Digital Media Survey

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks to those who attended this morning's briefing with Gary Brochu from Shipman & Goodwin.

One of the drivers behind this discussion was a previous presentation by Sarah Edson of the CEN. She and members of the E-Learning & Content Advisory Council to the Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology (CET) are currently working to gather information on what digital content/e-learning subscriptions (e.g. online multimedia-on-demand) K-12 districts are paying for, as well as what digital content/e-learning services schools would like to subscribe to if their budgets allowed. As iCONN has successfully demonstrated, using state purchasing power to acquire and make available digital resources with broad utility can result in significant cost savings to schools.

For this particular survey, the information on "digital content" that the CET seeks does not pertain to the types of resources (full-text databases and online reference materials) that are currently available through iCONN. Rather, the commission members would like to learn about schools' usage of and interest in other digital content, such as streaming video or audio clips, Web-based simulations and animations, interactive learning activities, online assessments, and virtual tours.

If you did not already receive and complete this survey via the CT Association of School Librarians, please take a few moments to complete this brief survey to help the CET gather this important information on the usage of and demand for digital content/e-learning services in Connecticut schools. The commission members encourage district-wide responses whenever possible, so if there is a district-wide coordinator who can more easily provide this information, please refer this survey to that person and encourage his or her response. So that the commission members can aggregate the data for the CET, they kindly request that the survey be completed by Friday, May 23, 2008, if at all possible.

Click here to begin the survey:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=tw2z2_2fuBuIGbCqfpu2NGtA_3d_3d

The commission members greatly appreciate your time and your input! Thank you!

Materials from Shipman & Goodwin

In response to your inquiries, Gary Brochu of Shipman & Goodwin provided me with the following useful documents and briefs:

• Sample Electronic Retention Policy
• Litigation Hold Form
• Legal Issues in Technology Utilization
• Guidelines on the Storage, Destruction, and Disclosure of Electronically Stored Information

To download the lot, click here or follow the link below:

http://www.crec.org/technology/documents/SG.zip

Feel free to bring these tomorrow for reference.

- Doug

Technology Council Meeting Reschedule Redux

Hi, everyone.

We are rescheduling -- for the final time -- our May meeting to Wednesday, May 21, at 8:30 at the Coltsville Conference Room. We had previously scheduled the meeting for May 20, which conflicts with many Council members' commitment to the CEN training.

To register for the meeting, visit the following page:

https://www.protraxx.com/scripts/ezcatalogny/ViewClass.aspx?ID=107942&CustomerID=128

Please note that those of you who have signed up for the 20th are still registered for the 21st.

Thanks, and have a great weekend!

Infrastructure Grants

Hi, everyone.

A member of the Tech Council asked about the pending approval of the infrastructure grants. At this point there is still no progress. The state cancelled its April 25 Bond Commission meeting, and we will have to wait for a rescheduled date to see any progress on the grant approval.

I'll keep you posted. You can also visit or RSS subscribe to Art Skerker's blog for updates:

http://cteducationaltechnology.blogspot.com

Doug

May 28: MS Volume License Agreement Meeting

If you already subscribe to the Microsoft Volume License Agreement, come learn about the new products and features in the 2008 -09 agreement. If you are not a member, come discover how the subscription benefits schools in providing licensing, support, and professional development for Microsoft products used in the district.

Date: Monday, May 28, 2008
Time: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Place: CREC Coltsville (click here for directions)
Agenda: See highlights below or click here for full agenda
Food: Free lunch served
Registration: Click here or visit CREC's professional development site to register today:
https://www.protraxx.com/Scripts/EzCatalogny/ViewClass.aspx?ID=122679&CustomerID=128

Topics will include the following:

• Upgrades and work at home
• MSDN access
• TechNet
• Desktop product overview
• Server product overview (includes Server 2008)
• Software assurance
• eLearning
• Security products
• Virtualization

Meeting Rescheduled

I apologize for doing so, but I have to reschedule our monthly meeting. The reasons are justifiable: I needed to work around the schedule of Gary Brochu of Shipman & Goodwin, who will meet with us to discuss Web 2.0 implications for privacy and security. Many of us have been struggling to understand and translate the implications of recent legislative changes in our district-level access policies, and Gary will help shed significant light on this topic.

The new time and date are as follows:

Tuesday, May 20
8:30 - 10:30 AM
CREC Central, Room 2

To register, please visit the following link:

https://www.protraxx.com/Scripts/EzCatalogny/ViewClass.aspx?ID=107942&CustomerID=128

Thanks for your patience, everyone. I look forward to seeing you on the 20th!

Doug