eTech Ohio Connections
Volume 2, Issue 7

• eTech Ohio is pleased to now manage the K-12 videoconferencing services through the agency's network services practice.
  
  By bringing the videoconferencing system in-house, eTech Ohio is able to provide a focused support center to meet K-12 educational technology needs. This is just one of many steps eTech Ohio is taking in the transition from ATM to TCP/IP and towards providing future multimedia services to the Ohio K-12 community. This transition is being made possible primarily as a result of eTech Ohio's investment in the new TFN infrastructure, which provides a tremendous increase in bandwidth to the Information Technology Centers (ITCs) and large urban aggregation sites.
  
  The VC Wizard scheduling interface will remain the same, and customers will access this site via a link from the eTech Ohio website.
  
  eTech personnel will notify and assist districts, where necessary, with any changes that need to be made as they relate to addressing or connecting to the central V-gates. Please visit the eTech Ohio website frequently for any announcements or updates.
  
  Ohio's K-12 education community should contact eTech Ohio for all videoconferencing needs and issues.
  
  Contact eTech Ohio network services at 877.VIDEO.40 (877.843.3640).

• eTech Ohio is offering new eLearning Online Professional Development courses during the Fall session. Registration for this session will be on a first-come, first-served basis, and is available now through Tuesday, August 22, 2006.
  
  Registration will take place using the eTech Ohio Opportunity Tracking Tool. Registrants will need to login with an existing Hall Pass account or create a new account to begin the registration process.
  
  The courses will range from three to 15 weeks, depending on the content of each course. Graduate credit or certificates of participation will be offered for each course. Detailed course information and registration is available online.
  
  New courses that have been added to the course list include:
  
  
  • Grant Writing
  • Problem-Based Learning
  • Technology Coaching
  • Universal Design
  
  If you have any questions please contact the eLearning team at 877.383.2406.

• Learning and Growing Together: A series of fun and practical online stories and resources for parents!
  
  The Ohio Department of Education and eTech Ohio have been working together to produce a series of fun and practical online stories and resources for families, titled Learning and Growing Together. These resources are free and provide information, examples and tips for enhancing early reading and writing and math at home.
  
  There are currently five resources available for families: Pre-Kindergarten Reading and Writing, Pre-Kindergarten Math, Kindergarten Reading and Writing, Kindergarten Math, and First Grade Reading and Writing. These free resources can be accessed online.
  
  The Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten series is also available on CD. Information for requesting a CD is provided in the site above. If you have any questions please contact the eLearning team at 877.383.2406.

• FY06 PD Grant Fund final reporting documents are now available online. The date for expenditure of FY06 funding has been extended to Thursday, August 17, 2006, but if you have already spent your total allocation of professional development grant money, you may access the FY06 PD Grant project reports online (under the Conclusion Tab) now. Both the Impact and Financial Reports are available now through Thursday, September 14, 2006. The due date for eTech Ohio to receive the paper copy of your FER via U.S. mail is Thursday, September 28, 2006.
  
  Please note that the total allocation for FY06 funding is listed at the bottom of your financial report. Look for the notice to apply for FY07 funding in mid-July! For detailed information on permissible and prohibited uses of PD Grant funds, please see the FY06 Spending Guidelines. For assistance in planning your FY06 technology professional development, please contact project coordinator Steve Crumbacher or eTech Ohio Customer Service with any questions or concerns.

• The EETT 2006-07 New and Continuation Grant Awardees were announced on Monday, July 3, 2006.
  
  All recipient building team members are required to attend an Orientation meeting. The EETT Orientation Meeting is the initial gathering of (new and continuation) grant recipients and program affiliates designed to provide vital information and resources as recipients begin to implement their awarded grant projects.
  
  The Orientation meetings for new and continuation recipients will occur on Thursday, July 20 and Friday, July 21 respectively at Quest Business Center. Per the EETT RFP the following project personnel are required to attend the EETT Orientation Meeting in Columbus:
  
  Per Awarded Building:
  (1) Building Administrator or Representative
  (1) EETT Building Project Team Teacher
  
  Per Awarded District:
  (1) District Representative
  
  For additional information please contact Chris Bode or Verda McCoy.

• In our ongoing efforts to evaluate programs, projects and services, eTech Ohio convened a diverse group of school technology professionals for a focus group this summer. This focus group meeting was facilitated by an unbiased facilitator that is not employed by eTech Ohio.
  
  The findings from this meeting will help inform a survey that will be sent to a randomly selected group of school technology professionals during the month of July. The feedback that is submitted to eTech Ohio through these two efforts, along with feedback that is shared with us through other means of stakeholder communications, will help inform decisions on how best to meet the technology training needs of Ohio's educational technology staff.
  
  Watch the eTech Ohio website for details about upcoming eTech Ohio's technical training opportunities.

• Mark your calendars! eTech Ohio presents the ninth annual Educational Technology Conference, Ohio Connects! Technology for Learning February 12, 13 and 14, 2007, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
  
  
• Registration: Registration (US Mail ONLY) is now available through the Conference website.
  
  Online registration will be available later this summer. The Early Bird Registration deadline is Wednesday, December 13, 2006.
  
  Note that Conference registration rates remain unchanged for Conference 2007. School districts may use their FY06 Professional Development (PD) Grant funds to offset Conference costs. Details and further information is available at the eTech Ohio website.
  
  
• Call for Proposals: Interested in sharing new ideas or successful practices for improving learning through the use of technology? Consider presenting at Conference 2007. The Call for Proposals for Concurrent Sessions and Student Displays is now available through the Conference website.
  
  The deadline for Concurrent Session proposals is Wednesday, October 11, 2006. The deadline for Student Display proposals is Wednesday, October 25, 2006.
  
  
• Check Back Soon! Additional Call for Proposals, the Call for Nominations for Educator Awards and Call for Submissions for the 2007 Student Video Contest will be available soon.
  
  
• 2007 Exhibition Space: Is your company or organization interested in exhibiting during Conference 2007? Join the hundreds of other private companies and public entities who exhibit during the three days of the Conference. 49% of Conference attendees report spending 3 or more hours in the Exhibit Hall while at the Conference. It's an excellent opportunity to connect with current customers/clients while also discovering new ones. Contact Conference exhibit hall staff for information about available booth space and rates for Conference 2007.
  
  Additional questions or inquiries about the eTech Ohio Educational Technology Conference can be directed to the Conference Team at 1.877.383.2406.

• Dave Gibson is the newly-elected Chairperson of the Ed Tech Directors Association. Gibson, a third generation Ohio educator. Near the turn of the last century, his grandmother was a teacher in a one-room school near London, Ohio. His father was an innovative teacher, principal and superintendent in school districts in the greater Dayton area. Dave began his career in education as a social studies teacher in Piqua and became an administrator at Upper Valley JVS. He joined the staff at SOITA in 1978 and has been its executive director for the past seventeen years.
  
  While at SOITA, Dave has been involved in creating and managing a variety of educational technology services for 125 school districts in 20 Ohio counties. Last year, SOITA had over 10,000 educators participate in highly acclaimed workshops, conferences and meetings. Dave was the chairman of the first SOITA Conference, an event that has grown over the past 24 years into one of the largest educational activities in southwestern Ohio.
  
  In 2004, Dave received the Outstanding Alumni Award in Educational Leadership from the College of Education of Wright State University. Dave and his wife Joelle reside in Butler County with their two teenage sons.
  
  
• John Mitchell, of Radio Reading Services of Greater Cincinnati, has been named the new Ohio Radio Reading Services president. Currently director of operations for the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Mitchell previously served as the Ohio Radio Reading Services treasurer from 2001-04.
  
  Mitchell earned a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Cincinnati in 1983, having received a full scholarship for his master's program.
  
  Additionally, Mitchell served as president of the Athletic Boosters for the Nativity School in 2005-06, and as president of the Purcell Marian High School Parent Teachers Organization from 2005-06.
  
  
• The WMUB news team was a big winner in the 2006 Associated Press awards, given Sunday, May 21 in Columbus. In the Medium Market Radio category, WMUB received 7 of the 20 awards:
  
  
  • Best Enterprise Reporting, Second Place: Tana Weingartner, "Miami Benefits Lawsuit" ("Objective, topical, produced well and nicely narrated")
    
    
  • Best Feature Reporting, First Place: Tana Weingartner, "Searching for Salamanders" ("Great use of suspense through story line, excellent use of sound to place the listener right there")
    
    
  • Best Feature Reporting, Second Place: Cheri Lawson, "Fallen Soldier" ("Evocative scene-setting with words and sounds")
    
    
  • Best Broadcast Writing, First Place: Gary Scott, "Risky Remedies" ("Useful story, intelligently presented")
    
    
  • Best Use of Sound, First Place, Cheri Lawson, "Bi- Okoto" ("Sounds blend seamlessly between narration and interviews &emdash; helps maintain listener interest and carry the story. Is well recorded, nicely mixed and cleanly produced")
    
    
  • Best Use of Sound, Second Place: Tana Weingartner, "Animal Adoption Foundation" ("Dogs and kittens &emdash; who can resist? Nice recordings from the animal shelter, blended nicely into a well-produced story")
    
    
  • Best Reporter, Second Place: Gary Scott ("Good stories, good presentation")
    
    
• The Associated Press of Ohio presented WOUB with two awards at the annual banquet in Columbus. "The Sky Has Fallen," a documentary about unrest on the Ohio University campus in the '60s and '70s won best documentary and "Homeless Sex Offender," a story about a homeless sex offender in Marietta won Best Enterprise Reporting award.
  
  "The Sky Has Fallen" first aired on WOUB-TV in May 2005. Mark Leff, E. W. Scripps School of Journalism professor, is writer/producer/narrator and Mark Brewer, WOUB associate director for Telecommunications, is the executive producer. The documentary focuses on civil unrest in Athens in May of 1970. On May 4, 1970, riots at Kent State University erupted after President Nixon announced that he had sent troops into Cambodia. National Guard troops killed four Kent State students that day and riots started at campuses across the country in protest and Ohio University was no exception. Ohio University remained open for 10 days while President Claude Sowle tried to get faculty and students to talk through their problems. At first, the reaction was mostly peaceful "teach-ins" on College Green and thousands of students staging a "March Against Death" through uptown Athens. Eventually, some demonstrations turned violent. Firebombs exploded in an ROTC supply room at Peden Stadium, and students started throwing bricks through windows and at police. By May 14, 23 students needed treatment at Hudson Health Center and 54 had been arrested. President Sowle was forced to cancel classes, final exams, and commencement ceremonies; Mayor Raymond Shepard called in the National Guard.
  
  Leff said Roderick McDavis's appointment as president of Ohio University sparked his interest in doing the documentary. McDavis graduated from OU in 1970, as did baseball team captain Joe Carbone who is now the university's head baseball coach. Interviews with Carbone and McDavis are included in the documentary as are interviews with former students including Andy Alexander, Jesse Rotman, Ron Esposito, and former Athens police department captain Charlie Cochran. They discuss their memories of the spring of 1970 in Athens and what led up to the disturbances on campus.
  
  Annie Mitchell, broadcast journalism major, won the Best Enterprise Reporting award for the feature "Homeless Sex Offender" on "Newswatch." The story focused on a homeless sex offender who was living under a bridge in Marietta, Ohio. Mitchell said the intrigue of the story was the recent focus in the media on sex offenders. "As a society we have become aware that we need to keep track of sex offenders, but this story shows that that's not always possible," says Mitchell. Mitchell says she is honored to receive an award from the Associated Press. "For anyone it's an honor, but to a student it's a big validation of the work we do," says Mitchell. "Newswatch" is a student-produced news show that airs at 6:30 p.m. weekdays on WOUB-TV.
  
  
• On Friday, May 26, 90.3 WCPN and WVIZ/PBS ideastream^sm, in partnership with The Cleveland Orchestra, presented a special multiple media event featuring Franz Welser-Möst, Music Director of the internationally renowned Cleveland Orchestra.
  
  Mr. Welser-Möst visited Idea Center, the new home of 90.3 WCPN and WVIZ/PBS ideastream, for a live radio broadcast of Around Noon, the 90.3 WCPN daily arts and culture program. This special program marked the first use of Idea Center's Studio One for a live-to-air radio broadcast and featured interactive components. Listeners called in and e-mailed questions to Around Noon host Dee Perry and Mr. Welser-Möst. Members of the studio audience also offered comments and questions.
  
  The event was also the first use of video conference distance learning capabilities of the WVIZ/PBS Educational Services group in a simultaneous radio broadcast emanating from Studio One. Students from across the state of Ohio, whose schools accepted the internet-enabled program feed, had opportunities to participate in the conversation by viewing and e-mailing or phoning-in questions. Six students in the library at Vinton County High School, one of Ohio's most economically challenged rural areas, participated in the program via this technology.
  
  The program was also available via live audio stream (accessible at wcpn.org) and videotaped for future broadcast on Applause, the award-winning weekly arts and culture program produced by WVIZ/PBS ideastream.
  
  Contact WVIZ/PBS & 90.3 WCPN ideastream communications specialist Jessica Schuster at 216.916.6134 for more information.
  
  
• Cincinnati Public Radio and 91.7 WVXU are proud to bring the live, worldwide broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion" to the stage of Cincinnati's Music Hall on Saturday, November 25, 2006. Garrison Keillor's long running program is heard by over 4 million listeners each week on over 580 American public radio stations and abroad on America One and the Armed Forces Network.
  
  Tickets will go on sale to the public on Thursday, September 7 through the Cincinnati Arts Association. Members of Cincinnati Public Radio (WGUC and WVXU) will have a pre-sale opportunity beginning Tuesday, September 5. Complete details on ticket costs and how to buy will be coming soon. There will also be a limited number of premium seats that will include a dinner-by-the-bite reception and a chance to view a rehearsal of the broadcast earlier in the day.
  
  For more information, contact 90.9 WGUC/91.7 WVXU, Cincinnati Public Radio, Inc., community relations manager Kevin Reynolds at 513.419.7104.