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photo credit: TalkingTreeWhen troubleshooting email, it may be necessary to see what the email server is spitting out, just to make sure everything is working. The easiest way to do that is to use the telnet command. Telnet allows you to connect to various services on remote or local machines through the command line. Today we are going to be using it to send some email. You’ll first need to bring up the command-line on your respective operating system. First see if telnet is installed. Type:
telnet
And you should see something like this:

Welcome to Microsoft Telnet Client

Escape Character is 'CTRL+]'

Microsoft Telnet>�
Or this:
telnet>
Since that works, type quit to exit telnet. Next, we need to open a connection to our mail server. We will need to know the name or ip address of the mail server:
telnet mail.example.com 25
(The 25 is the port number that SMTP runs on.) You should then get a response back from your mail server:

Trying 10.0.0.18...
Connected to mail.example.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 mail.example.com ESMTP Postfix

The server is now waiting for a command. We need to say Hello. (* For the remaining examples I’m going to use the domain example.com. You’ll need to replace that with your local domain name. *)
helo example.com
Which returns:
250 mail.example.com
The mail server now needs to know who is sending the email:
mail from: myname@example.com
Returns:
250 Ok
Who are you sending the mail to?
rcpt to: recipient@example.com
Returns:
250 Ok
Now it is time to tell it the message:
data
Returns:
354 End data with .
Enter your message:

Subject: test message
This is a test message
.

To end the message, you need to put a period at the beginning of the line and hit the return key. Now your message is on its way!
Now type quit to exit
quit

Tags: 21st Century Skills, SYSK // 1 Comment »

I’m starting a new category, that goes along with my blog post Yes I will lead. The new category is called Skills You Should Know - SYSK. Little bits of information that through my experience aren’t something that you may not necessarily use every day, but may someday save you a ton of trouble.

Today’s topic is vi. Vi may be the only editor installed on a new unix based system, and a few commands will get you to the point where at least you can edit a few files before installing something a little more user friendly such as pico (or nano).

Vi has two modes, command and insertion. It was designed this way because sometimes the keyboard you would be using might not necessarily have all the keys we take for granted today, especially when it comes to the arrow keys. In command mode you can move the cursor around with the arrow keys or hjkl keys. To do an editing, you’ll need to switch to insertion mode. Vi defaults to command mode when it is started.

i - Switches to insertion mode
<ESC> - Switches to command mode

In a nutshell, you’ll start the editor with a file:

vi somefile

Once the file is open, you’ll press i to switch to insertion mode. Make the changes to your file. Press <ESC> to switch back to command mode. To exit you’ll press the following (these all start with the colon):

:wq - Write the file and then quit
:q! - Quit the file without saving the changes. A great way if you mess up and just want to not save your changes

These preceding commands should at least get you started. For more info, you may want to visit the following pages:
vi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vi Cheat Sheet
Mastering the VI editor

Tags: RC Tips, SYSK, Software // Add Comment »

photo credit: swpermanAs we investigate ways to use mobile Internet devices in our classrooms, it hit me that they could be used as an interactive student response system (ISRS). Since current ISRSs are around $100 per person, why not invest in a more useful device such as the iPod Touch, Sony PSP, or Nintendo DS (with Opera)?

I found one company that already is thinking this way, Pocket Mobility with their Quizzler Pro product. Me on the other hand, loves the challenge of coding something up myself.

Has anyone worked with ISRSs? What did you like? What didn’t you like? Is this something I should look at as a summer project?

Tags: 21st Century Skills, Classroom Management, Hardware, Mobile Computing, Software // 3 Comments »

Scottish authorities have begun other trials of ‘More Brain Training with Dr Kawashima’ on the Nintendo DS in 16 schools:

A 20-minute burst of the ‘brain training’ exercises on Nintendo’s DS console at the start of the day apparently improves performance in maths tests by as much as 10 per cent, according to a Scottish study.

The results of the completed 10 week study certainly are fascinating:

In a maths test at the end of the trial, their performance improved by an average 10 per cent, and the time to complete the test also dropped from 17 minutes to 13 minutes and nine seconds.

Pretty impressive results, although I don’t know what game they’re talking about, unless it happens to be Brain Age 2. Checking Amazon UK shows a DS game called More Brain Traing, which may just be a relabel Brain Age 2. I guess I’ll have to do some more checking. What a solid return on your investment though. It would cost a class of 25 $3,750 to outfit the entire class with a DS. Throw in the DS Browser and you have even more ways to integrate it into your classroom.

How long until a company comes out with a mobile version of Brain Age 2 that you can play from any mobile computing device?

Tags: 21st Century Skills, Hardware, Mobile Computing // Add Comment »

photo credit: Erin NealeyDesire2Learn is reporting that the United States Patent & Trademark Office has overturned all 44 of Blackboard’s patent claims:

On March 25, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued its Non-Final Action on the re-examination of the Blackboard Patent. We are studying the document, found here, but in short, the PTO has rejected all 44 of Blackboard’s claims. We caution that this is a NON-final action; both Blackboard and Desire2Learn will have an opportunity to comment before a final action will issue, and after that, the decision will be subject to appeals.

This is good news, especially not only for Desire2Learn, but also users of all online coursework delivery systems. Although I’m torn on the idea of software patents, the ones awarded to Blackboard in my opinion did not pass the obviousness test. Blackboard has gone on record that they were not going to go after open source implementations like Moodle, but I can’t help to think that just the idea that Blackboard could sue would put a damper on some new Moodle installations.

Tags: Legal // Add Comment »

photo credit: javYliz

In the technology world it seems we’re continually confronted with new products, services, software, hardware, etc. And for those of us who have a tough time focusing on one thing at a time, this dizzying array of choices can easily distract us or keep us from finishing previous tasks.

In The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz it describes why this is a problem:

“We normally assume in America that more options (”easy fit” or “relaxed fit”?) will make us happier, but Schwartz shows the opposite is true, arguing that having all these choices actually goes so far as to erode our psychological well-being.”

As a technology coordinator, I’m constantly trying out new things, and it’s very hard to decide whether to actually implement something. Will this new product be easy enough for staff and students to use? Is the learning curve mild enough that my users will learn this product and use it?

When you ask others in the educational technology community what’s the best wiki, blogging software, operating system, etc. you’ll get a ton of choices. So many choices may ultimately lead you to either never be satisfied with your final choice, or worse, never make a decision.

In this blog I am going to try to only give one or two choices for solutions to specific problems. They may not be the best choice, but in the long run, they will be good enough to be of use (I hope).

Tags: Hardware, Op Ed, Software, Time Management // 1 Comment »

Linux Terminal Lab (and test post )

Originally uploaded by mr.rcollins

This is an eight station computer setup in one of our middle school classrooms. Five of the machines are Linux terminals, booting over the network.

(* I’m also trying a test post of a picture sent from my phone to Flickr. *)

Tags: Good Sites // Add Comment »

Keeping track of inventory can be a difficult, and it seems like every four months someone is asking about what product to get to use for inventory control. I created a simple database in Filemaker Pro to keep track of our inventory. Why Filemaker Pro?

• We already had it.
• I didn’t need anything that fancy.
• We also had FMP Server and FMP Unlimited (version 5.5) so I could easily publish the database onto the web, that way it can be updated from anywhere with a web connection.

I’m not a big fan of using barcodes on our equipment. Our asset tag numbers are only 5 digits long, it doesn’t take time at all to easily type them. We do use a barcode reader when inventorying new equipment. It cuts down on errors when entering serial numbers or MAC addresses. The barcode reader can read the barcodes right off of the box.

To enter new equipment, we use a spreadsheet. Once the spreadsheet is filled out, it is imported into the FMP database.

I don’t track help desk requests along with hardware. We have approximately 700 machines, and it’s very rare that a piece of equipment will have one hardware failure, let alone multiple failures that need to be tracked.

Tags: Hardware, RC Tips // Add Comment »

I was thinking about my blog post from last week, contemplating on how I should be more positive. People using technology in schools are already facing enough of an uphill battle without me picking on them.

Stealing Alvin’s Efficiency Tips idea, I want to post little tips, tricks, ideas to help the technology support staff in the education sector. Some of my ideas may seem to be esoteric (such as learning vi), but others should have more common appeal (imaging machings). There are conversations that happen on the Technology Coordinator’s listserv that also need to be condensed and posted.

Does this seem like a good idea? What about also creating handout sheets to help with professional development?

Tags: RCTips

Tags: Professional Development, RC Tips // 2 Comments »

I’ve been playing around with Twitter for a little while (and if you’re really bored, you can follow me). A very cool feature is tracking. It works when you link your Twitter account with your instant messenger of choice. I’m currently tracking the following terms:

• education
• ed tech
• ipod touch
• educational technology

I then see any tweet posted with those terms. It’s a great way to find sites that you didn’t even know you needed. Just this week I found Glossy - MoLeNet:

“The Glossy project will undertake a large-scale development and implementation of mobile learning across Gloucestershire College utilising the mobile devices that learners already own. A comparative study will be made by providing a range of mobile devices for learners in excluded groups at Gloucestershire College and learners with learning difficulties and disabilities at National Star College. The project will put in place an infrastructure that will allow learners using devices which they already own to access learning activities and content through a mobile learning portal in conjunction with the college VLE.”

This is a very interesting project, to utilize mobile devices that students already have. I plan on following their blog and am very interested in their findings.

Tags: twitter, mobile devices, education

Tags: Web 2.0 // 1 Comment »