Blog has Moved

I am in the process of moving the blog to this new address.

I made a Podcast!

Yes, that's right. I've made my first few podcasts. These are being used by staff members at Kecoughtan High School for training purposes. I am learning a lot as I go, and have now gotten it down to a reasonalble work flow.

The staff members are recieving this well, but the process of subscribing is still very foreign to them. Most are having to update iTunes and Quicktime to view them. I am very pleased with the final product and expect to make many more of these.

I use Snaps Pro to capture video and audio. I use iMovie to edit video and then export it to Garage Band to edit audio balances and rss feed information. From there, the podcast gets exported to iWeb for publication. You can view the finished products here. Let me know what you think via the comment button.

Zookoda selling

It appears that Zookoda (the engine I use to send the email versions of this blog) has put itself up for sale. Therefore, those of you that have been enjoying the email feeds might lose this feature. I also have plans of moving the blog in the future to a new location. If this happens, I will post a message here with the new link.

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are a great way to get a lot of information very quickly. If you don't know what an RSS feed is, here is the definition from wikipedia. Kecoughtan's site now has 2 RSS feeds. One in the News section, and one in the Guidance section. I have created these feeds so that parents and teachers can get up-to-date information about Kecoughtan without having to actually go to the site all the time to check. Also, this blog has an rss feed that you can also subscribe to. Most people choose the email option, but that will only update you once a week. With the RSS feed, you can be updated whenever you wish.

My favorite RSS reader is NetNewsWire Lite. I like it because it works very much like Mail... same system, same type of icons, etc.

Anyway, have fun, and start your RSS adventure today!

Productivity Software

Next week's Tech Tuesday will be over 3 applications:

• Apple Mail
• Address Book
• iCal

These 3 applications work together to organize your work environment. Many of you are currently using Entourage. While Entourage is a good program, the updates for it, (like Internet Explorer) are becoming a rare commodity. We have been noticing more and more problems with Entourage. While using 3 applications to replace 1 seems like overload, it's not as complicated as it sounds.

Personally, I've been using these 3 programs to organize my life for the past 2 years. I have used other programs before, but these are by far the most powerful and (more importantly) the easiest I have ever used. And the great part about it is the ability to sync with other mobile devices, like your iPod, or cell phone.

This will be a Tech Tuesday you will not want to miss. If you want a sneek peek at what these programs can do, check out the following links:

Apple Mail
Address Book
iCal

Enjoy, and I'll see you on Tuesday. Bring your laptop, and your iPod if you have one!

New Apple Store

Well, I fought the crowd and went to the Apple Store Grand Opening on Saturday at MacArthur Mall. My wife actually made fun of me the whole way there saying I was going to be the only geek there. Boy was she wrong! There were LOTS of us geeks there. For about 2 hours after it opened, there was a steady line of people waiting to get in to get a sneek peek at the store as well as a free T-shirt. Nothing like free stuff to draw a crowd! Anyway, I snapped a picture of it with my cell phone for your viewing pleasure. If you've ever been to the Apple store in Short Pump, this is basically the same thing... just closer! They offer classes throughout the year as well as special nights for schools to showcase some of the work they do. I'm trying to coordinate something for us in the near future, so if your class has done a really cool project using Apple Technology, let me know, and we can set up a night for you to showcase it to the public.

Digital Divide?

Here's an interesting article I found from Wired News. I must say that I was shocked to see the statistics of how many minority students used the internet at home. To quote the article:

"Two of every three white students — 67 percent — use the internet, but less than half of blacks and Hispanics do, according to federal data released Tuesday. For Hispanics the figure is 44 percent; for blacks, it's 47 percent."

Less than half is almost scary. Think of all the opportunities they are missing out on! Teachers, we need to change this statistic! While we can't force our way into the homes and ask parents to buy computers, we can stress to our students the importance of research on the internet. The library computers are free for students to use here at school as well as several computers at the public library when school hours are over. There should be no reason why any child is without the resources to succeed. Don't forget to share your own thoughts by clicking on the comment button. We'd all love to hear your opinion on this one.

High School Ace

Here's a link that was submitted by our own Dina Persico. It's a page that reviews English, Math, Languages, Science, US History, and World History. A great resource for your kids to use! Try it out and let us know what you think by replying to the comments link below.