WIKI Use

Recently our district has begun to require teachers to use the in-house WIKI that has been developed. WIKIs can cut down on the amount of time groups are required to meet by making collaboration easier. WIKIs can also connect specialists across the district with one another so that the feeling of "isolation" can be decreased. Students can be shown a safe and appropriate use of a social networking site and be given an authentic audience for writing assignments. If all of these benefits exist, why or why does it seem so hard to have everyone move to using WIKIs?

Someone said...

I recently heard one of the school secretaries comment that "Someone said the tech department steals a lot of things." Do you know how hard it is to carry broken printers, power strips, extension cords, tools, etc. down the hall? If one of the carts from the office accidentally goes missing can you blame us?

Faces Feature on iPhoto

I've begun playing with the new version of iPhoto that will be installed on our teachers' computers this year. The "Faces" feature requires that users train the software to recognize faces in pictures by identifying individuals approximately four times. I think this feature will be fantastic for teachers come year-end. They can organize all the class photos by students and individualize an end-of-year gift for each student.