Laying the groundwork

The ipods are on the way, so I decided to move ahead and show the teachers how to use the recording software we have with the new headsets I acquired for them to use. Each teacher has a flash drive with a portable version of audacity on it so they don't have to worry about installing the program each time they use it (our computers have Deep Freeze.) They seemed really excited about the prospects of the children being able to record and listen to themselves read. My first grade teacher also plans to record some books for centers. She says she has a set which specifically allows teachers to do that. I told them to try it out when they had time in the next week and that I would check in after that to see if they were having any issues. They both seem excited, so I hope they will have something recorded by the time the ipods arrive so we can dive in immediately. I guess I will see here in about a week if the teachers really are ready to use them!

Strolling toward the starting gates

I am actually writing this post on a Linux operating system. It isn't applicable to my project, but does fit in quite well with the general try-it-out nature of the class overall. I am experimenting with putting Linux on my mother's spare computer that always seems to get sick with windows. It has been quite a trial as I've set it up, but I'm learning tons about the pitfalls of Lunux.

My project is waiting on me to pull the trigger and order the Ipods, however, I have been hesitant to do so. It is a leap of faith on my principals part to allow me over a thousand dollars with no proof that it will actually work in the classroom. That scares me. I've spoken to the teachers I will be working with in the last couple of days, so that makes me feel more at east with the project. I just have to depend on the teacher's ideas on what they want to do with the technology, and then work to make that happen. They know best what they want and therefor they know what they would actually use. I just know that I would typically prefer to take charge and set it all up on my own. That just didn't seem to be the best practice in this situation though, so I'm working to let loose the reigns a bit and just see where we end up.

I am looking forward to completing the "organizational" chart for the project. I think I may not be so overwhelmed at not knowing what I should be doing next. I need to set out some steps for the trial run, because if it works, I will probably be implementing it on a much wider basis. The fact that we are the first school in the county doing this could add quite a few more eyes on my little ol' project as well.

It's going to be interesting, but I know I am in my element, so I have faith I can see this through!

Back on track

Another principal meeting...and I'm once again feeling good about the project. I worked with him and our bookkeeper to find the state contractors most likely to help us out. We are going with the 8GB or 16GB Ipod Nanos. The size will depend on the price differences, but these are capable of recording video as well. That will open up additional options with these in the future.

We decided to just start with the 1st and 3rd grades, since they will be the ones who are ready to run as soon as the ipods get here.

Into the wall I run

I'm having a hard time getting a quote from state contractors to buy Ipods. No one in the county has bought them before, and they don't seem to be in any catalogs. Our bookkeeper is not very helpful in the process either.

I'm also a bit nervous about how the system will work once we get the Ipods too. I have never owned an Apple product, but I worry about proprietary issues that would arise in trying to sync multiple Ipods to a single computer. I would love to find an easier way to sync them with the mp3s we want stored on there.

Everything has really ground to a halt over this, so I hope I can break through the red tape soon!