Upcoming Events

October 15^th, 2008 Membership Meeting

The RISTE Executive Board would like to invite you to the first RISTE meeting of 2008-2009. The first meeting is scheduled for October 15th, at 12:00 noon in the Knotty Oak Room at Coventry High School. A delicious lunch will be provided, as well as an opportunity for professional camaraderie and collegiality!

Please RSVP by noon on October 9th using the following Google spreadsheet:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p-bjfCpxBW-1ZpaikqELCKw

We have many important items of business on the Agenda for the meeting. We encourage you to make every effort to attend. Here is what the Executive Board has planned for the 15th:

1. An election of the RISTE President-Elect who will lead RISTE in the future
   The Executive Board will be soliciting nominations in a separate email message
2. A presentation and Q & A session about the new RIDE Technology Reporting and Assessment requirements for 2008-2009.
   Holly Walsh from RIDE will be presenting and leading the Q & A session. Here is a terrific opportunity to find out more and ask any questions that you may have about these new requirements.
3. A discussion of what types of workshops RISTE members would like to see provided by Microsoft.
   This is an opportunity for RISTE members to shape some professional development opportunities for this year instead of simply accepting what Microsoft offers.
4. Roundtable session on interesting technology and instruction initiatives happening across member districts.
   Some districts have begun some exciting new technology initiatives that impact instruction and we would like all RISTE members to benefit from a discussion of what "cool stuff" is happening across the state.
5. Discussion about what types of workshops RISTE members themselves can offer to the membership and defining a preliminary list of sessions for the year.
   In the past, RISTE members gave short workshops and sessions about technology topics that they were familiar with and that other members wanted/needed to know more about. Some examples are Mike St. Jean's presentation on Open Source software for K-12 and Paul Barrette's presentation on Web Accessibility and Standards. Because of all our busy schedules, we have gotten away from these types of presentations, but the Executive Board would like to make a commitment to returning to these types of sessions. There a tremendous amount of talent and expertise within our own membership and we think we should take advantage of it to everyone's benefit.

Virtual Iron Lunch and Learn Event

Please join RISTE on Friday, March 14th from 12pm to 2pm at The Capital Grille in Providence for a "Lunch and Learn" on the topic of Virtual Iron.

A number of us have been exploring the possibility of virtualization to ease “server sprawl”, consolidate hardware, and reduce energy costs. Some RISTE members have been looking at a product called Virtual Iron that is significantly more affordable for educational institutions than some of the VMWare offerings. We wanted to share that information with the rest of the RISTE membership, as well some solutions that may work for smaller districts and schools.

Hosted by Hub Technical Services, a Virtual Iron Premier Partner and an HP Procurve Elite Partner

Please contact Paul Barrette, barrettep[at]bsd-ri.net , if you would like to attend. Please include the number of attendees in your email.

Agenda

• How do I start to virtualize my environment?
• Advanced virtualization capability for the K-12 IT budget
• Lower cost virtualization alternative
• Server consolidation, high availability, and disaster recovery

Menu

• Filet Mignon
• Grilled Swordfish
• Citrus Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Invitation, Agenda, and Menu from Virtual Iron and Hub Technical Services

Virtualization Conference and Presentations

Please join RISTE on December 11th from 10am to 3:30pm (and beyond) at Dave & Buster's in the Providence Place Mall for what promises to be an extremely interesting and informative day on the topic of virtualization.

Special thanks to RISTE past-president, Mark Lamson, for conceiving and organizing this exciting event.

Hosted by HIPTSG

Please contact Norm Chapman, norm[at]ride.ri.net , if you would like to attend. Please include the number of attendees in your email.

Agenda

• 10:00 to 10:15 - Registration and Sign-in
• 10:15 to 10:45 - RISTE Business
  • VMware Video – Sammie Carter and Brian Bouterse, NC State Friday Institute K-12
• 10:45 to 12:00 - VMware Overview including 2008 Roadmap
• 12:00 to 1:00 - Lunch
• 1:00 to 2:00 - Equallogic Demo – Sean D’Acci, Equallogic, Equallogic Integration with VMware
• 2:00 to 3:00 - Using VMware and Equallogic in a Government Entity – Dave Siles, CTO Kane County, IL
  • Proof of Concepts/Assessments
• 3:00 to 3:30 - Tying it all together
• 3:30 to ??? - Q & A, Networking, Socializing, Refreshments