Wouldn't it be great if you could get just-in-time help with whatever application you're working with? Well, now we're one step closer to that, as we are in the process of subscribing to Atomic Learning, which is a huge collection of professionally made step-by-step training videos on a range of applications, such as:

All students, faculty and staff will have access to this service, in school or from home. I will provide the logon details to all faculty and staff in a separate email message as soon as we receive them. If you forget the username and password at a later date, you can request it by emailing me at:

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• Always shut down the computers in your room at the end of the day (or when you leave the computer lab) . If you only log off, the machine still uses energy and generates heat.
• Print on both sides of paper sheets if you can, and recycle paper rather than throwing it in the bin.
• Reduce printing as much as you can, by communicating electronically with parents (send an email newsletter rather than a printed one). Also, read documents in electronic format (if you can bear it - most of us are still more used to reading on paper).

We have started replacing the school's CRT computer monitors with newer LCD monitors. We have just replaced close to 200 monitors in high-frequency areas such as computer labs and office areas, and will continue replacing the rest of the monitors in the coming years. Besides causing less strain the eyes, LCD monitors use only 25% of the energy consumed by CRT monitors and also generate less heat, which allows us to reduce air-conditioning.

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The SMART Notebook software contains a gallery of resource files (images, animations, etc) for all subject areas, and you can also download more from the Internet, e.g. this huge collection of excellent SMART lessons. These lessons are compressed (zip) folders containing resource files that you can use with your SMART Notebook software. Just ask if you need help downloading or using them.

If you are interested in learning how to use the board or just the SMART software, you can come to a scheduled in-service or contact me to set up a session at your convenience.

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• EdHeads Simple Machines - cool stuff for K-6 science/inquiry
• ReadWriteThink - large inventory of Flash based literacy activities, from Acrostic Poems to printable Venn Diagram creators, via Story maps, Persuasion maps, Fractured Fairy Tales, Drama maps, Comic Creators and many, many more.
• Interactive Flash movies for Mathematics - a collection of activities - mostly HS, but also a few ES activities.

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Currently, members can access an ever-growing collection of free lessons, assessments, resources and textbooks, and can also submit their own educational resources. However, the plan is apparently that members soon will be able to comment on and edit material submitted by others as well.

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An alternative that may save a lot of space is to put the file(s) in Staff Resources (or another appropriate folder), and simply include a link to the location of the file(s) in the email message. An email message with a link to a folder need not take up more than a few KB at most. With a 1MB video file for example, you can then save more than 50MB of space on the email server if you are sending it to fifty people, as well as 1MB in each person's inbox.

When you've pasted the file(s) in a folder, right-click the file, select the location of the file and press Ctrl + C to copy the link. Then, in the email message in Outlook, click Insert >> Hyperlink and paste the link into the URL field, and then click OK. This will insert a hyperlink to the folder in your email message. (Note that this will only work if your email client is set to send email messages in HTML format by default. If not, you'll only be able to insert the link as text, not as a clickable hyperlink.)

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While computer networks improve the productivity potential of computer users, they also comes with some risks, especially with regards to data integrity and security. Here at ISM, for example, teachers' computer accounts can access most locations on the network, including sensitive student information. Also, and perhaps more interesting from students' point of view, are the many tests and exams stored in Staff Resources, as well as teachers' grade books. While we generally trust our students, experience tells us it's usually wise to err on the cautious side...

• One simple habit that goes a long way towards safeguarding the data is to lock your computer when you are walking away from it. Press the three buttons that say Ctrl, Alt and Delete on your keyboard, and then either press Enter or click on the button that says "Lock Computer".
• If you are still concerned about keeping upcoming tests safe, store them in My Documents rather than Staff Resources. That way, only your account can access it, and someone else's mistake will not let potential prying eyes in.
• Never write your password down, e.g. on a piece of paper in your drawer or on a post-it note. Someone who really wants to get in may well notice where you keep such information.
• If you have a projector in your room, be careful when logging on. If you accidentally type both username and password in the username field, the password is displayed as plain text for all your students to see.

If you are concerned that someone may know your password, you can change it. Press Ctrl, Alt and Delete on your keyboard, and then click the "Change Password" button.

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Probably the most powerful and lasting IT training for teachers happens in conjunction with planning for student projects. Rather than organizing application-specific in-services, I would prefer to work with teachers when they are planning technology-related projects and teaching the skills at that time: contextualized learning, in other words.

Click here to request training on particular applications which you or your department would like to use in your curriculum.

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