District Core Membership Services
Advisory Council Coordination
The TIS Advisory Council consists of representatives from each member district. Meetings are held monthly during the school year and the purpose is to provide a communication link between the districts, IU and State. Districts are made aware of special offerings and programs at these meetings.
Consortium Purchase Coordination
MCIU is constantly looking for ways to offer joint purchasing opportunities to our local school entities. Through these efforts, school districts will be able to benefit from cost savings. We will coordinate county-wide offers from technology vendors to leverage purchasing power. These include hardware, software, and services. Current consortium pricing is available for PowerSchool, Gales Content, Hewlett-Packard computers, videoconferencing equipment, and computer leasing.
Consultation and Leadership
Through the district CORE contributions, MCIU provides ongoing consultation and leadership in the area of technology. Our staff can assist with the technology planning process and may serve on planning committees at district's request. The director and other technology administrators are readily abailable to support local school district initiatives, as needed.
County Speaker's Bureau
MCIU maintains a list of expert speakers available to present on a variety of technology-related topics. We can help you identify the perfect presenter and topic for your event and can facilitate pricing negotiations. Presenters range from the local to national level.
Educational Technology Resources
MCIU has various educational technology resources available for our local school districts. In addition to researching and evaluating the newest educational technology resources, we develop new applications designed to meet the needs of our districts.
eRate (consortium applications and consulting)
eRate is a federal program that discounts telecommunications and Internet services for schools and libraries. As part of the TIS core eRate service, all consortium networking applications are submitted and reimbursements distributed to member districts.
Grant Writing for Technology Needs
MCIU will spearhead efforts to obtain technology grants that meet the needs of our school districts and the mission of the MCIU. Consortium grant applications that benefit he county are included in membership services.
Internet2 Access
Internet 2 is a research and academic network connecting institutions throughout the world with the ability to have nation-wide and international videoconferencing, and access to instruments such as microscopes and telescopes. Coordination of these projects is handled through the MCIU partnership with MAGPI at the University of Pennsylvania. As part of membership services, 2 MB of Internet2 bandwidth is provided.
Moodle Hosting and Support
As part of the membership services, the local school district can expect to receive the following: your choice of domain name; total storage limit on your Moodle site of 10 GB; maximum size of files able to be uploaded is 50 MB; 5 hours of technical support; basic Moodle skin template; Moodle security/version updates included; nightly backups; LDAP authentication; live sute statistics and graphs.
Technology Planning
All districts must submit a technology plan to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. MCIU can assist your district with the eStrategic Planning tool and the technology planning process. Our staff is also available to serve on planning committees.
User Group Coordination
Special interest support groups are established for sharing and problem-solving. Meetings may take place in person or virtually. PowerSchool and Moodle users groups are being formed. Please contact us if you are interested in developing a technology-related user group.
Vendor Workshops
Through partnerships with technology vendors, TIS offers seminars and workshops on a variety of topics. Vendors participate in council meetings only at the specific request of the group.
Videoconferencing Coordination
Basic videoconferencing support is provided to local districts. This includes connection testing and gatekeeper services via our Polycom CMA. Expanded services are available in the fee-based section.
Department Contacts