My Go-to Technologies as an Administrator

Wikispaces home page for Qatar Academy

Of course I am only a rookie, but In my first two months on the job, I have been leaning heavily* on the following technologies:

Doodle
I've given this meeting scheduling software a real workout because I have set up several meetings which included 6-20 persons.  One can use Doodle to whip up a poll in a couple of minutes, deploy it, and then determine how many persons can attend at the offered times. And they don't have to be using any particular calendar software.  They just click through the link I send them and respond to a simple "poll".   I upgraded ($39) to the paid version without ads, but the free version is great.  I use this once or twice a week with efficient results.

iPad + Notes
Loyal Drive-thru readers may recall that I received my wife's hand-me-down iPad last spring.  I didn't begin using it as a workhorse until I became an administrator.  I take nearly all my meeting notes with it, and the "Notes" application synchs with my desktop, laptop, and iPhone, so it has become indispensable as my number of meetings has increased.

UPad +  Targus Stylus + iPad 
One of our vendors and I did a walk-through of our school.  We both had iPads, but he was jotting down handwritten notes continually.  When I inquired, he told me about how much he depended on the  inexpensive app, UPad, and his Targus Stylus for jotting notes.  He had tried out different solutions, and was sold on this pairing.  Based on his testimony, I purchased mine the same day and there is no looking back.  Since school started, I often walk the halls during the early morning, chatting with students and staff.  When they make requests or suggestions, I  jot them down on UPad and try to act on them before the day is through.  The advantage of course over a paper notepad is that I never lose or mislay these notes!

Wikispaces
I love Wikispaces and keep trying to lure (and yes, drive) teachers to our staff wiki.  There we can share discussions and resources without face-to-face meetings.  This seems like a no-brainer to me. One of my big projects has been a "refresh" of the school's hallways and common areas.  Since June we have had several meetings and discussions both in person and online.  All of this has taken place at the wiki, making this one of the most transparent enterprises I have experienced on a large scale.

Zoomerang
While I haven't used Zoomerang surveys as often as the other resources, it has served an extremely important task.  As part of our strategic planning for technology, we surveyed the staff on current usage. Using the "Pro" account purchased by one of our departments, I drafted a survey, submitted it to review, and beta-tested it.  Recently I deployed it.  50 persons responded and I have found that the results are easy to digest and share.  If I need to create another survey, I will definitely use Zoomerang.

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* I have not received any form of compensation for using or recommending any of these products.

Doodling Around

If you have not tried it, I would like to introduce you to Doodle.  It is a wonderful cloud tool for setting up a meeting or conference with folks who don't share the same software.  I first became acquainted with it when I received a "doodle" in order to set up a conference call with folks in three different time zones.  It's a snap with Doodle.  Simply set up a free account with a couple of clicks, and with a few more selections you can basically send out an easy to use little poll to others.

I've used Doodle to set up my recent M-Hub club meetings at school.  It also strikes me as the perfect tool for setting up family gatherings or scheduling a dinner with busy friends.

A Baker's Half Dozen

I enjoy trying out the toys in Gmail Labs ("a testing ground for experimental features that aren't quite ready for prime time"). Just go to settings in Gmail and click the labs tab and a long list of options appears. One very useful gadget is the "undo feature", a setting which allows for up to 20 seconds of pause time after you hit the send button. I've clicked the "undo" more than a few times, and the way I see it, no email is likely to suffer from the delay of an extra few seconds.

Recently I was participated in a conference call involving dozens of educators. This was scheduled using Doodle. Check it out-- It is a splendidly simple piece of software that can be used for whipping up a poll. If you are setting up a meeting poll your members with Doodle and it will produce a matrix showing you the optimal meetings times. Pretty cool.

Have you been bewildered by Ning's announcement to eliminate its free social media sites, followed by a the mysterious statement that "A major educational company has offered to sponsor Ning Mini Networks for educators"? If your confidence has been shaken in Ning, perhaps you would like to try Spruz, which seems to offer similar functionality.

I've only been playing around with Voila for a few days, but I am already hooked. It is an inexpensive screen capture software made for Macs by Global Delight. Voila allows you to "capture and record anything on your screen." It also comes with an easy to use annotation tool kit. which I find very helpful for creating presentations and classroom resources.

Speaking of free accounts, some of the bloggers that I read have referred to Instapaper. If like me, you hopscotch all over the place when you read online, this might be a handy tool. It's simple to register for an account. Then drag a bookmarklet to your toolbar. This will create a "read me" button. When you are scanning an article and want to save it, click the "read me" button and Instapaper will save it for you.

My last recommendation is for pop music lovers. Downplayer offers ten free downloads a day, Monday through Friday. It's easy and fun to preview the songs. If you feel as though your playlist is stale, spend a few weeks sampling from this site and you will discover some new music. The free feature has hooked me into spending some cash on albums, just the way it's designed to do.

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"Six" Flickr Creative Commons Photo by duncan