Your Name: Katie Schilling

Today's Date: 2011/1/14

Day(s) worked or described: M 10:15-1:45 (F 11:15-  3:15)

Total hours for week: 7.5

The School: Dumas Technology Academy

Kind of Work: Software Installation, Third Party  Tech Support, Software Updates

Main Report or Narrative:

Monday:

Last week, I identified the headphones issue.  This  week, I found headphones in the supply room and put them on all the Macs in 313  and 312.  This has solved a lot of issues for the teachers-- the computer lab is  so quiet when the kids are working!  The teachers now have time to work while  the kids are on READ 180 or rSkills Tutor. I requested some duct tape (and I'm  bringing some extra electrical tape) so that I can mend a couple broken cables  on the headphones.  Also, I'm planning on securing the headphones to the back of  the Macs so that they are a bit harder to "accidentally" take.  There are more  permanent locking devices available, but Ms. Allen and I agree that a small  deterrent would prevent most issues, as the kids are supervised while they're in  the lab.

I also found a computer in 201 that wouldn't turn  on-- a Mac that I had previously formatted.  I ended up deducing that it was a  bent pin in the power connection, so I switched out the power cable with that of  another machine, bent the pin, and both machines work fine.  I also found a  couple more burned in screens that I fixed.  I need to talk to the librarian  about shutting down the computers properly, and also monitoring the kids so that  they don't kick the power cords (I think that's how the pin got bent.).

I finished the software updates (finally!), and  found a couple SMC hardware updates... is it update season for Mac? I swear  there are a couple hundred more coming...

Friday:

On the software side of things, Ms. Johnson asked me  to install READ 180 on the laptops and Macs. They had previously had a  consultant come in and install the program to the computers.   Apparently they  picked a crooked consultant, because only about ten of the computers had the  program.  The main problem is that the school never received install disks  because they hired the consultant.  So, I got on the phone with scholastic and  figured out that our copy of the software was an old, unsupported version (they  don't even press the CDs anymore).  Somehow (I'm sneaky), I got them to grant us  access to the new version of the software at no cost (going from version 1.9 to  1.10). I then downloaded the new installation files from their secured website  and got started.  I ended up having to call back three different times in order  to get all the codes and addresses I needed for the initial install, but I got  it running on a Mac in the lab.  I also installed it on the laptops Ms. Johnson  requested have the program.

I tried installing it on another Mac in 313, and the  installation program would crash before beginning the installation. Weird, huh?  I looked at the file, and saw it is a win rar. Could this be the cause of the  crashing? I know that some Macs can't read win rar, and it's possible that a  win rar reader got deleted on one Mac and is still on another... I'm confused. I tried just installing one program instead of the suite of programs and got  the same result. So, I have it working on the laptops just fine, but the Macs  are giving me issues. The install files are on the shared space on the server,  and also on my thumb drive, so they are available to the teachers if they want  the program (codes are emailed to Ms. Johnson and Ms. Allen).

I just saw this:  What's playing now? "100 Days,  100 Nights" by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings