eTech Ohio Connections
Volume 2, Issue 2

Mission: To advance education and accelerate the learning of Ohioans through technology.

Visit the eTech Ohio website for the latest eTech Ohio news and information.

• What is Hall Pass? Hall Pass is eTech Ohio's single sign-on user account for its website. Hall Pass provides you access to online resources, such as timely, relevant email communications based on your interests and job responsibilities; online professional development registration; grant applications; certificates of participation for the State Technology Conference and other continuing education offered by eTech Ohio; access to the TPT online tool (for development and approval of your district's technology plan); access to the BETA Building Surveys (Biennial Education Technology Assessment); access to discounted technology products through the Equipment and Services Catalog; and more.
  
  To access more information on Hall Pass visit the eTech Ohio website.
  
  For additional information or technical support, please call 877.383.2406.

• The eighth annual State Technology Conference is scheduled for February 13-15, 2006 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The theme for the 2006 State Technology Conference is Ohio Connects! Bridging Learning, Technology and Achievement.
  
  
• Conference Notables: NEW for 2006! Event Schedule — use this online tool to create a personalized schedule of Conference sessions and events, then import into your Outlook, Palm or iCal calendar. Details available at http://www.etech.ohio.gov/go/stateconf.
  
  
• NOW OPEN! Workshop Registration: Classroom Integration and Technical Support Workshop registration is now available. Register online through the Conference website. Onsite registration is available through Main Registration, located in the main concourse of the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
  
  
• Award Ceremonies: Note - All award ceremonies will take place in Ballroom 2 of the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
  
  Educator Awards Reception - Honoring the 2006 Technology Teacher, Coordinator and Leader Administrator of the Year and finalists. (Monday, February 13, 2006, 4:30 - 5:30 pm — Hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be served.)
  
  Robert R. Cupp Award - honoring legislative excellence in Educational Technology. (Tuesday, February 14, 2006, 9:00 - 9:15 am)
  
  Student Video Contest - Recognizing outstanding student achievement in the use of video production technologies while meeting Ohio state academic content standards and other instructional objectives. (Tuesday, February 14, 2006, 3:45 - 4:30 pm)
  
  Ohio Public Broadcasting Awards - Recognizing outstanding achievement in Ohio Public Radio and Radio Reading Services for 2004 and 2005. (Tuesday, February 14, 2006, 5:00 - 6:00 pm — Hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be served.)
  
  
• Tell us about your conference experience! If you attended the 2006 State Technology Conference please complete your 2006 Conference evaluation. Each year we try to enhance the Conference for you, but it is only through your feedback that we can learn what works and what we need to improve. Thank you for your input. We look forward to seeing you at the 2007 eTech Ohio Educational Technology Conference on Feb. 12, 13 and 14.
  
  Inquiries about the State Technology Conference should be directed to Simon Buehrer at 1.877.383.2406.

• eTech Ohio is offering a two-year competitive grant for public school districts for the purpose of conducting action research focusing on the impact on student learning of teaching practices that integrate emerging technology to address an identified need or problem. Results, including teaching practices, tools, lessons learned and examples will be shared statewide. Grants up to $20,000 will be available.
  
  The Request for Proposals and Application will be available online Wednesday, February 1, 2006. The deadline for Letters of Intent is Thursday, March 2, 2006. A Letter of Intent is required in order to submit an application. Applications are due Thursday, March 23, 2006.
  
  For questions or more information, please contact Sandy Paxton at 877.383.2406.

• Continuation Grants: All 2005-2006 EETT new grant recipients are eligible for the 2006-2007 continuation grants.
  
  Eligible recipients will apply through the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CCIP) competitive funding application. Allocation amounts and the RFP for continuation grants will be released in mid-February. Please do not apply for the 2006-2007 EETT continuation grants until allocation amounts and the RFP have been released. If your building applies prior to the release of the RFP, your building?s application may not be accurate or complete based upon the requirements outlined in the RFP. Technical assistance meetings will be held Tuesday, February 14, 2006, at 1:00 pm at the 2006 State Technology Conference in Columbus.
  
  Deadline for application of EETT continuation grants is Friday, April 28, 2006.
  
  
• New Grants: A list of eligible buildings for the 2006-2007 new grants will be released in February 2006. Only those buildings listed will be eligible to apply for the 2006-2007 EETT competitive grants. Eligible buildings serve K-8 students and are determined by Title I status, ODE report card status (Academic Emergency/Academic Watch in grades 4 and 6 for mathematics and English/language arts) and technology capacity.
  
  Eligible buildings will apply through the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CCIP) competitive funding application. The RFP for new EETT grants will be released in mid-March. Please do not apply for the 2006-2007 EETT new recipients grants until the RFP has been released. The RFP will contain specific guidance in applying for the grant and the evaluation of those grants. If your building applies prior to the release of the RFP, your building?s application may not be accurate or complete based upon the requirements outlined in the RFP. An initial technical assistance meeting will be held on MONDAY, February 13, 2006, at 8:00 am at the 2006 State Technology Conference in Columbus. Face-to-face technical assistance meetings will be held regionally March 16-25, 2006.
  
  Deadline for application of EETT new grants is Friday, April 28, 2006.
  
  Contact education liaison Jill Abbott at 614.644.3833 or visit the EETT home page for more information.

• The application period for PD Grants FY06 closed on Friday, January 20, 2006, with nearly 850 applicants that include Ohio public schools, joint vocational schools, educational services centers, the Ohio School for the Blind, the Ohio School for the Deaf, the Ohio Department of Youth Services and community schools that have been in operation and serving students for at least one full school year. Funded organizations use the grant funds to provide technology professional development to assist their teachers and administrators in effectively integrating technology into the classroom.
  
  
• During the review process for the FY05 grant, it has become apparent that many providers of technology professional development opportunities mistakenly assume that PD Grant funds may only be used for professional development that is focused on developing technology knowledge and skills in sessions such as "Internet Basics," "Classroom Websites" and "Interactive Whiteboards." They were unaware that the funds may be used for professional development opportunities that, while focused on a content area such as math or reading, provide teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to use technology as a tool that enhances student achievement in that content area.
  
  An example of this type of professional development is the State Technology Conference session "What's Your Math Problem?" a standards-based training in mathematics that integrates several technologies. Professional development providers should see the FY06 Spending Guidelines for detailed information on permissible and prohibited uses of PD Grant funds.
  
  Your eTech Ohio field representative can provide assistance in planning FY06 technology professional development.
  
  Contact eTech Ohio Customer Service at 877.383.2406 for assistance with opening and updating Hall Pass accounts.

• The SchoolNet Plus Grade 8 application period closed on Thursday, January 26, 2006. Visit the eTech Ohio website to view a list of FY06 SchoolNet Plus Grade 8 guidelines.
  
  In response to district needs, eTech Ohio has revised and expanded its catalog offerings to include workstations, servers, laptops, printers, displays, projectors, handhelds, tablets and PDAs. Vendors will be able to offer special promotional items as well. Visit the eTech Ohio website to view the Equipment and Services Catalog. You must be logged into your Hall Pass account to access the Catalog.
  
  As always, districts will be able to use SchoolNet Plus funding to purchase items offered on the Catalog in accordance with the spending guidelines for SchoolNet Plus Grade 8. Additionally, Ohio schools can purchase from the Catalog using other funding sources such as local, state or federal funding that allows the purchase of educational technology equipment.
  
  Visit the SchoolNet Plus home page for more details about SchoolNet Plus Grade 8. Contact coordinator Steve Crumbacher at 877.383.2406 or 614.728.9643 or your eTech Ohio field representative for additional information.
  
  Contact Larry Koslap at 877.383.2406 with questions related to the Equipment and Services Catalog.

• Through Wave 30 of the 2005-06 funding year, Ohio applicants have received $53.7M in E-Rate discount awards. Total funding to date for Ohio is over $512M. Funding waves are being announced by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) program administrators every week. Internal connections funding awards remain at the 90% level only.
  
  
• The Form 471 filing deadline for Funding Year 2006-07 is Thursday, February 16, 2006 (11:59 PM, postmark date).
  
  
• eTech Ohio provides E-Rate program support including technology planning, annual workshops, listserv news and information, and individual problem resolution. For more information on the federal E-Rate program, contact Dan Farslow at 877.383.2406.

• Thank you for submitting the BETA Teacher and District Surveys. As of the Wednesday, November 23, 2005, submission deadline, eTech Ohio received 85% of the teacher surveys, as well as nearly 90% of the building surveys. Congratulations ? and thank you for helping us to inform policymakers statewide of your educational technology needs.
  
  
• The BETA06-07 building survey correction period concluded on Friday, December 30, 2005. Data will be released in time for districts? budget planning process in the winter. Access to this data will also give districts enough time to inform the technology planning process prior to the April 30, 2006, priority deadline for the TPT. BETA will provide answers to questions like these and more, offering important guidance both to you and to state policymakers regarding technology funding and support. Completion of the BETA survey is a requirement for many state and federal technology funding programs, including SchoolNet Plus.
  
  Please do not hesitate to contact your eTech Ohio field representative or the eTech Ohio customer service desk at 877.383.2406.

• Visit eTech's new action research resource! eTech Ohio has created a new resource that provides information about action research and shares findings from studies conducted through the Action Research and Technology online course offered by eTech Ohio. The site explains what action research is, how teachers can get involved in action research and provides the study reports from teachers who participated in the course as well as brief interviews with the facilitator and a participant.
  
  For additional information, contact educational technology consultant Sandra Paxton at 877.383.2406.

• As they continue to fulfill the eTech Ohio vision of providing lifelong learning experiences to Ohio citizens, the Ohio Educational Television Stations regularly educate in the area of health. As the stations present material by broadcast, webcast and the assembling of experts with an interested audience, thousands of Ohioans have the opportunity to learn more about their health needs in an informal environment.
  
  Thanks to the WBGU, this fall citizens from across Northwest Ohio participated in a series of public deliberations in Fremont, Lima, Findlay, Defiance and Bowling Green, all on the topic of healthcare.
  
  Partnering with the Center for Regional Development at Bowling Green State University, WBGU-PBS was one of 15 public television stations, from across the nation, selected to host events as part of By The People's Deliberation Week 2005 activities, a national undertaking by PBS' MacNeil/Lehrer Productions.
  
  Excerpts from these local deliberations, and the culminating "Citizen Summit on Healthcare" that was held at WBGU-PBS at the conclusion of the week's activities, were featured on By The People: A Journal Special Report, which aired in early January. This WBGU-PBS produced program will outline the major, local healthcare issues raised by NW Ohio participants: healthcare access and availability, the increasing number of uninsured Ohioans, the rising cost of healthcare, the need for wellness and prevention, and transportation for the elderly.
  
  Questions raised in the local citizen deliberations were posed to a panel of experts at the culminating summit that included a professor of public health at BGSU and Director of the Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health; the president of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio; and the president of the Wood County Hospital and member of the Ohio Hospital Association Board. In addition to this endeavor, WBGU has included several reports on health on its regular program for seniors, 60 Plus.
  
  
• CET is participating in providing outreach for A Lion in the House, a program which follows the lives of children living with cancer. CET outreach consists of disseminating information about cancer diagnosis, treatment and care to low-income families in partnership with the City of Cincinnati Health Department school nurses program (Cincinnati Public Schools); development of an original group or classroom activity and workshop intended to help teachers and group leaders grapple with childhood cancer in their classroom or group; and host a health fair with the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
  
  
• In Dayton, Think TV presented the Fifth Annual Speaking of Women's Health Conference in November. This ongoing conference educates over 1200 women in the areas of health, well-being and personal safety. The day-long event features two keynote speakers, health screenings, lunch, breakfast, three breakout sessions offering 10 topics at each time and goodies from the sponsors.
  
  Think TV also produces Healthy Balance celebrating its second six-part season. This half-hour, call-in health show highlights six significant topics in the health field. Each of the six parts includes research, statistics, health facts and tips, a package addressing a patient or procedure and the host interviews two studio guest experts about the particular topic. During the program, approximately 15 minutes each week are dedicated to viewer questions and expert answers. This program is an outreach of Speaking of Women's Health and includes a ThinkTv produced Health Calendar which is broadcast, and a web presence directing viewers and user to various health screenings and educational opportunities throughout the community for four months out of the year.
  
  
• WGTE, in Toledo, has committed itself to several health related projects. A significant nine-month project, Raise Your Health IQ:Increasing Access to Health Information is produced in collaboration with the Toledo Lucas County Health Department's "4 Your Heart" Coalition, and focused on helping viewers, particularly women and minorities increase their access to health information. WGTE broadcast three national programs on heart health, and produced one locally. WGTE also produced and aired monthly "health tips" which provided information on how to eliminate the four risk factors for heart disease — high blood pressure, smoking, poor nutrition and lack of exercise. A webpage was created to provide additional information. In late fall, a station event was held called "A Woman's Heart, with an exercise demonstration, cooking demonstrations, a smoking assessment, and blood pressure screenings.
  
  Healthy Habits at Work and for Life was designed to take the previous year's project into the workplace was less successful. Few employers were unwilling to offer brown bag healthy lunch seminars for their employees — the main delivery system for the messages. A webpage was created to provide additional information. In late fall, a station event was held, with presentations by various members of the "4 Your Heart" Coalition. Past years have seen programs on caring for parents and adult children and Alzheimer's disease.
  
  Slated for January broadcast is a documentary, Almost Home, which raises questions about the traditional hospital model employed by most nursing homes and extended care facilities. WGTE, in partnership with the Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio, Inc. and the Alzheimer's Association-Northwest Ohio Chapter, is inviting the public to a screening of ALMOST HOME, followed by a panel presentation/discussion on long-term care facilities with a nursing home administrator, an ombudsman, a counselor and a working caregiver.
  
  
• WNEO/WEAO Akron/Youngstown, worked with the Stark County Task Force on Trauma and Loss, which is headed by the court system and with a teacher team in the creation of a multimedia series titled The Language of Trauma and Loss. Available to all Ohio schools, the first program is for professional development. Dr. Bruce Perry, a national expert in the field, discusses the importance that brain processes play in the development of the child, what makes a "safe" classroom and what role teachers should play when dealing with students who have problems. The last three programs are tied to language arts standards and focus in on the needs of students. Each video gives an open-ended story or dramatization that allows the students to bring in his or her experience. Receipt of a Jennings Grant gave WNEO/WEAO the ability to offer the entire kit free-of-charge to any teacher who attends a professional development workshop on use of the program.
  
  
• WNEO/WEAO also works with senior citizens with Project Horizon. The stations hosted area agencies on aging and received input from them on how to better serve the senior population. Station members who are 55 or older were surveyed and 450 responses were received The results of the survey show that in all age categories, the major concerns include political issues, identity theft, wellness skills, exercise and health care issues. WNEO/WEAO plan to develop programs in the future to respond to these needs, as funding is secured.
  
  
• WOSU has received grants from the Columbus Medical Foundation, Columbus Foundation and Cardinal Health for a multimedia project called Improving Health Literacy through Communication, which is designed to improve health literacy for older adults and caregivers in central Ohio. The project includes public radio and television programming, and community workshops developed in partnership with the Central Ohio Agency on Aging.
  
  
• Health Vision, produced by WOUB, is hosted by Jackie Wolf, professor of Social Medicine at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine; Health Vision discusses today's important medical and health issues with regional health practitioners and explores alternative and traditional medical topics.
  
  WOUB has been presenting "Have a Healthy Day" seminars to home daycare providers. The seminar is based on the Sesame Street "Have Happy Healthy Kids" program and focuses on nutrition, safety, and hygiene. The seminars will be held in 17 counties.
  
  
• "Ideas," the WVIZ/PBS weekly news and information program, has devoted several segments and entire shows, to healthcare topics. Giving national stories a local perspective and shedding light on local issues and successes in the field of healthcare, topics from the past year include: Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare; Caregiving in Northeast Ohio, which was a complement to the national And Thou Shalt Honor: National Caregiving Town Hall Meeting aired on PBS stations across the country. Other programs included: Living with Cancer; coverage of local research towards a cure for Multiple Sclerosis ; Children's Health; and World Aids Day. Many of the programs included complementary radio and website presence.
  
  In additional healthcare-related coverage on WVIZ/PBS the weekly half-hour, news-summary talk show "Feagler & Friends" addressed the new Medicare prescription drug program; while the weekly program "NewsDepth," produced for elementary school children, has addressed a variety of topics and issues such as the new food pyramid for kids, skin cancer being a concern not just for humans — but for animals like giraffes, allergies, the Avian flu, cancer, diabetes, and a report on the successes of a "sugar free" school.
  
  These stations are bringing informal education and information to Ohio citizens across the state.
  
  
• WOUB's "Wired for Books" has been selected for inclusion on EDSITEment as one of the best online resources for education in the humanities by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The site was established by the WOUB Center for Public Media at Ohio University in 1997.
  
  EDSITEment, a partnership with NEH, the National Trust for the Humanities, and the MarcoPolo Education Foundation, serves as a gateway to the highest quality humanities-related educational content on the Internet. It provides a central resource bank for parents, teachers, and students across the country seeking excellent, content-rich sites from among the thousands of educational sites now available on the Internet. EDSITEment also provides lesson plans, professional opportunities, a monthly calendar, "This Month's Feature," a search engine, the "NEH Spotlight," and a contact section. In October 2005 alone, EDSITEment visitors logged in almost 400,000 user sessions.
  
  EDSITEment lesson plans draw directly from Web sites that are included in the list of the best online resources for humanities education. Part of their mission is to guide educators in the use of high quality online humanities websites in their classrooms.
  
  "Wired for Books" was nominated for inclusion in the EDSITEment project in response to an open call for nominations. A peer review panel composed of educators and administrators in education organizations, and higher education institutions then reviewed the site. This panel determined that "Wired for Books" met the EDSITEment criteria for intellectual quality, content, design, and classroom impact.
  
  "WOUB has been an important part of the community for over 40 years and is an essential outreach tool for Ohio University," says Carolyn Bailey Lewis, director and general manager of the WOUB Center for Public Media. "This national recognition continues to prove how WOUB not only provides excellent public radio and television programming, but also key educational resources for adults and children throughout the world."
  
  "Wired for Books" is a Web site created and produced by David Kurz, senior web developer for the WOUB Center for Public Media. "Wired for Books" features streaming audio and video presentations of lectures, book and poetry readings, and children's stories from the Center's Web site. The site's most popular readings are dramatic radio-style presentations. The site includes a wide range of content for children and adults, including Beatrix Potter, Emily Dickinson, and Edgar Allan Poe.
  
  "Wired for Books" has been recognized several times in the past including a 1999 RealNetworks Streamers Award for the best educational use of streaming media, a recognition by the New York Public Library as Best of the Web, and awarded an "A+" by Education.
  
  For additional information, contact public information coordinator Kelly Martin at (740) 593-4944.