Welcome to the October 2006 Technology Newsletter for Educational Technology Leaders in Local District 4.


Table of Contents

1. Instructional Technology Leadership Meetings
2. LAUSD Tech Rep page
3. Approved Vendors
4. K-12 EdTech Vouchers
5. Resources
6. Tech Learning Article

Instructional Technology Leadership Meetings
List of Upcoming Meetings
October 19 - Local District 4, Conference Room 204
November 1*-TBA
January 18 - TBA
February 15 - TBA
March 15 - TBA
April 19 - TBA
May 17 - TBA

At our first meeting, we will schedule future Technology Coordinators' Meetings. We will have them on the third Thursday of each month with the exception of November*. I would like to have the meetings at school sites. This will give us an opportunity to learn from each other and share out what is happening at your school. If you would like to volunteer your school, please let me know. Also, at our first meeting, we will come up with ideas and suggestions for our future meetings.

*On November 1st, from 3:45 - 5:15, the district will conduct a district wide Virtual Symposium through video conferencing. The topic for the symposium will be on LAUSD student e-mail. I will have more information for you soon.

LAUSD Tech Rep Page
Many are not aware of the resources that are available to us through lausd.net. Did you know there is a Tech Rep page? It is found under the Employees link followed by the Tech Support link. As a tech rep for your school, you can find useful information here. On this page, you'll find the AUP in PDF format, photo release forms in multiple languages, vendor information, recall notices, and more. If you haven't looked at this page before, check it out. I think you'll find it useful.
Now what about those small links at the bottom of each page in lausd.net? Have you looked at them? One useful link for yourself is the Tech Plan. It is here that you can download the Quiz that you can have your students take. To save you the trouble of reading or scrolling through the whole Tech Plan, the Quiz can be found on pages 138-143.

LAUSD Vendors
The following is a list of approved vendors for LAUSD.

• Arey Jones (Dell, HP, Lenovo)
• Gateway
• Apple
• IBM
• Microsoft
• Lexmark

Other resources are:
CDWG.com
KIS.org
calsave.org

K-12 EdTech Vouchers

LAUSD has begun the process for obtaining the K-12 Ed Tech Voucher program, a six year funding program resulting from the Microsoft settlement from several years ago. Dialogue has already begun with Local District Superintendents and other key stakeholders on how these vouchers will be distributed and utilized. There are several multimedia resources that offer more information:

• A video-podcast of the recent board meeting discussing the K-12 EdTech Voucher program. The podcast can be found at: http://www.lausd.net/edtech
  You will need iTunes, a free cross-platform podcast player, to subscribe to the podcast. The video comes in two parts and both are rather large. It would be best to download these videos using a broadband connection.
• An audio podcast from John Rivera, ITAF for Local District 5, explaining the K-12 EdTech voucher program. You can also use iTunes to subscribe to this podcast feed at: District 5 Podcast.
• You do not need an iPod to watch/listen to these podcasts. You can watch the videos on your computer and listen to the audio either on your computer or any mp3 player.