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March 22
The Evolution of Social Media
by  Gord TullochNo presence information  on 3/22/2012 10:21 AM
Category: Announcements

Happy Spring!

With the increasingly wonderful weather we're enjoying here in the School Division our newly returned feathered friends brings to mind Twitter, one of the original social media sites and still a huge presence on the Internet.

I'm pleasedfollow-us-on-twitter-bird.jpg to announce that Sunrise ICT Services has ​set up a Twitter account for up to date news on status of our services, plus a feed of news that we feel is of interest to Sunrise School Division computer users. Feel free to click on the birdy link on our main page or the image left of this text and follow us - see you there!

It has been interesting to see how competing social media sites have settled in to different modalities of information delivery - while they all overlap to some degree it seems Twitter and the new Google+ have moved from the "I'm sitting eating lunch at McDonalds now" kind of low signal-to-noise babble to highly useful information conduits, where posts are generally links to very focused information of interest to the subscriber. The density of this information can be oppressive (who has time to read all day?) but at the same time for a news junkie like me in an industry where keeping up with the latest news is a core requirement, both services are pretty useful. 

Facebook not so much, but then again it depends on who you subscribe to. The sense I have is that Facebook is much more a personal outlet replacing the personal web sites we used to have in the 90s and 00s with a community where users can share their day to day lives with their friends and family. While there are lots of pitfalls with sites like Facebook, it certainly works well to keep in touch. While Sunrise has chosen to block access to Facebook, for parents that might be interested in knowing more about how our kids use Facebook we have made available a Parent's Guide To Facebook on our site - parents please have a look so we can keep our kids safe online. Most of the advice also pertain to other social media sites as well.

Enjoy Spring Break, it's looking like a great Summer ahead!


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February 17
Educational Resources Abound On The Internet
by  Gord TullochNo presence information  on 2/17/2012 1:24 PM

The Internet is increasingly becoming a critical component in Education - I learned that first hand recently when Sunrise's Internet Service Provider had some problems with a connection to MERLIN, a Manitoba Government Special Operating Agency that provides our filtered Internet connection. Since the problem reduced our Internet bandwidth to less than 1/50th our full bandwidth, we decided to bite the bullet and shut the Internet down Division wide so the vendor could swap out a component and get us back up to full speed. We scheduled this for first thing in the morning so the Division would be back up and running full speed by lunch. A notification was sent out, and immediately we got a call from a school to " ... leave the Internet alone, we're writing an exam online!" So, we let the school struggle through their exam despite the bandwidth limitations, and all was well that afternoon. But, it certainly demonstrates that the Internet is a tool that needs to be up, reliable, and omnipresent.

The next frontier is actaul delivery of classroom content over the Internet, and even delivery of content without the classroom! While Sunrise is currently piloting integration of ICT in the classroom, the Universities out there are pulling out all the stopsto deliver classroomless content for free to everyone.

When blogger Michelle Marie posted this collection of links on Google+ I couldn't resist reposting it here for all to enjoy. I hope you enjoy some of this content, especially if your school years are behind you! Learning should be life long, and tools such as these are making education easy and convenient to be a lifelong learner. Enjoy!

Regards,
  Gord

DISCLAIMER: This posting for information only, Sunrise School Division does not specifically endorse any of the following organizations.

Yale - 35 FREE Courses
http://oyc.yale.edu/courses
Each course includes a full set of class lectures produced in high-quality video accompanied by such other course materials as syllabi, suggested readings, exams, and problem sets.

Khan Academy - Thousands of FREE Courses
http://www.khanacademy.org/
A free world-class education for anyone anywhere. All of the site's resources are available to anyone. It doesn't matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. The Khan Academy's materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.

Notre Dame - 72 FREE Courses
http://ocw.nd.edu/courselist
Notre Dame joins the OCW Consortium, "a worldwide community of hundreds of universities and associated organizations committed to advancing OpenCourseWare." Notre Dame's participation is consistent with its goal "to provide a forum where through free inquiry and open discussion the various lines of Catholic thought may intersect with all the forms of knowledge found in the arts, sciences, professions, and every other area of human scholarship and creativity."

University of Michigan - 77 FREE Courses
http://open.umich.edu/education/schools-colleges
Find stuff and use it. Freely. Welcome to our collection of openly licensed educational resources (OER) from the University of Michigan. Ranging from course materials to videos to software tools to student work—this content is ready for downloading and remixing.

University of Cape Town - 148 FREE Courses
http://goo.gl/c68SE

Learning content: syllabi, full courses, modules, learning objects, lecture notes, presentation and data collections. Tools: content development tools, online learning communities, and software to support the creation, delivery, use and improvement of open learning content.

University of California - 247 FREE Courses
http://ocw.uci.edu/courses/
The University launched its OpenCourseWare initiative in November 2006. As the first West Coast university and UC campus to join the OpenCourseWare Consortium (OCWC), our OCW project is growing rapidly with the addition of nearly10 new courses every month.

Tufts University - 49 FREE Courses
http://ocw.tufts.edu/CourseList
Tufts University is committed to offering the world's learners free access to its many academic resources. Tufts OpenCourseWare (OCW) seeks to capitalize on the potential of the internet to eliminate borders and geographic distance as obstacles to the instantaneous exchange of knowledge and new ideas. Unlike distance learning programs that charge tuition, provide formal instruction and limit participation, OpenCourseWare offers all course materials free to everyone with online access.

Weber State University - 7 FREE Courses
http://ocw.weber.edu/courselist
Free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners throughout the world.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
http://ocw.jhsph.edu/
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's OPENCOURSEWARE (OCW) project provides access to content of the School's most popular courses.

IE University - 10 FREE Courses
http://ocw.ie.edu/ocw/index.html?A=1
Open collection of educational resources organized by courses.

Capilano University - 23 FREE Courses
http://ocw.capilanou.ca/courselist
Capilano provides a solid academic foundation and is committed to developing new and innovative programs in response to market demand. It offers a complete range of preparatory courses, university transfer courses, business and management studies, creative and applied arts programs, health and human services programs, plus a range of services in support of student learning and success.

Kaplan University - 11 FREE Courses
http://ocw.kaplan.edu/courselist
Kaplan University is a different school of thought.SM One that rewrites the rules of education with innovative technology and new ideas. One that develops talent. Your talent.

Jersey Institute of Technology - 20 FREE Courses
http://ocw.njit.edu/
NJIT is a member of the worldwide OpenCourseWare Consortium. NJIT’s OpenCourseWare (OCW) site offers free and open digital publication of high-quality educational materials, organized as courses. Some courses can be viewed in video, while others are only in audio. Course lecture notes and presentations are also posted for some courses.

Novell, Inc - 20 FREE Courses
http://ocw.novell.com/
Free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized as courses.

People's Open Access Education Initiative - 16 FREE Courses
http://www.peoples-uni.org/
Courses are based on the concept of open education resources (OER), freely available on the Internet. Peoples-uni develops a standardise educational context around these open resources.

The Open University - 606 FREE Courses
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/

Try over 600 free online courses from The Open University. Available from introductory to advanced level, each takes between 1 and 50 hours to study. Complete activities to assess your progress and compare your thoughts with sample answers. Sign up for free to track your progress, connect with other learners in our discussion forums and find the tools to help you learn.

Categories For Free Courses
http://www.ocwconsortium.org/en/courses/catalog

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September 26
The Perils of Automation
by  Gord TullochNo presence information  on 9/26/2011 1:12 PM
keyboard.jpgThe end of last week and early this week, many Sunrise computers experienced a problem where they would begin rebooting continuously, unable to complete the bootup process, and thus being rendered unusable. This kind of behaviour tends to be produced by a bad patch, but this should have been impossible - famous last words I know.
 
As a bit of background we have been implementing a new tool at Sunrise named the Microsoft Service Centre Configuration Manager, which automates a lot of the drudgework involved in installing and maintaining the software configuration of workstations on the Sunrise network. In full fruition, when a customer request comes in to install some software we will be able to "push" out the requested software (assuming all licensing etc. requirements have been met) to the client workstation almost immediately. Another benefit is the automated implementation of patches and hotfixes, which we can test and confirm before pushing them out to all or part of the computers on the network.
 
And therein lies the rub - a patch that was untested was pushed out, and certain types of computers started randomly rebooting.​ Turns out during implementation of the SCCM server there was a crash, and the checkbox that required approval before a patch could be sent out was un-ticked. Any patch Microsoft pushed down was immediately installed on all of our worktations, and unfortunately, the result was less than desirable. This certainly proves that our policy of thorough testing of patches before they get sent out is a prudent thing to do, and we'll continue to do so with a great deal of rigour. Rest assured that this is normal operating procedure for us.
 
We apologise for anyone on our network that has been inconvenienced by this.
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September 23
Welcome to the ICT Insider!
by  Gord TullochNo presence information  on 9/23/2011 2:42 PM
Category: Blog Postings
workstation.jpgThe world has changed incredibly in the time I've been involved in the technology business (25 years but I don't look it. Really!) My University years were spent typing on dumb terminals hooked up to large mainframe computers located several buildings away, temples of technology with high priests running around in white lab coats servicing their every whim. My feeble submissions of Pascal and FORTRAN programs were offered up for their execution pleasure, and if they were favoured were spit back on wide format paper with the happy news of a successful run printed at the bottom of a 10 page listing.         
 
I have been fortunate in my career to witness the evolution of computers from these mighty machines, through the first stirrings of personal computers from Apple, Commodore, Radio Shack, and many less well known companies (Osborne, IMSAI, and Vector Graphics among my favorites.) Now of course, we are experiencing waves of incredible change as our familiar desktop computers evolve to laptops, tablets, and even smart phones.            
 
Education as a sector is experiencing no more or less change than any other sector, and we can learn a lot from some that have adopted technology early. For with every revolutionary or even evolutionary change, there are lessons learned that can make the difference between successful adoption and integration, and a shelf-bound failure. Hopefully, since I've been around a little bit, I can help apply some of these lessons as we move forward.            
 
I'm looking forward to a fun ride, and as we move along our journey I'm happy to share my thoughts. Keep innovating, keep embracing change, and keep reading! See you next time. 
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 About this blog

 
About this blog 

Welcome to the ICT Insider Blog, your source for the latest news, reviews, and opinion from the Director of the Sunrise ICT Services department, Gord Tulloch.

 

Gord has worked in a large variety of industries including manufacturing, distribution, education, health care, and consulting.

 

Please feel free to contact Gord at:

 

gtulloch@sunrisesd.ca

 

or via telephone at

204-266-1845. 

Sunrise School Division

"Nothing less than outstanding Learning Experiences, one student at a time."

P.O. Box 1206, 344 - 2nd Street North,
Beausejour, MB, R0E 0C0
Canada

 (204) 268-6500
(204) 268-6545
(866) 444-5559
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