NotesFeb2009

=TSN Instructor Dialogue=

February 4, 2009
- the process of having people sign in to the labs can be challenging in cases where several different types of groups are using a single lab over a week – sometimes the TSN coordinator is the teacher/leader of a particular group, sometimes another person is in charge; it takes some work and effort for the TSN coordinator to “teach other teachers” how to follow through on needs related to lab administration, since these types of people may be focused mostly on the content of their teaching/project - games can be great skill-learning tools, but which ones are actually “educational” and relate to what actually needs to be learned in computer class? - one challenge of listing classes on the web site is that when you go to “Add a Class”, the existing list of classes are not easy to understand; these have been created over time by the centers, and some with similar titles are not the same class, some with very different titles ultimately have the same content, etc. What needs to be considered for the future of the web site? - centers need to be aware of phone calls claiming to be from “your IT company” – some of these are misleading at best and seem to want you to think that they are your service company and need to send you some product that is going to then be billed to you – this may be a scam
 * Current Challenges:**

- the idea of having previous/current students serve as volunteers/teachers for future classes is worth exploring; this involves not just asking students to return for the next class but also creating some incentive and expectation while they are in class at first that part of the learning experience is to come back and teach a little too - the issue of how to best filter web sites still needs much discussion – different levels of filtering do not apply equally to all groups of participants, so how exactly do we define what should be restricted? - how to manage IT support resources so that TS Centers are not reinventing the wheel or duplicating efforts that might be centralized? What are the possibilities for collaboration, not just with individual programs or classes, but with the “systems” that we all use, related to IT support, managing course material, etc? - it is helpful to think about bigger events as partnerships between centers, so it might be useful to find some new ways to share information about our needs and areas of knowledge; TSN web site has space for classes, but what about a way to share information about individual areas of expertise of center staff? Also, what constitutes a “partnership” where two centers are both involved in helping to set up a class, program, etc., and what constitutes a “consultant” arrangement when one instructor/center is supplying a service to another and would need to be compensated more formally?
 * Emerging Issues and Areas for Further Exploration and Development:**

- one possible technique to help in youth programs is to videotape the lab during their lab time, and then allow the kids to view the video and discuss observations about their behavior and different ways that people react to situations – might be particularly useful to help kids review their own actions in the case of confrontations that occur - some software applications might help you to monitor lab computers from a central computer in more elaborate ways (you can lock the screen of all of the computers temporarily, make a message pop up on all lab computers (“5 minutes left”), or others) – free ones are TightVNC View and iTalc
 * Great Ideas to Share:**

- for youth programs especially, several software applications are available to integrate some simple music into projects – software such as FL Studio has a free version that allows someone create an entire rhythm/beat/musical composition with fairly easy point-and-click experimentation – songs can be exported to mp3 files and then burned to CDs, exported to mp3 players, added as soundtracks to videos, etc.; look for the “VST” standard for more free ideas/software - digital storytelling tends to be relatively accessible to include in classes for youth and adults as a part of capturing the experience of the class – with software such as Windows Movie Maker or Windows PhotoStory, these need not be complicated as it could take as little as just putting photos from class in order and then allowing the software to create a video from them - a question arose about where to find the standard TSN registration form online – on www.timothysmithnetwork.org, sign in using the Member Login, and then click the TS Center Operations on the left, and find the Sample Registration link to download the file - it was mentioned that Madison Park has used some IT support from an individual who might be available for other centers
 * Resources to Share:**

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at St. Katharine Drexel, 175 Ruggles St., 12:00-1:00pm
 * Next Dialogue:**