Web Master Dearborn Schools

Bring Web Meetings to WordPress with BigBlueButton.  Right now the plugin is in BETA but I have used it with no issue.

We have been working with BigBlueButton and Moodle for about a year and I caught wind of a new WordPress plugin from the BBB forums and decided to give it a try.  At first it didn’t work.  It requires BBB v.7 and I had BBBv.64.  I did the simple update commands and BigBlueButton was updated and running in about 10 minutes.  I then had to update the Moodle plugin so that it didn’t break due to the server upgrade.

We run about 800 or so teacher classroom website using WordPress Multisite and Buddypress.  With this new plugin we will now be providing the opportunity for each teacher with a blog to host web conferences.  Imagine if a teacher wanted to allow parents to view a classroom activity or meet with a parent one-on-one?  Now they can thanks to the awesome work of BigBlueButton and Blindside Networks who just release a beta version of the WordPress Plugin.

In the WordPress Dashboard under “Settings”, the user can add a variety of BigBlueButton Meeting Rooms that will appear in a dropdown on the frontpage of the blog.  Each room has a Moderator and Attendee password that the user can configure.

I have to get a tutorial for our teachers done quickly!!!  School starts really soon!

I also have to pay a compliment to Fred and Omar over at BBB for their help today while I did the upgrade and testing.  They have always been helpful and knowledgeable.  They helped me with a few questions via their BBB Demo conference room.

I found this great website today: http://www.snipe.net/

Under the freebies there is an article that lays out a few icon search engines.  It’s a great resource and I wanted it in my blog for reference!

http://www.snipe.net/2009/12/free-icons/

I just ran across this new product that allows you to take a photoshop PSD file and it will convert and upload a WordPress theme to your blog.

This seems VERY Cool!!!

http://www.divine-project.com/

Now if I only had photoshop…

Stas Sușcov has been working all summer on a courseware plugin for BuddyPress and a beta is now ready for download. We’ve been following this exciting project throughout the summer and hope to provide a full review in the near future. These are exciting times for educators who are interested to use WordPress and BuddyPress as a learning management system.

From: http://wpmu.org/buddypress-courseware-beta-now-available-for-download/

What this represents is a blending of WP3 and Buddypress with a dash of course management.  It is a welcomed addition to the wordpress platform and an exciting one for educators!  What I personally would like to see is a Buddypress and Moodle integration that is more than just logins.  I’d like to see Buddypress pull information from Moodle and add it to teacher profile pages in Buddypress and more.  This is a project you will want to watch and would be an awesome addition to any buddypress setup in education.  This is especially interesting if you aren’t already using Moodle and want to ease teachers into working in an online environment.

I will have to see if this new courseware plugin would benefit or be double-duty for our teachers to implement.

At Dearborn Public Schools we have been using WPMU and now WP version 3 with multisites since 2006.  While blogging is considered very easy to any web savvy user, teachers have unique uses and needs when it comes to creating a classroom website.  Ease of use is critical.  Teachers are not looking to become web publishers.  They want to use the blog as a tool to quickly and effectively get the job done so they can focus on their job – educating kids.  I have found some very good, must-have plugins that have helped make blogging much easier.

• Easy Blogging – This plugin creates a very simple and easy to use WP Dashboard.  It takes the main tools users would use and puts them into easy to navigate tabs at the top of the page.  For 99% of teachers, this is all they need.
• Easy Blogging Tooltips – This plugin loads help icons next to a variety of Dashboard pages to help the user understand what they are looking at as they navigate the Dashboard.  This is very helpful for firsttime users.
• Subscibe by Email – Great for allowing teachers to generate classroom email lists.  Everytime the teacher makes a new post, parents get emails letting them know about it.
• New Blog Template – This is a VERY powerful and useful plugin.  It allows you to determine what every new blog will look like.  You can set the plugins, theme, content such as pages and posts, widgets, and more!  This allows you to activate and setup any plugins and widgets so that the teacher doesn’t have to when they create a new blog.
• VoucherPress – This allows teachers to create vouchers/coupons from their blog.  This is useful for generating custom coupons for extra bonus points, giveaways, raffles, and much more.  The plugin will even generate random codes.
• Anthologize – The eBook plugin for WordPress.  This will allow teachers to create ebook compatible publishings.  They can organize their blog posts and pages into chapters and sections that can be read on the iPad, iPhone, Kindle and others. Great for a language arts teacher who wants their students to write a novel or story.

I just found this website by Google that actually tracks the Flu.  Remember all the H1N1 stuff from last year?  This year be prepared as you can now track the spread of the flu via Google: http://www.google.org/flutrends/

When the flu cases come to Dearborn, we will be sure to post a map!  lol.   Last year was like watching the movie “Outbreak” with all the H1N1 hype.

I am nearing completion of my summer work.  I have finished upgrading to the latest software for the district website, school websites, teacher websites, and a few other websites.

There is still much work to do with the school websites.  This is the year I want to create custom themes for the elementary, middle school, and high school websites.

I am also creating tutorials for the new teacher website plugins: Calendar, VoucherPress  and some others.

Almost ready for everyone to come back!

I just got off the phone with Mindtouch support person Corey after upgrading our school websites.  We are now running the latest version of Mindtouch wiki v10.  I was embarrassed when we had to update the server and there were a ton of outdated packages that needed to be downloaded and installed.  This is good and bad.  On one hand, servers need the latest security patches and updates.  On the other hand, not thinking about our Mindtouch server is a testament to the quality of their product.  I cannot say enough that their Mindtouch wiki is “rock solid”.  I spend more time using than fixing Mindtouch wiki and therefore I never have to log into the server.

I am very excited to take a look at their new templates.  If you are looking for THE BEST solution for school websites, look no further than Mindtouch Wiki.

A little more experimentation and I think I have the hang of the new Voucher Plugin.

Above is an example of the way you can present students with a coupon.  Sign up and redeem your free blog from the webmaster!  Must be a Dearborn Public School Teacher.  (Obviously this is a test.  You can create a blog at anytime as a teacher.)