About our site upgrade

Foot's Forecast 2.0 is arriving

Monday, January 24, 2011  Our Web Team and Advisors has prepared this list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding the recent switch in appearance of this site. With this being the first day the site is being tested in school systems, we recognize it may not fully appear until servers and filtering systems confirm the upgrade. Additional forecast zones and secure improved commenting features are also being developed.

School system Network Service Managers or IT Directors with additional questions about the switch are encouraged to contact us at anytime: ffwebteam@gmail.com  or footsforecast@gmail.com

BACKGROUND: In the early years of this site, thousands of people across the Mid-Atlantic were able to view footsforecast.org at both work or school. By 2008, when just Mr. Foot was posting reports from his class, Maryland school systems requested their filtering systems "re-categorize" this site as "News and Media." During the winter of 2009-2010, we grew from a team of seven students to today's 35 members in 12 states extending from Illinois to Mississippi. We also have a direct partnership with the NOAA-grant funded NCAS Weather Camp program at Howard University in Washington, DC. We hope this information clearly demonstrates this website is an educationally-driven collaborative effort by teachers, parents, students, Ph.D's, meteorologists and scientists across the Eastern United States.

1. "Why was the website changed?"  Recent feedback from readers suggested we improve your access to core information such as local daily forecasts, winter weather events and long range projections.  Our team re-designed the original site with a fresh look and added more efficient menu tabs above to align with standard website formats.

2. "Where is the forecast for my area?"   We have placed links to your local and regional forecasts in our new tab section. A full list of all zones is located in the Forecast Centers tab. For those in the Eastern U.S., simply click that tab to access a daily regional roundup of forecasts.

3. "What happened to the good, ole' fashioned Baltimore-area forecast?" In the past year, two dozen additional students and advisors have joined our team from across the Eastern U.S. We are becoming a "national network" of local teams" so your local forecast for Baltimore, or Atlanta or Tampa is still there. Please look in the left sidebar or see the statement above.

4. "Does the team know Facebook is blocked at most schools and offices?"  Well, yes.. we do realize that. Our advisors and students have been republishing the facebook forecast text both here and on the .org site. Soon, regional pages like test versions for Central Maryland and Central Florida will be published for ALL our forecast teams. This will eliminate the facebook concern we know many of you have, including those in schools and offices.

For a different take on all this, we encourage you to read what the Maryland State Education Association recently wrote in their January 2011 newsmagazine about "teachers creating a positive digital footprint."

If the MSEA believes it is time to appropriately embrace technologies widely used by millions of students every day, then so can this website and the readers who rely upon it. This is a 21st century technological society that is moving forward, and MSEA is already there. "It’s time, says Gwyneth Jones, a teacher librarian at Murray Hill MS in Howard County, for educators to meet them there by creating their own positive digital footprint."

"It’s about making a digital shift in the way we do things. Web 2.0 tools actually make communication easier with students, parents, and the community.” Jones is the author of the award-winning Daring Librarian blog and a member of the International Society for Technology in Education board of directors.

“We can’t be afraid of making the digital shift. It’s what 21st century education is all about,” she said. “The truth is we need to be able to talk to and teach our students in a way that will prepare them for jobs that haven’t even been created yet. If we can’t teach them these new ways of looking at information, we’re not educating them for their world.”

Ms. Jones, if you are reading this from Howard County, MD... we extend a digital feather for your from all of us on the Eastern U.S. Team of Foot's Forecast. We agree..it is time.