February 2001 Online Newsletter for Greater Essex County Computer Using Professionals

At a recent meeting with my boss, he dropped a new word on me.  It dealt with the implementation of computers.  His point was that we need to describe a philosophy and implementation strategy that described computer use as ubiquitous. My first reaction was one of puzzlement.  After all, we had been teaching students to type with both hands for years. Then, I looked it up in the dictionary to find that it really means "Being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time."  Upon further reflection, now I understood what he meant.  This certainly is consistent with the philosophy that goes into our computer acquisition and implementation.  It's one thing to have a great deal of computers in a school but they also have to be seen as all being one and the same.  If a student starts work on a project on one computer, she needs to be able to work on it or finish it on another. In the good old days, that meant storing information on a floppy diskette and physically transporting it to where you need to be.  Times change, diskettes seem somehow less reliable, and certainly projects have become so big that they've rendered diskette use to small endeavours for those who feel lucky or confident that they have a backup in place.  Enter the concept of a network where every student has her own personal workspace on a fileserver so that work in progress can be accessed anywhere within the school. What about at home?  This will prove to be the next frontier posing a challenge.  Diskettes enter into the fray with the same advantages or disadvantages of transporting work from room 106 to room 331.  Enter ubiquitous again.  With the number of pay or free email servers on the Internet, students now have the option of emailing their work to and from school just as teachers handle report card data. There is another aspect to ubiquitous, however, that shows how fortunate we are as computer users in Ontario.  While I can go from one computer to another in a school, it is only of value if there is something there to use.  Through the Ontario Educational Software Service, many titles have been provincially licensed.   This month sees a renewal of the Millie, Sammy, and Bailey "House" series of primary software, for example.  On a network, they are available on any computer.  Because of provincial licensing, they are potentially available on every computer in every school and faculty of education in the province. The Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory Committee (OSAPAC) makes recommendations to the Ministry of Education about what software titles are needed to support the delivery of the Ontario Curriculum.  Through the years, we've seen licensing of such quality products as WordPerfect, Filemaker Pro, Hyperstudio, KidPix, and so on.  In fact, there are hundreds of titles and recent trends have even been towards the acquisition of web services. How do you know what's available?  Your Computers in Education School Contact is informed each time a new product becomes available.  Your Software Support Technician supports the concept of ubiquity by making the applications available on your fileserver.  For more information, click on the link above and OSAPAC has created an online, searchable database of software titles.  In addition, most of these titles have teacher takehome rights for lesson preparation. OSAPAC continues the process of providing quality computer software for ubiquitous use through the constant licensing of new titles.  This newsletter also highlights them as they become available.  Annually, OSAPAC looks for direction as to what areas of the curriculum need support.  This year, an online survey will be posted beginning on March 1 at the OSAPAC web site. Hopefully, all Greater Essex educators will support the push for ubiquity by taking a few moments to complete the questionnaire.  It benefits everyone.