Overlake
Technology

Overlake high school students interested in technology will have an opportunity this summer to hone their work skills.

The Overlake School Technology Department is extending its summer internship program to include up to four positions open to Overlake students.  These projects could include Web and mobile app development, networking, computer lab management, technology testing and image deployment.

The program, offered by the Overlake Technology Department, provides students interested in science, technology, engineering and math careers with a “hands-on” work experience in a school environment.

Interested in a career in technology?  Want to learn more. We are now accepting summer internship applications. Please contact Thomas Frizelle tfrizelle@overlake.org by June 1^st if you are interested.

Just a reminder.  We are a Microsoft DreamSpark member school. This allows us distribute free license keys for professional-grade software developer and designer tools to Overlake students. For more information about software availability check the DreamSpark website here. If you are interested in obtaining a license key please visit the Technology office in the TLC.

This fall, we launched a Canvas pilot program on campus. Canvas is a robust Learning Management System utilized by many colleges and universities as well as K-12 schools.  To learn more about Canvas click here. The pilot program has been largely successful and we continue to feel Canvas is the best LMS for Overlake.

• We have 9 teachers on Canvas as part of the pilot program.
• Faculty in the pilot program receive ongoing support and targeted training related to teaching with Canvas.
• In the next few weeks we will be soliciting feedback from parents, students and faculty.

Planning

• For the 2013-2014 school year Canvas will replace our existing teacher websites.
• Training for all faculty will begin in the spring.
• Parent-Student orientation will begin in August 2013.

This week’s Lunch & Learn will focus on a new technology we are experimenting with called Microsoft Lync. Everyone is invited. We will host two sessions.  One during MS lunch and another during US lunch.  Both session will be in the Alumni Room.

Topics we will go over:

• What is Instant Messaging (IM)
• What is “Presence” software
• Software demo
• Brainstorm how it can be used on/off campus
• Things to think about if you use this software
• Time for Q & A

Hope to see you there!

This Fall 2012, after an extensive evaluation, the Teacher Website Committee decided to formally explore Canvas as an option for our next web based Learning Platform.  Canvas is a robust Learning Management System utilized by many colleges and universities as well as K-12 schools.  To learn more about Canvas click here.

Project planning is under way, and the first group of 7 faculty will participate in a pilot program in Fall 2012. Pilot courses will include representation from nearly all academic areas.  Instructors teaching the pilot courses will provide information and resources to students in class.

The Overlake School will continue to support OwlNet  as the primary learning platform, including training and help desk support, throughout the pilot stages of the Canvas project.  As project plans and timelines are finalized, we will update this site with details and resources.

The Overlake School took an important step over spring break.  We moved some of our technology services to the cloud.  Beginning on April 12 we decommissioned our in-house email server and transferred it to Microsoft Office 365.

What are the advantages for Overlake?

Cost: The service is free for schools.  Given the cost of server hardware, backup systems, antivirus, SPAM filtering and other related aspects of hosting your own email service it made good financial sense to move to the cloud.

Availability: Given our location, power interruptions are not uncommon.  This fact coupled with the our increased dependency on email and offsite access it is advantageous to have our email hosted in the cloud.

Storage: Each user now has 25 gigabytes of email storage to work with… much more than our old limit of 400 megabytes.

What’s Next for Cloud Computing at Overlake?

Microsoft has an entire suite of services that will soon be free for schools.  You can learn more about them here.  The technology team will continue to monitor the newest offerings from Microsoft and determine if they are a good fit.

Overlake’s new “green” technology educational kiosk is up and running in the Technology and Language Center. The kiosk describes and demonstrates the ways in which the building’s technologies make it more energy efficient. You can view solar and rainwater data, weather, information about LEED certification and the building’s history.

You can actually view and explore the program on your computer, at this URL.  The actual kiosk screen is a touch screen, and the whole hallway was built wider to accommodate whole classes. Teachers and students can interact with the screen in different ways. The kiosk is a collaboration between the webmaster, technology department and the Green Team. If you’d like to try out the screen, it is located on a wall on the first floor of the technology side of the TLC.

We are excited to announce that student report cards are now being archived on My BackPack. This will look the same as the report cards that you previously received in the mail. Beginning this quarter the reports will be available at the end of each quarter and will remain archived until the student graduates.

To access the reports:

Log on to My BackPack

Under the heading My Profile (on the far right hand side) you will now see a My Documents link

Click on My Documents and you will see a folder for 2011-2012 Reports Cards.

Last week we launched a series of video guides for Overlake’s online resources.  Over the years Overlake has added a variety of useful online tools for students, parents, faculty and staff.   If you’ve ever wondered about how to subscribe the online Overlake calendar, or how to access and use all the functions of Family Connection or other online resources, we have posted the first of several short video tutorials that will guide you through those processes. Tutorials on using OwlNet and MyBackpack will be posted soon. We hope this will help everyone enjoy all the features these tools offer.

After our success reconfiguring the Library Lab we decided to reconfigure the TLC Main Computer Lab. The lab is housed on the lower level of the Technology and Language Center and is equipped with 20 wide screen desktops.

The computers are now arranged in a way that allows better visibility and access for students and faculty. Classes have already begun to take advantage of this new arrangement and teachers have reported that the new configuration of computers encourages communication, allows for better interaction, and enhances mobility.

With these new additions, the TLC lab has become a real asset to the Overlake community and stands out as one of the nicest labs on campus.  Students and teachers are encouraged to take full advantage of this top-notch facility!