ZArchive+1-8-09+notes

** Middlebury Meeting Notes  ** ** January 8, 2009  ** Donna Smith – DOE Report Phil Germann – Region 8 Kay Reinoehl – East Noble Jan Lehman, Linda McAdams – West Noble Adela Dickey – NW Allen County Diane Woodworth – Goshen Don Chase, Cheryl Shinabarger – SW Allen County Dave VanLue – Wawasee Jenn Nussbaum, Melissa Linville, Dee Hostetler, Tom Eash – Westview Tim Tahara, Susan Hearon, Dick Pyle, Wayne Sousley – Concord Susan Parker, Chris Kratzer – Middlebury Anne Plunkett – Whitley County Cheryl Rinehart – Fort Wayne Mike Phommachanh – East Allen County Becky Shambarger – Bremen Marty King (while at Penn) ** United Digital Integrators ** **Central Indiana** **Marketing**
 * NEISSC Study Council **
 * __ RoundTable Discussion  __**
 * Donna worked in IPS for 32 years, retiring December 2007. Donna taught Intermediate Elementary and was a Media Specialist coordinating for Grades K-8 for all of IPS. Was most recently serving as a building administrator in IPS before retiring.
 * Dr. Tony Bennett takes office on January 12, here are staff changes announced to date:
 * **Chief of Staff Todd Huston**, a recent member of the Indiana Board of Education and Education Roundtable and former Hamilton Southeastern School Board Member who has spent his professional career working with school and local governments on finance and technology issues;
 * **Chief Operating Officer Maureen Weber**, a former Deputy Commissioner at both the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development;
 * **Chief Financial Officer Lance Rhodes**, a previous chief of staff and chief financial officer at the Indiana Department of Health and former teacher and coach at Cathedral High School;
 * **Chief Information Officer Anne Brinson**, the Assistant Superintendent for Information Systems at the Indiana Department of Education under Dr. Suellen Reed;
 * **Chief Assessment Officer Wes Bruce**, the Assistant Superintendent for Accreditation, Assessment and Licensing at the Indiana Department of Education under Dr. Suellen Reed;
 * **Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning Dr. Bob Marra**, the Assistant Superintendent for Exceptional Learners at the Department of Education under Dr. Suellen Reed; and
 * **Assistant Superintendent for Support Services Dr. Richard Hogue**, a recently retired assistant superintendent of Hamilton Southeastern Schools and former high school principal.
 * Media Specialists – Please check the updated website if you haven’t. Everything is still there, but there may just be a different path to pages you’ve visited before.
 * Team of 10 Media Specialists across the state are working on correlations to the AASL Standards (American Library Association).
 * November 2009 Conference in Charlotte, NC
 * 27 or 28 schools were awarded the Grade 2 Laptop Grant, orientation meeting today in Indy.
 * Handouts – new resource list for inACCESS and Media Specialists, also online. The Resource Center online is being updated.
 * The State Legislators voted last session for each school corporation to provide education in Internet Safety in Grades 4-8. Donna talked to someone from Franklin Community Schools that had created a safety course in a Moodle class that, upon graduation, students in Grades 3 and 4 received an email account. There are also resources on the OLR website. Email Donna at dosmith@doe.in.gov if you want more information.
 * Indiana ESC’s have a pilot program with Learn 360 to offer streaming media through a server on the ENA backbone. Thirty schools trying it out this year. Call Phil Germann (800-669-4565) if interested.
 * YouTube is open for staff, but not students
 * TeacherTube is open
 * Just getting interest in converting videos and putting them on their media server
 * United Streaming in place
 * United Streaming through ACENet
 * TeacherTube is open, YouTube is blocked but administrators can override the filter to view
 * VBrick servers in two buildings, but looking for more of a subscription-based service
 * ** Question: Is anyone thinking about offering multiple packages/subscriptions for staff and students? **
 * YouTube is downloaded as needed for teachers
 * Middle School – one computer in the office has YouTube available, teachers download to a zip drive to take back to classroom
 * United Streaming in place
 * YouTube is blocked, but converting videos as needed for teachers
 * Lightspeed’s filtering device will soon filter out YouTube but allow other streaming media
 * Safari Montage servers (3) in the district.
 * Will open YouTube videos as needed but encouraging teachers to convert them first.
 * YouTube is allowed as needed
 * Downloading YouTube videos to [|www.SaveVid.com] to convert for showing at school
 * United Streaming in place on self-hosted server.
 * YouTube is open for administrators.
 * Students are able to convert YouTube at home
 * YouTube content is shown by teachers brought in on their personal laptops
 * TeacherTube is used by several teachers.
 * ** Question: Who is taking part in the ESC pilot program with Learn360? **
 * United Streaming hosted in-house
 * YouTube is blocked but TeacherTube is allowed.
 * United Streaming in place, but subscription is up in June and looking at their high-definition option.
 * Also looking at Learn 360 (big savings over United Streaming) with a pilot this year.
 * YouTube is open for staff since last school year. Problem developing with using up Internet bandwidth with all the use of streaming video from YouTube.
 * ** Question: Going to do CORE 40 testing online with wireless laptops in February. Is anyone doing this? ** Dick Pyle – Concord has been doing it wirelessly. Works well on our burstable DS3.
 * United Streaming in place, just updated to their new server that runs at a 1.5 bit rate – big improvement. Also part of the upgrade is MediaShare for uploading locally developed video.
 * Part of the struggle in using United Streaming is having enough LCD projectors to display the videos on a large screen in the classroom.
 * YouTube is allowed to some staff, most bring videos in from home to show with Principal’s approval.
 * Discovery Streaming (updated name for United Streaming)
 * YouTube is blocked at this time, but can be opened as needed for units
 * Handful of teachers are using Web 2.0 resources
 * Penn had United Streaming but moved to Safari Montage and digitized their locally-owned media to store and serve in-house.
 * Transition from United Streaming to Safari: it went pretty quick. The searching strategy is the same in both products.
 * Grades 1 and 2 have a Net Citizen program they go through to help promote Internet safety and appropriate use early.
 * Fortigate appliance is their content filter, tied into the LDAP directory to customize what type of network user gets specific types of Internet content allowed. District Data Analyzing tool holds a 6 month log of Internet use from all users if needed.
 * __ Vendor Presentations  __**
 * Marty King (President of 1UControl), Rick Vandenbosch, Kevin Cleary (President of UDI)
 * Streaming media content was becoming more prevalent about 6 years ago. It is becoming more common for schools to stream everything over the WAN.
 * 1UControl was designed by Kevin Cleary, and is meant to be a cost-effective way to stream media and encode media for streaming. 1U is built to provide a unified streaming platform that can control analog devices over IP. All their software is “learnable” so that it can communicate with any manufacturer’s devices through infrared signals. 1U is moving to a web-based, cross-platform format to allow its use on Linux and Macintosh computers.
 * Not all teachers are technology friendly, so 1U made their remote very simple with large buttons.
 * Every event in the classroom is tracked on the server – any media that is watched, hours of bulb life (keep cleaning those filters!), every device used in the classroom.
 * Three components
 * Virtual control center (up to 64 devices in any classroom) allows you to put away remotes for devices
 * Video capture window for preview and recording in multiple formats
 * Primarily used for preview by teachers before sending stream to the large display
 * Stream decoder built on the Windows Media Player interface
 * Supports all formats of streaming media
 * The 1U solution is cost effective because it uses so much of your existing investment – LAN, Windows computers, analog playback and recording devices
 * Screen has both Minimal Mode (to move around on the large screen) and Whiteboard Mode (to control the stream from a whiteboard or mobile tablet device)
 * Administrative software package
 * All on/All off scheduling
 * All Call emergency announcement feature
 * Client assistance
 * Remote programming
 * Network control of client activity
 * Color-coded classroom status indicators
 * A new feature allows viewing of IP security camera feeds inside the 1U window.
 * WDM Recognition allows you to plug in a device and 1U brings up a button set for the device.
 * Ballpark price of $550 for a loaded classroom. 1U is partners with Epson and LG. They are more than happy to come out and provide a demonstration.
 * Penn would be a good place to visit to see 1U in action (380 teachers in the High School using 1U). The simplicity of the software made for easy buy-in by the staff. The system was installed in October of 2007.
 * Communications Company of South Bend **
 * Matt Koch, Scott Bradley, Dan Schmidtendorff (President), Lee Assad regional manager for Rauland (based in Mount Pleasant, IL)
 * System integrators for Rauland and Crestron
 * Serving the education market for 30 years
 * CPS Media Manager
 * Telecenter CPS is a 6th generation platform developed in 2006. 1500 systems installed worldwide, Winston-Salem district with 44 schools is one of their largest. 75% of components are eRate eligible.
 * Principles of CPS –
 * don’t install anything on a computer (web-based and scalable),
 * the system follows the user (based on login and privileges) based on Windows authentication in Active Directory. Categories of users: administrator, librarian, teacher, student (more groups can be created).
 * CPS supports analog and digital media; schools still have lots of analog content on the shelves. CPS will run over an existing RF distribution network or stream in IP over the data network.
 * End users only have to know the title or keywords of the content they wish to show. Playback devices are “given” to the end user by privileges and a set of control buttons appear on the screen no matter where the device is located.
 * Announcements can be streamed in CPS, local cameras can be connected to the teacher workstation for live streaming.
 * Agreements are in place with Learn360, NASA and Clearvue content. United Streaming and Schlesinger Media updates have caused some issues. Most systems ship with Clearvue pre-loaded. CPS is working with Learn360 to make use of their Standards alignments.
 * MPEG1 is supported, MPEG2 is not. QuickTime, Media Player, and PLC (shareware) media players are supported.
 * Another reason why their system is built to avoid installing anything on user workstations is to be in compliance with digital media rights and copyright law. The system can track time limits for Educational Fair Use of content and track/restrict the number of concurrent users accessing media with a limited number of licenses.
 * The search engine in CPS is modeled after Google search parameters. Searches return results for title, author, and subject.
 * Instant Videos are media files stored digitally so that there is no need to load anything into a player.
 * Administrative Reports in the Management section shows which users have viewed what content for how long or how many times.
 * Library systems that are Mark-compliant can export into the CPS system all the information about media files.
 * CPS installation in Skokie, IL.
 * Rauland will come in and install a beta site on your network for a few months to get a good feel for it.
 * All equipment comes with a 5 year warranty; servers have a 1 year warranty.
 * Training and software updates are free.
 * Technical support is available 24/7.
 * Online demo is available at Rauland.com through CCSB.
 * Learn360 **
 * Tom Bukowski and Chris Platt, remotely
 * Management team has come together from Clearvue, Haines Multimedia and United Streaming
 * Newest media on demand service that launched in January 2008
 * Up to about 3800 full length videos, anticipate being at 6800 by August 2009
 * Enables teachers and students to access media content for K-12
 * Core curricular and also topical content correlated to the IN Academic Standards
 * Goal to become the most sustainable service in the marketplace – all their content is available to all their users. You don’t need to go out and buy subscriptions from additional content providers.
 * Search by Subject Area, Grade Level, Media Format or Keyword
 * Search results show IN Standard correlations to the “clip” level, not to the whole video.
 * Click on the media title to bring up the player
 * Left-side navigation links remain constant in the window
 * All content is encoded in three different bit-rates: 384k, 512k, 1.5mb (DVD quality for local host customers).
 * Roles are created in the system for each location accessing Learn360.
 * Recommendation is for teachers to stream the content for preview and then download to a local drive for playback to the class.
 * Teachers can add content to playlists and lesson units inside the software. There are writing prompts associated with each video clip. If self-hosted, teachers can access everything from home except for custom content encoded onsite. When video files are requested from home, they are redirected to the Learn360 servers online to save school bandwidth.
 * All content is available in Windows Media, QuickTime and Flash formats
 * Flash tutorials cover all aspects of Learn360. One section of the Help window allows users to post comments that are sent directly to the Development Team.
 * Version 2 is being released at FETC.
 * MyLearn360 is part of Version 2. The dashboard has seven sections (tabs)
 * My Content
 * My Favorites
 * My Groups
 * My Questions
 * My Quizzes
 * My Assignments
 * My Calendar
 * My Content will support a multitude of file types
 * Teachers can create a classroom blog and podcasts in MyLearn360. Compatibility with iTunes is built-in if you have an audio package like GarageBand or Audacity.
 * Playlists can be shared with other users.
 * There is a permissions structure in place for approving the content uploaded as desired.
 * Learn360 is $525 per school per year. The local host option gets you the video content without the setup fee, but you provide the server space. From now to June 30, it is $250 per school.
 * Tom Hummer (account executive), Josh Whitis (inside sales) and Don Harmon (IT)
 * MediaCAST on-demand digital learning platform (version 10 is being released soon)
 * MediaCAST is more of a learning platform than a video distribution platform
 * MediaCAST is eRate eligible
 * MediaCAST is non-proprietary and uses industry standards to work with all common media file types. Files that are not video files need to have the associated software on the end user’s computer to access.
 * 3 Year on-site NBD hardware warranty with software assurance (Dell hardware by default)
 * Accessible by both students and teachers
 * Copyright Fair Use and TEACH Act compliant
 * Works with Tandberg and Polycom systems to encode and archive distance learning sessions
 * Seamlessly integrated modules
 * Security Sentinel
 * IPContact – videoconferencing
 * OnLocation – remote origination cart that can capture presentations or show live feed
 * PayPal features allows collection of a fee to view local content
 * SportPack – encoder and wi-fi system in a backpack
 * UltraCAST – thin client application delivery
 * Plug and Play – digital media content
 * Campus Communicator – web-based calendaring
 * Kiosk Central – digital bulleting board system
 * MediaCreator – mobile mini-broadcasting and encoding station
 * MediaCAST Construct
 * Architecture
 * Data Center
 * Web server/ database
 * Media appliances to stream content
 * MediaMonster for archiving content
 * School Sites
 * Media Appliance to stream content
 * MediaBroadcasters
 * OnLocation cart
 * Classrooms
 * Computer with VGA and Audio out to:
 * Television
 * Projector
 * Content Providers (with your subscription)
 * Clearvue
 * Films Media Group
 * PL Connect
 * TrainSignal
 * GPN
 * United Streaming
 * Robust search engine but part of the power will be the keyword and metadata tags you associate with media content, especially for locally originated content
 * Media can be reserved through the search engine to view at a specific time. This is also part of the feature that tracks copyright compliance.
 * Segments of video can be put on flash drives to send home with students
 * External link builder allows you to take a video segment and put it on a school website as a link
 * Pricing is based upon the number of locations and student enrollment
 * Example: District of 2,000 students in three buildings would be approximately $45,000. Larger districts with more buildings would be more like $80,000 – $100,000.
 * Decatur Township in Indianapolis and Goshen Schools have MediaCAST installed.