Setting up Safe Searches

We are all one click away from being pulled into an information portal, filled with erroneous, distracting and at times dangerous material. We are also one click away from making a mistakenly sharing information not intended for a wider audience, in the form of an email, a wall post, text or chat message.   We've all heard the admonition "think before you post." The new mantra should be "think before you click." It's hard to stay true to this statement in practice, especially as we endure a fast-paced, real-time information onslaught.

Don't Fool Yourself every Search Engine has a different Safe Search button hidden within their  search engine or app browser. 

Google Safe Search for Images

This can be found on iOS

Here's how Google describes the new settings: "In the SafeSearch Filtering section, click the checkbox to filter sexually explicit video and images from Google Search result pages, as well as results that might link to explicit content. If you choose to leave it unchecked, we will provide the most relevant results for your query and may serve explicit content when you search for it." So Google may show explicit images, but only if it's obvious that you're searching for it. No algorithm is perfect, so you'll probably find many examples when this doesn't work as intended.  

YouTube Safe Search for iOS

Here are a few tips to help parents control the content that their child views on YouTube, and on the web, in general. 

Filtering on OS X

The quickest and easiest way to make YouTube kid-friendly is to enable Safety Mode. Safety Mode will screen out potentially objectionable content, so children can view YouTube in a web browser without unsavory videos and vulgar comments floating to the top. You can turn on Safety Mode by scrolling to the bottom of any YouTube page and clicking the drop-down menu in the "Safety" section. If you are logged into your YouTube account, you can lock this feature so it is always enabled. If you have multiple browsers, you have to open each browser and repeat this process to make sure Safety Mode is turned on in each one.

Yahoo Safe Search for iOS

To turn SafeSearch on or off scroll down to the bottom of the page. In the lower right hand corner tap the option to turn SafeSearch on or off. Depending on your current setting it will say either, "On/ Turn Off" or "Off/ Turn On."

NOTE: By default SafeSearch will be turned on. If you turn SafeSearch off you will need to agree that you are okay with potentially viewing mature content in the search results.

Safety Resources

Google Tools

Google Search App

Always A Wild Ride

Where has the time gone? Over this summer our District was busy preparing for our 1:1 rollout. To give you an idea it was like riding a roller coaster and the thrill of the ride is still under way.






Check it out: This is an Interactive Map put together by AEA 267 for the state of Iowa on 1:1 schools. Yes! Howard-Winn is on the map.

But how did we get to where we are right now? With volunteers and many hours over this past summer.

If you can imagine each device came individual wrapped. So as they say 1 by 1 we unloaded the trailer with all the digital devices for the students.

Next, came how do we assign all these device. Students volunteered their time to assist with inventorying, checking devices out to students, and putting cases on the iPads. So on the night of rollout things would be running smoothly. It was a process but we are greatly appreciative the time that was spent so that rollout ran smooth and students didn't have to stand in line waiting for us to check them out a device in our inventory system.

Seriously even though this process was done, and believe me it was a load off our shoulders our work was still not done. We still needed to transfer over our faculty to new device too! Yep we had it done just in time for there Apple PD. We did 10 new computer transfers a day in order to make our deadline.

Apple professional came into our District for 2 days of training to work with our staff. The first day they explored options of iLife. Within the iLife they learned how to integrate iMovie, GarageBand, and iPhoto into the classroom. The second day training revolved around Challenged-Based training on the teaching and learning that encourages students to leverage the technology they use in their daily lives to solve real-world problems. Both days for the Apple PD there were differentiated instructions for our staff to learn within their groups, and staff were creating, and exploring and asking questions on how to connect with the trainers for more exuberant ideas. Check out one teachers reflection from the 2 day training.

Here is a project a group created on Challenged-Based Learning:

Drumroll: It was rollout Night!

This was just the HS school laptops in which we had prepared ready to go.

Mr. Carver addresses the students about the exciting times ahead for the students.

Local Business and School Board members assisted with handing out the devices to the students.

If you would like to read more about our 1:1 rollout check out the article  Classroom Tech: Do students need iPads and personal computers? written in the Des Moines Register. Or watch the #2020Howardwinn Rollout video created by Northeast Iowa Regional STEM Hub.

1:World Learning Initiative

Create a compelling vision, one that takes people to a new place, and then translate that vision into a reality. ~Warren G. Bennis 

Next school year, all students will be immersed in a technology rich environment, which motivates, engages students to learn 21st century skills, as it will be an integral part or our daily life. Sparked by our School Boards vision the recommendation to launch was reached with careful consideration by a School Board Member, administrator, staff members, and students. After a unanimous vote in favor of our 1:World learning initiative on May8th, 2013. For the K-6th grades the students will be issued an iPad and 7th-12th grade students will be issued a MacBook Air.

Why the 1:World Digital Learning Initiative
Our Districts mission is to prepare and empower our students to think creatively, serve, contribute and
succeed locally and globally. What is really important about this though is its not an initiative, its a 1:World digital learning initiative. This is not about the technology; it's about changing instruction in order to meet the needs of our students and to individualize instruction. As we launch this 1:World digital learning initiative with technology as a tool which will enhance learning and allow students to grow into 21st century learners.

This year our teachers have been stepping into the path of making global connection both near and far. From utilizing tools such as back channeling, Skype, ooVoo, and collaborating through google docs. Check out our 2012-2013 school year photo slide show that encompasses all the activities.

Connecting with schools in CT

The strengths to come with our 1:World digital learning initiative will be the transformation of the classrooms from a passive learning environment (teacher lectures) to an active learning environment (student-centered). This will allow for the students to become more engaged in the classroom activities. There are many different ways information can be presented by teacher and student, which allows for the expression of creativity.

Professional development and faculty preparation is crucial to achieving the 1:World learning initiative  We have outstanding teacher's and staff; their professionalism, and passion for learning is the reason we can execute this project. To help staff take these talents to the next level, they will participate in professional development sessions in the fall of 2013 and throughout the school year.

This summary just touches a few key project elements. New policies must be written, laptops evaluated, infrastructure prepared, and communication plans drawn out. Our journey will be profound. Stay tuned to read about our 1:World learning initiative unfold which empowers students to succeed.

Maximize Digital Classroom Resources

Have you ever said "If I only had one more computer or iPad in my classroom?" Well maximizing our digital resources within the classroom is at a premium these days as more teachers are using digital devices.  As more app developers are producing for both android and apple devices its getting easier than ever to maximize resources.  So let's take a look into the google chrome web store and app store to see what we can find:

 Sumopaint is fully featured online (and offline) image editor and graphics app with nearly over 1 million monthly users. They have also developed an app for the iPad and added it to the chrome web store. Sumo Paint provides a great feature set with tools ranging from basic shapes to advanced painting tools. Unlike most other other online graphics editing apps, Sumo Paint also has an online community. It’s far from a new app, but it’s one of the standbys that come up in every list of great web apps.

BeFunky is actually a pretty sweet online photo editor.  With BeFunky even the less tech savvy can transform their pictures into amazing works of art in just a few clicks! Not only does this Web 2.0 tool offer tons of neat effects and features, but users can give their creations more character by adding speech bubbles, frames, graphics, text and more!  Changing your pictures into oil paintings, vintage polaroids, or pop art has never been easier.  BeFunky’s sleek and simple tools also allow users to make corrections such as red eye, poor lighting or dull colors in seconds. The best part is that you can find it in the app store for your iPad or in the Chrome web store.

The Google Drive iPad app or chrome web store has improved over the last couple of months to the point where it’s not as robust as using Google Drive on the web or on an Android device, but it is much more functional than ever before. In fact, it’s now possible to create student portfolios through the Google Drive iPad app.  Greg Kulowiec, Edtech teacher, wrote up a fantastic set of directions on using the Google Drive iPad app to have students create portfolios. You can read Greg’s complete post on the topic here. The how-to video that he made I have embedded below.

Let's hear about what apps you are using in the classroom that are found in both the google chrome web store and the app store on your iPad.

Week One: iPads in the JH

Its been a great week at Howard-Winneshiek CSD with our 1:1 iPads in the Junior High. The students are actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons.

Students are learning on the go all the time with these devices in their hand. Just take a look around the community and where are the Junior High students hanging out? I have noticed groups hanging out at the local library, arriving before school or even staying after school later to all use the WI-FI access. But the BIG question to ask our selves is what will we do to help rural students in our district who live on a farm to receive WI-FI access?

The teachers are also learning how to support students in performing authentic tasks. They have been working collaboratively with one another as a team to learn new steps, processes, and Apps for the classroom. This has been a learning curve but they all have been eager to learn new technology and utilize it on a daily basis. When meeting with the staff they were overcoming how students should submit an assignment from their iPad. That evening I received a video that a teacher created from the Show Me App explaining to the students how to submit their homework. It's these types of challenges the staff is coming together to find solutions and how to solve the problem. As Superintendent Carver wrote the staff "there will be Opportunities and Challenges and I am confident we are ready for  what's next"!  

6th-8th Grade Receive iPads

iPad Launch Night

Last week was an exciting one for students at Howard-Winneshiek Middle School. While the first week of school might be dreaded by some, the anxiety was counteracted by the presentation of iPads to the students. Grades 6th-8th were presented with their iPads on Wednesday, August 22, 2012. To help assist with handing out the iPads we reached out to our local businesses within the community. So a big "THANK YOU" goes out to them because without their support the process wouldn't have moved as smooth as it did. Now comes the implementation phase and most classrooms have started using them on a regular basis. Many classes will be using the new technology for research on the internet. The uses in the classroom will be ever evolving through school year which has the staff just as excited as the students about the addition of iPads to the middle school. In launch of our iPads we have also added a new tab to our District Technology page check out: 1 to 1 Learning.

 1st Day of School