Infinite Campus and the Boise School District

At the Boise School Districts Infinite Campus, as a parent, you will have immediate and around the clock access to precise, up to date and confidential information concerning your child’s school grades, attendance, class assignments and more.

Details of the Boise School Districts

“Independent School District of Boise City services 25,000 students and employs 3,900 people, of whom 1,700 are certified staff.  The outstanding schools in this district are on the leading edge of education. Its purpose statement I Educating Today for a Better Tomorrow, symbolizing its commitment to provide the finest education possible for every student.”

 About Infinite Campus


“For more than 14 years, Infinite Campus has successfully implemented its solutions for customers of all sizes. Today, Infinite Campus applications manage more than 3 million students in 42 states. Infinite Campus customers range from districts with fewer than 100 students to those with more than 100,000, as well as regional consortia, state departments of education and the federal government. www.infinitecampus.com”

 

The main values of Infinite Campus’ services are centered around three core beliefs:

1. Public education exists to serve society, its customer. All aspects of society are being transformed by information technology. 
 

2. In order to prosper, educators must employ modern information technology to meet the demands of its new customer, the information society. 
 

3. Information technology should streamline administrative tasks while enabling new and innovative educational processes.

 Additional Information concerning Infinite Campus:

https://campus.boiseschools.org/campus/portal/boise.jsp?section=faq

 

Implementation In Mr. La Marche’s Art Classroom:

As a parent you will have access to all of the following on a daily basis:

1. Current Assignments
   
2. All of the Semesters assignments and due dates
   
3. Current grades
   
4. Upcoming events
   
5. Attendance
   
6. Parent/ Teacher meeting dates
   
7. No school or half day dates and notices
   

Link to Boise School District’s Infinite Campus Logon:

https://campus.boiseschools.org/campus/portal/boise.jsp

Spreadsheets

I decides to use a spreadsheet project called Butterflies in the Garden http://edtech.boisestate.edu/elearn/newbridges/Lesson%20Links/Butterflies_in_the_Garden.htm

1. Give a brief description of the project.
The project involved students learning about their ecosystem through both a reading activity and an interactive event. The event used a grid and counting the number of seeds that represented either birds or butterflies. Each student then created a spreadsheet to log their results.

Knowledge -  to gain a understanding of the ecosystem ).

Comprehension - Count the number of seeds for butterflies and birds

Application - Create a graph (bar or line) for the information they collected over a give time

Analysis - A test taken on the ecosystem

Synthesis - Bar or line graphs were constructed to accompany their science logs 

Evaluation - Materials and data presented at the learning fair

2. How would you adapt it for your grade level and/or discipline area?
To adapt this particular project to a high school level and an art discipline (photography) does provide a challenge. Instead of seed, I would have the students pick a particular garden (all students in the same area) area and take the pictures of each bird and butterfly they encounter. Each species that they photographed could then be labeled and compiled into to their running list. This could then be built into a spreadsheet and compared to other students results to give an idea of the size of that ecosystem. The students could then choose their best images or the ones they feel represent that ecosystem the best and priont them for critique day. Not only would they learn about an area of our world, but also how to photograph it to show to others expressing their take on that species.

Gaming for Education

PLAY Estiweight

Diggy Games

This educational game would be utilized as well as other mind or puzzle type games to assist in getting the students mind working (grease the wheels). The games would work in the same way as a warm up prior to starting a work out... don't want to strain your brain. So, it wouldn't support any particular topic I teach, just allow the students brains to be open when I do start to lecture.

Netiquette Classroom Rules

Campus High School Photography Lab

Netiquette Rules

On-line

• Be responsible online.
• Always check your grammar and spelling before making a post.
• In a discussion board posting, know what the subject matter is and always stay on topic.
• Ask a teacher if you are unsure with safety guidelines that apply to the Internet, including email.
• Before sending large files, ask permission from the recipient.
• Respect everyone’s online rights and their privacy.
• Refrain from insults and if you are insulted by someone, remain calm.

E-Mails

• Compose your messages to be brief and to the point concise.
• Include a subject heading in all messages to reflect the information you are sending.
• Avoid using acronyms, such as LOL (laugh out loud) and BTW (by the way), because not everyone will know their meaning.
• Stay away from the use of capital letters in all aspects of and e-mail or posting AS IT IS SEEN AS SHOUTING!! Use *asterisks* or _underscores_ to emphasize a particular point.

The most important rules are always:
1. Adhere to the same values and manners online that you follow in real life.

2. Follow the golden rule “Do unto others as you'd have others do unto you.”

Photography

Photographers


How to...


Equipment Information


The first set of videos under "Photographers" would be a resource for students to see what type of images that well known photographers have done in the past. I t would be an area to show the history of photography and how it has evolved over the years. The second set, "How to..." would be an area that students could utilize to figure how to use some aspect of their camera or create an effect in their images. The "equipment" series, would be for those students looking to purchase new or used camera accessories... hwat to look for and how to find the best item for the lowest amount of cash.

Presentation Elements

The First presentation was first very standard, therefore on the boring side. Also, It caught me as weird that a photography presentation was lacking images... it was largely based on text. More images to associate with might have kept me more interested and awake... Maybe.

These last two presentation I felt were exceptional because they were visually stimulating... great for a photography presentation. They both focused on the images and added some humor to keep the viewer/learner interested.

Early Photography

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: technology mmc2265)

Workshop photography

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: photography)

Perfect Photography

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: perfect photography)

Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Activity - Entry #3

How could you use the jigsaw method in your classroom if you only had 5 computers?
Break all the students into five groups. Assign each group the topic and the five members a separate part of the overall topic. Each of the five computers would be used for one of the sub -topics and students would take turns finding research on their particular part. Students from other groups could also look on as a member from the other groups gathered their information for their part. Once completed each computer could then be assigned to a one group for use of compiling their information together or preparing a presentation.

What could be an advantage of this method?
The method promotes and encourages students to work efficiently together to complete a project or presentation. It may in the end also bring students together that would not have associated with one another because of stereotypes or social grouping.

What could be a disadvantage?
The main disadvantage that I see and have come upon in may school career, was that there is always one super over-achieving student (me) and one student that is uncaring about either the subject or his grade. This left the over-achieving student to either be lacking in that areas information or extra hours researching and preparing the final documentation for a grade. Usually this was still done even if the research was done acceptably (B ish grade) to get the superior grade (A).

Google for Educators - Entry #2

Name three Classroom Tools you might want to use with students.
Google Groups
Book search
Google News

How do you think you would use these tools?
Google Groups would be great for students to share information and collaborate on difficult assignments. I t would also be the perfect tool for the students to access information on a subject or assignment that the teacher posted (if they lost a handout). In all it would be a tool that would help the student become more socialized and create a more relaxed and fun classroom learning environment.
Google book search would be useful for projects need some research or to find general information. It might it be a good avenue for students to get or gather ideas for a certain project that has been assigned.
Google News would be useful to keep students up-to-date on current events. This could spark great classroom discussions or create the most current appearing project.

Name one advantage of using Google Docs with students.
That it enables the collaboration between peers and will help encourage students to work effectively together as partners or in a larger group. This will in addition create an overall cohesive virtual and real classroom setting.

Assistive Technology

In my research I came upon some assistive technology to help disabled individuals further their artistic desires. I started looking for devices that could help people that have multiple sclerosis, since one of my relatives had the disease and someone close to me has been recently diagnosed.
My relative had no motion below the neck. I wanted as a future teacher to find out what I could do if present with a student with no mobility below their neck and the desire to produce art. The item I found is called the Madentec’s Tracker 2000, which translates light reflected from a disc worn by the user (usually on the head or hat) into mouse movements on the computer. Individuals also use an item called the WISP 2000 for the right and left mouse button by blowing or sucking on an input straw. Another device/software that would be beneficial in this situation is speech recognition for use with keyboard commands.
With these examples of assistive technology, quadriplegic students and those that have difficulty in the use of their hands could discover their hidden artistic ability or continue to create art.