OK.  I have been hesitant about using add-ons in firefox.  But recently I updated my browser theme and decided to check out the latest plugins for Firefox and I was blown away!  There were advanced adware plugins and even plugins for posting to my blog.  I can manage and add new content to my blog without ever visiting it.  I can be looking at an interesting website and be writing about it in my blog without having to open up 2 windows. 

I cannot wait until I can share this with the 250 strong blogging teachers we have at DPS!

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Just today I was conducting training with teachers.  It is an exciting time to be working with educators. 

Thanks for listening to my presentation on district web technologies!  Hopefully some of you will pursue a DPS blog or move into the arena of Online Classrooms with iLearn.

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We just downloaded the Alpha Version of this new, free software called DimDim.  We had tried this out previously and it worked OK.  The video would drop out and it lacked features, but the Alpha version looks promising!  We just conducted a 30 minute test and it worked GREAT!

This will be software that can be used to deliver PowerPoints, screen sharing, voice and video chat, etc.  It’s purpose could be anything from a quick meeting with principals to “Just-In-Time” professional development.  I am hoping that soon it will also be able to be integrated with our iLearn program.  Teachers and students could benefit from web conferences for anything from group projects to studying for a test realtime with 5-30 students using microphones on their computers.

We will have to wait and see how this develops.

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I replaced the navigation found on the district,parent,student, and staff pages.  The navigation was on the left side of the page.   It used to be a Flash-Based navigation and we started getting reports of people not having the proper flash version to view the navigation.

The new navigation is a combination Java/CSS menu that operates the same as the previous version yet is more compatible with general browsers with no special plugins.

Hope this makes an improvement.

-Chris

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