2012-11-HHS

Tech update – November v.1

Announcing a new Information Services Website

We’ve been working on this for a while (thanks mostly to Becky Crane) but we feel as if we’re ready to introduce the new, comprehensive, information services website. The url is: http://www.hhstech.org/infoservices/. At this location, staff can find copies of tutorials and best practices along with information about how to get help with various issues. In addition, students will be able to get tutorials on e-mail, logging into the server from home, information about resources available to them, etc. There will also be announcements about classes, upcoming maintenance, network outages, policy updates, and more. The site is still in it’s infancy and we’ll be making improvements as the year goes on. Please let us know what you think and give suggestions for how we can make this a resource that is helpful to you.

Grades and Comments

A reminder to look at your Final Grades setup to make sure that everything is calculating as you intend it to. If you need help setting that up, contact me or contact one of the “Grade Gurus” in your department but please don’t ignore it. The earlier “Grades Setup” is configured, the better. Also, a tip for those of you who would like to get an early start on your comments but don’t want them published in the portal. One idea is to create a document for comments, type them in, spell and grammar check them and then copy and paste them into the portal when you have them the way you want them.

Google keeps on changing…

You may notice that over the next few weeks, Google is changing how it handles new messages. You will receive a message asking if you’d like to switch over to “Composer”. It’s o.k. to say yes. This new feature allows you to compose a message while still seeing your “inbox” behind the window. You can also have multiple messages on the screen at the same time. When you get the message announcing the change, I would suggest that you take a minute or two to flip through their training info. In the streamlining process, many menus get moved/consolidated. The training info is very good about explaining these changes. Finally, if you change over to composer and find that it doesn’t work properly, chances are you need to update your browser. Contact hhstech@dresden.us and we’ll help you out. Here is the link for more info from Google on this change: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/introducing-new-compose-in-gmail.html

“Save as” Issues in Pages

Many of you have noticed that the “Save As” menu in Pages is no longer there. Rob Gere prepared a short video linked here that explains why and what to do to get around this glitch.https://docs.google.com/a/hanovernorwichschools.org/open?id=0B-DUIKGJtLtQSXVPRG9SZnJHaTg

Site of the Month

DropBox is a very handy cloud-based application for teachers. It allows you to set up a space (much like Google Drive) that allows you to access your files anywhere. It provides you with a space to backup from your computer and then allows you to access them on your iPhone, iPad, home computer, etc. The basic service is free and it is particularly useful if you’re going to make use of the school’s iPads for video projects. Students set up their own DropBox account and then share their work from the iPads to their DropBox account (for safekeeping) and to yours so that you can gather the work electronically. For more information on how this service works, go tohttps://www.dropbox.com/ and watch the short video detailing how it works or stop by the computer lab and we’ll help you get set up.