• Message from the Director
• Technology News You Can Use: Back-to-School Technology Tidbits
• Announcing Fall 2007 Statewide E-rate and CTF Training Sessions
• Only Ten Months Left to Apply for Ed Tech K-12 Voucher Program
• Effective Chief Information Officer-Chief Executive Officer Partnerships: The Key to Success in Schools
• Using Data from the 2006/2007 California School Technology Survey to Determine Sources of Technology Support in Schools
• RSS: Are You Doing It?
• K-12 Voucher Program Updates
• What’s New on the TechSETS Web Site?
• Register for Free My SkillSource Online Training Tours – September 26th or 27th
• Special Pricing on Atomic Learning – Offer Good through September 28th
• New at TechSETS: CareerAcademy.com Online Training Subscriptions!
• TechSETS’ Podcasts: Technology Tidbits On-the-go
• A Useful Guide to the California School Technology Survey
• Professional Development
• Meet Your 2007-2008 Regional TechSETS Liaisons
• TechSETS Events at CETPA 2007
• Features & Announcements
• Congratulations to TechSETS/My SkillSource Winner!
• Stay Tuned for the New TechSETS Web Site
• Upcoming Events
• TechCALENDAR
• TechSETS Staff & Contributors
• Download a PDF Version of this Issue
• Please Give Us Your Feedback on the Summer 2007 TechSETS eNewsletter

Our Back-to-School issue is full of breaking news about changes and coming attractions for TechSETS. We begin by congratulating our former TechSETS Director, Bill Simpson, on his new position as Executive Director of Technology for the San Marcos Unified School District. Bill began his new position in July, after serving as TechSETS Director since October 2004. We are grateful to Bill for his energetic leadership and creative vision in expanding TechSETS’ services and resources during the past several years.

In July, we also said good-bye to our beloved friend, Charlie Garten, a nationally-known advocate for technology integration in our schools, and an esteemed TechSETS Advisory member. Charlie passed away on July 3, after a courageous 21-year battle with leukemia. Please be sure to read the tribute to Charlie in the current issue of Databus, published by the California Education Technology Professionals Association (CETPA): http://www.cetpa-k12.org/.

On a brighter note, there are several new and exciting developments happening at TechSETS this year. We welcome Project Specialist BJ Afeman to the TechSETS management team! Look for BJ at many of our fall events. We are also pleased to announce two new online training options, including special pricing on Atomic Learning and statewide discounts on CareerAcademy.com subscriptions. Click the TechSETS “Training” tab for more information on these offers. Discounts on My SkillSource training are also still available!

We have added new eDigests (podcasts) of our most recent eNewsletters, so members can take advantage of technology news to-go. We’ve also posted an analysis of the technical support data from the 2007 California School Technology Survey, available under the TechSTORIES tab. We’ve updated the K-12 Voucher resources, keeping in mind that the application deadline is June 30, 2008.

Our most ambitious project this year will be a complete re-design of the TechSETS web site. We look forward to incorporating many of our members’ suggestions for improved ease of use, navigability, searchability, customization, visual appeal, and useful content. Stay tuned for continuing updates on this endeavor!

We welcome your feedback throughout the year, so please feel free to contact our team at info@techsets.org. 

Patty MacIntyre
TechSETS Program Manager

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Announcing Fall 2007 Statewide E-rate and CTF Training Sessions
Presented by the California E-rate Focus Group

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The deadline to apply for the Ed Tech K-12 Voucher Program funding is June 30, 2008. This program was launched last September and provides vouchers for reimbursing eligible districts and charter schools for certain categories of hardware, software, professional development, and IT support services. Both the California Department of Education (CDE) and TechSETS web sites provide complete information on determining your district’s eligibility, submitting the online application, identifying allowable purchases, and submitting the required documentation for reimbursement.

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And just who are these students in these classrooms? Digital learners, of course! They are kids who were brought up with instant access to information that it took our analog generation years to acquire. And that is just the beginning. A new generation of digital learners, coupled with a generation of analog teachers and administrators in schools and institutions, has created for us a new set of circumstances and challenges. The Web 2.0 era is here.  It is now upon us.  We all have stories about our son, daughter, nephew, niece or grandchild posting a video to a common communication website, engaging in instant messaging, downloading and sharing MP3 files, and playing video games online.  We have watched to the explosion of the iPod revolution, the proliferation of websites, and the vast demand for cell phones by children each year at a younger age.

Communication technologies have just begun to emerge as valuable tools in the teaching and learning arena. Students are not satisfied publishing to an audience of one…the teacher…and waiting for a week to see the teacher’s take on their work, when they can publish to scores of peers, receive instant feedback, and grow dynamically because of it.  Any child has the ability to Google a topic and receive scores of articles, if not hundreds, on the topic in which they are interested. They can easily share that information with a small or broad community of experts, peers, and ordinary people to get feedback on the validity of what they have found.  The technology network (i.e., the infrastructure) has allowed them access to a massive databank and the people network allows them to share and check out that information with others. Teachers are often depending on video resources to teach student skills, as well as for their own professional development. They seek out technologies to assist them in creating professional learning communities to share best teaching practices, in which communication is viable, simple and reliable.
So, the work of the CIO, to support both the business environment and the classroom, has changed.  The choices teachers made that allowed them to teach to a topic based on the best information that they could gather from textbook publishers, old-fashioned libraries and senior teachers, does not work any more. They still use their best judgment of how to motivate students, to teach and test the best way they know how, given their professional preparation, but they need digital tools and the help of the CIO.

The challenge to respond to our digital learners is an even higher purpose, a purpose that becomes more obvious when we observe our own major companies moving to call centers abroad, to recruitment of engineers, scientists, and computer professionals in China and India. It is obvious when we ourselves are shocked to see the quality and quantity of information we get back when we do an Internet search. It is obvious when we see our own dependence on e-mail and our use of digital cameras and cell phones that connect to the Internet, that our own competitiveness and relevance is dependent on technology. 

The need for providing accurate, timely, information to everyone in the environment, for increased bandwidth, dependable and reliable systems, easy-to-use technologies, and rapid replacement of technology tools when in disrepair or not longer viable, becomes the highest set of priorities.  Obviously, the person responsible for that information is the Chief Information Officer, at the direction of the Superintendent of Schools, with whom communication must be ongoing, accurate, visionary and understandable to a “non IT” person.

This emergence of a new set of parameters for schooling comes, interestingly enough, at a time when the No Child Left Behind requirements have come home to visit us this year in many of our schools and within a number of years within all of our schools. In hundreds of schools, the terms “program improvement”, “year 1”, “year 2”, “year 3”, “year 4” and the dreaded “year 5” are echoed daily. The terms “API” (Academic Performance Index) and “AYP” (Adequate Yearly Progress) are heard in most conversations in the staff lounge. This is, of course, the high road.  Our quest for accountability and mastery of basic skills is critical if we truly believe that it is our duty to create competitive citizens for this, the 21st century.

So how does the CIO assure that his or her organization reaches the level required to support the educational efforts of his or her clients, the departments, schools, administrators, teachers and clients? Asking questions about governance, policy and, in fact, action that we should, can and will take in the next 12, 24, 36 and 60 months to respond to the challenges that lay before us is the beginning.  It is the questions that technology leaders ask, and the answers they discover, that will determine whether our institutions remain relevant, can be dynamic enough to respond quickly enough to lead our digital learners, and, in fact, avoid our very own obsolescence.

This article is written to prompt and guide technology leaders toward placing this conversation on the front burner with a sense of urgency.  Everyone who reads this article did so by stealing the time away from the plethora of activities that he/she engages in daily as a busy professional.  This article is written to urge all in the technology leadership world to seek transformation in the relationship with the Chief Executive Officer, if that is needed.  The ability to now assist all of our CEO’s to be “appropriately visionary” is our charge.  We can make time to raise the issue in management meetings, in dialogue with teachers, at school board meetings and in our community presentations.

A few simple steps should lay the groundwork for a strong and viable set of conversations around this issue:

Never in any of our careers has the need for a strong and viable relationship between the CEO and CTO been more important. This is the time to place this as our highest priority.

As CIO/CTO, you have arguably one of the toughest roles on the CEO’s senior team.  You must know the business of education as well as the business of IT.  How you approach this important role is a key success factor in forming and maintaining the relationship with your superintendent.  Further, this relationship is defined not only by what you do, but also by the extent to which you are – or can become – what and who the superintendent needs you to be.  So, in addition to the simple action steps described earlier, there are several key points to remember, understand, and act on as you approach your role and the people you serve.

1. Define and clearly understand what success is – not only yours, but the superintendent’s.  There are obvious things to consider, of course, as well as a myriad of details, but a very important point to recognize is that the superintendent serves multiple constituencies, each of whose satisfaction is critical to his/her success.  The Board of Education, the State Department of Education, parents and the community at large, the local business community, administrators and teachers, and, of course, the students all look to the superintendent as a major indicator of the health of the district.  They may all want the same outcomes – improved student achievement and a highly effective educational experience – but their priorities and agendas can and will vary widely.  The CEO cannot afford to focus on one group at the expense of another, and neither can you.
   
   
2. Recognize and act upon the fact that your relationship with the superintendent is largely dependent on your relationship with other key leaders in the district.  Other members of the executive team, board members, building principals, etc., are in critical roles, and positive, productive relationships with them will do wonders for your own relationship with the superintendent.  They truly need your collaborative help.  Your best approach here is not necessarily that of the maker and enforcer of policy, or the dictator of technology standards, but one who understands, anticipates, and acts responsively on the needs of the people you serve.  You cannot please everyone all the time, but it won’t take very many negative comments from key leaders who perceive you as an obstacle – rightly or wrongly – to ruin your relationship with the CEO, no matter how strong it is.
   
   
3. Remember that the superintendent needs you to be a strong, informed leader.  As the senior information technology member of the executive team, the expectation is that you lead, not follow, the district down the path to its future.  In this context, the senior IT leader is not just someone who gathers requirements and executes, nor are you intended to be simply an effective manager of resources.  As the IT leader, you must envision and take your district places it might not have gone without you.  In no aspect of the district’s activities is this concept more relevant than technology.  Again, this is positive leadership, not enforcement.  Here are some additional thoughts on what this is all about:
• Anticipate changes in the landscape and position the district to meet the new challenges effectively.  Don’t wait to be told.
• You cannot improve something you can’t or won’t measure.  Support every recommendation you make and action you take with real, verifiable information.
• Be an IT expert.  This isn’t just about managing resources and policies; you can’t lead people who do things you don’t understand!
• Challenge the status quo.  No organization grows by standing still.  Thoughtful challenges, collaboratively built and presented, always with the facts behind them, will earn you respect from the superintendent and your colleagues.
  
  
4. Work hard to overcome the instructional vs. administrative technology dichotomy.  This counter-productive battle hurts districts and students all over the nation and is a major obstacle to true improvements in student performance.  No superintendent is well served by these divided camps and, as the CTO, you own a major responsibility in building strong partnerships with instructionally-oriented departments – curriculum and instruction, special education, research and program evaluation, etc.  Harkening back to earlier points, building strong relationships based on helping your instructional colleagues to achieve success is the key to making this important change.
   
   
5. Recognize and act upon the differences between “hygiene” and high performance.  Every successful athlete understands this; you cannot achieve the latter without taking care of the former, but the former isn’t much good without reaching for the latter.  Both are critical to success and are complementary, but serve different needs.  Infrastructure and back-office information systems – including the Student Information System – are hygiene systems.  They are essential to the health of the district but alone they cannot have the impact on student performance that timely multi-source information, student achievement systems, and other similar capabilities can deliver.
   
   
6. The superintendent’s success depends on both strategic and operational excellence.  Your relationship with him/her depends on how well you achieve both.  You must learn to be equally adept at building a strong, achievable multi-year technology plan, as well as ensuring that e-mail works, servers don’t crash, and students get their report cards on time!
   
   
7. Create opportunities to speak with the superintendent on a frequent and regular basis.  Some superintendents are more approachable and available than others.  Nonetheless, a brief chat after a board meeting, accompanying her on visits to schools and classrooms, an informal lunch discussion with him, and many other such venues can all provide invaluable insights into where the superintendent’s head is, as well as providing golden opportunities to ensure he/she knows that you’re on top of things.

There are many other good points that can be made, but the two key conclusions are:

• The district’s success – and that of its students – depends more than ever on a strong, collaborative relationship between the superintendent and CIO/CTO.
• That relationship is built not only on a personal, one-on-one basis, but also on the strength of your relationships with others, your informed leadership, and the excellence of your responsiveness to those you serve.

It’s a great challenge with even greater rewards to those who make it work!

About the authors:
Rich Thome has over 30 years experience as an educator, was a former Superintendent at two districts, and was the Director for Human Resources and Technology at the San Diego County Office of Education. He now conducts superintendent searches and assists districts with selected education technology projects.

John Gay is a former Director of Technology of a large county office in Virginia, the Director of the US Army Computer Science School, and was a member of the COBOL and Form Interface Management System Committees of CODASYL.

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Using Data from the 2006/2007 California School Technology Survey to Determine Sources of Technology Support in Schools
By Ric Barline, TechSETS Cadre Member

Introduction

The annual California School Technology Survey (CSTS) is an excellent source of data to help determine the extent to which technology is being supported in schools and what type of human resource is providing that support. This state-administered survey has been collecting data on technology capacity and usage since 2001. Over the years, new questions have been added to make the survey more relevant and useful to researchers, evaluators, California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) directors, and Statewide Education Technology Services (SETS) directors. In the 2006/07 version, new questions were added in the technology support section (among others); the data from these questions are reported in this article.

Among the questions asked in the 2006/07 survey were questions relating to technical support for hardware and software, including average time to repair hardware and the level of technical support in each of seven human resource categories: certificated staff, classified staff, contracted vendor services, students, other and (newly added) county office (COE) and district office (DO) support. See the survey questions below for the specific questions.

TechSETS carried out an analysis of the responses to this survey in 2005, and again in 2007, in an effort to better understand the sources of technology support in schools and, by extension, the potential audience for TechSETS services. This report describes the methodology and results of the 2007 analysis. The 2005 analysis is available on the TechSETS web site.

The CSTS data were viewed longitudinally over three years to gain insight into both the current situation and trends. Figure 1 below shows the estimated number of people performing technical support in schools over the last three years. These numbers are estimates that depend on assumptions made regarding the number of individuals that make up a typical full-time equivalent (FTE) in each category. The section on methodology (below) explains the estimation technique in more detail.

The major findings regarding the numbers of individuals involved in tech support are:

• Schools depend heavily on site-based staff for support.
• The district office provides a significant source of support.
• Students provide a significant source of support.
• Outside services and COEs provide very little support.

• The numbers of certificated and classified staff involved in providing technical support to schools has increased significantly in the 2006/2007 school year.
• The numbers of students and others involved in providing technical support to schools have decreased in the 2006/2007 school year.

Figure 1: Estimated numbers of technical support personnel in various categories

Percentages of contribution to tech support from various categories

Figure 2 below shows the relative percentages of reported sources of tech support. As can be seen, these percentages have remained surprisingly consistent over the three years, with certificated and classified staff providing 80% of the total contribution in 2006/07.

Figure 2: Relative percentages of technical support from various sources

The addition of the DO as a source of support in the 2006/07 survey makes it difficult to compare year-to-year percentages, because it introduces a category of support that was not considered in 2004/05 and 2005/06. It should be noted about Figure 2 that the reduction in relative contribution from contracted vendor services, students, and “other” is not an artifact caused by the addition of this new category. Removing the DO as a source of support makes almost no difference in those percentages; however, it does make a difference in the case of certificated staff, which rises to 59% when DO support is removed from the calculation.

The major findings regarding the distribution of tech support sources are:

• Site-based staff provide a large percentage of technology support.
• The DO provides a small level of support.
• Students provide a small level of support.
• County offices provide virtually zero support.

• The relative level of contribution made by school staff (both certificated and classified) is constant (the apparent reduction in 2006/07 is an artifact of the addition of the DO as a new source).
• The relative level of contribution from contracted vendor services, students, and other sources was fairly constant in 2004/05 and 2005/06, but showed a significant decline in 2006/07.

Figure 3: Relative percentages of technical support for 2006-2007

Table 1: Summary data, assumptions, and calculations used in analysis

Below are the questions from the 2006-2007 school survey relating to technical support.

b.   When hardware breaks or technical support is needed at your site, how long does it usually take to fix the problem?

• Two hours or less
• More than two hours, but by the end of the day
• Within two to five work days
• More than a week but less than a month
• A month or more

d.    How many hours per week do students or other non-school staff spend providing technical support to your school?
       Note that student positions may be paid or volunteer.

e.    Is there a student technology support class or program (such as: Student Tech Corps, MOUSE Squad, or Generation TECH) at your school?__ Yes __ No

f.      If yes to question 5.e., how many students are involved? ______

In addition to the school survey, the state collects technology data from districts, and in 2006/07 surveys were completed by nearly all school districts. New in 2006/07 was a question asking for the level of support (in FTE) provided by the district for instructional (as opposed to administrative) technology in schools. The specific question asked was:

Methodology

The data was analyzed by simply adding up the total FTE and hours reported in each category, and then multiplying the results by an assumed conversion factor equal to the number of individuals that make up a typical full-time equivalent (different for each category). The data was cleansed by omitting from the database any records that fell outside an acceptable range of values for total FTE per 100 students (further discussed below).

The first row in Table 1 (above) summarizes the CSTS results for the Technical Support section (Section 5). Note that the survey uses different units of measure for measuring support time (“FTE” is the unit of measure for certificated and classified staff while “hours per week” is the unit of measure for all other categories). To bring the data into the same units (FTE), the district, COE, contract, student, and other hours were converted to FTE equivalent by dividing by 40 hours/week.

One of the goals of this analysis was to estimate the numbers of technical support personnel in various categories, as these people might be considered as the potential audience for TechSETS services. Obviously, certificated and classified staff do not spend 100% of their time on technical support, so in order to convert the FTE equivalent into the number of individual people providing tech-support, an assumption was made regarding the number of unique individuals that make up a typical full-time equivalent, or equivalently, the percentage of time per FTE. For example, a 17% assumption would mean that 6 individuals, each working 17% of their time on tech support, equate to one FTE. The assumptions used here are as follows:

• Certificated: 17% (i.e. six certificated staff involved for each FTE)
• Classified: 50% (i.e. two classified staff involved for each FTE)
• District Office: 50% (i.e. two district staff involved for each FTE)
• County Office: 50% (i.e. two COE staff involved for each FTE)
• Contract: 100% (i.e. one contract labor person involved for each FTE)
• Students: 5% (i.e. twenty students involved for each FTE)
• Other: 10% (examples would be volunteers, etc.)

Are there really over 11,000 classroom teachers and 6,000 students repairing computers and providing technical support in California schools? According to this analysis, yes, but keep in mind the extreme sensitivity of these results to the assumed number of people involved per FTE. As part of this study, we asked people (who were in a position to know) what they thought a typical profile for certificated people performing technical support was. The suggestion was that the typical model is one or more teachers, depending on school size, being assigned one period per day to do this work. In this model, a typical teacher would spend one out of six periods per day, or 17% of their time, performing technical support functions. We also looked at student tech programs to help determine a reasonable twenty students involved for each FTE estimate for student support.

Despite anecdotal evidence, it is not possible to know for certain the percentage of time that the various types of staff members and students spend providing tech support, and therefore we really must consider a range of numbers resulting from a range of assumptions. For example, if we were to  assume that a typical teacher spends only 8.5% of his/her time on tech support (one period every other day or half a period every day), as opposed to the 17% figure, we would end up with 22,168 teachers instead of 11,084. Similar arguments will apply to the results in the other categories as well.

An implicit assumption behind the results from this analysis was that the data derived from the survey instrument were accurate, but this assumption needs to be questioned. The three possible sources of error are non-reporting, under-reporting and over-reporting.

Unfortunately, non-reporting was quite common. For example, out of 9,067 schools with non-zero enrollments, 1,312 (down from 2,114 in 2004/05) schools entered zeros in all fields relating to tech support, indicating that they had no technical support coming from any sources. Yet these same schools indicated that they were getting their hardware repaired in a timely manner, with 641 reporting repair within two-to-five workdays. Clearly, existing technical support is not being reported in these cases.

There are also a few examples of over-reporting (although the number is way down compared to the 2004/2005 analysis). One school with 515 enrolled students reported 1,488 tech support FTE, and another school with 201 enrolled students reported 170 tech support FTE. While it is true that some of the over-reporting will cancel out some of the under-reporting, it is important to omit over-reported records from the database prior to analysis. The best way to identify bad data in the survey results is to look at the data in terms of FTE per student. Good data will fall within a certain range whereas bad data will fall outside of this range. Just what is an acceptable range is subject to debate, but for the purposes of this analysis, all schools reporting greater than .25 total FTE per student were eliminated (note that this eliminated 19 records, 325 certificated FTE, and 1,508 classified FTE from the database).

The implications of these numbers for the direction of TechSETS are open to discussion. The analysis indicates that large numbers of certificated and classified staff are supporting technology, along with a surprisingly large number of students and other sources (presumably parents or volunteers). Perhaps TechSETS should consider shifting its focus even further away from the high-level resources aimed at district-level technicians and focus more on beginner/intermediate resources aimed at teachers and classified staff.

This article is posted under “TechSTORIES” on the TechSETS web site. If you do not already have a login, please go to: http://www.techsets.org/support/stories.php and create your free account when prompted.

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RSS: Are You Doing It?
By Bev Blaylock, Techmasters

When was the last time you tossed several professional journals into the trash because you never had a chance to read them?  Have you tried to ask someone else on your team to read the journals and “report back”?  Did it work?  Have you created Internet Favorites for your trusted technology resource sites, only to find that you seldom have time to study them? Are you getting email news feeds that just clog up the space reserved for your day-to-day business?  Have you forgotten how to “unsubscribe” to those feeds?

Face it.  We live in a digital age, and the strategies of yesterday don’t work today!  Spend just a few minutes organizing so you can see all the news highlights, from all your web resources on a single web page. 

At TechSETS, we review and summarize about 50 online resources each week.  We include journals such as eSchool News, CIO EdWeek, Scholastic, TechLearning, and Edutopia, as well as updates from organizations such as the CDE*, ISTE*, CUE*, USAC*, and CETPA*, plus dozens of others. 
 
Stop procrastinating and set up your RSS Reader (such as Bloglines at www.bloglines.com) today.  Then, as your first free feed, visit the TechSETS site (www.techsets.org) and subscribe by clicking the orange RSS button at the bottom of our home page.  Check out the RSS Archives link (shows only those feeds that are currently active) on the page that opens to see if our feeds contain the type of information you want to receive.  If you have a favorite journal or site that you would like us to include, please email us at info@techsets.org.

*Organizations: California Department of Education (CDE), International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Computer-Using Educators (CUE), Universal Service Administration Company (USAC), and California Educational Technology Professionals Association (CETPA).

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K-12 Voucher Program Updates
By Patty MacIntyre, TechSETS Program Manager

Below are some recent announcements related to the K-12 Voucher Program:

1. As of late August, the California Department of Education (CDE) has not received any word regarding the revised funding allocation for the K-12 Voucher Program. The per-pupil allocation is currently $50.80. An announcement regarding the anticipated increase in the per-pupil allocation is expected within the next few weeks.
   
   
2. The deadline for submitting the online application is June 30, 2008. The original eligibility list and the Request for Application (RFA) are available at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r5/etv06rfa.asp. An updated eligibility list in expected in the coming few weeks.
   
   
3. The most common reasons recently cited by the Settlement Claims Administrator (SCA) for delays in voucher redemptions are:
   • The vendor price certification is missing.
   • A photocopy of the invoice was submitted instead of the original invoice.
   • The authorized signature was missing.
   • A quote was submitted instead of an original invoice.

   Please note that the vendor certification may be contained in a quote or bid, but it must still be attached to the original invoice for submission.
   
   

4. A number of districts have contacted the SCA and requested an exemption from submitting the original invoice, due to a conflict between local policies that require the district to retain the original vendor invoice for audit, and the requirement that the original vendor invoice be sent to the SCA for K-12 Voucher reimbursement. These requests are handled on a case-by-case basis. In general, submitting the original vendor invoice is a requirement for reimbursement. Districts may wish to speak with their auditors to determine an alternative solution (such as keeping a notarized copy) that will allow the original invoice to be submitted.
   
   
5. The Settlement Claims Administrator will follow up with a District or Charter school to resolve any problems such as those described above. However, it has been taking an average of 4 telephone calls to resolve most of the discrepancies. Participating Districts and Charter schools are encouraged to review the voucher redemption guidelines at http://www.edtechk12vp.com/voucher.aspx in order to expedite the processing of redemptions. Additional guidelines are available on the CDE web site at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/et/st/etvrg.asp.

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My SkillSource is a longtime TechSETS training partner, offering affordable online training subscriptions, from Office Productivity courses ($40 per year) to Computer Professional courses ($150 per year). Subscriptions include self-paced tutorials, instructor-led classes, assessments, and searchable online reference libraries. Virtual labs are available at an additional cost.

The best way to preview My SkillSource is to sign up for a free online tour. All you need is a computer and a nearby telephone. Our training partner, Ken Gellerman, will guide you through the My SkillSource courses and features. You will then receive a two-week trial subscription, enabling you to explore the resources on your own. This is a great opportunity to see if My SkillSource is right for you!

The dates for the upcoming online tours are September 26th and 27th at 3:15 pm (PDT). Each session can accommodate about 20 participants. Registration online at: http://www.techsets.org/training/mss_index.php. A complete course catalog and subscription information are also available at this site.

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As this newsletter goes to press, Atomic Learning is offering special statewide pricing on its online training subscriptions. The discounted price for individual subscriptions is expected to be $25 or less, compared to the regular subscription price of $79.99. This special offer is made in partnership with the California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) and is available to California K-12 school personnel, students, parents, and the general public.

Atomic Learning provides over 30,000 short, easy-to-view-and-understand tutorials for more than 110 software applications that students and school personnel use everyday. Tutorials are available in English and Spanish, and are searchable by state standard. Visit http://www.atomiclearning.com to get more information and to view free sample tutorials and. Please note that district and site licenses are available from Atomic Learning at an even greater savings than individual subscriptions.

To order individual subscriptions at the special CTAP price:

• Go to the TechSETS web site (http://www.techsets.org)
• Click on the Training tab at the top
• Click on “Atomic Learning”
• Follow the directions for ordering subscriptions

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TechSETS is pleased to announce the addition of CareerAcademy.com as an online training partner!

Careeracademy.com is a world leader in video-based course production and training-content delivery services. Utilizing the latest multimedia technologies, CareerAcademy.com provides interactive online technology training that combines the power of expert video instruction, hands-on lab simulations, and testing modules. Each computer training course is presented in full motion video and audio, allowing viewers to see all the steps, hear the detailed explanations, and perform the tasks. Through a partnership with TechSETS, CareerAcademy.com offers California K-12 school personnel the lowest academic pricing available.

For $200 per year, a subscriber receives access to the complete CareerAcademy.com course library, with topics ranging from popular desktop applications to professional certification tracks. Site licenses, classroom pricing, and lab packs are also available. Additionally, CareerAcademy.com will be offering a free preview course each month on the TechSETS web site.

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TechSETS’ Podcasts: Technology Tidbits On-the-go
By Patty MacIntyre, TechSETS Program Manager

No time to read our quarterly TechSETS eNewsletter? Now you can get your technology news and TechSETS updates on-the-go!

TechSETS is happy to unveil our new “eDigests”, which include summaries of articles from our eNewsletters, as well as information from current features on the TechSETS web site.  For your convenience, the eDigests come in two “flavors”: enhanced podcasts (m4a format) that include links to resources in the eNewsletter and on the TechSETS website, and audio podcasts (mp3 format). Additional eDigests will be created for upcoming eNewsletters.

Download our new podcasts at http://www.techsets.org/about/newsletter.php and let us know what you think! We welcome your feedback at info@techsets.org.

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A Useful Guide to the California School Technology Survey
By Patty MacIntyre, TechSETS Program Manager

For the past several years, California K-12 schools and districts have been completing the annual online California School Technology Survey (CSTS), posted each January by the California Department of Education. Most state and federal technology funding programs require submission of the CSTS in order for districts to maintain their funding eligibility.

TechSETS Cadre member Ric Barline and statewide evaluator John Cradler have collaborated to provide a useful guide to the CSTS.  This informative article provides:

• a brief history of the California School Technology Survey
• a summary of recent changes to the survey, and
• a description of how the survey can be used to define and document technology access and use in California schools

This article is posted under “TechSTORIES” on the TechSETS web site. If you do not already have a login, please go to: http://www.techsets.org/support/stories.php and create your free account when prompted.

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Meet Your Regional 2007-08 TechSETS Liaisons
By Patty MacIntyre, TechSETS Program Manager

The California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) consists of 11 regions throughout the state. Each CTAP region has a designated Liaison for each of the four Statewide Education Technology Services (SETS) projects, including:

• Technical Support for Education Technology in Schools (TechSETS)
• California Learning Resource Network (CLRN)
• Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership (TICAL), and
• EdTechProfile (ETP)

The regional TechSETS Liaisons are appointed by the CTAP Directors, and are available to provide training and support related to TechSETS’ tools and resources. The Liaisons receive monthly updates on new TechSETS features and activities, are trained in the use of MyTechDesk, and can provide demonstrations for TechSETS’ online training subscriptions. The Liaisons are also instrumental in conveying member feedback regarding suggested changes and/or additions to the TechSETS web site.

Please get to know your regional TechSETS Liaisons and feel free to contact them for assistance during the year.

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The 47th annual California Educational Technology Professionals Association (CETPA) conference will be held at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa in Indian Wells, CA, on October 9 through 12, 2007.  This is the premier statewide conference for IT professionals serving California’s K-12 community. The registration fee of $425 includes all sessions, hands-on labs, tech-talks, general sessions, vendor show, President’s Reception, hospitality suites, continental breakfast on Wednesday and Thursday, full breakfast on Friday, and lunch on Wednesday and Thursday.

TechSETS presentations at CETPA 2007 include:

For more information, please visit the CETPA web site at: http://www.cetpa-k12.org/.

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Congratulations to the TechSETS’ My SkillSource Winner!
By Patty MacIntyre, TechSETS Program Manager

Congratulations to our most recent winner of a one-year subscription to the My SkillSource Computer Professional online training library ($150 value!):

    Mike Chatham - Technology Coordinator
    Bear Valley Unified School District, Big Bear Lake, CA
    TechSETS Online Member Survey Winner – June 2007

You may enter an upcoming My SkillSource drawing by attending a TechSETS conference presentation or by stopping by our conference booth. Please check the TechCALENDAR for upcoming conferences. Our thanks to TechSETS’ training partner, Enterprise Training Solutions, for donating the My SkillSource online training subscriptions. Please see the article above to sign up for a free My SkillSource online tour!

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Stay Tuned for the New TechSETS Web Site
By Patty MacIntyre, TechSETS Program Manager

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TechCALENDAR

Please visit the TechCALENDAR on the TechSETS home page for ongoing updates and conference presentations.

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Please click HERE to download the PDF version of the Summer 2007 TechSETS eNewsletter.

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We welcome your comments! Please email us at info@techsets.org.

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