Do you Facebook?

This is the first in a series of posts about technologies that your students are probably familiar with, but you might not be. My intent is to give you a 'heads up' so you can go explore the technology yourself. The label for these posts will be 'Bridge Tech'.
Facebook is a social networking site like MySpace. It allows people to communicate and stay connected. It has tools similar to email, but also allows you to say what you're doing today, who your 'friends' are, post pictures, say what events you have in your calendar and what groups you belong to. Your friends can post on your wall, poke you, and even send you presents! This site is very popular with students through college level and beyond.
I have a Facebook account so look me up! I'll be your friend!

Welcome Dr. Carol Pasanen!

We'd like to welcome Dr. Carol Pasanen to our staff as our new Data Management Coordinator. Dr. Pasanen will be serving all our districts and charter schools by coordinating data collection and analysis across the coop.
Welcome Dr. Pasanen!

Charting the Cs Registration Brochure

The Charting the Cs brochure is available. It contains the conference details including breakout sessions and registration information. To download it, click here.

Interested in Charting the Cs?

If you are interested in attending Charting the Cs this year, please let Mark Oehrlein (me) or Margaret Knebel know. We will have a limited supply of scholarships to cover the cost of the conference and they will be awarded first-come first-served. It will be in April 28-29 in Alexandria.

Updated SpEd Forms User Guide Available

The SpEd Forms User Guide has been revised and is available online at:
http://www.spedforms.com/guide/
SpEd Forms users can access the guide directly from the program by clicking on the “User Guide” link in the right hand corner of the main menu.

A printable PDF version is available from download from:
http://spedforms.com/support/PDFs/SpEd_User_Guide.pdf

Charting the Cs - 2008

Charting the Cs will be held at the Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center in Alexandria, MN, April 28 and 29, 2008. Keep your calendar's open! This is a great, low cost AT conference.

Service Start and End Dates

I’ve had a few questions about the service start and end date fields and I’d like to clarify a few things.
There are date fields on the ‘Edit Setup’ page and the ‘Special Education Data Sheet’ for ‘Service Start Date’ and ‘Service End Date’. These dates are linked in the database, so if you change them on one form, they will change on the other.
The service start date should be the earliest date that a service starts for the IEP. The service end date should be the latest date a service ends on the IEP. These dates are needed for MARSS status reporting and don’t explicitly exist on the IEP.
Since a student can have a variety of services with potentially different start and end dates, these fields require manual entry. When you create a new IEP, you will need to manually update these fields on the student's setup page or the Special Education Data Sheet.
These fields do NOT get checked at validation time because they are not on the actual IEP.
Here's a short video showing where the dates are in SpEd Forms.

SpEd Forms Upgrade

I installed an upgrade patch to the SpEd Forms server today. It contained mostly bug fixes.
One thing you may notice is that the two links that controlled which version of the forms you see on the forms page has been replaced with a drop down list box. The system should stay stuck on the 2006-07 forms better now.

New AT FYIs available

The new AT FYI is available. (Actually, the last three issues!)
To download the September issue, click here.
To download the October issue, click here.
To download the November issue, click here.

Podcasting Powerpoint

I promised the Region 5/7 AT team that I would post my powerpoint presentation and sample podcast here. So...
To download the powerpoint, click here.
To listen to the sample podcast, click here. (Yes, it will be in iTunes too.)

How to get an 'Orphans' student

If you request access to a student who has the 'Orphans' case manager, you should contact me instead. Nobody monitors the 'Orphans' login so no one will see your request.

SETT Framework DVD Available

We have copies of a DVD explaining the SETT Framework for AT. If you're interested, let me know and I'll get you a copy.

No Charge Bookshare.org To Schools and Students

Bookshare.org has announce that they've recieved a grant "to fully support all schools and students with qualifying print disabilities in the United States, K-12 and post-secondary, with access to the entire Bookshare.org collection of accessible electronic books and to software for reading those books. As of October 1, 2007, we will cease charging these schools and students anything to join Bookshare.org."
This is great news for students and schools. Go to www.bookshare.org for more information.

SpEd Forms Upgrade - New Forms!

I upgraded SpEd Forms today and the upgrade included the new Due Process forms. To use the old forms, you must click on the 2006-07 link on the student's forms page! Here's a short movie demonstrating how to flip back and forth.

Is your SpEd Forms printing screwed up?

About this time of the year, I get many questions about printing. Many teachers get new computers, or their software gets updated over the summer months. This can result in the web browsers (Internet Explorer, Opera) getting set back to 'factory defaults'.
The most common symptoms I hear about are:

1. pages getting cut off on the right side
2. headers and footers containing dates and URLs

The solution is to follow the browser setup instructions. They are located right on the login page, just below the password field, or you can click on the link above.

UDL Workshop

There is a UDL workshop on October 3, 2007 in Duluth done by Dr. David Edyburn. I've seen him before and I really like his approach.
Click here to see the flyer.

How to get students off your list

Here's how to get students off your list:

If you are the case manager, you have two options:

1. Transfer the student to a new case manager.
2. Exit the student. (goto Edit Setup for the student. Set the ‘Status End (exit reason) drop down list box (underneath ‘Status’) to the appropriate code.

If you are NOT the case manager, you can remove them from your list by going to the student’s forms page and clicking the ‘Remove from my list’ link just below the navigation buttons in the top/right corner of the page.

Note: If you ARE the case manager AND transfer the student, you’ll STILL need to do the step for when you are not the case manager after you complete the transfer.

Things you should know

I've been getting a few questions over and over this year. All these questions have already been answered on this blog. Below is a short list. Click on the links for a video answering the question.

1. How do I transfer a student to a new case manager?
2. A student is missing from my list. How do I see inactive students, exited students and students sent to me from other districts?
3. How do I request a student from another case manager?

SpEd Forms Upgrade

I upgraded the SpEd Forms server today. The biggest change seems to be a 'tabbed' menu at the top of the forms page. It should be pretty self explanatory.
In addition, the Department of Education posted new recommended Due Process forms at: http://children.state.mn.us/mde
The updated forms will be posted incrementally on SpEd Forms servers over the next few weeks.

New MN State Disability Website

I got this info this morning from Joan Breslin-Larson. The website looks clean and easy to use. Check it out!
(ST. PAUL) – Beginning today, Minnesotans have a single source on the Internet – www.mndisability.gov – for quick and easy access to state government-agency programs, products and services dedicated to disability issues.
“This is the ‘blue pages’ for state government disability resources,” said Dan McElroy, Commissioner of the Department of Employment and Economic Development and the project’s sponsor. “Our goal is to empower people with disabilities, their family members and friends, and anyone looking for an easy-to-access, easy-to-understand starting point on the Internet for state government resources.”
Site users can locate resources in any of four ways: by topic – such as education, employment, housing or transportation; by state agency; through an A-Z index; or by a search. The site currently has more than 220 links, each with a brief description of a program, product or service offered by various state agencies. The site will be updated on a regular basis and is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as generally accepted accessibility standards.
Mndisability.gov is a collaborative effort of numerous state agencies, including the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, Commission Serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing People, Minnesota State Council on Disability, Ombudsman Office for Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, State Services for the Blind, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Division, STAR and Rehabilitation Services. The Minnesota Office of Enterprise Technology designed and built the site.
The site was developed under the auspices of the state’s Drive to Excellence government reform initiative, which seeks to increase quality and customer service and reduce costs in the Executive Branch of state government.