QISD Technology Blog

I received an email about some free tools and websites that teachers could use to make online quizzes for students and I thought I would share with everyone.

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/04/free-tools-to-create-and-administer.html

Interesting article from CNN discussing smartphone use in the military.

U.S. officials this year are expected to get smartphones capable of handling classified government documents over cellular networks, according to people involved in the project.

The phones will run a modified version of Google’s Android software, which is being developed as part of an initiative that spans multiple federal agencies and government contractors, these people said.

The smartphones are first being deployed to U.S. soldiers, people familiar with the project said. Later, federal agencies are expected to get phones for sending and receiving government cables while away from their offices, sources said. Eventually, local governments and corporations could give workers phones with similar software.

The Army has been testing touchscreen devices at U.S. bases for nearly two years, said Michael McCarthy, a director for the Army’s Brigade Modernization Command, in a phone interview. About 40 phones were sent to fighters overseas a year ago, and the Army plans to ship 50 more phones and 75 tablets to soldiers abroad in March, he said.

“We’ve had kind of an accelerated approval process,” McCarthy said. “This is a hugely significant event.”

Currently, the United States doesn’t allow government workers or soldiers to use smartphones for sending classified messages because the devices have not met security certifications.

Officials have said they worry that hackers or rogue apps could tap into the commercial version of Android and spill state secrets to foreign governments or to the Web through a publisher such as WikiLeaks. As many as 5 million Android users may have had their phones compromised by a recent virus outbreak rooted in apps found on Google’s market, said security software maker Symantec.

But with a secure smartphone, a soldier could see fellow infantry on a digital map, or an official could send an important dispatch from Washington’s Metro subway without fear of security breaches.

Developers in the government program have completed a version that has been authorized for storing classified documents but not transmitting them over a cell network, said two people contributing to the initiative. Smartphones cleared for top-secret dispatches — high-level classified information that would compromise national security if intercepted — are expected to be ready in the next few months, they said.

Rather than building special handsets hardwired with secure components, the government plans to install its software on commercially available phones, the people familiar with the project said. This approach is far less expensive and allows the government to stay up to date with the latest phones on the market, they said.

Last week Apple announced it’s partnership with the major textbook companies in the United States on making the iPad the electronic textbook of the future in America’s schools.

http://www.apple.com/education/#video-textbooks

The video above is produced by Apple showing off the potential of textbooks designed to work on the iPad.
I am very excited about the potential of what iBooks promises for education, but the ibooks as of today is a good proof of concept at this point. Many more books have to be created in this format for schools to be able to adopt them and the pricing and details on how schools will pay for these new electronic books have yet to be determined. As they say on the news, “Stay Tuned”

Should I buy an iPad?

Apple introduced the iPad as a device that sits somewhere between smartphones like the iPhone and laptops like the MacBook. They believe the tablet form factor combined with iOS software allows the iPad to do certain things better than either the phone or laptop. These things include email and web browsing, watching movies and playing games. It’s not the phone you can easily carry in your pocket, small of screen but hugely portable. And it’s not the laptop you need to put on a table and keep plugged in, hot and noisy, and overly complex for most tasks. It’s a 9.7″ piece of glass that turns on instantly, lasts for up to 10 hrs between charges, and is easy enough for a toddler or grandparent to use, but powerful enough to delight geeks and gadget-lovers alike. Apple truly succeeded in changing the game — for the first time it’s not about specs, it’s not even about content, it’s about the experience. It’s about using it.

If Windows or Mac OS X frustrate or annoy you, and you just want something simple to use the internet and apps, you’ll like the iPad. If you want to be able to curl up on the sofa or in bed and read an ebook or watch a video, or often find yourself on a long, cramped plane or train ride and need to get work done, you’ll like the iPad. If you’re the creative type who just wants a clean canvas to record music, paint with digital bits, or map minds with your fingers, you’ll like the iPad. If for any reason a phone is just too small and a laptop is just too much of a pain, you’ll like the iPad.

Should I buy an iPad 2 or wait for iPad 3?

iPad 3 is probably coming in March. While Apple doesn’t always stick to their yearly product cycles, they stick to them often enough that a new iPad this spring is high likelihood. With a new iPad there come new features, usually at the same price as the old iPad. In this case, with the iPad 3, we’re probably going to be seeing a double density Retina display, meaning 2048×1536 resolution in the same 9.7-inches the current iPad uses for 1024×736. So text will look sharper, more like reading ink on paper, and graphics will look crisper. The pixels will all but disappear.

It will probably also have an Apple A6 processor. Whether or not that means quad-core, it will certainly mean faster — faster rendering web pages and much faster — and hence better — graphics. It may or may not offer super fast 4G LTE connectivity, and if you live in one of the relatively few areas that have 4G LTE, that might matter to you. It could also have better cameras than the current, rather pitiful iPad 2 cameras.

So if a new iPad is only a couple of months away, is there any reason to buy an iPad 2 now? Sure, if you need it badly enough now. If you need an iPad today, this week, or this month, then get it. If your netbook broke and you need a portable PC, if you’re about to leave on a business trip or vacation and need a way to stay connected, if you’re going to move from developing iPhone apps to iPad apps, if your child or significant other really wants one for his or her birthday, if your parents are about to be grandparents and you’d give anything to be able to place FaceTime video calls to them, get an iPad now. It’s a great device, it has tons of great software, and just because a new one comes out in a few months doesn’t mean your current one will spontaneously combust. Get it, be happy, and if the new one entices you, give or sell the current one to friend or family member and make the upgrade.

If you’re still on the fence, if you’re still undecided, check out the link below and then head on over to your local Apple Store or electronics retailer and try one out. Try out the web and the apps and the games. See how it feels and how it feels to use it. Then make up your mind. Chances are that within a few minutes you’ll find out if you should buy an iPad.

As many of you who read this blog know, Quanah ISD’s 7-12th grade students are part of a 1 to 1 laptop initiative where students are given a macbook for their use during the school year. Particularly at the high school level, students can be away from their daily classes for several days during the semester due to academic and athletic events. In order to help students stay connected to the classroom some of our high school teachers and students have started using a web-based application called “project share.” This program is very similar to the online course systems such as BlackBoard that is used by many colleges and universities for classroom content, assignments, grades, lesson plans and student collaboration. Thanks to project share, students can continue to have an active role in the classroom whether they are here or anywhere. In addition, project share allows students to submit their assignments to their teacher electronically and provides another way of two-way communication between the teacher and the students for questions they may have with respect to their assignments.It is our goal to expand the project share program to all our classes in the secondary level.

Here’s a short video for a more detailed explanation. http://projectsharetexas.org/overview/overview.html

Most people know they should back up their data, but not everyone does. If you’re one of those people, just take this as a reminder that your hard drive will fail at some point, and you need to get all your stuff backed up right away!

Why You Need To Back Up

Your hard drive is going to fail. It’s not a question of if it will fail, but when it will fail. Hard drives today are pretty reliable, but still they are intricate, delicate machines. They also spin and anywhere between 5400 and 7,200 RPM depending on the model you have, and with all that spinning, something is going to break eventually.

Redundancy is key. No storage media is infallible, and if you think of it that way, all your data should be stored in more than one spot. Always. Think about everything you have on your computer. Documents, email, pictures from your Aunt Virginia’s 90th birthday party, and that cool video of the . You don’t want to lose that stuff, do you?

Backing Up Is Easy. Here’s How.

This won’t cost you a lot of money, and it won’t take a lot of time. Here’s how to back up.

Step 1. Buy something to back up on.

You can back up on anything really, CD’s, DVD’s etc. but the two best choices you have are an external hard drive or a USB flash drive. If you only have a small amount of information, you can get by with the usb drive, but for most people who use their computer for a bit, I’d recommend the hard drive. It holds a lot more than the flash drive. Not sure which to get? Look at how much space you are using on your computer and use that as a guide. To do that on mac, open Finder, find your Macintosh HD and hit File, Get Info. Again, see how much is in use.

Special note: If you use Mac OSX, you’ll want to get a drive larger than the data in use on your computer. Time machine will allow you to roll back to a moment in time anywhere in your backup, so it saves versions of files. It’s a great feature but it needs a little more space to get the most out of it. Go for a little bigger hard drive here. It’s worth it.

Step 2. Set up Backups.

OK so you’re got your shiny new hard drive ready to go. Let’s copy some data!

Mac: 

Apple’s OS X provides a very handy backup program called Time Machine. To set this up, just plug in your new hard drive and open Time Machine. It’s under Applications if you don’t see it in the dock. Turn it on and tell it to use the new drive for backups. It will take a while the first time, but it will back up everything. Then you can go back to time machine anytime you lose something, and if your computer crashes or hard drive fails, the drive has all your stuff stored there.

Manual Backups:

If you got a USB drive or if you just prefer to do it this way, you can back up your information manually. Just pop the flash drive in and you should see a new drive appear in My Computer (PC) or Finder (Mac). You can copy files and folders over to that drive. Once on the drive, they’re backed up. If you don’t do much on your computer, just do this once in a while and you’re all set! Just remember that anything stored in just one place is at risk for being lost.

Step 3. Go nuts.

If you’re like me, you’ve had a hard drive crash once a long time ago and you lost some data and you swore you’d never make that mistake again! My first line of defense is Time Machine. Time machine handles my regular backups on a day to day basis.

Hopefully this post helps save someone’s data!

I thought I’d start of 2012 with a reminder about how to avoid computer viruses. Although the Apple operating system we use at school is relatively free from virus attacks, there are many, many folks who still use windows on a daily basis and virus threats are very real. Here are top 10 tips for avoiding infection.
1. Check your email. As we’ve discussed previously, never click on a link or attachment in an email unless you are certain that it has come from a trusted source. Remember that anybody can be compromised or infected, so if the text of an email sounds strange or somehow not quite right, a quick phone call or reply email is all it takes to doublecheck that the message is legit.

Pay close attention to any attachments you receive. Unless you were expecting something and know exactly who sent it, do not open it. Even if it’s your mother, best friend, or boss, reply to any unexpected or unusual-looking emails to find out whether or not it’s real.

Remember that double extensions, like .jpg.exe or .zip.vbs, are not what they might seem — do not open them under any circumstances.

2. Change your outlook. While we’re on the topic of email, be extra careful if you are still using Microsoft Outlook. While Outlook is a very efficient email program packed with a bunch of useful features, the program is a more frequent target of virus and spyware infections than alternative programs such as Mozilla Thunderbird or Eudora. To avoid using an email client completely, take your mail into the cloud, using a Gmail address exclusively. (Google might actually be a suitable replacement for your entire office suite, too.)

If you’re still a fan of Microsoft’s programs, there are a number of anti-spam add-ons available. Check them out if you’d like another alternative.

3. Get a good anti-virus program. An obvious way of avoiding viruses is to set up your computer to recognize and scan for malware. Programs like Norton, Sophos, McAfee, and AVG all do the job very well and can be set up to update definitions and scan your entire system on a regular schedule.

While computer security is an area you do not want to skimp on and we’re constantly told that you get what you pay for, don’t shy away from the free options. AVG’s free version is very nearly as good as the higher-priced applications, minus a few of the bells and whistles you may not need anyway. It is one of the most frequently recommended anti-virus programs for good reason.

4. Scan again with anti-spyware. It might seem that anti-virus programs are very similar to anti-spyware applications, but the two programs are a bit different. Each looks for different things, and even though their findings may overlap on some things, you’ll commonly pick things up with your anti-spyware program that the anti-virus hadn’t picked as a problem.

Look for programs like Ad-Aware, Windows Defender, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and Spybot Search & Destroy. Again, they’re all very good, and higher price tags don’t necessarily reflect higher quality programming.

5. Check your browser. There are other ways your computer can be infected, so keep an eye out for random popups that appear while browsing the internet. If something shows up unexpectedly claiming to be your anti-virus software and reporting that your computer has problems or a virus, it’s probably a scam. Look carefully, and ignore anything with spelling errors or incorrect English or that refers to a program you do not have installed on your machine.

Another scam involves popup advertising that warns of errors that can only be fixed if you purchase a particular brand of software. Obviously this is a hoax, and the software itself is likely to be a virus or piece of malware itself.  If you encounter one of these, the safest thing is to close your internet browser immediately (do not click on the “scan” or “exit” buttons, and even the “x” to close the popup may trigger its nasty payload). It’s a good idea to do an update your anti-virus software and perform a full scan. It’s unlikely that anything is lurking on your system, but it’s a very good idea to check anyway.

6. Update everything. Configure your operating system to automatically download and install all of the current updates to your operating system, as well as any other patches or upgrades. This means your operating system will be kept in tip-top shape, making it more resilient to security attacks.

7. Explore different browsers. While Windows Updates will also keep Internet Explorer regularly tweaked and upgraded, the browser itself is still a favorite target for malware authors. Alternatives such as Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari, are seen to be faster, more flexible, and safer than the Windows default. Switching is easy (you can even import your bookmarks!). Within a week or so, you won’t miss your old browser at all.

8. Beware of human error. Even with the most secure browser, human error can still lead to infections. If an alert window interrupts your browsing, asking if you would like to allow an automatic installation, break the temptation to click “Install” immediately and take a moment to review what’s being asked.

Certain parts of the internet are more prone to viruses and nasty programs than others. Buying legitimate software from authorized sites is by far the safest and wisest option. Trying to bypass security or save a few bucks by downloading pirated versions will almost always bring with it unwanted malware guests.

9. Back up all of your data. Set up your computer to back up your files frequently and regularly. If you’re on the machine a lot, then once a day is sensible. Once a week is a better option if you aren’t on the PC every waking hour. This way, even if a virus does infect your computer, you should be able to restore most (if not all) of your settings and data, with minimal document loss in the process.

10. Don’t panic. Be alert, not alarmed. Use your common sense and don’t freak out about the perceived threat of viruses and spyware. Don’t download anything that looks strange. Don’t click any links that seem not quite right. Don’t open attachments that are unexpected or unusual. Scan everything — twice, if you’re skeptical. Update everything. Back up everything. Consider using alternative programs.

And above all, use your common sense.

It seems these days that most everyone has a smartphone, whether it’s an Android phone or an apple iPhone. These phones are very powerful and also very expensive. What happens if you forget where your phone is? Or it gets stolen? Technology can come to the rescue! For the android phones, there’s a free app called “Wheres My Droid” It allows you to send a text message from another phone to the lost phone or an email with a code word to turn on the GPS and send it’s location back to you or start your phone to ringing to you can search for it. It’s available in the Android Market, or click HERE

I tried it on my android and it works well. At the time of this posting, my phone was in my office.

Do you have an iPhone? Thanks to the recently IOS 5.0 update, there’s a cool app called “Find my phone”, it’s built into the phone. Activate it and it works similar to the way the program on the android works.

Isn’t technology great !!!

In our always connected technical society we must remember to not forgo the use of common sense when we get an email that appears to be from someone we know or even a family member or relative. Identity theft is a growing issue across the nation with hackers finding new and inventive ways to trick folks into giving them personal information which could be use in identity theft.

It’s important to note that no bank is going to send you an email asking for your account name, number or password to your account. So when you get something that is suspicious like that, it’s best to delete it and contact your bank if you have concerns about the email. If there is someone who is pretending to be from the bank to steal your account information, most likely the bank will want to know this so they can take action against whomever is pretending to be them. Facebook has recently been hit with a wave of attacks and the attacks spread because folks click on the links that appear to come from their Facebook friends without thinking about whether their friends typically send out pictures, etc. This causes the person who clicked the link to send out some not to nice things to all the folks in their friends list and the cycle continues.

So what could one do to help prevent identity theft besides not clicking on suspicious links or emails? Keep up with your credit report. All americans are entitled to a free annual credit report. That’s a good way to see if other folks have opened lines of credit under your name. Sign up for a credit monitoring service is another good step, especially if you have been a victim of identity theft. There are a number of good companies who provide this service, just do a google search and check into it.

Here’s a website with some tips about how to help secure your Facebook account. http://www.reallifepurpose.com/facebook-account-hacked/

At Quanah ISD, one of our primary goals with our technology is to find new and better ways to contact our staff, students, parents and community members.

Recently we started an official Quanah ISD facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/quanahisd and we frequently post items there to let everyone know about school news and events that our students are involved with. We also have a twitter account, http://www.twitter.com/quanahisd that mirrors our facebook page should you use the twitter service.

As we start to get into the fall/winter months, eventually we could see snow and should the weather create a potential delay in the start of school, we’ll use these social networking sites as another way to get the word out to everyone. If you have facebook, become a fan of our facebook page and keep up to date on school news.