Changes to wireless Internet access

Changes have been made to the wireless access network in the Oregon Schools. The public wireless network now requires a login when a browser is first opened. This is to allow students and staff who bring their own personal devices to school to access the Internet with the appropriate content filtering settings. For example, a staff member will have more access than a student. Without this login procedure, there would be no way to apply different content filtering rules to staff, or to students of different grade levels. (By default, the most restrictive content filter settings are applied until a user logs in to receive additional access.)

What to expect
Logging in on a district-owned computer will not change. Log in as you normally would.

Logging in on a personally-owned computer (or iPad, iPod Touch, phone, Kindle, etc.) will require you to open a web browser and enter your OSD username and password. The network security and content filtering system (aka PaloAlto) will then apply the appropriate content filtering rules for your user account.

Note: There is an issue with the Chrome browser which causes the initial page load to fail. Click "Reload" and the login page should appear correctly.

If the web browsing session is idle for 30 minutes, you will be prompted to log in again before proceeding. After 8 hours, you will be prompted to log in, even if you have not been idle. But frankly, if you've been online for 8 hours straight, you really should take a break.

When using an application that accesses the Internet, you may need to launch a web browser and login first. Until you log in, your Internet access will be blocked. The app won't necessarily tell you that it can't access the Internet. It may just sit there and try. So, if you launch and app and it doesn't seem to do anything, try launching a web browser first, logging in, and they try the app again.

More info will be posted on the IT Operations site at http://itops.oregonsd.net

Google Docs is now Google Drive

The Google Drive online interface looks similar to the Google Documents List you're used to, with a few key differences:

• Collections are now called Folders.
  
• When you first switch to Google Drive, a new folder called My Drive contains:
  
  • Documents that you own or have previously uploaded
  • Folders you own and the items contained within (regardless of ownership)
• Other items that would have previously appeared in the Home view can easily be found elsewhere. You can choose different views and filters to see recently opened documents, starred items, documents that have been shared with you, items owned by a particular person, files of a particular type, and more.
  
• You'll have powerful new options to search, sort, or preview your files before opening them.
  

See the Google Drive user help to learn more about Google Drive versus your Documents List, and how to navigate your Google Drive online interface.

Need more help? Contact our friendly ITLTs.

Pictures in IC seating charts now working correctly

The issue regarding student pictures not appearing in Infinite Campus seating charts has been resolved. If your seating chart still does not show pictures even when you have selected "show students' pictures" in the seating chart preferences, please submit a helpdesk ticket.

Content filtering explanation

This summer we replaced our old bandwidth management and content filtering server with new, more powerful appliance. I want all staff to know why we did this, what the changes are, and what we plan for the future. Hopefully the benefits will outweigh the inconveniences of the learning curve.

Why we changed
Our old system could only use about half of our Internet bandwidth. So even though we had a 100 Mbps connection to the Internet we could only use about 45-65 Mbps. The new system, called Palo Alto, can handle up to 500-700Mbps, depending on how many services it is running, so we have room to grow. Also, it allows us to prioritize different types of traffic to make sure everyone is sharing equitably.

Where we are now
Currently, we have the full 100 Mbps of Internet speed. Filtering settings roughly match what we had in the past, and we are still tweaking them as we get feedback. The major exception is that if you use a personally-owned device on the "public" wireless network, the system doesn't know who you are, so it applies the most restrictive content filter settings. This will probably be a pain for those of you bringing in personal computers until we implement a workaround.

Where we plan to be
Computers that connect to the "public" wireless network need to know who you are. We plan to roll out a login screen that you will see when you launch a web browser on a device connected to the public network. This will ask you to log in so that you get the filtering rules appropriate to you. We're trying to get this done before school starts, but we need some expert help.

Still have questions? Check out our list of Frequently Asked Questions that we've gotten so far.

IC Video Tutorials

The Campus Community, which I've mentioned before, has some slick videos for how to accomplish common tasks. It also has self-guided walkthroughs and regular old paper documentation that you can print.

The link below is to a special section of tutorials specifically for teachers. If you have not already registered for the Campus Community, you'll have to do that, but it's well worth it.

Knowledge Base > Hands-On Virtual Lab > Teacher HOVL

https://community.infinitecampus.com/kb/display/DOC/Teacher+HOVL

This area will walk you through the following with simulations, documentation and a few videos …

•Getting Started

•Student Info for Teachers

•Grade Book Set Up

•Set up Grading Calculation

•Getting organized: categories & student groups

•Recording Daily Activities & Assignments

•Analyzing Student Performance

•Using Online Assessment to deliver classroom tests

•Instruction Reports

•Student Assignments & Score Reports

•Standardized Test/Assessment Score Reports

•Attendance Reports

•Wildcard

•Submitting Report Card Grades & Scores

•Communicating with Parents & Students

•Messenger

As usual, please let me know how you like it. I think it's almost as good as having your own tech sherpa to help you out. The videos may not have our sparkling personality and wry sense of humor, but they are a lot more accessible when it's 9 PM and you are at home trying to figure out how to set up a seating chart.

New content and security filter in place

Our new content and security filter is in place. As with anything, there is an adjustment period while we figure out the "kinks" and adjust to what is different with the new system.Right now, we are in the process of configuring the content filter rules to be as close to the old system as possible. There are a few notable exceptions.

1. If you are on the public wireless network, you will have limited access because the content filter doesn't know who you are. For students this isn't all that different. But for staff, it will be significantly less access.
2. There is not a way (at this time) to authenticate to the public wireless network once you are connected. This means that you will get the content filtering rules for an elementary student. We are actively looking for solutions to this.

Hopefully, the increase in speed will be noticeable, since the new system can handle our full 100 Mbps of Internet bandwidth (with room to grow) as opposed to the old system, which maxed out somewhere between 45-65 Mbps.

Brief Internet interruptions this afternoon

There will be a number of brief Internet access interruptions (less than 3 minutes each) this afternoon as we configure and install a new network security system. Thanks for your patience.