all grade levels."When thinking is made visible as educators we are better able to see and/or hear our students thinking, often we aren't even around when its created." @klirenmanWith visible thinking, you can see where students get stuck...and this means you can reteach.You have an amazing portfolio of their work when you blog and share their visible thinking.Mathematical thinking...explain, show, justify, apply, record, analyze, organize, choose tools. You can't do all those things in a worksheet. Visible thinking and creating projects...it does all of these things."One more preach..." before I show you some examples."Tool is one thing but the way we look at it is much more important." -George Couros.I want to challenge your thinking...are you handing them a game or are you handing them an iPad that is going to help them share their thinking? App demonstrations...virtual manipulatives. Using these on an iPad is just as good as using them in "real life," however some students may prefer the real ones to the virtual. Students will also take pictures of real manipulatives, just like you can take a picture of the virtual manipulatives.Number Rack appNumber Racks examplewhite is on the right and that means zeroon the left, that's where you do your addition and subtractionyou can cover up the right side with a blue box with question marktake a screenshot then drop it into another app (e.g. Skitch [or how about 30HandsLearning?)Number Pieces appIf you give students time to play, they can figure out the apps. Students share with each other how to use the tools during group share. Meghan allows them play time.Counting coins...Thinking with Hands On MathGraphs & App-tivities - one class chose to use HaikuDeck, and another chose NumberDeckStudents were then able to have conversations about the different graphs.FlipagramAppSmash Ideas for Math...check the slideshow above for links.Number Pieces Basic + Popplet Lite: Build numbers and show understanding in PoppletGeoboard & Popplet (via Tech with Kelly)NumberLine & Explain EverythingPattern Shapes & SkitchCheck out Task Cards and App Menus...very nice!!Collect Projects: Padlet Wall & QR CodeShow It with Scene Makers...awesome story problems!Lisa Carnazzo had students make Multiplication BugsFeltboard and Book CreatorRecipe for Visible ThinkingCameraPicCollageAudioBoomThingLinkTwo apps you must have on your iPads are ExplainEverything and Book Creator (Amen!!)I encourage you to use blogging/Kidblog to create individual portfolios! It works great to share with families and creates a record of growth and visible thinking all year long. I just think it's a powerful tool. Tweet me if you're interested in becoming a blogging buddy.Grading: I keep extensive Google Drive notes. We're doing a developmental report card. I keep anecdotal notes. Watching these creations, you can understand whether they get it or don't. I'm glad I don't give grades.Check out the Thinglink online at https://www.thinglink.com/ZigZagsTechAdditional ResourcesYou can find another version of notes from 2014 presentation that Meghan did online here.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Presentation by Mr. Albert Canales, Mr. Jacob Camacho, and Ms. Kristine Garza on 21st Century Leader session at iPadpalooza 2015. Check out materials online at https://www.smore.com/hce38Listen to Audio(listen to this because my notes don't reflect all shared)MyNotesMcAllen Independent School District presentationWhat do we need to do to change...Today, we're actually 1 to 1 with the whole district.How do you want to get better?Question: Tell us more about city building. Our superintendent is really behind this and they have been working with city to get more WiFi access points. Have discussions to ensure access from home. When we first started, students didn't have access. 75% of the apps don't need internet. Let's start with baby steps, look at ways we can save things off the internet while at school then take them home for resources they need. If you go through our Smore, you'll find several stages of professional learning. With our elementary students/teachers, we did a "tech week." THese are success stories that we have even today.After Tech Week, we asked ourselves, "What can we do better?" Each teacher would do 1 app or web tool...teacher did one thing, but students got to do all of it with different teachers.After 1 hour, students started creating content on their own.After awhile, teachers start teaching each other.Teachers started using digital copies and this made it easy to turn stuff in...kids would just send in the links to their work.Ask yourself what the end product will be. Peer to peer observations Use HEAT FrameworkBuild school climate and culture...Post everything about kids about Twitter.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

This session, Pin It: Transforming Social Media Networks into Professional Learning Tools, with Jesse Thompson and Lee Valenti (@hi5teaching) at iPadpalooza. Special thanks to Jennifer Spille (@jspille) for dragging me along to this session...with my broken GPS, I never would have found it! :-)Listen to AudioMyNotesRight to Left: Jesse Thompson, Lee Valenti, ASL interpreterOur Problem: How to improve collaboration between team members? Could social media help our team share and collect ideas more effectively?Solution included Twitter, Pinterest and Evernote...these represent the 3 pillars of the solution they decided on.Share: Twitter for sharing: teachers could read an article, they would be tweeted at with a linkCollect: Pinterest to collect the resourcesStore: Evernote to create. Record those things that were tried and true, that worked and save them for next year.If we couldn't meet F2F, we could meet virtually.Twitter = Share@ mentions#hashtagDM Direct messages - allows you to put in videos, etc.List creationNever Miss a Tweet Again! Make a list for your department, grade or school.Created public twitter account for school work:Didn't want to deal with privacy issuesWanted to focus on being able to post photos with school...keep personal photos separate.You can use the volume up/down on your iPhone headphones/mic cord to take pictures to facilitate selfies pics.Follow hashtag #teachertipsPinterest = Collect...what's important about this is how you organize.You can get lost in Pinterest. We do Spring Cleaning after each year...it wasn't enough to start pinning stuff. We had to organize them so they could make our meetings flow. We organized them into specific flows. View Lee Valenti's boardEnglish - Writing/GrammarEnglish-VocabularyEnglish-LiteratureEnglish - Teaching IdeasThe consistency of the boards was important for us.We've rolled this out to our Social Studies. We decided to focus on Pinterest and Evernote. If we find any history-based things, we're going to put them in a board. They organized it for their team. If they are looking for a board.Try to keep this simple and not overwhelming. Spring cleaning is needed because there's so much content.Evernote = CreateThink of it as a digital binder.Plan to ImplementKeep it simple. Begin with one social media service. Find what best fits your need.Account creation & naming convention. Unified organization across all social media.Encourage usage. Give it time. Make it a habit.Social Media AlternativesEduclipperTumblrUStreamTodaysMeetInstagramPadletEdmodoGoogleDriveSlackEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Hard to believe, but last summer, a colleague asked me to craft a proposal for a "digital data archive," exploring the various options. I did but then promptly forgot about it when the school decided to not pursue it. In chatting with a friend at iPadpalooza 15, I remembered that I had done this and had not shared it.Image Source: https://goo.gl/3MQRmsAs such, I hope someone will find this helpful!OverviewProvide 4 teachers with the opportunity to track quantifiable data, notes (e.g. Student Data Profile), as well as student evidence of learning in digital format (e.g. Evidence).Professional DevelopmentTeachers will need to complete a series of self-paced and face to face sessions. The course overview includes professional development in the eGT digital tools.Why is this necessary?Currently, tracking of student data is paper-based and relies upon the creation of multiple folders that would become unwieldy to create and track. The staggering number of paper folders generated by ONE freshmen class of students at the School District is unimaginable, but when one includes the sheer bulk of paper generated by 800 students, then multiplies that times each subsequent freshmen class as the program expands, paper is untenable. A digital solution is needed. Unfortunately, given the late start date and lack of funding, and professional development for teachers and training for students, the solutions offered here are only as strong as those limiting factors allow.What happens if we don’t do implement?High School teachers, and students, will have to manage and store what could be, at least, 800 folders if not 3200. For example, 800 accordion folders cost about $2800 (this cost does not include labels).How will we measure success?Success is measured by the implementation of a digital data archive that will endure from year to year for 2014-2015 students, as well as subsequent years, enabling maximum portability of work for students and facilitate tracking of student learning.ProposalThis proposal recommends establishing a digital data archive, or digital interactive notebook, where teachers and students can collect evidence of performance by objective. This involves each student creating a private digital storage space that can be jointly accessed by students, parents,  teachers, and administrators. Two solutions are reviewed in the context of this proposal and offered for review. NeedHigh School teachers have a need to collect data and evidence of student learning. Some specific needs include the following:Capturing handwritten notes, maps, drawing/images/photosCapturing student responses to document-based questions (DBQs) and free-response questions.Teachers need to be able to annotate--including text and/or audio--this student-generated content, as well as easily share that with students, parents, and be viewable by other administrators.All data captured needs to be "portable" and follow students through their high school years and beyond.ParticipationInitially, 4 World Geography teachers will facilitate 800 freshmen students during the 2014-2015 school year. The program, if successful, will expand during the 2015-2016 school year and beyond until all high school students are growing a digital data archive.Possible SolutionsIn the space below, you will find several solutions offered. These solutions are imperfect. A perfect solution would allow easy capture of teacher information per student and attachment of student artifacts, or evidence, of that performance (e.g. DBQs, FRQs) in one centralized system. All these solutions fall short of that, and as a result, will require significant teacher effort, albeit less than what would be required with a paper-based solution.A.  GoogleClassroom & GoogleDriveOverviewStudents, each of whom have their own GoogleApps account, have access to GoogleDrive, a space to store a wide variety of files, including pictures, photos/scanned images, digital documents (e.g. word processed, spreadsheets). If they are taught to organize their work in GoogleDrive, they can share folders with their teachers each year, enabling them to have a digital repository for work. Students organize their work by school year, creating folders to house their digital work. This work will travel with them from year to year, but also be available for them to take with them when they graduate or leave School District. Teachers create a Student Data Profile--GoogleDoc to collect Q1, Q2, etc. information, Reading lexile scores--that will be shared with the student but cannot be modified by the student.ScenarioUpon completing her handwritten DBQ, Samantha takes a picture of her work using her smartphone (or a mobile device available at the school), then saves it to her GoogleDrive, naming it properly and saving it to the appropriate digital folder. In her GoogleDrive, she has the following folders:Evidence2014-20152015-20162016-20172017-2018Each folder contains that her work for the corresponding year, as well as the Student Data Profile  that the student (e.g. Samantha) can only view but not modify because it is her teacher who owns the document.CostThere is no additional cost for this solution, but professional learning opportunities will need to be made available to teachers and students.B.  Evernote Business for SchoolsOverviewEvernote Business for Schools is a service that is designed to facilitate and digitization of data. To that end, Evernote--which has unlimited storage--includes apps that work on Android phone/tablet, iPhone, iPad mobile devices, as well as laptop/desktop computers. You can snap a picture of a handwritten piece of work, save it to a digital notebook, add tags (e.g. 2014-2015, WorldGeo, DBQ1), then share that notebook with others. Furthermore, digitized work is scanned and searchable (e.g. take a picture of handwritten work, and once in Evernote, the words, if legible, are searchable). Students and teachers would be given Evernote Premium accounts, allowing for sharing of content. Evernote also allows for export of notebooks so that students could take their work out of Evernote, as well as a free version which would not be reliant on the Premium version. You can literally put anything into Evernote, including audio recordings (the Evernote app facilitates audio recording), pictures, handwritten notes, and more. Evernote Premium has an age requirement (older than 13) but that should not be a problem for students.Evernote has been shown to be an excellent tool for collecting, documenting, and annotating student work. Watch video (http://vimeo.com/42066807).Scenario(s)Two scenarios are offered:#1 - Evernote Premium for Each User: Cost-prohibitive, not recommended.#2 - Evernote Premium for teachers, Evernote Freemium for Students: Samantha has completed her DBQ. She signs into her Evernote account and accesses the Digital Notebook her teacher has shared with her. She creates a new note and then snaps a picture of each page of her handwritten response. When done, she saves it. She then updates the "Table of Contents" in the Notebook assigned to her so she can.This process is repeated by each students, who can only see their digital notebook, but can be accessed by whomever the teacher shares the notebook with. The teacher can also annotate--add highlighting, audio comments, text notes--to each note. Also, all notes--even handwritten ones--are searchable. Students have complete control over notes that are shared with them and the ability to create new ones.All sharing has to be managed by the teacher, so that involves creating and sharing notebooks with each student. Each subsequent year, teachers will have to manage more student accounts. But, when the alternative is paper, digital is better. CostPricing is based on several possible options:Evernote Premium for each user: This is available at 75% discount of the regular pricing ($45 per year per user). For 800 students and 5 teachers, the cost would be approximately $9K. Evernote Freemium for all students, Premium only for teachers: The free version of Evernote is available for free to each student 14 and older.  Premium accounts are available to teachers at a cost of $45 per person. Total cost is $180. Additional digital scanners can be included per classroom to help students digitize their work. Otherwise, iPads with Evernote can be used, as can apps on mobile phones.C.  OwnCloudOverviewOwnCloud (http://owncloud.org/features/) is a Dropbox-style solution that allows for storage of files. It comes with its own mobile apps and allows users to store information. OwnCloud--which can be hosted by the District--allows for easy storage of data files. Web links can be shared as private or public, and users can employ AD username/passwords without having to remember yet another login. Each student has their "ownCloud" storage area that only they and their teacher (and whomever else the teacher decides) can access. Students and teacher can store content online and access it from anywhere via their mobile device (Android, iOS) or a computer.ScenarioSamantha snaps a picture of a DBQ pages with her smartphone, then saves it to ownCloud with the proper naming convention and in the 2014-2015 folder. Her teacher is able to access all the content stored in her ownCloud so she just sends her a quick email to let her know the work has been digitized and put online.CostNo cost for in-house solution, although in the future, there may be depending on the size of storage needed per user.D.  MaharaOverviewMahara (http://mahara.org) is a free, open source (no cost) ePortfolio solution that can be self-hosted by the District.  Mahara is a fully featured web application to build your electronic portfolio. You can create blogs, upload files, resume sharing, embed third-party resources from the web and collaborate with other users in groups. You can see how it works online at http://demo.mahara.org/ from an admin, teacher, and student perspective. An overview video is available online at https://mahara.org/features Student accounts can be created during a mass upload, and refreshed from time to time. Furthermore, there is support for LDAP authentication (eliminating the need for manual creation of student accounts; students simply login with their Active Directory credentials). Students are able to add documents via a web interface, create notes that can encompass Student Data Profile and Evidence artifacts.ScenarioSamantha, a freshman student, logins to the School District Digital Data Archive, creates a note that will encompass her Student Data Profile. She can modify this note at any time, as well as restrict viewing to herself and teacher(s) who may need to access it. She can also add "Evidence" that serve as artifacts of her progress on performance objectives.CostNo cost for in-house solution, although in the future, there may be depending on the size of storage needed per user.RecommendationsAgain, the best solution is one that best meets the needs of students and staff with minimum level of work. A chart outlining options appears on the following page. Comparison ChartAvailable funding is determined by calculating the total cost of each evidence folder per student. For 800 students, the cost for 800 wallet folders is $2800 or for 3200 folders, $11,200.CriteriaGoogle Classroom/ DriveEvernote: Scenario 2OwnCloudMaharaCostFree$180 for 4 teachers or $45 per teacher user.FreeFreeCapture handwritten notes, maps, drawing/images/photos easilyNo, but students can put content online.Submit via email, app, computer, web interfaceSubmit via mobile app, computer, or web interfaceNo, but students can put content online.Annotate student-generated contentYes, depends.Add audio,text annotations to each note.NoYes, depends.Data is portable and follow students in District and outYesYes with Evernote Freemium account or notebook exportYes, data is "save-able" Yes, accounts remain.Data hostGoogleEvernoteSchool DistrictSchool DistrictRestricted access to teacher, student, parentYesYesYesUnknownSupports Teacher-only editing of Student Data Profile (allows for student viewing only)YesMaybeNoUnknownCentralized management of accountsYes linked to AD/GoogleApps accountsNo...labor intensive but better than paper folderYes linked to ADYes linked to ADTeacher Level of Expertise RequiredHighLow to MediumHighLow to MediumOptical Character Recognition (OCR) of handwritten documentsNoYesNoNoSetup time per studentUnk3-4 minutesUnkUnknownEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. 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The following are my notes from Jeffrey P. Carpenter's (@doccarpenter) and Daniel G. Krutka's (@dankrutka) study, How and Why Educators Use Twitter: A Survey of the Field, published in JRTE Vol. 46, No. 4.MyNotesAs of July 2013, there were approximately 200 million users of Twitter, including approximately 18% of online adults in the United States (Duggan & Smith, 2013).Various scholars have noted that Web 2.0 sites such as Twitter afford users numerous benefits, and Jenkins and colleagues (2009) went as far as to say that the "new participatory cultures" afforded by such sites may "represent ideal learning environments" (p. 10). These tools reduce spatial and temporal constraints on communication and allow users to collaborate around topics of interest. The "affinity spaces" facilitated by such media encourage sharing and peer-to-peer learning that enable participants to benefit from collective intelligence (Gee, 2004). Junco and colleagues (2011) have argued that Twitter in particular may be the "social networking platform most amenable to ongoing, public dialogue" (p. 1). Its brevity, immediacy, and openness can empower educators and students to interact with a variety of people in new ways.Microblogging can be used for one-way sharing from an official school account to keep a school community informed of events, deadlines, or policy changes (e.g., Porterfield & Carnes, 2011). Kurtz (2009) utilized Twitter to share the work of his first and second graders, thus providing parents "windows into their children’s days" (p. 2). Twitter can also provide many-to-many communication among administrators, teachers, students, and other stakeholders through the use of a common hashtag or interactions between accounts (e.g., Ferriter, Ramsden, & Sheninger, 2012).Domizi’s (2013) coding of tweets found not only that students in her graduate course benefited from her reminders about class assignments and deadlines, but also that Twitter helped students communicate with each other professionally and socially, even providing each other encouragement. Chen and Chen (2012) reported that Twitter facilitated communication between university students who were otherwise too inhibited to speak directly to the instructor.University-level students in a number of studies have cited Twitter for increasing involvement in and satisfaction with courses (e.g., Krutka, 2014; Rinaldo, Tapp, & Laverie, 2011). For example, after surveying marketing students in several classes over two semesters, analyzing instructor tweets, and conducting focus groups, Rinaldo and colleagues concluded that Twitter has the "potential to engage students with the emerging technology, increase the interaction between professor and students and broaden access to information related to course material" (p. 202)Krutka and his 20 preservice social studies teachers both used and studied pedagogical possibilities for social media use in middle and high school classrooms (Krutka, 2014).Surveys, reflective journals, and field notes indicated that Twitter was the most beneficial of several social media services utilized in the class because of its diverse uses. Class participants indicated that the use of social media fostered a community feeling and enhanced students’ relationships with the instructor, each other, and practicing educators who used Twitter.Research suggests Twitter has the potential to encourage concise writing (e.g., Dunlap & Lowenthal, 2009), and Kurtz (2009) further found that his elementary students were excited to co-construct tweets and analyze language appropriate for the authentic audience of their family members.Twitter appears able to facilitate educators’ professional development in a number of ways. Through synchronous chats or asynchronous tweeting, educators contribute and discuss ideas, as well as sharing and acquiring resources by tweeting links to education-related articles, blogs, wikis, and other websites (Brown, 2012; Lu, 2011). A handful of studies suggest that Twitter can function as a professional development tool for teachers. Microblogging can offer educators grass-roots professional development that boosts networking and fulfills a "bridging function" as teachers use it "as a way of importing new ideas into their local communities of practice from distant peers" (Forte, Humphreys, & Park, 2012, p. 106)....Others shared how the service enabled them to escape philosophical or methodological isolation within their schools. For example, one math teacher explained, "As the only teacher in my district who is flipping the classroom, Twitter is an invaluable source for working/collaborating with others who are doing the same."Districts and building-level administrators should consider ways in which they can recognize, tap into, and learn from teacher professional activity in online settings such as Twitter. PD via Twitter could potentially count toward some of the hours of professional development typically required of teachers, and/or be included in formalized professional development plans or processes. School leaders might also explore ways that other forms of PD might embrace the qualities of Twitter PD that our respondents valued, such as immediacy, personalization, differentiation, community, and positivity. If provided opportunities to do so, tweeting teachers may also be able to share with their colleagues at their school site some of what they learn via Twitter (e.g., Forte, Humphreys, & Park, 2012).Image Sourcehttp://goo.gl/G3mna4 available online.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

The Frozen Sky series by Jeff CarlsonAre you reading non-fiction via Twitter, Flipboard, and a million other social media outlets? Every day, a new app pops up and demands your attention (e.g. Voxer with audio, Periscope with video)...how do you decide what will win the competition for your attention?  There are so many "leadership" and "self-help" books out there, not to mention blogs, podcasts, videos, that if you're an educator, you can be assured you'll never be bored. That said, for me, it's pretty easy--I began my love affair with reading when I was a youngster, andFiction Book Pick: Looking for an action-packed thriller? You'll want to peer into Chandler McGrew's Cold Heart*. The book by Chandler McGrew (@chandlermcgrew), caught my attention from the get-go. Though I seldom do it anymore, I read the book straight through in one sitting. Imagine telling a fiction story using Periscope, or delivering a serial audio book via Voxer. Ah well, won't be long. After all, folks are telling stories via Instagram.Since I've spent a lot of time on the road, solutions like Podiobooks.com provide ample content to listen to...I usually put the audio files--you can get them as podcasts. Rather than rely on the iPad's Podcast app (which I hate), I rely on the Downcast app ($2.99) which works beautifully--on my iPad or save them to a USB flash drive to plug into the USB port in my Nissan Juke.Be sure to listen to Nathan Lowell's entire Trader Tales series and be sureto check out his Shaman TalesPodiobooks has a nice collection of Nathan Lowell's awesome Trader Tales, a five volume audiobook series that is engaging. I started listening and couldn't stop. Scott Sigler, an awesomely frightening author, introduced me to Podiobooks.com unintentionally, when he advised another Facebook follower to check out his content on it.My favorite fiction this summer...and, I also re-acquainted myself with my Goodreads account.Jonathan Moeller (@moellerjonathan) - Get started with some free ebooks | Buy his books via Smashwords!The Frostborn - This series is phenomenal and includes some of Jonathan's best work!Tower of Endless Worlds - I'm re-reading this series from the start...greatCheck out his books on GoodreadsNathan Lowell (@nlowell)Trader Tales...it's all great reading, I'm sure, but I've only encountered it via Podiobooks.com.Shaman Tales...on this one, I've only heard a bit of it, but I'm already hooked!Check out his books on GoodreadsScott Sigler (@scottsigler)The Ancestor - I picked up a copy of this book and read it, but it's also available as an audiobook you can listen to. And, of course, you have to read his Infected trilogy.Check out his books on GoodreadseREADER TO USEI definitely recommend you buy your books through Smashwords, since they come without digital rights management, making it easier to read your books on multiple devices. And, you can easily upload your ebooks (epub/PDF format) to Google Play Books (read tutorial), which makes it readily available on all your devices. Non-Fiction Book Pick: Check out Doug "Blue Skunk" Johnson's Teaching Outside the Lines: Developing Creativity in Every Learner*. What I liked the most about this book was the exploration of what constitutes creativity. Doug's humor is definitely in evidence throughout the text. I mention this non-fiction book in the midst of fiction because I'm sure Doug won't mind too much...after all, he's an avid reader, too! :-)If you'd rather not put your content into Google Play Books, then consider using Aldiko ereader (free) on Android, Readdle Documents on iOS devices, FBReader on GNU/Linux, and well, for Mac, you're almost bound to read ebooks with iBooks (but you can also use Calibre or Sigil).Next on my list to Read:Toby Downton's Solarversia* - This is an intriguing book I just started reading for review purposes. "Solarversia is the story of an epic year-long game played by 100 million people inside a virtual world modelled on the real world Solar System."Jonathan Moeller's Frostborn: The Broken Mage and Bound to the Eye.William Brinkley's The Last Ship - My family and I have been enchanted by the plague version of the story on television, so I'm hoping to enjoy the book with its nuclear apocalypse focus.Sara King's The Legend of Zero - This is a fascinating account of aliens who have captured children to serve in an alien war. I admit I peeked under the cover and have already started reading it.Jonathan Maberry's Code Zero - I was first introduced to Maberry when I read his book, Patient Zero, and that was terrific! I've tried to keep up with his work.Jeff Carlson's Plague YearLarry Correia's Monster Hunter Nemesis - This is an absolutely hilarious, jammed with action series that's worth reading from the start. Nemesis is the latest in the series.*Note: Starred "*" items were provided as review copies by the authors or publishers. That said, if I think the book stinks, I won't review it or mention it. Fortunately, I've read enough of these that they continue to hold my interest...and, it's not like there isn't a lot to read!Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Find out moreLooking for an easy way to encrypt your emails to family and friends? Then look no further than Whiteout Mailbox Personal edition, which was recently released at no-cost for personal use:So today we are happy to announce that we are offering Whiteout Mailbox Personal Edition with 2GB storage for free, starting today. The product is still in beta, but you can sign up today, no invite code needed. And tell your friends!...The Whiteout Mail client for use with your existing mailbox is of course also available for free.You can find my previous blog entries recommending Whiteout here and here.Source: WhiteOut Mail client for iOSEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Student data privacy is a topic that's grown in interest over the last few years, and I suspect that CoSN has also been advocating on this topic, too. Keith Krueger, in an interview with One Idea With, makes several interesting points. These are my notes on the interview; you can listen to it in full here.Visit web siteMyNotesThis is a growing concern for parents.Cloud computing, mobile data, and apps are the big drivers in this area for student data privacy."Free apps"--run by businesses that are collecting data--are collecting student data that they can use.3 buckets of issues:Comply with federal laws. Very few school districts have a chief privacy officer. Those in Technology are being asked to protect student data. CoSN has a few resources. If you're just complying, this doesn't inspire confidence for parents. Aspirational Practices [professional development]Communication - Keep communication transparent and clear. Why are we collecting data? Clarify fundamental beliefs the school district has?ResourcesStudentDataPrinciples.org web siteProtecting Privacy web site at CoSNNot created by CoSN, but that I think is related:Top 10 Security Tips for Educators - This is a short list of items I put together after chatting with different folks, as well as reflecting on my own practices.Nine Simple Steps to Safeguarding Sensitive Data - An overview of steps for educators; this is adapted from the work of a school district.3 Steps to Encrypting/Decrypting - A quick tutorial of several simple tools you can use to encrypt/decrypt emails, files, and folders across mobile devices and your computer. This obviously isn't the same thing as the student data privacy (which requires an enterprise level conversation), but is a key component.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

One of my favorite expressions, "He was taken up to heaven right away; he was in a state of grace." If we thought of school systems as people on their death beds, how many would be "taken up to heaven in a state of grace?" Sometimes, I wonder if we haven't taken a conservative, law-enforcer approach to getting school systems ready to achieve perfection. You know, one that is always on the look-out to spy what's gone wrong rather than what's working.When a technology director requires strict adherence to district procedures, to the rules, he causes problems because he isn't in the moment, able to listen and change to meet the needs of those he serves. It was only a few years ago that many bemoaned the issues of blocking social media and Youtube, but now, many, have transcended that debate...and access has been granted. It is less an issue of technology lock-downs and more of nurturing global citizens.As a long-time educator focused on transforming teaching, learning and leading with technology, I find myself struggling with those that do little than "exist" or "survive" in "broken" systems. Instead of simply adhering to the rules, I have to push myself to do more than exist or survive.Meredith Allen (@msmeredithallen) refers to this brokeness, expressing her frustration with a SAMR cheer, in her blog entry, Broke:Our educational leadership system is broken. I used to think that the majority of schools have supportive, thoughtful administrators that communicate with staff in a humane, decent way.  If you were a school without that support, you were rare. Right?Wrong.  It’s a systemic problem that needs to be addressed and fixed.  Like, now.For Meredith, it appears that educational leadership requires, at minimum, the following to NOT be broken...to be honest, that's pretty much all leadership, isn't it?SupportThoughtfulnessCommunicationHumane interactionsThe SAMR cheer--I suspect it could have been a cheer about anything--was problematic because it suggests that "cheerleader" type behavior is sufficient to transforming education, not only of fixing brokenness or complying with the status quo, but leaving things better than you found them. In fact, for a leader to transform a broken system, that is exactly what is needed--to move education in a particular situation forward from where it was before. The SAMR cheer simply fits into how we have tried to change schools before. The cheer is disconnected from the reason for real change and is ineffective.Think about what this means for schools today. We are often fighting to fix "broken" systems. These systems are broken, not because we don't want something wonderful to happen as individuals, but rather, that we are compelled, carried downstream towards the turbulent falls that symbolize defeat and destruction, because in spite of our best efforts, we are forced to engage in actions that perpetuate broken-ness. Is it as simple as changing what we do every day to see the kinds of change? I don't think so, but that could be a starting point. Each of us, as we try to fix our respective "broken" systems, have to seek grace rather than allow ourselves to dwell in brokenness. Some ideas for achieving "grace" in the midst of a broken educational system:Let go of the negative influences in your work environment, allowing yourself to focus on the aspects that re-affirm your life and efforts on behalf of others. It's so easy to get on a merry-go-round of sadness and despair in schools.Nurture others around you, transparently sharing your positive intentions for yourself and them.Serve others with no expectation of remuneration or payback. A source of anger is that we often do things with the intent "I scratch your back, you'll scratch mine...or else!" You can achieve peace when you are willing to do what you can. When you can't, simply explain why you are unable to at this time or what circumstances prevent you. Avoid anticipating negativity.Be grateful for what others do, what they say, even when it isn't affirming...rather, it is a learning opportunity.Expect the best from everyone, and decline to be disappointed when others aren't what you hoped or desired...allow them to be themselves.While this is not an exhaustive list, it is a list that would address 90% of the aggravation I hear folks share who are working in systems that fail to nurture. In the end, we can only be the change we wish to see in the world.Will the obstacles we encounter fall short of the grace we allow to inhabit us?By the way, you might find this worth reading, too: 5 Leadership Lessons Fig Trees Can Teach UsEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Communication apps are transforming how we interact, keeping us in touch, helping us share learning and ideas as they happen, as well as engage safeguarding communications from governments and others. At the bottom of this blog post, you will also find a chart created by Texas Area 13 school districts that shared their insights into what tools they use for communication.Get the no-cost Telegram app (@telegram) for your computer or mobile deviceOne app that I've embraced, both for family communications as well as at work for emergency communications, is Telegram. If you're not familiar with Telegram, it's a cross-platform app that allows for audio/text group chats, broadcast messages, as well as one to one encrypted communications. In my family, we use the no-cost Telegram as an alternative to WhatsApp and SMS messaging. And, when secure communications are needed, Telegram gets the job done, too.In one school district, here's how I've advocated its use:Thank you for your attention to this information. As you know, the District occasionally suffers both phone and Internet outages for a variety of reasons. During these times, District communications are knocked offline, potentially disrupting ongoing activities, communications, and/or instruction. Recognizing there is a need for a communication venue independent of District phone, network, and Internet systems, please take these steps:Install the advertisement free, no-cost Telegram app. This app will work on iPhone, Android phones as well as iOS/Android tablets and web sites.Go into the Settings of the Telegram app and enter a username.**NOTE** If you need help, please submit a work order and a Technology Department team member can help you with this.In the event of an outage, please be aware that you will receive either an audio/text message via Telegram notifying you of the outage. Of course, it will require that your phone be able to receive updates via 4G/LTE service. If you have used WhatsApp, then consider this a free, no-cost alternative.To that end, I've prepared a tutorial:TUTORIAL BELOWIf you need to get a quick overview of Telegram (quite similar to WhatsApp if you have used that), you'll find the tutorial below that addresses these components:About TelegramGet and Install TelegramSMS Activation and RegistrationAdd a Username via SettingsAdd a New ContactSending an Audio/Text Message via TelegramCreate a New GroupStart a New Chat1. About TelegramTelegram is a messaging app--that works with Android and iOS devices--with a focus on speed and security. It’s no-cost, ad-free, and allows you to send audio/text messages easily. With Telegram, you can create group chats with up to 200 people so you can stay connected with everyone at once. You can also share videos up to 1GB, send multiple photos from the web, and forward any media you receive in an instant. All your messages are in the cloud, so you can easily access them from any of your devices.Secret, end to end encrypted Chats are also available and ensure that a message can only be read by its intended recipient. 2. Get and Install TelegramTelegram messenger is available for the following (e.g. click the links on your phone to open the Google Play or iTunes App store):Telegram for AndroidTelegram for iPhone/iPadTelegram for Windows PhoneTelegram for WebTelegram for Mac OS XTelegram for Windows/PC/Mac/Linux3. SMS activation and registrationWhen you launch the Telegram app after installing it, you will see the window showing Start Messaging button. Tap (touch and leave) the Start Messaging button.Tap Start Messaging button in Telegram for AndroidIn the next displayed screen, Telegram will ask you to select your country and to enter your phone number. After selecting your country and entering your phone number, tap Done at the top-right, Telegram will send an activation code via SMS to this phone number.Select country and phone numberEnter the code which you received in your SMS from Telegram.Enter activation codeAfter verification, Telegram will take you to its registration screen where it will ask you to enter your name. Enter your name then tap Done.Enter your name in Telegram for Android.4. Add a Username in SettingsAdd a username in settings; this can later be used for others to contact you via convenient web site:telegram.me/mguhlin5. Add a new ContactIf you are using your phone number for the first time in Telegram and you don’t have any contacts and chat records associated with this number in Telegram, you will need to add new contacts to start messaging.Telegram looks for phone numbers in the contacts list of your phone and if any number is associated with a Telegram account, you can see those contacts in Telegram and start messaging them. So if you want to chat with your friend using Telegram, you can ask your friends to register with Telegram and make sure you have their phone numbers in your phone’s contacts list.Alternatively, you can also invite your friends from other apps like WhatsApp in Telegram. To do this, tap on the menu button of your Android device, select Contacts, tap on Invite Friends, and then select the app from which you want to invite your friends.6. Sending an Audio/Text Message using TelegramUnlike most instant messaging clients, Telegram messenger lets you send normal text messages and any type of files. These messages are stored in the cloud. Since normal messages are stored in the cloud, you can synchronize them to all of your devices including your desktops. To start a chat in Telegram, tap the new message icon at the top-right, and then select the contact with whom you want to chat. Note that you can also create a group or a broadcast list. The group allows group members to interact with each other, with all their communications being shared among them. The broadcast list allows you to send out information but doesn't allow people to interact.7. Create a New GroupTo create a new group, click on the 3 horizontal bars/lines that appear in the blue bar to the left of the word Telegram. This will let you see the following:From this screen, you can Invite Friends as well as create a new ways to connect with others, including the following:New Group - You can use this to have a group conversation--text AND audio--with others. Note that everyone in the group has access to participate and engage in the conversation.New Secret Chat - enables an encrypted chat with another individual that can be set to expire at a future date.New Broadcast List - This allows you to send out a "broadcast" message (audio or text) to others but they have no ability to interact with anyone else you broadcast to.8. Start a New ChatTo start a new chat, tap on the pencil in the bottom right hand corner...looks like this:You will see the following:Notice that you can simply start typing or insert an emoticon, tap the paperclip to attach a file, or press and hold on the microphone to quickly record and send an audio message.TCEA Area 13 Districts ShareToolCostUseAdvantageFacebookFreeSeguin ISD: District, departments, campuses and classrooms use to share events, links, videos, news.New Braunfels ISD, Comal ISD(Campus News)Ease of use, variety of media, patron proximity (It’s where they already are.)TwitterFreeNew Braunfels ISD- district newsSeguin ISD--districts news, some teachers/programsManor ISD- External communication and Internal celebrations; Monthly Twitter Chat (3rd Tuesday, #ManorISD) for teacher PD credit. Del Valle ISD - district account (district announcements, events, etc.), Instructional Tech dept account (tech news, training announcements, etc.)Comal ISD(district and campus announcements)SchoolwayFreeFree, push notification, scalableEdlio$6000Navarro ISDpost on website and Tweet at the same timeSchool MessengerDel Valle ISDLiberty Hill ISDRound Rock ISDSeguinNew Braunfels ISDcall, email, tweet, and post to site at the same timeYour VoiceFreeGoogle SitesFreeshare with everyoneRound Rock ISDnot limited by platformGoogle CommunitiesFreeRRISD:  Multiple communities that have become the basis for learning community chatter and sharingManor ISD- Leadership Team and Novice teacher programmust be a GAFE district, but is easy to use and attractiveRemind.comFreeSeguin: Teachers, coaches use to send reminders, news, etc.Comal ISD: Used in the high schoolsK12 Alerts$3000Navarro ISD text, email, and voice messagingCall, email, tweet and at the same timeWordpress?RRISD: Transitioning all sites above teacher sites to a robust WordpressComal ISD: many teachers have transitioned to Wordpress from IWeb. Can populate content across multiple sites and our Comm dept can control style and improve info flow.ZoomGoogle HangoutFreeManor ISD-Video Conferencing Zoom is part of ESC 13 serviceshttps://www.zoom.us/ Face to face conferencing across district without rushing around to meetings.Google HangoutFreeTelegram AppFreeThis app can be loaded on staff phones (iOS/Android/Win) and can run parallel to District network when Voice/Internet communications are out.Here is a brief tutorial of how ECISD uses it - tinyurl.com/ectelegrams ParentLink AppCost $$$Enables an app to be share info with parents, students, etc. that is flowing from RSS feeds across district. Loads specific calendars, etc.ParentLink also provides for a phone/SMS text messaging system for contacting parents. Resources:Develop a Strong School District Communication Strategy- http://goo.gl/5RFK07 Inform...Listen...Engage- http://goo.gl/FXLaj2 Dunlap Community Unit School Communication Plan- http://goo.gl/0ze0ll Round Rock ISD Communications- https://roundrockisd.org/departments/community-relations/communications/Georgetown ISD Communications- http://www.georgetownisd.org/Page/331 Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Over at Assorted Stuff blog, Tim Stahmer (@timstahmer) shares a real story--Chipping Away at the IT Barriers--about how IT staff--led by the CIO--didn't want to support a particular mobile device. However, this time, the leaders in charge didn't take "No!" for an answer and did an end-run around the entire Technology Department, obtaining support to buy the equipment.A small group of principals here in the overly-large school district decided to bypass the usual bureaucratic channels, along with all the IT denials, and took their case for Chromebooks to directly our Deputy Superintendent (with a great deal of support and encouragement from our little cheering section).To our surprise, he approved their proposal to purchase a limited number of the Google-based devices to test in their schools. The initiative only involves a few classrooms in five six schools so we certainly aren’t talking about any major shifts in thinking. But potentially it does represents a big crack in the IT barriers.Of course, nothing is ever simple in our world. As you might imagine, our CIO1 is not happy.The "Nonstandard Computer Exception Request" she signed (required by regulations) includes this pissy little declaration: "No requests for hardware or software support associated with these devices will be made to IT personnel." It also forbids the schools from using the standard Google administrative dashboard to manage the Chromebooks, conveying the message: this is our sandbox, keep your crappy toys out.Wow, that story sounded familiar! I ran into colleagues from a large urban district I worked in who complained about the exact same issue. In Tim's scenario, the mobile devices were Chromebooks, while in that of my nearby colleagues', it was iPads.As a technology director, this is pure foolishness! Some key tenets that I keep in mind:Build your infrastructure (e.g. network, internet) to enable ANY device.Identify instructional needs FIRST, then match the device.Support stakeholders, guiding them in their efforts rather than trying to roadblock them and stall them at every turn.The CIOs in these two districts may be separated by a lot of miles, but they have the same mindsets--that their comfort is of primary importance rather than the needs of the teachers, learners and leaders they serve.Update: Comment from David PhillipsComment: I don't know that I would  use the term "conservative" to refer to tech leaders who refuse to consider devices other than the ones they are prejudiced for.  Seems to me they are primarily possessive and inflexible--usually to avoid any complications that might (or in the case of Chromebooks might not) be involved in supporting different devices.  I was very grateful to work with a tech director who was always open and who would do anything to support the education process that he could get funding for.  Others are not so fortunate.Response: Thanks David, I adjusted the blog title!Image SourceHammer & chisel. Available online at http://goo.gl/bM3jxGEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

In a series of tweets in response to my post--Not Alone: Inflexible CIOs = Failure-- yesterday about Tim Stahmer's entry about CIOs and Technology Departments blocking curriculum educators from using Chromebooks yesterday, these two statements were made:Tim Stahmer @timstahmer@jeannereed1 For whatever reason, we tend to forget students when discussing many parts of education, tech included.Jeanne Reed @jeannereed1@mguhlin @timstahmer Does over-worked, under paid IT staff lead to forgetting about helping students? Crazy.To speak to Jeanne's question first, Are over-worked, under-paid IT really the problem in the scenarios described in Not Alone? When you consider Tim's scenario, it's not about Chromebooks, how easy they are to manage. Rather, it's an issue of control. The CIO and Tech Department aren't refusing to support Chromebooks because they are difficult (I don't know any CTOs who would argue that Chromebooks are difficult to manage), but rather, because they allow a level of freedom to the end-user not possible under Microsoft Windows. I suspect that Tim's district also locks down the internet browser they allow end-users, implements Active Directory policies that don't allow people to install software, etc. Simply, they have implemented policies that require people to speak to them before they can do anything substantial with technology.The fear in the old days was that end-users would do something to their computers and that would require someone wasting their time to fix the user's error. But these days, Chromebooks are even less onerous to manage than Windows and iOS devices. For $20 per unit, you get a management license and that makes life so easy. Chromebooks can also be "power-washed," reset to factory settings...again, it's so easy the end-user can do it.I don't think it's about forgetting to help students, but rather, control and ensuring that IT folks don't have to learn anything new. And, in regards to control, Audrey Watters make some excellent points in her talk and subsequent blog entry, Is It Time to Give Up on Computers?, an excerpt which is shared below:Computers are implicated in the systematic de-funding and dismantling of a public school system and a devaluation of human labor. They involve the consolidation of corporate and governmental power. They involve scientific management. They are designed by white men for white men. They re-inscribe inequality.And so I think it’s time now to recognize that if we want education that is more just and more equitable and more sustainable, that we need to get the ideologies that are hardwired into computers out of the classroom.Of course, Audrey has some choice words for Google, too. It's a trade-off, isn't it? I give you some data about me, you make my life easier. Somewhere down the line, we sold ourselves to get devices that help us, make our lives easier, but also, enable others to violate our privacy and sell who we are to the highest bidder.The answer to Audrey's question, a colleague insists after pondering privacy issues, is "Yes, it is time to give up on computers." Of course, it's not going to happen. Update: When I woke up the day after writing this post, I realized that, of course, the answer is "No!" The problem isn't the technology, but the people. What we need to do is start over with a fresh perspective. See? That wasn't so hard! ;-)Being connected to a vibrant PLN, I couldn't imagine losing access to them. Simply, if we're going to gripe about privacy, about control, then we must step and claim your virtual space.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Objective: Securely encrypt your private and confidential files or whole folders. Wiping (secure delete) feature is included for computer and Android versions.Step 1 - Get Secret Space Encryption (SSE) for Your DeviceMac/Windows/Linux computer? Get the cross-platform version of Secret Space Encryptor (SSE).Android device? Get Secret Space Encryptor (SSE) for Android from Google Play store.Note that Secret Space Encryptor isn't available for iOS (e.g. iPhone/iPad) devices, so you'll need to take that into consideration.Step 2 - Encrypt and Decrypt Files with SSETo encrypt files--that you add or attach to email or store on various media (e.g. hard drive of computer, external USB drive, network backup), you can use the Secret Space Encryptor (SSE). You can choose to encrypt files individually or drop them all into a folder and encrypt them all at once as ONE file.All encrypted files have the filename extension of enc so you will know when they are encrypted.When you launch Secret Space Encryptor (SSE), you will see this:Essentially, you type in your password then drag the file you want to encrypt into the SSE window (as indicated by instructions, Drag and Drop File(s) or Folder(s) into the Red Bordered Area). Once the file is encrypted, it will appear in the same place as the original un-encrypted file:Remember, you can drop an entire folder onto SSE and it will encrypt the whole folder...it works exactly the same way. To decrypt, simply drop the "enc" file into the SSE red bordered area and it will decrypt the encrypted file.You can do the same thing in Android, making this an ideal, cross-platform tool for file/folder encryption. iOS is the only unsupported platform.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Objective: Securely encrypt your email message content and/or information in GoogleDocs word processing, or text messages. This works on your Windows, Mac, Linux, Android or iOS devices.Step 1 - Get Text Encryption (PTE) Tool  for Your DeviceGet the iOS (iPad/iPhone) version of PTEGet the Android version of PTE (built-into SSE)Get the Mac/Windows/Linux version of PTEEncrypting text is pretty easy. You can type it up in a word processor, email window, or text editor, then copy-n-paste it into the PTE window (the top one, as shown below, with decrypted text). Tip: You wouldn't want to type up your secret to-be-encrypted text in any cloud service since it's automatically saved on cloud servers. This is true for Evernote, Gmail, GoogleDrive, etc.Step 2 - Launch PTE and begin Encryption ProcessTo accomplish the encryption, click on ENCRYPT and you'll get the encrypted text. Note that although there are various choices for encryption algorithm, I'm going to use AES (256 bit) for the purposes of this example. Copy-n-paste the encrypted text where you want it to go, such as an email window or a word processor file (e.g. GoogleDocs, LibreOffice, MS Word):To decrypt, open up your text where you saved your work (for example, here's what the web version of Evernote looks like) and paste it in:To decrypt, paste your encrypted text in the bottom half of the PTE window then, after entering your top secret password, click DECRYPT button:Note: that throughout this, I've chosen to "show" my password. You can actually choose to "hide" the password and it's gone when you quit PTE.iOS DeviceIf you are on an iOS device, here's what it looks like decrypting:a) Open up PTE on your iOS device. You'll be prompted for a password, so enter the one you used to encrypt text earlier:Click SET and PTE is ready to go (it will go to the more familiar split screen for encrypting/decrypting text)b) Copy-n-paste text from your Evernote app windows, as shown below:c) Paste encrypted text into the bottom window, then tap on the Decrypt button. That will show you the decrypted text in the top window.This process looks a bit different on Android...here's an older screenshot:Message Encryptor ScreenThe Android version also includes a Password Vault, as well as the SSE feature. I have encrypted files on my computer, transferred them to my phone for portability, decrypted them on my phone, and vice versa. The ability to do that provides another layer of security for mobile devices.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

"853,478,157 RECORDS BREACHED," in 2014-2015 among education (K-16) entities (check list at bottom of this blog post). There are a LOT more breaches, though. Ever since I began working in a large urban school district many years ago, and even after I left, I've asked myself, "Why don't we have a consistent procedure for safeguarding sensitive data?" This concern came to a head several times, as I became aware of efforts to cover up the problem.The first was from parents who had stumbled onto their child's confidential school records...district information techs worked frantically to remove the "breach" of confidential data from public view. Somehow, an Excel spreadsheet had found its way online, posted to a web site, containing confidential data. Another time, the data had been in a secretary's notebook that fell out of her purse on the way to her car and was lost. Or, a staff member who left an unencrypted laptop that was stolen from an unlocked vehicle parked in his driveway. I was already aware of campus principals who carried treasure troves of personally identifiable information on their external USB hard drives because they feared having anything on their "work laptop," for fear they might lose access to it and all their hard work.In each of these scenarios, I remember asking, "Why can't we use free, open source encryption solutions to safeguard data? Why can't we provide training?" The answer was always the same--"We need an enterprise level solution. If we show people how to encrypt data, then when the District needs to access that encrypted data, we will have to ask them to give us their encryption key or password. What if the person is disgruntled or departing staff member?"Of course, you'll pay an arm and a leg for "enterprise level solutions"...and encryption is everyone's business. I remember when one district staff member left the District in question. She made sure to backup all her data--presumably, confidential data--to her external USB drive (unencrypted), then deleted it from her Windows laptop. It didn't matter that we could access her laptop...the data was gone and it would have taken special software to "un-delete" the data...a job easier said than done.MAKE A DIFFERENCEIn this easy to edit GoogleDoc, Safeguarding Sensitive Data: Data Breach Prevention and Response Plan, I encourage you to review this hodge-podge of ideas and tips and make improvements that we all can share and take advantage of.SCHOOL DATA BREACH EXAMPLES via PrivacyRights.orgDate Made PublicNameEntityTypeTotal RecordsJuly 2, 2015Bonita Unified School DistrictSan Dimas, CaliforniaEDUHACKUnknownThe Bonita Unified School District notified parents and students of a breach when unauthorized access was discovered at San Dimas High School server.On June 2, 2015 the district discovered the unauthorized access to the high school's student database and noticed that several students grades had been changed. The district believes that the individual (s) that changed the grades also downloaded personal information of students.The information compromised included names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, medical information, the school's systems usernames and passwords, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.The district is providing 12 months free of ProtectMyID Alert from Experian for those affected. Those with questions can call 1-909-971-8320 and ask for Donna Martin at ext. 5201 Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Pacific Time.More Information: http://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-56705Information Source:California Attorney Generalrecords from this breach used in our total: 0July 2, 2015Harvard UniversityCambridge, MassachusettsEDUHACKUnknownHarvard University is notifying individuals of a data breach to their system that included 8 colleges and administrations.Those colleges and administrations include the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Divinity School, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Central Administration, the Graduate School of Design, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, or Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.The university has not commented on how many individuals were affected or what information was compromised. The university is requesting that anyone who is associated with any of the entities to change their username and password.More Information: http://fortune.com/2015/07/02/harvard-data-breach/Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 0May 15, 2015Penn State College of EngineeringUniversity Park, PennsylvaniaEDUHACK18,000Penn State's College of Engineering announced that their servers were hacked in two different intrustions. The hackers are believed to be based in China and may have exposed "at least 18,000 people and possibly other sensitive data".Penn State's President sent a letter out to students and faculty informing them that the college's network had been disconnected to the Internet while they investigate the intrusio. Read more here:http://news.psu.edu/story/357654/2015/05/15/administration/message-presi...The information compromised has not yet been made public, all College of Engineering faculty, staff and students were affected. Those who also had taken at least one engineering class would be affected as well. The university is requiring those who meet this criteria change their username and password. They have set up a VPN and will be required to use two-factor authentication.More Information: http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/05/penn-state-severs-engineering-ne...Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 0April 10, 2015University of California, Riverside Graduate Division officesRiverside, CaliforniaEDUPORTUnknownThe University of California, Riverside's Graduate Divison offices notified individuals of a theft of a laptop computer that included graduate student application information including Social Security numbers, first and last names.For questions call UCR's Risk Management Office at 1-866-827-4844More Information: http://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-49300Information Source:California Attorney Generalrecords from this breach used in our total: 0February 18, 2015University of MaineOrono, MaineEDUPORT941The University of Maine notified students of a data breach when a laptop was stolen with student roster information on it including Social Security numbers, phone numbers, email addresses, grade data and course information.According to the university only 604 Social Security numbers were involved in the total of 941 records exposed.More Information: http://umaine.edu/news/blog/2015/02/18/umaine-working-with-information-s...Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 604February 17, 2015Escondido Union School DistrictEscondido, CaliforniaEDUPORTUnknownThe Escondido Union School District notified some students and employees of the district of a data breach that occurred when a district owned tablet and external hard drive were stolen from a backpack belonging to a district employee.The personal information saved on the laptop included student contact information, assessment results, and self reported income by parents.More Information: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/feb/17/tp-school-district-warns-of-p...Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 0January 21, 2015Mount Pleasant School DistrictMount Pleasant, TexasEDUHACK915Mount Pleasant School District has informed approximately 915 present and former staff members that their personal information may have been compromised between January 18th 2015 and January 21st 2015.A spokesperson for Mount Pleasant School District stated "Forest Hills District had a denial of service and discovered they had been hacked," she said. "The district’s technology director found a Tweet that mentioned us. She looked us up on the Web and called us to let us know on Tuesday."When the technology director for Mount Pleasant clicked on the link, it directed him to a file that included names, addresses and Social Security numbers" of MPISD staff.More Information: http://www.dailytribune.net/news/data-breach-hits-mpisd-employees/articl...Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 915January 1, 2015Fast Forward AcademyAltamonte Springs, FloridaEDUHACKUnknownThe Fast Forward Academy LLC has notified customers of a data breach to their systems that store customer and partner information. The information compromised included names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and email addresses.The company is providing access to Triple Bureau Credit Monitoring services at no charge for 12 months. Those affected can enroll at https://www.myidmanager.com/promo_code.html and provide the code provided by the company or call 1-866-717-94291-866-717-9429 FREE to set up services or their help line at 1-800-405-61081-800-405-6108 FREEMonday through Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST.More Information: http://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-47924Information Source:records from this breach used in our total: 0December 12, 2014University of California BerkeleyBerkeley, CaliforniaEDUHACKUnknownThe University of California Berkeley has notified individuals of a data breach in their Real Estate Division that resulted in unauthorized access to servers used to support a number of Real Estate programs and work stations. These workstations contained files that included some personal information. The investigation of the hacking showed that these servers were breached in mid-to late September.The personal information included names, Social Security Numbers, credit card numbers and driver's license numbers.The university is offering identity theft protection and fraud resolution through ID Experts for free for one year. For those affected call 1-877-846-63401-877-846-6340  Monday through Friday from 6 a.m to 6 p.m Pacific Time or go towww.myidcare.com/ucbinfo.More Information: http://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-47717Information Source:California Attorney Generalrecords from this breach used in our total: 0November 14, 2014Seattle Public SchoolsSeattle , WashingtonEDUDISC8,000The Seattle Public School District announced in a letter to parents Thursday about a data breach that involved their children's information."Late Tuesday night Seattle Public Schools learned that a law firm retained by the district to handle a complaint against the district inadvertently sent personally identifiable student information to an individual involved in the case. The district promptly removed the law firm from the case and is working to ensure that all improperly released records are retrieved or destroyed."Over 800 special education students were involved in a breach. The information involved in the breach included their names, addresses, student identification numbers, test scores and disabilities.More Information: http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/seattle/2014/11/14/seattle-public-...Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 0October 1, 2014Provo City School DistrictProvo, UtahEDUHACK1,400The Provo City School District notified employees of a "phishing" attack Monday September 29, 2014 which allowed access to employees email accounts. Some employee email accounts contained files that may have had personally identifiable information.Currently the school district is investigating the breach and notifying those affected.More Information: http://fox13now.com/2014/10/01/provo-city-school-district-warning-employ...Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 0October 1, 2014Fort Hays State UniversityHays, KansasEDUDISC138Fort Hays State University has notified 138 of it's graduates that their personal information may have been compromised when personal information was "accidentally" exposed on the Internet. The information exposed included Social Security Numbers and various other pieces of personal information.The university stopped storing Social Security Numbers of students five years ago, however anyone who attended the university prior to 5 years ago, their SSN information is still part of the university database.More Information: http://ksn.com/2014/10/01/fort-hays-state-university-experiences-data-br...Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 138September 5, 2014California State University, East BayHayward, CaliforniaEDUHACKUnknownCalifornia State University, East Bay has notified individuals of a data breach that has occurred on August 11, 2014 when the University discovered unauthorized access to individuals information when an overseas IP address appears to have used a software tool designed to access information on a server without being detected. The server targeted contained personal information on various employment record transactions and some extended learning course information.The specific information breached included names, addresses, Social Security Numbers and dates of birth.The University has set up 12 months free of Experian's ProtectMyID for those affected. For additional questions or concerns individuals can contact (888) 738-3759 a toll free number specifically set up to deal with questions/concerns regarding this breach.More Information: http://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-46513Information Source:California Attorney Generalrecords from this breach used in our total: 0August 7, 2014University California Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, CaliforniaEDUHACKUnknownThe University California Santa Barbara has notified unauthorized access to some archival payroll data that included names, social security numbers and direct deposit banking information.The University has contracted with ID Experts to provide free credit monitoring service, and insurance for identity theft restoration.If you need assistance enrolling or have additional questions, the University is requesting individuals call the UCSB / ID Experts team at 1-877-919-9184, between the hours of 6:00 am and 6:00 pm Pacific Time.Information Source:California Attorney Generalrecords from this breach used in our total: 0July 16, 2014Douglas County School DistrictCastle Rock, ColoradoEDUPORTUnknownDouglas County School District notified employees of a data breach of their personal information when a laptop containing their personal information was stolen.In a letter sent to district employees, the district stated that the stolen computer contained some workers' Social Security numbers and bank account information.The district is currently investigating the breach.Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 0July 14, 2014Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical CollegeOrangeburg, South CarolinaEDUPORT20,000"Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College in South Carolina is notifying 20,000 former and current students and faculty members that an unencrypted laptop computer stolen this month from a staff member's office contained their personal information."The information contained on the laptops included names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of individuals.The college stated that the information goes back 6 or 7 years and that they believe the thief was after the hardware, not the data stored on it. The college neglected to comment on whether or not they are providing credit monitoring services for those affected.Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 20,000July 11, 2014University of Illinois, ChicagoChicago, IllinoisEDUHACKUnknownThe University Illinois Chicago (UIC) notified former students of a data breach to their system that included the exposure of personal data."A website security breach made two College of Business Administration documents from the 2002 spring semester accessible — a roster from a Special Topics in Accounting course and an advising list for all junior and senior accounting majors, according to a statement from the university".Personal information was exposed, including Social Security numbers. The university has not stated how many students were affected, and the breach is currently under investigation.Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 0July 10, 2014University Development and Alumni Relations at the Penn State College of MedicinePhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaEDUHACK1,176Penn State has notified 1,176 individuals that a data breach of their personal information had been breached.  The Office of University Development and Alumni Relations at the Penn State College of Medicine was found to be "infected with malware that enabled it to communicate with an unauthorized computer outside the network".The university used Social Security numbers as a personally identifiable number for students and these SSNs were found in an archived College of Medicine alumni list last used in 2005.The university put out this information:"For information about Penn State's efforts to minimize computer security risks, visit the University's Be Safe website athttp://its.psu.edu/be-safe. For more detailed information about identity theft risks and prevention, visithttp://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/."Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 1,176July 8, 2014Park Hill School DistrictKansas City, MissouriEDUINSDUnknownThe Park Hill School District has informed current and former Park Hill students and employees of a data breach to their system. A former employee downloaded files onto a hard drive without authorization. When the employee connected it to a home network, the files went onto the Internet.The information leaked included personnel files and Social Security numbers.Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 0July 2, 2014Milford SchoolsMilford, MassachusettsEDUPORT25Up to  25 students at Milford Schools may have had their personal information stolen due to a data breach with a third party billing service, Multi-State Billing Services, located in Somersworth, New Hampshire, when an employee's laptop was stolen from their locked vehicle in May.The laptop was password protected but not encrypted, contained information on nearly 3,000 students from 19 school districts in Central and Eastern Massachusetts.The information on the laptop included names, addresses, Medicaid ID numbers and Social Security numbers.Multi-State Billing will reimburse costs related to security freezes for the next three years. Information about reimbursement can be obtained by emailing customersupport@msb-services.com or phoning (855) 285-7433(855) 285-7433  . Because the children aren't actual victims of identity theft, the credit agencies may charge up to $5 each time to place, temporarily lift or permanently remove a security freeze.Information Source:PHIPrivacy.netrecords from this breach used in our total: 25July 2, 2014Uxbridge School DistrictUxbridge, MassachusettsEDUPORTUnknownStudents at Uxbridge School District may have had their personal information stolen due to a data breach with a third party billing service, Multi-State Billing Services, located in Somersworth, New Hampshire, when an employee's laptop was stolen from their locked vehicle in May.The laptop was password protected but not encrypted, contained information on nearly 3,000 students from 19 school districts in Central and Eastern Massachusetts.The information on the laptop included names, addresses, Medicaid ID numbers and Social Security numbers.Multi-State Billing will reimburse costs related to security freezes for the next three years. Information about reimbursement can be obtained by emailing customersupport@msb-services.com or phoning (855) 285-7433(855) 285-7433  . Because the children aren't actual victims of identity theft, the credit agencies may charge up to $5 each time to place, temporarily lift or permanently remove a security freeze.Information Source:PHIPrivacy.netrecords from this breach used in our total: 0June 30, 2014Butler UniversityIndianapolis, IndianaEDUHACK163,000Butler University in Indianapolis Indiana informed students, staff and alumni of a data breach to their system. Over 160,000 individuals may have been affected when hackers may have accessed their personal information.The university was contacted by California officials to "inform them that they had arrested an identity theft suspect who had a flash drive with Butler employee's personal information on it". In a letter sent to those affected, the university has said that "someone hacked the school's network sometime between November 2013 and May 2014".The school officials have discovered that the information exposed included birthdates, Social Security numbers and bank account information of approximately 163,000 students, faculty and staff, alumni, and prospective students who never enrolle in classes at Butler.The university is offering a year of free credit monitoring.Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 163,000June 26, 2014Orange Public School DistrictOrange, New JerseyEDUHACKUnknownA 16 year old New Jersey teen has been charged with unlawfully accessing the Orange Public School District's database and changing final grades and attendance records.The Orange High School sophomore is facing multiple counts of second-degree computer theft for unlawfully accessing and altering data an one cound of hindering apprehension.Reportedly, the student accessed the computer system after obtaining the password of a staff member. Authorities do not know how the teen was able to gain the password information. An investigation is still underway.Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 0June 20, 2014UCDC, Washington CenterWashington, District Of ColumbiaEDUHACKUnknownThe University California, Washington Center received a notification of unsolicited emails being sent to alumni of the university. After an investigation, it was revealed that someone accessed the pre-enrollment system, GoSignMeUp.com, which is a cloud-based provider for the online course registration utilized by UCDC to host its online course registration process.The information breach included usernames, passwords, addresses, principal e-mails, gender, birth dates and UCDC course information. The university has stated that they do not record or store any Social Security numbers or financial account information on any of its databases.For those who were affected the university is recommending individuals change their password.Those with questions are asked to contact techhelp@ucdc.eduInformation Source:California Attorney Generalrecords from this breach used in our total: 0June 16, 2014Riverside Community CollegeRiverside, CaliforniaEDUDISC35,212Riverside Community College has suffered a data breach affecting 35,212 students. On May 30th, a district employee emailed a file containing information about all students who were enrolled in the spring term to a colleague working at home due to illness, for a research report that was on a deadline. The district employee used a personal email account to send the data because the file was too large for the district's secure email to send. The employee then typed in the incorrect email address.The information contained in the file included names, addresses, birth dates, Social Security numbers, email addresses, student ID numbers, and telephone numbers.The district has set up a Call Assistance Center at 1-888-266-9438 for affected students. The center will be open from 6 a.m to 6 p.m Monday through Friday for 90 days.Information Source:records from this breach used in our total: 35,212June 9, 2014College of the DesertPalm Desert, CaliforniaEDUINSD1,900The College of the Desert in Palm Dale Calfornia informed individuals of a data breach in their system when a college employee sent an unauthorized attachment in an email to approximately 78 college employees,  that contained personal information of employees of the college.The information contained in the attachment included names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, geners, zip codes, titles of postions held at the university, employment anniversary date, employee identification numbers, insurance information,  active or retired employee status.Those who are affected are asked to call Stan Dupree, HR and Labor Relations Director at 760-674-3777760-674-3777orsdupree@collegeofthedesert.eduUPDATE (6/19/2014): According to new reports, The College of the Desert breach affected 1,900 current and former employees. The total individuals affected was not reported when the breach was made public.Information Source:California Attorney Generalrecords from this breach used in our total: 1,900May 30, 2014Arkansas State University College of Education and Behavioral Science's Department of Childhood ServicesJonesboro, ArkansasEDUHACK50,000Arkansas State University was notified by the Arkansas Department of Human Services of a data breach in their College of Education and Behavioral Science's Department of Childhood Services database, potentially exposing personally identifiable information.According to A-State's Chief Information Officer Henry Torres,  "we have confirmed unauthorized access to data, but we have no reports regarding illegal use of the information in these files," Torres said. "We took immediate measures to address this issue after being notified by DHS. We are cooperating with DHS and working with programmers to assess and resolve the situation."The breached involved a database related to the "Traveling Arkansas Professional Pathways (TAPP) Registry, which is a professional development system designed to track and facilitate training and continuing education for early childhood practictioners in Arkansas."To date, the university has stated that Social Security numbers were compromised in the database, no other information as to the specific data was provided by the university.Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 50,000May 22, 2014San Diego State UniversitySan Diego , CaliforniaEDUDISCUnknownSan Diego State University discovered a database that was set up and managed by the Pre-College Institute, containing names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, and other personal information was mis-configured to enable any computer connected to the SDSU wired network with the program "File Maker"   The SDSU wired network consists of offices, some labs and the library.For those with question or concerns about the incident are asked to contact Felecia Vlahos, the Information Security Officer at iso@sdsu.edu or via phone at toll free 1-855-594-0142 and refer to incident #H05007.Information Source:California Attorney Generalrecords from this breach used in our total: 0May 14, 2014University California IrvineIrvine , CaliforniaEDUHACKUnknownOn March 26, 2014, the California Information Security Office notified the University California Irvine that three of the computers in the Student Health Center had been infected by a keylogging virus, which captured the keystrokes as information was being entered into the computers, then transmitted the data to unauthorized servers. They believe that hackers gained information from February 14th through March 27th 2014.  As a result of the virus personal information of individuals was compromised.The information included names, unencrypted medical information, potentially including health or dental insurance number, CPT codes, ICD9 codes and/or diagnosis, student ID numbers, non-student patient ID numbers, mailing addresses, telephone numbers, amounts paid to the Student Health Center for services, bank names and check numbers.UC Irvine has contracted with ID Experts to provide one year of FraudStop credit monitoring and one year of CyberScan Internet monitoring for those affected. To enroll visit www.idexpertscorp.com/protect and use the code provided in the letter sent to those affected or call 1-877-810-8083.Information Source:California Attorney Generalrecords from this breach used in our total: 0April 22, 2014Iowa State UniversityAmes, IowaEDUHACK29,780Iowa State University has reported a data breach of one of their systems that exposed a large amount of data of individuals who were enrolled in the university over the past 17-year period.Social Security numbers of approximately 30,000 people who enrolled in certain classes between 1995 and 2012 along with university ID numbers for nearly 19,000 additional people. Authorities believe that the person or persons motivation was apparently to generate enough computing power to create the virtual currency bitcoin.The university is offering AllClear ID for 12 months free for those whose Social Security numbers were affected. AllClear representatives can be reached at 1-877-403-02811-877-403-0281.Here is the link to the universities information regarding the breachhttp://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2014/04/22/serverbreachFor those who suspect fraud or question whether a request you receive is legitimate, please contact the ISU Foundation at 515-294-4607515-294-4607, the ISU Alumni Association at 515-294-6525515-294-6525, or Iowa State’s computer security team at serverbreach@iastate.edu.Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 29,780March 27, 2014The University of Wisconsin-ParksideKenosha, WisconsinEDUHACK15,000Students were notified by officials from The University of Wisconsin-Parkside of a data breach that occured to their system by hackers that installed malware on one university server.The information that is at risk includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and Social Security numbers. The breach affects students who were either admitted or enrolled at the university since the fall of 2010.The server was shut down and the hacking was reported to local authorities. After launching an investigation it appears the malware was searching for credit card information and they show no evidence that any Social Security numbers were compromised.The university has set up a website with information for those who may have been affectedhttp://www.uwp.edu/explore/contactus/index.cfm Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 15,000March 6, 2014North Dakota UniversityBismarck, North DakotaEDUHACK290,780North Dakota University System has notified individuals of a security breach of a computer server that stores personal information on students, staff and faculty.On February 7, 2014 the server was hacked into and more than 209,000 current and former students and 780 faculty and staff had personal information stored on thus server that included names and Social Security numbers according to Larry Skogen, the Interim Chancellor.The university has notified officials and has set up a website www.ndus.edu/data with information and is organizing a call center for questions from those who were affected.Authorities have announced that "an entity operating outside the Unites States apparently used the server as a launching pad to attack other computers, possibly accessing outside accounts to send phishing emails"Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 290,780March 5, 2014Point Park UniversityPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaEDUUNKN1800On Wednesday March 5, 2014 Point Park University in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania notified employees of a possible data breach that included names, home addresses, Social Security numbers, wage information, birthdates, bank accounts and routing numbers.The Point Park President stated that as many as 1,800 employees could have been affected by this breach."The university was expecting a package from its payroll processing vendor Ceridian, but when the package arrived to campus it was missing all of the accompanying reports, according to an internal email obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette."The university is working with authorities and an investigation has been launched. The law firm that represents the university is currently putting a letter together to those who were affected that will include call-center information and other services offered.Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 1,800February 26, 2014Indiana UniversityBloomington, IndianaEDUHACK146,000Indiana University announced that the personal data of 146,000 students and graduates was breached. The information included their Social Security numbers and addresses and may have affected students and graduates from 2011 to 2014 at seven of its campuses.According to the university "The information was not downloaded by an authorized individual looking for specific sensitive data, but rather was accessed by three automated computer data-mining applications, called webcrawlers, used to improve Web search capabilities."The university also announced that the information was stored in an insecure location for the past 11 months. The site has since been locked down.The university has set up a hotline 1-866-254-14841-866-254-1484 for students as well as a websitehttp://bit.ly/1kbX505 with information on how to monitor credit accounts and answers to any additional questions regarding an individuals exposure. The university will also be providing the Social Security numbers of those affected to the three major credit-reporting agencies.Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 146,000February 19, 2014University of MarylandCollege Park, MarylandEDUHACK309,079The University of Maryland, located in College Town Maryland, had one of their records databases hacked Tuesday January 18, 2014 around 4:00 a.m by an outside source.This particular database holds information dating back to 1998 and includes names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and university identification numbers for 309,079 people affiliated with the school at their College Park and Shady Grove campuses.The hackers did not alter anything in the actual database, but apprarently have made a "copy" of the information. The university commented at how sophisticated the attack was by the hacker or hackers and they must have had a "very significant understanding" of how the database was designed and maintained, including the level of encryption and protection of the database.According to the university President, school officials are investigating the breach and taking steps to prevent any further system intrusions.The college has put out the following statements:"The University is offering one year of free credit monitoring to all affected persons. Additinoal information will be communicated within the next 24 hours on how to activate this service.University email communications regarding this incident will not ask you to provide personal information. Please be cautious when sharing personal information.All updates regarding this matter will be posted to this website.  If you have any questions or comments, please call our special hotline at 301-405-4440 or email us at datasecurity@umd.edu".Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 309,079January 7, 2014Risk Solutions International LLC, Loudoun County Public SchoolsAshburn, VirginiaEDUDISCUnknownLoudoun County school officials have responded to a data breach that made publicly available personal information about students and staff members, along with detailed emergency response plans for each school.More than 1,300 links could be accessed through a Google search, thought to be password protected, unveiled thousands of detailed documents as to how each school in the district will respond to a long list of emergencies, which included the staging areas for response teams as well as where the students and staff would be located during an emergency.Additional documents that could be accessed included students' courrse schedules, locker combinations, home addresses, phone numbers and birthdates along with the address and cell phone numbers for many school administrators.The contractor Risk Solution International acknowledged that the breach was caused by "human error" on their part, which is said to be the cause of the data breach.UPDATE: Loudoun County Public Schools administrators released a more detailed statement about the information made publicly available on the Internet due to errors committed by the contractor Risk Solutions International (RSI).According to school officials, the investigation is continuing as to how the webpage, which was made accessible through online search engines without any password protection happened. The page included 1,286 links detailing information on 84 Loudoun schools. It is unknown how long the information was exposed or how many links were opened by unauthorized individuals.Locker combinations were revealed for one school and only one parent contact information was revealed for fewer than 10 schools according to the spokesperson for the district. The statement also made clear that RSI's website was not hacked and that it never lost its password security. Instead, the breach occurred when RSI employees were doing technical testing on November 4th , December 19th and December 24th 2013. (1/9/2014)Information Source:Mediarecords from this breach used in our total: 0Breach Total853,478,157 RECORDS BREACHED(Please see explanation about this total.)from 4,575 DATA BREACHES made public since 2005Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his current employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Source: http://is.gd/cLrvtmAt Connected Principals, in Learning and Leadership, George Couros shared the following:"There are people in this room, no matter how compelling of evidence or ideas that I have shared, or the experiences that I have tried to create, will do nothing different tomorrow.  Are you that person?"The answer is, "Yes, that's me!" Sitting through professional learning recently, my sense of irritation mounting, I find I am no longer inspired by challenging talks that outline "successful leadership practices" and then proceed to encourage me to connect the dots, the distance between my imperfections and the target, clearly articulated by a speaker.Yes, I am the guy that says, "You know what? If you're showing me a possible avenue of growth as an invitation, well, then yes, I'm POSSIBLY open to that...if my learning path takes me in that direction. But, if you're shoving that down my throat, you know where it can go."As I let the anger of my reaction bleed into the hard concrete, I feel a sense of irony. As I probe the irony, wondering why I'm feeling that way, I remember the conversation I had with another colleague only a few months back. "If you want to hold a campus accountable for technology, then why not invite them to try it out?" Source: Sylvia Duckworth via Dr. Z ReflectsI wonder, "How long must we ask and invite teachers to adopt instructional technology practices as part of their work?" The question stems from a profound sense of dis-satisfaction for school districts to embrace teaching and learning with technology.I like this quote that George shared in another blog entry...it's less in your face:"Once you stop learning, you start dying." Albert EinsteinConnect the dots.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

A great learning opportunity for those more technically minded among us...In partnership with Pluralsight, Network World presents a free course on CCNA routing and VLANs. In this course, the student will learn the fundamental concepts of networking, and then immediately apply this knowledge to the configuration of a router and switch. By the end of the course, the student will have enough knowledge to set up a network environment that has multiple subnets over multiple virtual LANs (VLANs), use network address translation (NAT) to connect to the Internet, and hand out IP addresses automatically. Additionally, the student will take a deep dive into IP addressing, using binary, to really gain a fundamental understanding of how endpoints are addressed. All you need as a prerequisite is a willingness to learn and basic computer skills. Click here to sign up for the course.  You’ll need to provide your name and email address, with no obligation or fee. We think you’ll find this course a valuable introduction to networking.Find out more online.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

TCEA Fiber Boot CampSource: http://goo.gl/RXwatvHelping Districts Leverage E-rate Funds to Provide Future-Ready BandwidthDoes your district need an affordable fiber network to handle increased digital learning demands, but you aren’t sure how to make it happen? Are you having a hard time understanding how the new E-rate rules will help your district acquire the type of bandwidth you know your students and teachers need? Do you need some concrete answers on how to legally leverage your E-rate discounts to help your district get the lowest price for fiber? Have you been told that you will never get fiber to your district at a price you can afford?If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," then you need to attend the TCEA Fiber Boot Camp on August 28 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. This innovative event will be held at the TCEA Conference Center in Austin and will feature top fiber and E-rate experts, including representatives of the FCC and USAC and the EducationSuperHighway. This event could save your district thousands of dollars and ensure that you have the bandwidth your students and staff will need for the future.Schedule: 10:00 - 11:00  The FCC and USAC staff will discuss the 2nd E-rate Modernization Order and special construction/dark fiber options for applicants.11:00 - 12:00  The EducationSuperHighway staff will provide solutions to real-world fiber problems. They will also review their new Fiber Tool Kit. 12:00 - 1:00 - Lunch (provided)1:00 - 2:00 - Round table discussion and Q&A to answer district-specific questions about barriers you are experiencing in acquiring sufficient broadband at a reasonable cost. Location: TCEA Conference Center (3100 Alvin DeVane Blvd., Bldg. B. Austin, Texas 78741)Cost: $10.00 for TCEA members; $55.00 for non-membersIf traveling to Austin is impossible, a live-streamed version of the event will also be provided. The cost for attending the streamed presentation is $10.00 for TCEA members; $55.00 for non-member. Virtual attendees will be able to submit questions and receive answers from the presenters.REGISTER HEREEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

"What?!? You have how many notes?" asked a casual user of Evernote."Yeah, I have almost 10K of notes in Evernote. But I've been looking for something easier, simpler to manage.""Isn't that a little unwieldy?""Yes, but I haven't found a better solution...GoogleKeep didn't grab me, Evernote is too fancy, text files in Dropbox to simple, but something new may be coming...."Catch MammothHQ on TwitterWorks on iOS and AndroidThat conversation snippet sums up my unending search for an easy to use solution. A few years ago, I began archiving everything in Evernote...great web sites, articles for stories, encrypted confidential information that I wouldn't trust to Google (after all, they did shut my blog down with no reason given...although they restored it, I was a bit gun-shy).What the MammothHQ Board looks like with content emailed in!MammothHQ.com serves as an alternative to Evernote and other note-taking apps that you may want to consider. A few facts so far:MammothHQ works and looks beautiful on Chrome browser add-on and iOS/Android devicesMammothHQ provides 5GB of storage out of the starting gate for FREE accountsMammothHQ uses "boards" to organize information. New information gets added to the bottom of a board.Easy to add comments with a "Twitter-like" comment box at the bottom of each Board.Easy to invite people to collaborate on a Board (lots of applications). Much more elegantly instituted than Evernote's WorkChat (yuck).You can email content into MammothHQ (love this features, especially when updating an existing board...the note appears at the bottom of Board in a grey shaded box that looks cool and suggests a conversation)Start a new board by emailing "new@post.mammothhq.com" where the subject line becomes the name of the boardUpdate existing board with email to "boardname-######@post.mammothhq.com" where ###### indicates your userID (that's what it looks like to me).You can drag and drop content (any type of file) onto a Board and it will appear at the bottom of the Board. Think of it as an email message with attachments hanging onto the bottom.Stuff I Would Like to SeeIFTTT.com API or connection to enable content sharing more easily into MammothHQ2-factor authentication to protect privacy of documentsAES-256 encryption needed, along with ability to encrypt contents of a Board at will. Maybe consider PGP Encryption, Minilock and/or Text Encryption support. Mailvelope technology would be helpful to incorporate here.Evernote migration or file import tool. Ability to group Boards into "Boards and sub-boards" to facilitate organization.Text listing of Boards rather than just pictures (although pictures gives it a Pinterest look without all the annoyance!).Educator price point ($25 a year and I'm in!)Ideas for Using MammothHQ for OrganizationCreate a MammothHQ Board for each of your class' and post email updates with pictures.Collect critical documents by attaching them to a Board (always encrypt confidential files prior to uploading to the cloud)Create and share classroom lectures/meeting notes in a Board, one Board per event.Use IFTTT.com to send email social media updates to a MammothHQ Board setup for that purpose.Use your imagination!Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Source: http://goo.gl/VM76arLooking for free antivirus solutions for your personal Mac? Be sure to check out one of these:AVG Free Antivirus for MacAvira Free Antivirus for Mac "(free, direct) isn't limited to non-commercial users. Avira has made it 'truly free for everyone—private consumers, professionals and even businesses—without exception and without any advertising or marketing pop-ups.'"Sophos Free Antivirus for Mac (free, noncommercial use only). There is no phone or email support for Sophos Antivirus for Mac OS X Home Edition.Have you tried these out for yourself? Unfortunately, on Mac, it's hard to know which will work best...while there are viruses for Mac, I've never encountered one. So, I'd pick the one that's least intrusive and has the best reviews. I'm partial to AVG and Avira because I have used them on other platforms...in fact, I prefer AVG on Windows. Sophos, however, works great, too in a commercial environment. Whether it does the same in noncommercial environment, that is something else. The interface is pretty straightforward. In my Sophos scan, I encountered the following:The malware Sophos turned up after scanning over 1M+ files turned out to be:Genieo is an OSX Adware that could be posting as fake Flash Player alerts, or video codecs, to trick users to download and install itself without user interaction.It would alter users' homepage and search engine settings to its own. Although an uninstaller is offered, it would still require manual uninstallion for a complete removal.Sometimes the uninstaller might not be able to reset browser settings properly so it would require users to restore the settings themselves. Read more hereSo, contrary to what I thought, my machine was infected with those fake Flash Player alerts.Here's a quick look at Avira Free Antivirus:On installation completion...Upon completing an update of virus definitions:In anticipation of a New Scan of computer:Scan didn't reveal issues, which is a good thing!Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure