Issues+we're+thinking+about++list+them+here.

Priority 1: Install blogging software (WordPress MU) on KIS Server? (Free)
From our [|Cadre 21 blog], Jan. 19, 2006:

So we need a solution to the technical, security, and aesthetic demands of classroom blogging. Best to find it before we start our engines, and get it up and running. Making learners switch blogs mid-stream degrades the process. Let's start them with one we'll stay with, because we can control it.

So, I’m going to take the plunge and ask KIS to install WordPress MU (multiple users) on our server. It's free. I can learn as I go. It will be much like administering Moodle: requires some homework, but not an IT degree. Pretty dummy-proof.

With occasional calls to the edublogosphere for help, I should be able to have it installed and ready within a week or two. Stay tuned as I learn more.

: The cost-benefit summary of outsourcing to a dedicated server v. installing on the school server.
 * Update** Sunday, Jan. 28: I had an online conference with Jeff Utecht of Shanghai American School yesterday, and here's what he shared--SAVE USD 5,000/year by outsourcing to a dedicated server (SAS is using Blue Host in Utah: 200 gigabytes for USD69/year v. USD5,000/year for our own server, PLUS no maintenance, backup, or install responsibilities at KIS--less labor!). Here are two clips from that talk, about 3 minutes total time:

Priority 1: KIS Email addresses for //students//?
ES email addresses for private class blog memberships? (For students whose parents don't let them have home email addresses) At Shanghai American School, students, as well as teachers, received SAS email addresses. Can we consider that at KIS as well?

UPDATE 27Jan07: For ES, ePals may be the solution. Check out their website--free email addresses for students, and more. I haven't researched this beyond that, since it's something ES and maybe MS teachers will ultimately decide on anyway. So check them out, folks.

Priority 1: Way more laptops needed--esp. to support elementary school?
Laptop carts overloaded? (How can ES implement these practices with one laptop cart? The ES is KIS's immediate and long-term future. I'd argue they should have top priority, from a long-range planning p.o.v.) UPDATE 27Jan07: See update on 1:1 laptop policy comments, below.

Priority 1: Laptop lessons self-destructing due to lost connections: IP address shortage? Cart wireless hubs too weak?
Connection breakdowns in classroom: wireless hubs too weak? Or, as Rich wondered, IP address overload? **This one's serious**: lessons are being degraded by "My laptop just lost its connection" avalanches. There has to be a solution. And we need to find and use it fast, because we're establishing student and teacher learning attitudes with these new tools. We don't want unnecessary negatives poisoning the well.

Priority 2: Wireless classrooms?
Making CLASSROOMS wireless. Why are hallways, cafeterias, garages, and PAC wireless--all good things, mind you--but the actual //student learning spaces,// not?

1:1 Laptop policy?

 * Update** 27Jan07: Jeff Utecht at Shanghai American School argues that MS should be included in the 1:1 laptop policy move (not just HS). The benefits make sense: a) frees up all carts for ES; b) feeds HS with students already able to use digital literacy tools; c) has a shorter-term effect in terms of raising the "21st Century School" profile of KIS (ie, if we wait for the ES kids to create this change, they won't hit HS for another 4-9 years, whereas MS kids will hit HS in the next 1-3 years).

1 wireless laptop per student (it's called a "1:1 school") idea: I know admin is discussing this. But now that the cadre has launched, it needs to be a much higher priority. I want to write a letter to parents, K-12, advising them--from a **literacy and English language-learning perspective**--to buy their children a wireless laptop, **and** to make their homes wireless. Desktops are aversive, since they chain you to a chair at a desk. Wireless laptops change that reality: suddenly you're reading and writing with a computer in your lap--in bed, sprawled on the floor, whatever. And it solves our classroom laptop shortage problem.

Robin S. told me the school was considering buying the laptops for the students, and having parents pay for them. It's also a solution--we can have "laptop set-up" sessions at school where we walk students through outfitting their computers with all the downloads and literacy tools they'll be using in the classroom.

But it's really a time-sensitive issue now. Enough teachers are ready to go, but students don't have the tools to join them. Rich? Ann? Help?

If we go Grade 10 and 11: Asian history mixed class is an issue (ask Spivey).