On New Year's Resolutions

Like most people I have my share of abandoned resolutions as well as a few successes here and there.   I guess the lesson is to be persistent and you will eventually taste success.  Anyway, many self improvement schemes have come and gone in the form of resolutions and when I turned 40 I thought that I had reached a stage where I was comfortable enough in my own skin to forego the usual resolutions such as going to bed early, exercising more, eating right etc, etc, etc.  

But as I have reflected on the things that bring me fulfillment I have come to the conclusion that I should make a new resolution.  The new resolution is to throw my lot into cyberspace and claim my own little piece of it in the form of a blog.  Whenever I toyed with the idea in the past I always managed to talk myself out of the idea for various reasons; no one will read it, What will I blog about, do I have anything to say?  etc.  I never made the move to put pen to paper until now.  Actually, fingers to keyboard might be a better analogy.  

So, there it is.  My new year’s resolution for 2013 is to blog.  As I think about it various large topics come to mind, for example, professional topics, hobbies, parenting, opinion pieces, travelogues, and whatever else will come to mind as I wander around.  

Once I have pieced together the beginnings of the blog I will consider whether or not to put it out there.  I have read a lot about how teachers should be bloggers and I agree with the idea and the concept.  My only regret might be not undertaking the task sooner.  

I think that the best reason to blog is to be able to see my progression and development as a human being.  At this point in time I cannot go back 10 years and see what I was thinking about because I have only vague recollections.  Now, I have an incentive and a tool.  So, hopefully on January 2023 I will return to this posting and reflect on my growth and development.  :-)

TEST

Essential Questions

Feb 7

1.  How does the material in this source apply to the District level IT Leader?

2.  How does the material in this source apply to the School based IT Leader?

3. How could the ideas and material in this source be applied in an IT Leadership context?

4.  How do the ideas and material in this source relate to the three pillars of the M.ED Program. Education, Leadership, Technology?

5.  How could the material in this source be used to enhance, encourage or otherwise influence teachers in the adoption of technology?

6.  How does the material in this source ultimately benefit students, schools and the greater educational system?

7.  How could the ideas and materials in this source be used in the day to day operations of a school?

8.  How could the ideas and materials in this source be used in the formulation of a school goal?

As I have read and summarized the sources I selected from this project I began to develop a set of essential questions that relate to my situation and my professional context.  It has become my intention to focus on these questions during the annotation process.  To me these questions form the basis for this project.  They are essential because they cause reflection.  It is not enough to simply consume and regurgitate the material.  I must somehow consume, digest and then create new knowledge for myself and others.  Otherwise, what is the point?

Future Possibilities

Feb 6

Last week I had the opportunity to interview for the Vice Principal Pool.  If I am successful and I am accepted into the Pool I may have the opportunity to become a vice principal.  With this kind of promotion comes a lot of responsibility but also a lot of opportunity to learn more about leadership and education. 

After I left the interview I started to think about the possibilities for the future.  One of the possibilities that I began to consider was that of a District Level IT Position, perhaps as a consultant or something like that.  Anyway, as I thought about this I began to conceive a project in my mind involving the application of the CBAM. 

It would be interesting to apply the model within our District or even just one school to see where teachers and administrators are when it comes to technology integration.  As I thought about it, I began to formulate questions, such as where would I begin? Who would I call on for help or resources?  How much would it cost?  Would it be worth the effort?

Another interesting area of study would be the change facilitator styles of principals.  This is an important piece of the puzzle because leadership is important in affecting change.  Knowing whether a principal is an initiator, responder or manager type would be invaluable in planning change at the school level. 

As these thoughts swirl around my head in a way I feel overwhelmed by the possibilities.  On the other hand my day to day routine continues to chug along.  Finding time to think about these things and balancing between professional life and personal life becomes the real challenge.

What I know so far about the CBAM

Feb 1

What I know so far about the CBAM

As I have been reading and learning about the CBAM, I thought now would be a great time to list, in plain language, all the things that I have learned and come to know so far about the Concerns Based Adoption Model.  I am doing this in point form in order to make it easier to read and understand.  At this point I have found the sheer volume of information regarding the CBAM to be staggering.  Indeed, a person could do a complete Post graduate degree on the topic of the CBAM. 

Concerns Based Adoption Model

• A conceptual framework to define and articulate teacher’s feelings surrounding a certain educational innovation. 
• Based on the fact that change is a process not an event.
• First conceived in the late 1960s based on the work of Frances Fuller.  Refined and developed by Hall, Loucks, Hord et al.
• Can be applied to any educational innovation. 
• Particularly relevant to the field of educational technology.
• Based on “diagnostic dimensions”
• Diagnostic dimensions are Stages of Concern (SoC), Levels of Use (LoU) and Innovation configuration (IC)
• Has been applied and tested empirically.
• Not much research on it since the late 80s.
• Other researchers have used the CBAM and modified it to suit their needs.  IE Newhouse.

Stages of Concern

• Starts at stage 0 awareness and moves up to stage 7 Refocusing.
• Deals with the affective part of change.
• Concerns that a teacher feels will affect how the innovation is implemented.
• Important for CF to recognize feelings of concern.
• Assessed using a straightforward question.
• Teachers respond to the question in complete sentences.
• A trained analyst analyzes the answers. 

Levels of Use

http://www.rmcdenver.com/useguide/cbam.htm

• Refers to what extent a teacher is making use of an innovation.
• Refers to observable behaviours rather than feelings surrounding an innovation. 
• Made up of 7 levels.
• Can be applied to any educational innovation.

Innovation Configuration

• Refers to ideal use of an innovation by an adopter.
• Ideal use as envisioned by the developer.

Change Facilitator Style

• Refers to styles of leadership.
• The leader greatly impacts the adoption level and stages of concern of the users.
• Three styles are identified. Manager, Initiator, Responder.

Change Facilitator Styles

I have recently had a chance to participate in a District level initiative called Leadership Academy.  The Leadership Academy is a set of professional development modules based on a variety of important themes for administrators.  For example, there is a module of resolving conflict, a module for building positive relationships etc.  Altogether there are 10 modules.  There is planning in place to extend these modules. 

The module I had a chance to work on is called Module 5 and it has to do with technology and how teachers implement and use technology and how administrators can move teachers across the implementation bridge quickly and smoothly.  I was lucky enough to be chosen to be a member of the design team.  Being on the design team involves attending planning meetings, debating the merits of the ideas discussed at the meetings, formulating the module and then facilitating the PD session for District administrators.  Then coming back together as a team to edit and revise the modules based on the feedback we received from participants.

I had the opportunity to help facilitate a session on December 9 with all the assistant principals in Calgary Catholic.  In order to do this I developed a website with the materials from the module embedded within it.  All in all, it was a good experience to do this.  Although we did encounter some technology glitches, (connectivity issues) we were more or less able to proceed as planned.  It did give us food for thought however on the direction of future modules and how they would involve or make use of digital technology. 

Anyway, my point to all of this is that the material I am currently reading on Hall’s Change Facilitator Styles really speaks to the development of professional development activities for administrators.  One of the criticisms of the Leadership Academy that has come to light from my reading is that although we have thought about differentiation we have not considered it from the perspective of various leadership styles.  This becomes significant because in a roomful or administrators there is bound to be a variety of overlapping leadership styles.  An activity might respond well to the needs of an initiator type of administrator however it might not meet the needs of a responder type administrator. 

All in all, my experience on the design team has been very beneficial for my future development as an administrator and professional development leader.   Gaining a perspective on change facilitator styles will be invaluable as I sit on future committees charged with planning PD interventions.

PD Plan in my Capstone

As I was walking along this evening I started to think about the Capstone and the direction I was going in.  I know that I want to create a professional development plan that is built upon and supported by the concepts I have learned on the CBAM in the past year.  I have been mulling over the PD Plan part of the capstone for that last little while and as I walked and reflected a kernel of an idea began to take shape.  I got to thinking this way because I was comparing and contrasting my work in the last semester to the work I am completing as part of my capstone.  I began to wonder if links between the work I did in my internship and the work that I am completing now could be made. 

That is when I got the idea to create a pd plan that applies the theories and diagnostic dimensions of the CBAM.  In order to articulate what I am talking about it would be fair to mention a word or two about the ELA in FI project I participated in as part of my internship.  I was the co-leader of a group of teachers charged with creating a resource for ELA teachers in French Immersion schools.  Teachers worked in teams to develop resources.  My role consisted of creating and developing the D2L site.

In my PD plan I would propose to apply the CBAM to the cohort of teachers to determine their levels of use and their stages of concern as well as their innovation configurations as they pertained to the innovation.  In this case the innovation would be the entire resource along with the website and any materials stored on the website.  Once acquired the data would serve to help plan interventions as well as provide feedback to the innovation developers.  (In this case me)

Although, I would not necessarily execute the PD plan as I would need special permission to do so I feel it would be worth the effort to conceive and simulate the process.  It will be interesting to come back to this in a year’s time after the second cycle of the ELA in FI for grades 3 and 4. 

Capstone Website Development

The decision to use Wix to build the website on which to mount the products of my project was a simple one to make.  WIx offers an easy to use editor and templates designed to meet a variety of needs.  For the past few websites I have created I have used the Yoga by the Sea template.  This template has embedded pages and menus as well as the links to the other pages within the site.  It is simple to edit the pages in a “what you see is what you get format.”  The preliminary website can be viewed at this link.   Wix is the type of web 2.0 tool that is conducive to this type of project.  It is easy to upload images as well as add pages and other types of materials.  Wix uses a flash based platform to edit and create the pages and links.  When combined with my QUIA pages this allows me to create activities that can accessed for any time anywhere learning.  QUIA is a learning management system that I have subscribed to for a number of years.  With my subscription I get an html editor, access to learning activities as well as the ability to create 16 different types of online activities, surveys and web pages.  This website coupled with the Wix website creates a powerful tool through which to provide interventions.   Here is an example of a recent opportunity I had to be part of a Calgary Catholic District initiative that was planned using the method I have described above. 

One of the shortcomings of this however is that this vision will work only if I am the chief change facilitator.  On the other hand I am hoping that other leaders may be able to learn from the materials on the website and perhaps once other change facilitators see the vision they will be able to craft their own plans for change initiatives at their locations. 

The Process Begins (albeit a bit late)

January 20, 2012

After our online meeting on Tuesday, Jan 17 I began to think even more about the journey that has already begun.  I had already downloaded most of the articles and sources of information for my Capstone project but I had difficulty following the timelines I had set out in my original proposal.  This speaks a bit to the type of learner that I am.  I remember reading in John Ratey`s book Spark that some people need a bit of pressure to motivate themselves.  Unfortunately I am that type of person.  On the other hand being a procrastinator has served me well because I have learned to manage my time. 

Anyway, after Tuesday night I knew it was now or never and seeing as how I had already registered, paid the tuition, downloaded the articles and did a lot of thinking I figured it was time to organize and put pen to paper so to speak.  In this blog post I would like to articulate some of the planning I have completed this far as well as my current outline for my project and how I have decided to organize the contents of my computer hard drive.  It is my hope that by sharing this process I will give others a glimpse into my brain and the direction I am going in with this endeavour. 

First of all, I had the chance to add some sources to my preliminary bibliography.  As I read through, organize and annotate these writings I find myself absorbing more and more of the information.  It is becoming easier to make sense of the papers and the process is becoming a bit easier.  My updated bibliography looks like this.

Appendix 1:  Preliminary Bibliography

Atkins, N., & Vasu, E. (2000). Measuring Knowledge of Technology Usage and Stages of Concern about Computing: A Study of Middle School Teachers. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 8(4), 279-302. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Anderson, S. E. (1997, Fall97). Understanding teacher change: Revisiting the Concerns Based Adoption Model. Curriculum Inquiry. p. 331.

Parsons, J. S., & Fuller, F. F. (1974). Concerns of Teachers: Recent Research on Two Assessment Instruments.

Fuller, F. F., Parsons, J. S., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1972). Current Research on the Concerns of Teachers.

Fuller, F. F., Case, C., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1972). A Manual for Scoring the Teacher Concerns Statement.

Hall, G. E., & George, A. A. (2000). The Use of Innovation Configuration Maps in Assessing  Implementation: The Bridge between Development and Student Outcomes. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., University of Northern Colorado, G. g., & And, O. (1991). Measuring Change Facilitator Stages of Concern. A Manual for Use of the CFSoC Questionnaire. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., Hord, S. M., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1986). Configurations of School-Based Leadership Teams. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., & George, A. (1988). Development of a Framework and Measure for Assessing Principal Change Facilitator Style. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1974). The Concerns-Based Adoption Model: A Developmental Conceptualization of the Adoption Process Within Educational Institutions. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., Rutherford, W. L., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1975). Concerns of Teachers About Implementing the Innovation of Team Teaching. Procedures for Adopting Educational Innovations Project. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E. (1977). A Longitudinal Investigation of Individual Implementation of Educational Innovations. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., Loucks, S. F., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1978). Innovation Configurations: Analyzing the Adaptations of Innovations. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E. (1979). Levels of Use and Extent of Implementation of New Programs in Teacher Education Institutions: What Do You Do?. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., Texas Univ., A. n., & And, O. (1982). Three Change Facilitator Styles: Some Indicators and a Proposed Framework. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E. (1987). The Principal's Role in Setting School Climate (for School Improvement). Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E. (1984). Three Principal Styles of Facilitating School Improvement. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., & And, O. (1975). Levels of Use of the Innovation: A Framework for Analyzing Innovation Adoption. Journal of Teacher Education. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., Texas Univ., A. n., & And, O. (1977). Measuring Stages of Concern about the Innovation: A Manual for the Use of the SoC Questionnaire. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E. (2010). Technology's Achilles Heel: Achieving High-Quality Implementation. Journal Of Research On Technology In Education, 42(3), 231-253

Loucks, S. F., & Hall, G. E. (1979). Implementing Innovations in Schools: A Concerns-Based Approach. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Newhouse, C. (2001). Applying the Concerns-based Adoption Model to Research on Computers in Classrooms. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 33(5), Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Newlove, B. W., Hall, G. E., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1976). A Manual for Assessing Open-Ended Statements of Concern About an Innovation. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Schoepp, K. (2004, July 1). Technology Integration Barriers in a Technology-Rich Environment: A CBAM Perspective. Online Submission, Retrieved from EBSCOhost..

Straub, E. T. (2009). Understanding Technology Adoption: Theory and Future Directions for Informal Learning. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), 625-649. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Wesley, M. r., & Franks, M. (1996). Advanced Adoption of Computer Technology in the Classroom and Teachers' Participation in Voluntary Innovation Adoption Activities. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Reading and annotating all of this material is time consuming and somewhat difficult as I do not have a great deal of experience completing this assignment, however as I googled annotated bibliography a number of websites came up which detailed the process.  I settled on the resources from Purdue University because our cohort had previously been pointed in this direction with other assignments.  I read through the information at this link http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/

From this information I was able to create the following outline that I have been using to annotate my journal articles.  So far I have summarized 6 of the 25 but the process is accelerating and I plan to spend a lot of time accomplishing this task in the next couple of weeks.

Outline for Annotations

Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following:

I. Summarize: Some annotations merely summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.

Main Points

For more help, see our handout on paraphrasing sources.

II. Assess: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?

Usefulness:

Compare and Contrast:

What is the goal of this source:

For more help, see our handouts on evaluating resources.

III. Reflect: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?

Finally, I would like to talk a bit about how I have been organizing my materials.  The next few screenshots show the folders on my hard drive.  I have been guilty of being organizationally challenged in the past.  This along with procrastination does not make for a successful project so I have been extra careful to be organized.   In order to create some order and because for this purpose I think in a linear fashion I have decided to begin my reading and annotating of the articles in chronological order.  In this way I start with the oldest articles first.  This helps me to keep perspective on the historical nature of the concerns based adoption model.

My current outline now looks like this.  I have added the sections Glossary of Terms and links to

Capstone Outline

I.  Introduction

II.  Links to the 3 pillars; Technology, Education, Leadership

III.  Links to ISTE NETS-A

IV. Annotated Bibliography

V. Glossary of Terms

VI. Sample Professional Development Plan

VII. Website development

                        a) Rationale

                        b) Method

VIII. Conclusion

IX.  Appendix

Preliminary bibliography

The bibliography below represents the bulk of the documentation that I have uncovered so far on the concerns based adoption model.  As I go through the process of annotating and reflecting on these articles I feel the need to put in place some sort of organizational method for completing this study.  I have decided to organize my reading in chronological order and I have also grouped the articles  by five.  Doing this helps to keep everything straight and helps me to avoid literary clutter as I go through these pieces. 

ppendix 1:  Preliminary Bibliography

Atkins, N., & Vasu, E. (2000). Measuring Knowledge of Technology Usage and Stages of Concern about Computing: A Study of Middle School Teachers. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 8(4), 279-302. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., & George, A. A. (2000). The Use of Innovation Configuration Maps in Assessing Implementation: The Bridge between Development and Student Outcomes. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., University of Northern Colorado, G. g., & And, O. (1991). Measuring Change Facilitator Stages of Concern. A Manual for Use of the CFSoC Questionnaire. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., Hord, S. M., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1986). Configurations of School-Based Leadership Teams. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., & George, A. (1988). Development of a Framework and Measure for Assessing Principal Change Facilitator Style. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1974). The Concerns-Based Adoption Model: A Developmental Conceptualization of the Adoption Process Within Educational Institutions. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., Rutherford, W. L., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1975). Concerns of Teachers About Implementing the Innovation of Team Teaching. Procedures for Adopting Educational Innovations Project. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E. (1977). A Longitudinal Investigation of Individual Implementation of Educational Innovations. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., Loucks, S. F., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1978). Innovation Configurations: Analyzing the Adaptations of Innovations. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E. (1979). Levels of Use and Extent of Implementation of New Programs in Teacher Education Institutions: What Do You Do?. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., Texas Univ., A. n., & And, O. (1982). Three Change Facilitator Styles: Some Indicators and a Proposed Framework. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E. (1987). The Principal's Role in Setting School Climate (for School Improvement). Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E. (1984). Three Principal Styles of Facilitating School Improvement. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., & And, O. (1975). Levels of Use of the Innovation: A Framework for Analyzing Innovation Adoption. Journal of Teacher Education. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hall, G. E., Texas Univ., A. n., & And, O. (1977). Measuring Stages of Concern about the Innovation: A Manual for the Use of the SoC Questionnaire. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Loucks, S. F., & Hall, G. E. (1979). Implementing Innovations in Schools: A Concerns-Based Approach. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Newhouse, C. (2001). Applying the Concerns-based Adoption Model to Research on Computers in Classrooms. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 33(5), Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Newlove, B. W., Hall, G. E., & Texas Univ., A. n. (1976). A Manual for Assessing Open-Ended Statements of Concern About an Innovation. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Schoepp, K. (2004, July 1). Technology Integration Barriers in a Technology-Rich Environment: A CBAM Perspective. Online Submission, Retrieved from EBSCOhost..

Straub, E. T. (2009). Understanding Technology Adoption: Theory and Future Directions for Informal Learning. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), 625-649. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Wesley, M. r., & Franks, M. (1996). Advanced Adoption of Computer Technology in the Classroom and Teachers' Participation in Voluntary Innovation Adoption Activities. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Capstone: Post 1

Dec 1, 2011

The first entry in the Capstone Blog finds me feeling somewhat overwhelmed.  As I re-read my capstone proposal I must admit I have bitten off a large chunk of meat.  While I find the process interesting I must dig deep to find the self motivation to begin the tasks I set out for myself in my original proposal.    In order to achieve my objectives I must focus on small pieces of the puzzle.   Indeed, throughout my post grad studies I have learned that this is often the best approach.   Dedicating small amounts of time daily is more effective than attempting to do major pieces of work all in one shot. 

The first thing to do in this endeavour is to get through the reading and write the annotations which will form the bulk of my capstone paper.  The opportunity to work within our District as part of a leadership team on Module 5 of the Leadership Academy has given me a great headstart on the development of the online portion of my artifacts.  http://www.quia.com/pages/dfortier/lamod5

I have also decided to attack the reading in chronological order.  The oldest article on the concerns based adoption model that I have dates back to 1974 while the most recent is from 2009.  I have selected 25 primary sources of information for study.  Through reading and analyzing the bibliographies I will undoubtedly uncover secondary sources of information which I will consider thoroughly. 

Day 10 Ed 5769

Day 10 Blog Post

Today was the last day of our networking course.  There was a feeling of excitement in the air as we set about today’s task of setting up and configuring a VOIP connection.  VOIP stands for Voice Over IP.   This allows users to connect to a telephone or another computer.   It was not quite as simple as just using Skype but this exercise was useful because it taught us a lot about bandwidth and quality of service.  Quality of Service becomes important when using VOIP or VC because if you are not running enough bandwidth the signals become choppy.  Another factor is in the way data packets are transmitted.  Normally, data packets are transmitted to a machine and then the receiving machine sends a confirmation packet.  This 2 way traffic eats up bandwidth.  However by using UDP we can turn this off thereby freeing precious bandwidth space. 

1.  Log into switch using coolterm

telnet 192.168.13.254

2.  QoS must be enabled or else the packets will be competing with each other and the pictures and sound will be muddled.  This is very important when doing VC or VOIP.

3.  Install Wireshark ON A WORKSTATION (we made a mistake on this at first and tried to complete the task on our server)

4.  install X-lite ON A WORKSTATION

Open the X-Litesoftware from the desktop and then fill in the required fields to dial the number.

We were able to contact Lyle on his phone, then we dialled Jenn and she answered the phone.   

After the calls were made we ran the wire shark packet sniffing software.   Wire shark monitors the packets and makes sure that the packets are getting through.  Using wireshark allows users to see the packets.  Using wiresharks allows the packets to be sent WITHOUT requiring a confirmation message beign sent to the originating machine.  This saves bandwidth and the packets are transmitted more efficiently. 

We had to change one of the quality of service settings in X-lite preferences to 46 because 16X2+14=46.  We did another packet sniff with wire shark and found that we had a QoS of 46 rather than 0.  This means  that we had a stronger set of preferences because our call was going out on port 46.  We want it on port 46 because that is a quality port. 

Trix box is the web interface through which all the settings are configured.  It gives you all sorts of info about the machine it is running. 

The last part of the day involved a tour of Chinook High School’s media center.  This is a state of the art theatre with all sorts of technological capabilities.  It will allow students to experience professional quality lighting, sound and imaging in productions.  The theatre is also a fully equipped VC suite capable of video conferencing with high definition images and sound. 

I found the technical specs of the theatre interesting.  I feel envious of the students attending the high school.  They will receive a high quality education which will benefit them in the future.  I think that the benefits they receive will undoubtedly trickle down through the community and that all members of the community will benefit from the new media center at Chinook High. 

Day 9 Blog Post

Day 9 Blog Post

Today`s discussion of security was a real eye opener for me.  It is easy to forget about the implications and simply trust that people are all good.  I am not worried about my interactions at work so much, but my home network concerns me a bit.  Our household does use a secure wireless connection which is password protected and although it is visible it cannot be accessed by passerby.  Another thing worth considering is the security level of free wireless connections at coffee shops and restaurants etc.   As an IT leader at a school I see my role as being an advocate for security best practices.  This includes informing staff of policies set in place by our District.   For example, a policy exists concerning IPPs.  If an IPP must be saved on a flash drive, it must be a flash drive that is encrypted. 

The second part of day 9 was spent on virtual servers.  This software allows a second operating system to be installed on a workstation.  The operating system runs at the same time as the machine’s operating system.   This allows users to install and run software on the second operating system.  This can be advantageous for school districts running blade servers.  A blade server is a piece of hardware that is stripped down to conserve power, RAM and hard drive space. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_server

 Our mini exercise for the day focused on installing virtual box.  Virtual box is software which allows the creation and installation of a second operating system.  Jesse and I followed the steps outlined below to install this software.

1.  Go to the S Drive

2.  Run setup magic disc.

3.  Go through installation process, click next 3 times.

4.  Install driver software.

5.  Finish.  The computer sees a CD on the desktop from which you can install virtual box

6.  Run Virtual Box

7.  Run

8.  Run Oracle VM virtual box, go through installation steps.

9.  Do custom setup Create shortcuts

10. Install the device

11.  Finish

12.  Welcome to virtual box

13.  Create a new virtual machine

14.  Select UNIX Redhat

15.  Select how much memory you want to be able to use.

16.  Create new hard disk

17. Add dynamically expanding storage 20 GB

18.  Finish

19.  Now, Jesse machine is our VM

20. Mount Cent OS (Community Enterprise Operating System)

21 create a Linux red hat 32 bit OS

22.  Adjust the amount of memory

23.  Create a new hard disk

24. 20 GB is sufficient

25. Select location

26. First, run wizard

27. Checking Cent OS disc

28. Reinstall centos to get a graphical interface. 

29. Choose the desktop option that gives you a graphical interface

30.  Once the Centos is installed a screen appears saying that there are few more steps to complete. 

31.  Click forward

32.  Accept the licence agreement

33.  Create user, fill in password fields

34.  Adjust date and time

35. Finish

36. Login as the user we just created

37. Open Firefox

38.   Set up the connections by selecting automatic DHCP

39.  Install guest additions

40.  Verify root password

41.  Restart the virtual computer

Day 8 Blog Post

Day 8 Blog Post

Today’s assignment consisted of installing and configuring print services on our Windows 2008 server and our Windows work station. The printer we were installing was the Xerox Phaser 4510. Lyle explained the procedure at the beginning of the class.

The first thing to do was to locate the correct printer driver on the internet. We used google to do a search. The search returned many possibilities and we had to be careful to select the right driver. The driver we were looking for was the Xerox postscript driver which is located at this link.

http://www.support.xerox.com/support/phaser-4510/downloads/enus.html?operatingSystem=wins2008&fileLanguage=en

Once we had downloaded the driver we went to server manager and installed print management. We had to use print management to install the driver in order to set up print services on our server. This was the first step in being able to print.

Next we opened print management and created a standard TCP/IP port. The IP address of our printer was 192.168.24.51. This is a static IP address that is assigned to the printer.

Next we clicked on ``have disk`` this is where we installed the driver we had just finished downloading.

Once this was complete we were able to print a test page from our server. Next it was time to push the policy out to our workstations. This was accomplished from server manager. We had to go to users and computers, then domain controllers. We were able to apply the policy to our workstations.

Finally, after rebooting the workstation we were able to print from our workstation. Although this procedure worked for us I think it is worth noting that the work we are doing is difficult to document because of the nature of the work. Unexpected problems arise and how you deal with those problems will affect the process.

The rest of the morning was spent touring Blackbridge Data Center. This was an interesting tour even though it was a bit complex. I understand the concept of data storage. Companies who have data to store will take advantage of the Blackbridge`s services. Blackbridge guarantees that their data is safe and secure. Blackbridge uses a variety of processes and equipment to accomplish this task. It is mind boggling when one considers the electricity, wires, cooling system, physical building and security.

Day 7 Ed 5769

Day 7 Blog Post.

Today we started out with an explanation of logon scripts by Lyle. Logon scripts are commands that are executed when endusers log on to a machine on the network. The logon scripts determine what programs, services, desktop icons, etc that the user has access to. For example a student might be limited as to what programs he or she can access or what their desktop will look like.
Before we could get started with today’s work we had to finish up yesterday’s exercises which consisted of remotely turning off one of our workstations and hiding the desktop. We were able to get this done by downloading a free program called specopsgpudate. Once we had the program installed it was a simple matter to go into administrative tools on the Windows 2008 Server, look up the program under group policies and then run the command to turn off the desktop from the server. It is cool that a network administrator can remotely control any machine on the network from a remote location.

Once we had completed yesterday’s tasks we were able to begin working on our login scripts. We used a utility called NETLOGON which allowed us to set up the login script. As usual, we did run into some glitches along the way. It seems our folder list was not replicating across the survey. We could not see all the folders on the main server. We conducted several tests that showed that everything was working properly. It was thanks to Sean who had a look at our configuration and noticed that our server was attempting to replicate from Rocky and Gail’s server. We fixed that problem, rebooted our machines and it was clear sailing after that.
I found the information at this link to be particularly useful.

http://www.petri.co.il/setting-up-logon-script-through-active-directory-users-computers-windows-server-2008.htm

Day 6 Active Directory

Day 6 Blog Post – Installing Active Directory

Today’s task involved installing and configuring active directory on our server and then joining our Windows 7 workstations to our domain.
As this was new to me I found it useful to research a bit of background into active directory. What is it? What function does it perform? Why is it necessary were all burning questions. As I read through various links this short explanation from Wikipedia proved to be very helpful in building my understanding of active directory.


“An Active Directory structure is a hierarchical arrangement of information about objects. The objects fall into two broad categories: resources (e.g., printers) and security principals (user or computer accounts and groups). Security principals are assigned unique security identifiers (SIDs).




After reading up a bit on active directory last night I was ready for Lyle’s explanation and I had no trouble understanding him. His explanation of the “root of the forest” and “trees” in the forest helped me to understand the analogy. The head of the network is the root and all of our networks are trees in the forest. Forest is a synonym for network.

Installing active directory was a pretty straightforward process composed of two main parts. Installing and configuring the software on our Windows 2008 server then joining our Windows 7 workstations to the domain. The latter half of the procedure would prove to be the most challenging.


Once we executed the commands to bring up the active directory wizard we went through the prompts and successfully completed the installation. Afterward it was time to join our workstations to the domain.

I found this video to be particularly helpful in joining our workstations to the domain.




We ran into problems because our machines were unable to find the domain. We tried various things to rectify the problem such as refreshing our DHCP settings on the server, rebooting, checking for updates, ipconfig in the command prompt, pinging our machines, etc all to no avail. Finally, we enlisted the help of classmates and Lyle and we were able to make a connection at the end of the class. We continued to work on creating our objects and user accounts and I am looking forward to completing the task tomorrow.

Ed 5769 - Day 5

Day 5 Blog post

Today started off more or less like the others. The work scheduled for today was the installation of Windows 7 Enterprise on our 2 workstations. Before we began this task we searched for documentation that would help us to accomplish this task. I found this somewhat frustrating because it felt like I was going in circles. I tried different search terms and kept getting returns that I did not feel were useful. Things like blog posts and forum threads but not a lot that looked like technical manuals. For example PDF files with easily recognizable titles. I finally settled on the Microsoft site and I was able to locate some resources.
In the meantime my partner had inserted the Windows 7 Cds and was going through the preliminary installation process. Once that was complete we installed 23 updates then had to located device drivers for our Dell Optiplex 755. These were found on the Dell website, downloaded and installed. A reboot completed the process.
Finally, one last check for updates revealed that there were 5 “important” updates to be installed. We installed those and I could not help but notice that it seemed to take a long time.
The final step is to copy files from our workstations to our file server and vice versa. In order to do this we had to bring up a cmd prompt and enable the administrator accounts. Once this was done I was able to browse to our shared folder and placed a folder in there called “I created this folder on July 8 as a test.” We were able to locate this folder on the shared folder from the other workstation so we are confident the process was completed.

Day 4 Blog Post
We started out the day by running updates on our Windows Server 2008. This took some time and several reboots. While this process was occurring Lyle talked about fixing the router. Afterward we went through telnet to perform checks on our system. We were able to ascertain that our network was functioning correctly because we had 4 lines in the test results. The screenshot below shows the routes that the incoming traffic will take. Routing tables instruct the router where to send incoming packets.

This routing table shows the IP routes for our network as seen in the webview of our alcatel switch.



Some general advice on using the GUI (graphical user interface) The GUI is a way to “see” the switch. Humans like using GUI because we are visual creatures who mostly process sensory information through our eyes.

• Using webview you can see in a graphical manner what is going on.
• It is faster to use the cmd prompt than the graphical. Use the web view to check if everything is correct.
• Try to avoid the cmd prompt.
• Tabs on the side of webview show you the commands.
• How we route our traffic.
• If you have multiple net connected to our network, if we have another connection it goes out somewhere else. Set up a routing table on the switch.

Once we had verified that all of our network connections were working it was time to move on to DNS, File services and DHCP. We set up a shared folder on our file server then checked to see if it was accessible. Lyle talked about the importance of properly setting the permission correctly.
Start off with DNS, then do file services, THEN do DHCP. Must do this one step at a time. DHCP allows any machine to connect to the switch.

Internet explorer enhanced security services should be shut off because otherwise it blocks information that prevents us from doing our DNS, File services and DHCP.

Network 5769.local is our parent name.

WINS: Windows Internet Names Service

DHCP Installation

1. Create the scope. The scope is the range of IP addresses. We had to get this info off our diagrams.

2. Default gateway is our switch’s IP 192.168.13.254 (Gateway and router are the same thing)
We plugged my laptop into the switch and it worked. YAHOO!!

We used knoppix to see if we could use the internet on our workstations. Knoppix is a portable operating system which runs off a CD. It is used on a machine that has no operating system installed etc.

We had to perform this test to see if our DNS was configured properly and to see if our Windows Server works with other operating systems.

From Konqueror in Knoppix I went to Go>SambaShares>Password prompt

Drivers are in Sean’s shared folder #25.50

I was able to get into Sean’s folder and install the drivers on our file server. Updates continued through the afternoon.

Ed 5769 Day 3

Wednesday, July 6

This morning started off with a reiteration of subnet masking principals. We completed the pinging exercise together and I am happy to say that it is starting to make a bit more sense to me.

Here are the basics of subnetting as I understand it.

1. The subnet masks overlay the IP address.

2. Subnet masks allow the network architect to allocate more IP addresses. This is important because then he or she can allow more devices.

3. Certain devices can “talk” to each other on the network, the governing factors of this are the bits in the IP addresses and subnet masks.

4. One must look at the octets to determine if two machines will be able to communicate over the network. For example in the table below in row A, computer 1 will be unable to “talk” to computer 2 because the numbers in the 3rd octet of the IP addresses do not match.

5. It is not enough to simply have matching subnet masks,however. One must consider that when you add the numbers in the octets to the subnet mask octets the total cannot exceed 255. If it does the computers will not be able to communicate.






It was time to continue working on our switch. It is necessary to add layer 3 routing capabilities in order to increase the efficiency of our network. This process involved setting up VLAN 2 and then specifying the gateway addresses, subnet mask and IP address of our 2nd VLAN.

The second part of today’s class was spent doing an inventory of the Dell 7500 Optiplex workstations that we will use to build up our networks. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I had never taken the opportunity to open a computer and look at and identify the guts of the machines we all take for granted. I have heard terms like “motherboard”, “RAM”, “slot”, “video card” etc tossed around for years and I have been able to glean some understanding from their context but it pulling out the pieces and talking about them was a new experience for me.
Dell Hardware specs for our server


• Total amount of RAM - 3g ram
• Hard Drive Capacity – 320gb (2x160)
• Total number of USB ports -8
• Total number of Firewire ports – 2 (added firwire 1 Mic card )
• Type of DVD drive: Sony DVD +/- RW 8xDVD 24xCD
• Type of Video port(s) (DVI, SVGA, HDMI, RCA, S-Video) – DVI-1
• Network Interface Card type –Broadcom Netxtreme 10/100/1000 PCle
• NIC Maximum Speed – 1000mbps
• Video Interface Card type – PCI
• Motherboard manufacturer – Intel
• Computer manufacturer (ie Dell, HP, etc.) - Dell
• Computer Model Number – optiplex 755
• Monitor manufacturer - Dell
• Monitor Model Number –55a
• Ehternet card- Broadcom Net extreme
• Added Video Card: ATA radeon model B276
• Power supplies Dell
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Qued Q6700 2.66 GHz

Once we had put the workstation that will become our Windows server back together we began the process of setting up the server. We followed the instructions we had gathered from various websites and so far the process has gone fairly smoothly. I am looking forward to continuing the server set up tomorrow.

On a final note it was heartening to see that even seasoned network administrators occasionally run into the odd technical difficulty. I am looking forwared to completing the setup of our layer 3 router and continuing this process.

Day 2 Ed 5769

Today’s class started out by reconfiguring our layer 2 switch with our correct IP address which is actually 192.168.13.254 as opposed to 192.168.10.254. There was some confusion because we had initially decided to use Jesse’s IP address. We discovered our mistake this morning and had to hustle to reconfigure our switch. We were successful in that endeavour and we were able to catch up with today’s work.

Today’s work consisted of connecting our layer 2 switches to our larger overall network. I appreciated Lyle’s thoroughness at the board in explaining the ins and outs of our network. The bulk of the morning was spent on a pinging exercise. The point of this exercise was to make connections between 2 machines. It was also meant to bolster our understandings of network communications.



Some of the groups (including ours) ran into some difficulties during the pinging exercises. Most of these problems were attributed to the non-standardized equipment we were using. IE, different laptops running different operating systems with various levels of protection and firewall settings.

Once our layer 2 switch was configured it was time to access the switch using a graphical interface. This was done by connecting to the switch through a web browser. We connected the switch through RJ45 connection IE blue line and then typed in our IP address.




I am still struggling a bit with the masking. I understand that masking creates larger networks and increases the efficiency of the router because the router does not have to look at all the numbers in the IP address. However I am struggling because I do not yet know all the rules involved with the masking. For example, do the subnet masks have to be identical for 2 separate networks to talk to each other? My understanding says yes, networks that have the same subnet masks will be able to communicate with each other. However this may not always be the case. In the table that Lyle presented to us computer 1 and computer 2 will not always be able to talk to each other. There is a certain set of rules that govern that. I am struggling with understanding the rules. An experienced network administrator would be able to simply look at the masks and determine whether or not the machines would be able to communicate.