The Growing Need For #EduIT

Over the past few months on Twitter, I have seen several blog posts regarding issues between teachers and school technology administrators. Majority of the posts come from teachers and edtech specialists expressing frustration that information technology administrators don’t get their instructional needs. In almost every post, a rebuttal comment from IT admins spark animated discussions back and forth. They are great discussions and it only supports my vision for a growing need of education information technology hybrid specialists.

On Twitter, I see many teachers and edtech professionals “geeking” out, and conversely, I see many IT admins participating on teacher #edchats. There is interest in both worlds, and until we have EdIT degrees and certifications, the #EduIT hashtag is the closet you will get to a hybrid world. Join “education” minded Information Technologists & “geeked-out” EdTech Specialists, in this resourceful best tech practices forum that tackles current and next generation K12 infrastructures.

Valuable Resources & Links From Twitter

This is a compilation of the most valuable resources and links I have either shared or received from my PLN on Twitter (January – April 15th):

Information Technology Related Tweets

• Role of ICT coordinator in 21st century schools http://bit.ly/aYkX6u
• Reading up on Really Linux to setup K-12 Linux Terminal Server http://www.reallylinux.com
• Creating Webinars Using Open Source Software http://ow.ly/1wAXk
• Windows 7 Deployment Best Practices http://bit.ly/aayumn
• Workplace Learning: Developing Effective Teams http://bit.ly/c2iAEE
• Here’s a K12 example of Live@edu in the UK: http://bit.ly/ascp1D
• Google Gmail vs. hosted Microsoft Exchange http://bit.ly/aze0Xu
• There is an entire section on Infrastructure in the NETP [pdf] http://bit.ly/at7u1B pg. 51-62
• Google Apps Education vs. Microsoft Live@Edu http://bit.ly/ayV5KQ
• Free Open-Source Software For Windows http://ow.ly/1bsIb
• How to migrate from MSFT Exchange 2003 to Google Apps Education http://bit.ly/7SuEAR
• Google Apps Education “How To” Screencasts http://bit.ly/8Bgvwz
• New CTO guidelines issued for schools http://bit.ly/aRh0mY
• Developing a School or District Technology Plan http://ow.ly/Vvay
• Friday Institute for Educational Innovation featuring state of the art school technology infrastructures http://ow.ly/UZ2j
• Technology plans and ERate http://bit.ly/5uSXwG
• 8 Ways Cloud Computing May Change Schools http://bit.ly/IJQYd

Educational Technology Related Tweets

• List of iPod touch educational apps for K1-12 http://bit.ly/68ZUPr
• Building safe digital communities http://www.digizen.org/
• Freeware screen video capture software Record video from screen for free http://bit.ly/bwsTKy viawww.diigo.com/~dmantz7
• Pixorial – Online video editor with your own private screening room w/real-time comments http://bit.ly/183pOx
• 5000 pieces of classic literature available on iTunesU via Univ of South Florida COE http://ow.ly/1rfgI
• Thorough Internet Safety Lesson Unit http://bit.ly/9cwozg
• The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book http://bit.ly/9efxSe
• Thank you all for sharing edu site where no email is needed by students, here are the links so far: http://bit.ly/aNMguC
• COSTP http://www.opensourcetext.org
• The frontpage of newspapers from all over the world:http://bit.ly/2xXBkO
• Edmodo presentation you can use for prof dev http://bit.ly/72OJ7Z
• 100 Coolest #Science Experiments on YouTube – X-Ray Technician Schools http://ow.ly/15Qmq
• Buck Institute for Education: http://www.bie.org/ Project-Based Learning Professional Development.
• Gesture-Based Computing made it on the 2010 Horizon Report. http://ow.ly/XmJ3
• What Are the Top-10 Ed Tech Priorities for 2010? http://is.gd/6haf4
• Check out the EdTech conference calendar http://ow.ly/W9Xh
• You can download entire video tutorial library of Google#Sketchup: http://ow.ly/VDfo
• Socratic Approach to Character Education:http://bit.ly/5BqAwZ
• Children and Electronic Media Report: http://bit.ly/55cnBC
• Excellent resource with research and analysis about policies and programs for children. http://futureofchildren.org

My “Dream” Desktop Virtualization Solution

Working in both IT operations and EdTech makes it quite difficult to provide a balanced technology solution that offers robust instructional resources without putting a burden on technical support. In my previous post, I wrote about creating a Google Apps Virtual Desktop where students can log into their account for their web-based application services. As of now, it has been limited to the core Google Apps services of Docs & Sites, with additions of Aviary, SlideRocket, and Survey Monkey. I am still waiting for an education section of GAE to develop, and more instructional apps made available for free.

While Google Apps provides our schools with real-time communication and collaborative tools, I still felt a key missing component to my desktop virtualization solution. This is where I have been investigating solutions to eliminate the everyday desktop technical support of security updates, software installations, and user operating system errors. I have researched solutions such as Citrix XenDesktop 4 software and VMware.

Then I asked What if…?

What if web-centric Google Chromium OS allowed me to combine VMware capability with Google Apps? In my dream world, my students will use thin clients to boot up Chromium OS from a shared server. The Chromium OS will launch Google Apps and other web 2.0 apps on the thin clients, and students will be able to save all their work in Docs.

From an IT perspective, it will reduce cost and time of managing & maintaining individual desktop machines that are prone for user error. The thin clients will simply act as a graphical user interface connecting remotely to the shared server or drive that boots web-based Chromium OS and Google Apps. Using this configuration will free up time to focus on professional development training, while allowing me to maximize instructional technology resources in a virtual environment. One device to rule them all…Would love to hear your budget K12 solutions?