A day in the life of an instructional designer….

This is the second time I’ve posted an average day for me at work.  I haven’t padded this with anything weird - this list is representative of what I do on an average day.

1. System administration for Linux system (read logs, checked system health, etc).
2. Learned more about netstat.
3. Long term substitute teacher didn’t know how to change desktop background. Now she does!
4. Posted an announcement on the web for our assistant principal in the High School.
5. Finished patching up a new teachers laptop with the newest version of Office.
6. Developed response strategies when we heard a dept head saying power point and smartboards are a “waste of time”.
7. Helped instructional technology specialist and new Spanish teacher configure and setup a smartboard.
8. Looked at dead printer in elementary school science room.
9. Added dead phone in science lab to our trouble ticket system.
10. Major news: “technology ambivalent” 3rd grade teacher asked me to help two of her students make a powerpoint presentation about haunted houses. I was in her room for 2 hours yesterday configuring a new computer. Are these related? I think so.
11. Taught counseling staff how to backup their computer onto network file server.
12. Taught counseling staff about file servers.
13. Talked to counseling staff about my mother (oh my God, I wish I was kidding).
14. Sent faculty email about PBS documentary Digital Nation. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/.
15. Wife called to tell me refrigerator is fixed.
16. Helped our HR person add a video link to power point.
17. Realized our HR person is using IE 6. Fixed to Firefox.
18. Oh dear. the HR persons computer doesn’t have anti-virus and isn’t configured to run automatic updates.
19. Told the HR person to back up everything, and we are going to re image her computer.
20. Discussed upgrading MS Office with secretary. She’s sticking with old version.

21. The robotics club is holding a luncheon. Lunch for $4.00!

22. Fairly long conversation about Spanish sherry and exotic cheeses with math department.
23. Prepared for Advanced Applications class:  created user accounts for students and made basic template pages.
24. Elementary school report cards. Grades 4-6 have agreed on unified standards across disciplines, so all teachers will assess kids the same way in grades 4 - 6.  Now I need to convert this information into something powerschool can understand.
25. Blogged up a digital nation entry with a great teacher response.
26. Met with counseling again. Didn’t talk about my mom this time, but did install Naviance eDocs.
27. Fixed building and trades teachers scanner. 
28. Wrote this list through the day.
29. Made appointment with science chair to discuss concerns about wireless smartboard access.
30. Had discussion with elementary school computer teacher about a teacher - we discovered the teacher was telling us 2 very different things!!!
31. Helped social studies teacher submit senior grades on powerschool.
32. Met with science chair to discuss wireless access to smartboards. Wow! there was so much he didn’t know. Sounds like there should of been a meeting prior to this pilot so all these questions wouldn’t come up. We discussed how broad brush technology solutions don’t work, but specific solutions work best for departments.
33. Met with student athletic association to get photo’s for Wikipedia. Explained public domain.
34. Taught an after-school class, advanced applications to a group of eager students.

On 30 April 2010, Dominique Fyfe inscribed the following thoughts about this post:

Hi Bill - This might seem odd, but I am a guidance counselor at a high school in Massachusetts. We are currently trying to use EDocs with our dual platform system (Mac and PC). In the research my department has done, we have only found schools who have had success using EDocs on PCs, but not Macs. Naviance is saying the issue has to do with our firewall and security settings, but I just don’t think that is the issue. Given your passion for technology and education, I figured perhaps you might have some insight, or suggestions into this issue that is plaguing high school counselors and the college application process!