Happy Birthday L4L!It’s hard to believe that we began training teachers and deploying laptops through the Laptops for Learning (L4L) initiative one year ago this week. From the art teacher who took her students on a virtual tour of the Louvre in Paris to the ELA teacher who uses iMovie to record students’ oral reading as a formative assessment tool, we continue to be impressed by the innovative uses of the laptops in classrooms across the district. Bravo!
L4L provides teachers with a powerful instructional tool that can help transform teaching and learning to ensure that Boston students are college-ready and success bound. As we move into a new year of L4L, OIIT needs your cooperation with the following L4L guidelines. These are paramount to ensuring that you have a functioning tool for classroom use.
L4L Registration Update: Upcoming Deadline
Over 75% of L4L users have successfully registered their laptops with the new L4L Registration! Thank you to everyone who has already completed this critical action.
Please note that the new registration application works only when ALL Apple software updates are completed. Use this quick guide to help you run Apple software updates and register your L4L laptop.
OIIT has extended the deadline to complete the registration to March 31st. After this date, OIIT will need to collect the laptops that have not been registered and reimage them with the latest software updates. Please note that as part of this process all data will unfortunately be erased. OIIT will give back these laptops to teachers next school year.
Software Updates: Run Weekly
Running software updates is critical to ensure that laptops work at peak performance. Since the L4L laptops run two operating systems – Mac OS X and Windows XP – both systems need to be updated on a regular basis.
L4L laptops are scheduled to check for Mac and Windows software updates on a weekly basis. Updates are pushed out over the BPS network. Therefore, laptops must be connected via an Ethernet cable to the BPS network on a weekly basis to receive required updates. By getting into the habit of running software updates on a weekly basis, the less time they will take to download and the less interruption they will be for you!
Please note that all L4L laptops should be running Mac OS X 10.5.6. To see what version of the Mac operating system you’re running, click on the “Apple” icon in the upper left-hand corner of the Mac toolbar and then select “About This Mac.”
OIIT has created a couple of quick guides to help you with running software updates. Check them out on the L4L website at: http://boston.k12.ma.us/techhelp/L4L.htm.
Parallels Upgrade: Build 5608
All L4L laptops should be updated to Parallels Build 5608, which is the most stable version of Parallels 3. The installation takes a few minutes and requires Windows and Parallels to be shut down prior to installation.
To install this version, click on the following link:
http://download.parallels.com/v3/en/GA/Parallels-Desktop-5608-Mac-en.dmg.
Reminder: Shut Down Windows Properly
Before shutting down Parallels, you need to shut down Windows first. Shut down Windows just as you would any PC by clicking on the “Start” menu in the bottom left-hand corner and then selecting “Shut Down.” Once Windows has shut down, you can then quit Parallels. We promise that following these easy steps will save you many headaches!
Remember to check out the L4L website or the “L4L Info” folder on your Mac dock for L4L “care & feeding” resources and tutorials. And as always, check out available professional development workshops at www.mylearningplan.com. OIIT offers courses and workshops for all technology proficiency levels!
Have an L4L topic that you would like see posted or a story to share on how you’re using your L4L in the classroom? Please send suggestions to OIIT at L4L@boston.k12.ma.us.
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