Students Teaching Students!

Question: What happens when we see that the updated iCal app is no longer a great tool to record homework?

Answer: Informally survey the students to discover their preferred apps. The top two contenders were myHomework and The Homework app.

Solution: This problem provided a great opportunity for 12 students from grades 6, 7, and 8 to step into a leadership role to teach other students. The group of twelve was randomly paired up to visit each 6th grade Advisory to share the two apps. In watching the “junior teachers” in action, they were awesome! Each pair shared their app of preference by projecting the app and then showing the various functions. They also talked about what they liked about it and then answered questions.

Students teaching students at San Domenico

Our 6th grader rocked it! “Since it is my first year in middle school, going up and speaking in front of a class helped me build confidence not just for speaking, but it also helped give me confidence that I can have for the rest of my 6th grade year. This experience will help me feel more comfortable speaking to a large audience in the future.”

Our 7th grader had a great time! “It was a fun way to be in the teachers shoes for a little bit and sharing something with younger kids.”

Our 8th grader had a blast! “It was really fun teaching the sixth graders about the homework apps, they all listened and asked really good questions. The messed around with us too and made some really funny jokes.”

And from the teachers: "They were all so helpful and informative that my advisees immediately downloaded one of the apps to try out.  Well done!”

And one more, “I love it when students get to be in a role of leadership to show off their skills.”

Students teaching students is quite an empowering moment of leadership!

Kali Baird - Director of High School Advising

PreK-8 Science and Technology Lead

New Copiers - Digital Imaging Options Arrive at San Domenico School

During the 2012-2013 school year San Domenico School printed more than one million pages of copy paper. Being a 1:1 iPad school with a unique emphasis on sustainability this was a shocking statistic for many of us to learn.

Being a school we recognize that paper is an important part of the learning process. However, being a 1:1 iPad and Apple Distinguished School, we know we have to do better and reduce the emphasis on paper usage.

With a new copier lease contract we will be putting greater emphasis on three major areas of digital imaging designed to reduce the number of pages we print and improve the workflow for our documents.

These areas of emphasis are:

1. Double sided printing

2. Scanning to E-Mail

3. Scanning to USB Flash Drive and SD Card

Two-Sided Printing
It may seem simple but we don't always think to print two-sided. Our new Ricoh copiers will allow us to deploy double-sided ready print presets. Staff may prepare a number of different preset options to both speed up the printing process and reduce the number of pages they print.

Staff enter the different parameters for their print job (including Two-Sided, B & W or color, stapling, hole punching, etc.) then simply save these settings as a "Preset" which are available each time they go to print.

 

Scanning to E-Mail

Using electronic documents are a great way to minimize the use of paper. There are many documents we want to share with our colleagues and students each day. Using the copier's Scanner functionality makes it easy to scan and send a document to a user E-Mail address.

Users simply scroll through the user directory and select their name from the list. Using the already populated E-Mail address the copier can scan multiple pages into a single document and send directly to your account.

Note: Resolution settings and the number of pages you scan will determine the size of your document once it is scanned. Please try to keep your file sizes small enough to send within our system. If you require high resolution scanning please use the Scan to USB Flash Drive and SD Card method.

Scanning to USB Flash Drive and SD Card

Our new copiers allow users to scan files directly to USB Flash Drive and SD Cards. To do this simply choose the Scanner option in the home menu. Click the option to "Store File" and choose "Store to Memory Device." Choose the type of device you inserted in the copier and press the "Start" button.

You can scan multiple pages into a single file. When you are finished scanning press the # key to complete the scanning process.

Our hope is that implementing new copiers with easier access to digital imaging, combined with the use of cloud resources like Moodle, Turnitin.com, Box, and Google Drive, will both improve how we teach and learn but also help us to reduce the number of pages we print each year.

We'll let you know how it goes!

Brad Lakritz
Director of Technology

RenWeb Password Reset

With so many places to log in to on the web these days sometimes we forget our credentials. Credentials are the information we need to access secure areas on the Internet. That may be an e-commerce site like Amazon or social media such as Facebook.

Credentials often include a User Name and Password. But they may include other information such as "secret questions" that are used to verify a persons identity when they need to change a password or can't remember the password.

San Domenico families and staff use RenWeb to view student information. If you need to reset your password for any reason here are a few easy steps to take in order to update your log in credentials on your own.

1. Open the RenWeb home page:  http://www.renweb.com. Mouse over the "Logins" button and click the ParentsWeb Login option.




2. In the upper left hand corner of the screen you will see the credentials log in fields. Click the "Forgot User Name/Password?" link in the middle of the log in area.

3. Enter the District Code and your E-mail address and click the "Reset Password" button.




4. This will generate an E-mail message with a link to a password reset page on the RenWeb site.

5. Click the link in the E-mail. This will take you to a password reset page. Enter a new password and confirm the new password in the two available fields. Click the "Save user Name and/or Password" button to complete the process. Once you complete the process the RenWeb site will confirm that your password was reset.

Many of our students are accessing cloud services as part our educational program. These sites include our San Domenico Moodle learning management system, Turnitin.com, GMail, and Box. Each of these sites offer similar methods for changing and updating your password and log in credentials.

Please note that using secure passwords are an important part of computing and communicating online. Regular updates to your passwords are a good way to keep yourself and your data and identity secure. We encourage you to be vigilant with this information and not share it with anyone, even close friends.

Please let us know if you have any questions or need any assistance with this process. You can always reach us via the San Domenico HelpDesk E-mail.

Brad Lakritz
Director of Technology

IT - Not Your Father's "Instructional Technology"

Back in the 1982-1983 school year I spent a pretty good amount of time as an assistant to a research project through the Laboratory for Comparative Human Cognition in the Communication Department of the University of California, San Diego.

Apple II Computer

Back in those days "Instructional Technology" was a term used to describe computer-based learning. The research project was predominantly focused on trying to determine the educational value and efficacy of "drill and practice" software on Apple II computers.

Looking back at some of the research from that time it's surprising to me how similar the work was compared to what we do with technology in education today.

Today, the term "IT" means something quite different as the "instructional" part of the phrase has been replaced with "educational."

The reason for this change is directly connected to the phrase "Information Superhighway" which came a few years after my time at LCHC and referred to the Internet and the astronomic growth of electronic information. Today IT refers to the availability of this vast and growing amount of information. IT staff provide support for the access to, and the use of, this information.

Jason Clarke

In schools, businesses, and governments IT staff serve a crucial role in building, managing, troubleshooting, and yes even providing instruction on the use of a wide range of information technologies.

At San Domenico School a big part of the Technology Department is the IT staff that are such a vital part of the day to day operation as well as the educational program of the school.

We don't just provide our staff with computers, iPads, printers, media, and broadband wired and wireless network connectivity and then ask them to use it and fix it if it breaks or no longer meets their needs.

To use the classic metaphor, we need to keep the trains running. More importantly, we need to make sure people know how to run the trains, that they have the best possible trains available for the tracks they are driving on, and we need to assist them in determining if the tracks and trains they are using are the right ones to support the educational mission of our school.

Meet our IT staff. These are the people who help us keep the trains running.

Jason Clarke is our Technology Systems Manager. Jason is originally from New York but his family moved to California where he graduated from Tamalpais High School with letters in two sports. He studied Information Technology at the Lincoln Technical Institute and has held technology management positions at MySpace, FOX, and Rubicon. Jason is in his fourth year at San Domenico School where he manages the day to day operations of the IT systems and staff and helps with youth sports including serving as an assistant coach for the flag football program.

Robert Valdivia and Alec Barnhardt

Alec Barnhardt is Technology Support Specialist serving his second year at San Domenico School. Alec spent one summer as a camp counselor and four years as an assistant teacher and technology and IT support coordinator for the British International School in New York. In 2002 he was an 8th grade basketball coach in the Bolinas-Stinson School District. In 2003 Alec worked as an educational tutor for students with learning differences in the Bolinas-Stinson School District. Alec holds certifications as an Emergency Medical Technician and as an ambulance driver.

Robert Valdivia is Technology Support Specialist at San Domenico School. Robert joined the Technology Department in the spring of 2013. Robert is originally from Lima, Peru. His family immigrated to California when he was just two years old. After attending Gallinas (now Venetia Valley) Elementary, Davidson Middle, and Terra Linda High School, Robert moved to Hollywood and graduated from the Musician's Institute where he studied vocal performance. He also studied sound design at the Ex'pression College for Digital Arts. Robert has worked in corporate IT and spent two years working at the Corte Madera Apple Store where he earned several certifications in Apple hardware and software products.

San Domenico School is at the forefront of educational technology use in schools. Being one to one with iPads in grades 3 - 12 requires a strong team of IT professionals to help support the hundreds of users integrating these educational tools every day. Here's to Jason, Alec, and Robert! Thanks for keeping the trains on time, for making sure we have the best available tools, and for all you do to help us grow and use these powerful educational resources throughout the school.

Brad Lakritz
Director of Educational Technology

Information Literacy in the Library!

Using the San Domenico School Online Library

Searching a library for the perfect book to read or to find the best print information is becoming a lost art with the primacy of web searching and "just Googling it." Often students do not have experience using Online Library Catalogs or expertise in using the Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress organization systems. 

Sophomores Makenna Dixon-Essien and Juliana Johnson along with Library Director, Scott Fletcher, have created a short informational video to help students use the Online Catalog and find the print resource they are looking for. 

More Information Literacy videos and tutorials are planned focusing on Web Searching, Subscription Databases, Webpage Evaluation, etc.