What is milSuite?

Update: milSuite Enterprise Edition launched February 19, 2011: https://www.milsuite.mil
Links are updated in the blog post.

The 30 second YouTube commercial about milSuite

milSuite is a collection of online tools designed to promote collaboration and information sharing, in a secure, online environment and was launched in October 2009. The milSuite portfolio currently includes milBook, milBlog, and milWiki.


milSuite provides these capabilities by focusing on three main objectives:  locating information, sharing knowledge and connecting people. CAC (Common Access Card) must be registered with valid AKO/DKO account to access the milSuite components.

milSuite has a presence on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

milBook is an initiative to connect people across the AKO/DKO community.  milBook acts as a central hub for networking workforce professionals with others of similar interests, much like the popular social media sites Facebook™ and LinkedIn™.  Users have the ability to share information through group blogs, discussions, and private wiki documents allowing secure communities of interest to grow and connect with others across the greater Military community.


milWiki is a collaboration tool used by the AKO/DKO community.  It is a powerful tool and a living knowledge bank where experts are encouraged to contribute their experience and knowledge and update the information as it happens.  It allows users to integrate and interlink knowledge into topical-based articles and collaborate on issues up to and including UNCLASSIFIED/FOUO documentation.  milWiki's goal is to capture the intellectual property of the AKO/DKO community and allow users to easily locate and expand upon that knowledge through community updates.


milBlog is a place to find and share the latest news, insider articles, comments, and posts from the community.  It is designed to invite collaboration through discussion and comments on news, events, and announcements that impact the greater AKO/DKO community.  Readers can comment and ask questions that really get the discussion started.  milBlog provides quick easy access and a secure awareness to mission related knowledge and information.


milTube is a platform to capture the numerous internal videos being created across the Department of Defense.

*Clicking on the links for milBook, milBlog, and milWiki will direct you to the milSuite page unless you are logged in with AKO/DKO credentials. The milSuite components, milBook, milBlog, milWiki, and milTube can be accessed from the My Training page through AKO/DKO.


Supplemental articles:
PEO C3T Catapults Army into Social Media Arena December 2009
milBook harnesses social media behind DOD firewalls January 2010
milSuite is the new water cooler Feb 2010 
Collaboration Tools for the Federal Government March 2010
A Case of Social Military April 2010


milSuite has a presence on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

GAEE - Oregon, IS339, and PGCPS

Acronymese...for those who speak it just one part of a daily dialect...every career field has one including education and technology.

Some schools and school districts are opting to implement Google Apps Education Edition (GAEE) for a variety of reasons. Google provides case studies on the GAEE site, but finding formal documented research in dissertations is challenging. Links available in this post feature the Oregon Department of Education, NY IS339, and Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) and Google Apps Education Edition.

Recently Oregon Department of Education made the news for being the first state to partner with Google to allow the schools in Oregon to implement GAEE. You can take 55 minutes to watch the YouTube version of the recorded webinar or bookmark it for incremental reviews. They estimate savings of $1.5M per year by moving to Google Apps and answer questions from training to CIPA and FERPA. Join Steve Nelson, Chief IT Strategist for the Oregon Department of Education, and Jaime Casap, Business Development Manager for Google Apps Education, for this recorded webinar to hear the benefits of Google Apps, why Oregon decided to "Go Google", and plans for using Google Apps with all the schools.

More information from the Oregon Dept of Ed and Google Apps presentation:
The published slide presentation
The Question and Answer session
Oregon Department of Education Google Apps Case Study
Google Moderator Questions and Answers for the ODoEd webinar

In June 2009, PBS Frontline Digital Nation did a piece titled, How Google Saved a School? Principal Jason Levy used Google applications and a 1-to-1 laptop program to turn around Intermediate School 339.
IS 339 Dot-to-Dot A digital celebration program for 2010 is scheduled for June 16-19, 2010
Presentations from the 2009 Dot-to-Dot program
Follow Jason Levy, Principal of IS339 on Twitter
About Dot-to-Dot A Global Learning Reception FAQ


Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) Project Plans for Google Apps.
18th largest school district in US, 209 Schools, 129,500 Students, Over 22,000 Employees, Over 60,000 Computers. Change from previous presentations 20K more computers, 6K less employees.

Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) has been Googlized and subsites of presentations at CloudCamp, CoSN 2010, Gartner 2009, NECC 2009, MICCA 2009, ASBO 2009.

Google in Education - Diigo

Dr. Helen Barrett's ePortfolio Mash Up with GoogleApps (2007)

More information is available from the Google Apps Education Resource Center where you can:
Learn More:  Customer Case Studies, Resource Center, Security & Privacy FAQ

Get Started: Quick Start Guide, Google Apps Education FAQ
Downloads: Security Whitepaper, Google Apps for K12, Google Apps for K12 FAQ, Google Education Solutions, Improving the writing process with Google Docs
In the classroom: K-12 Lesson Plans
Stay Connected: Quarterly EDU Newsletter, New Features Email & RSS, Google Enterprise Blog, Google Apps on Twitter

Opposition articles:
ITS delays switch to GMail Yale Daily News March 30, 2010
Gmail pilot ends UC Davis opts not to outsource faculty, staff email  May 1, 2010
Biggest US cloud deployment kills Google Apps for Education ZDNet June 4, 2010

Would love any references to educators, administrators, and students who are or have participated in any action research as schools progress through the GAEE implementation. Are you part of a school, district, or state that has or is implementing Google Apps Education Edition? What happens if you attend school that has implemented GAEE then transfer to a school lacking technology or vice versa? Thoughts, comments, and recommendations are welcome.

Learning another Language?

With so many Internet connected devices, the different reasons to learn another language, and the diverse resources available for those exploring learning opportunities about a foreign language what is one to do? What if you want to type in the foreign language? Convert existing documents? Read a current web page in another language? Contribute to wikis about other languages? For those who enjoy options, here are a few:


Google Translate - Translate text, webpages, and documents.
Google Translate Tools - Add Google Translator to your website and/or add Google Translate to your toolbar for 1 click translations.
Google Translator Toolkit  Allows human translators to work faster and more accurately, aided by technologies like Google Translate. How is this different from Google Translate?
Google Translated Search - Search other websites in a foreign language.
Google Translate for Chrome Translate any webpage with one click.


Typing Spanish Accents Information for users of Windows 3.11, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Using the U.S. - International Keyboard, and Mac Users to change the keyboard options or use the cryptic keys.


Typing in Spanish - A table summarizes some key combinations that are useful on various platforms. It also shows the codes for HTML and RSS files.  


Wikijunior Languages From Arabic to Urdu and options to contribute to other languages being developed from Albanian to Yiddish. 


SpanishPod Mobile for iPhones and Androids Learning on your mobile device.


Wikibooks - Languages - Languages are categorized by featured wikibooks and subsections.


Spanish Wikibook in English and Spanish

Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center Resources - Resources include culture and area studies materials, country familiarization materials with language phrase books, and online reading and listening lessons for independent learners.

Global Language Online Support System (GLOSS) - more than 4,000 lessons, GLOSS is a valuable resource in maintaining and improving language ability of the learners.


Byki - Personalized language learning system from flash cards, ecards, iPhone Twitter app, and more for over 70 languages.


Transparent Language - Free Language Resources from word of the day, vocabulary, blogs to social media connections. 


Cybrary Man's Educational Web Sites for EFL, ELL, ESL, and Bilingual Ed


Many resources for learning a second language are available through the Internet. A countless number of programs, books, and learning opportunities are available for anyone seeking a second (or 3rd, 4th, or insert number here) language. So whether you are learning another language for career progression, education, vacation, tutoring, or you are curious some resources are listed in this post.  Your shared recommendations, links, and additional resources are always welcome.