Author Archives: William Stites

About William Stites

Currently the Director of Technology for Montclair Kimberley Academy, occasional consultant, serial volunteer for ATIS, husband, and father to two crazy kids who make me smile everyday.

Using Finalsite and Google Forms to address complex form creation.

  We are often asked to create a variety of different forms for our institutions: donations, events, interests, just to name a few. Many of these can be built quite easily, but when you have a particularly complex form to build … Continue reading

Posted in Administration & Management, Data Management, Technical | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Using Finalsite and Google Forms to address complex form creation.

Three helpful hints for deploying 2 Factor Authentication

As part of the work that we are doing to address the growing number of cybersecurity concerns at my school we are requiring 2 factor authentication for all employees using our Google accounts. The GSuite of tools are being using … Continue reading

Posted in Cyber Security, Schools, Technical | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Three helpful hints for deploying 2 Factor Authentication

Device concerns for our Apple 1:1 and the future

This coming June we will be refreshing our device fleet and celebrating what will be the 10th year our 1:1 learning initiative. The program has held at its core the learning goals and has let those goals lead the technology choices … Continue reading

Posted in 1to1, EdTech, Teaching & Learning, Technical | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Device concerns for our Apple 1:1 and the future

Thoughts and musing as I start my 25th year.

How many of you knew that I started at my current, first and only job as a student teacher in 1993? I was a student at Montclair State University and planning on becoming a third grade teacher. I had previously … Continue reading

Posted in 1to1, Cyber Security, Data Management, EdTech, Randomness | Tagged | Comments Off on Thoughts and musing as I start my 25th year.

5 tips for avoiding the blank stare when talking about data management.

We’ve all seen it, that moment when you start talking to people about a topic and you know they have no idea what you are talking about or don’t understand half of the words coming out of your mouth. You … Continue reading

Posted in Administration & Management, Data Management, Schools | Comments Off on 5 tips for avoiding the blank stare when talking about data management.

Gone in a FLASH – Dealing with FLASH and your browser.

Adobe’s FLASH is slowly going away and by the end of 2020 will officially be “end of life”. You can’t run FLASH content on any iOS device and with each new browser update FLASH content is getting harder and harder … Continue reading

Posted in Cyber Security, Technical | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Gone in a FLASH – Dealing with FLASH and your browser.

Our experiences with the AppleTV in Education.

So ee have AppleTV 3 (2nd gen) deployed EVERYWHERE! This is actually our second refresh of the devices since putting them in about 2 or 3 years ago. We initially put them in as we wanted to allow teachers and … Continue reading

Posted in AppleTV, Schools, Technical | Tagged | Comments Off on Our experiences with the AppleTV in Education.

Uncovering iOS 9.3 for Education

With the release of iOS 9.3 Apple will have finally taken steps bring true management to the iPad. While information can be found on the Apple web site there are still many questions and answers needed. While attending the NEIT (NYSAIS Education & … Continue reading

Posted in 1to1, COPPA, iPad, Teaching & Learning, Technical | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Disabling “Find My Mac” on retired equipment.

When hiring you always want to surround yourself with people smarter than you are and I have the pleasure of working with some incredibly talented people. We come up against problems everyday and even try to think of the things that might … Continue reading

Posted in 1to1, Technical | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Disabling “Find My Mac” on retired equipment.

Passwords, phishing and protecting yourself. Tips and lessons.

  [Examples Gallery Update: 9/4/2014] With the recent compromise of a number of celebrities iCloud Photo Streams there is, yet again, more focus on passwords, security and how to protect yourself. In the case of this most recent attack the … Continue reading

Posted in Cyber Security, Randomness, Teaching & Learning, Technical | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Passwords, phishing and protecting yourself. Tips and lessons.