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Top Stories
Welcome to our new Technology Coach!
Welcome to our new Technology Coach!
Joining the Department of Technology this year is Elizabeth Palow, the new Secondary Instructional Tech Coach. Elizabeth joins us from Highline School District, where she was a middle school CTE teacher, and she was previously a Technology Coach in San Antonio, TX. She will be providing instructional support and coaching for secondary teachers, and is looking forward to meeting with teachers and visiting classrooms (real or virtual) to understand our district and our students' needs. Please give her a warm Auburn welcome when you meet her!
Distance Learning Week - Over 800 Teachers Engaged!
Distance Learning Week - Over 800 Teachers Engaged!
With over 65 asynchronous and synchronous sessions sessions offered, Distance Learning Week served over 800 teachers in ongoing technology support and training while also introducing new educators to the tools, resources, and network available to them in the Auburn School District.
With synchronous sessions focusing on quality instructional tools like Seesaw, IXL, and Wonders, teachers accessed new perspectives around application in distance learning. Simultaneously teacher leaders crafted online learning experiences on FlipGrid and Google Classroom among other essential tools to enhance the online experience for students.
Recordings of synchronous sessions and asynchronous Classroom codes will be available throughout the school year for teachers to access. Return to these amazing resources through the August 24-28 Distance Learning Training Schedule. Look for continued ongoing technology support and training in the coming weeks and continue to connect with your school's Instructional Technology Support Specialists or Instructional Technology Coach for further instructional tool questions.
Tech Tools
Tech Tools
Google Chat
Google Chat
Staff in the Auburn School District can now access the Google Chat application for communications among other staff members.
Maintain the boundaries between your work and home life by keeping work conversations in this designated space with your Auburn Google account and out of your personal channels. With direct messages and group conversation capabilities, Google Chat can integrate into many of the files, tasks and applications used during distance learning.
Start your first chat with a colleague by going to chat.google.com.
Google Meet Updates
Google Meet Updates
As teachers settle in to Distance Learning, and students find more ways to misbehave online, the Department of Technology has made some changes to Google Meet to prevent certain undesirable behaviors:
Students Blocked from Starting Meets
To prevent students entering Meets before the teacher and obtaining the host privileges (recording, muting/removing participants), they are now blocked from starting their own Google Meet sessions. Teachers can check that they have host privileges by looking for the blue shield icon next to the Meeting Details.
There are also the following updates from Google, which will roll out over the month of September:
Quick Access (Waiting Room)
Meeting hosts will have access to new meeting safety controls to manage who can join their meetings. To control access to their meetings, hosts can turn "Quick access" on or off. By default, this setting will be on.
When "Quick access" is on:
Participants in the same domain as the host do not need to knock to request to join the meeting.
Participants joining by phone do not need to knock to request to join the meeting.
Participants can dial-out from within the meeting.
When "Quick access" is turned off:
All users, including those in the same domain as the host, must knock to request to join the meeting unless they're on the calendar invite. This includes any users who are dialing in to the meeting by phone.
Any participants invited from within the meeting by anyone other than the host need to knock to request to join.
Only the host can dial-out from within the meeting.
Hosts can turn "Quick access" on or off as often as they wish from Google Meet on the web once the meeting has started.
Grid View
You can now see up to 49 people at the same time in the auto and tiled layout options in Google Meet. This removes the need for the Grid View extension, which some teachers have requested.
Background Blur
To help limit distractions during meetings, you will be able to blur the background of your video in Google Meet. When it’s turned on, Meet will intelligently separate you from the background, blurring your surroundings while keeping you clear and in focus.
Noise Filter
There will also be the ability to filter out disruptive background noise in Google Meet. Together, these features reduce audio and visual distractions, and help ensure more productive meetings. (There is no filter to remove disruptive pets and children yet.)
Clever EdTech Analytics Extension
Clever EdTech Analytics Extension
To help ensure that our students are connecting with their classes during Distance Learning and to provide a fuller picture of student use of online tools, the Department of Technology is rolling out a new extension to all student Chromebooks and staff computers: Clever Plus.
Users will receive a notification about the new extension when it is installed. Students may have questions about its purpose, or wonder whether it is something suspicious. It is perfectly safe, and will provide students additional functionality with saved passwords.
Instruction
Instruction
Distance Learning Resources
Distance Learning Resources
Balancing screen time and creating engaging lessons through Distance Learning can be a challenge without the right tools. To see how to develop lessons for synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences for your students, check out the Blended Learning website for helpful tips and tricks.
As we transition back to in-person learning, think about the digital tools you have used with your students during Distance Learning that you want to continue using with your classes throughout the school year.
Digital Citizenship
Digital Citizenship
As students engage in Distance Learning, and spend ever more time online, they may need some extra help with understanding responsible technology use. To help teachers with this, DoT have put together a website full of resources for teaching Digital Citizenship. Click the button below to explore the site:
Also, each school is working on a systemic plan for ensuring every student receives Digital Citizenship lessons. These will be added to the site as they completed and updated.
Data Security
Data Security
Email Etiquette - Place Groups in Your BCC Line
Email Etiquette - Place Groups in Your BCC Line
When sending messages to large groups of people, or using the distribution lists in Outlook, an unintended consequence is people hitting "reply all". This swamps everyone's inbox with often useless (and frequently irritating) messages.
To avoid this issue, place these groups in the Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) line of your email. Any reply-alls will only go to those listed in the To: or CC: lines. If you do not not see this line in Outlook, it can be turned on from the Options menu when composing a new message.
It is good practice to start your messages with a list of the groups included, so everyone is aware of who is receiving the email.
Enabling BCC in Outlook 2016
Help Desk
Help Desk
Cleaning Up Your Chromebooks
Cleaning Up Your Chromebooks
Students or staff who are experiencing slow-downs with their Chromebook may need to clean up their files to return to peak performance. Here is a quick guide to help.
Students will receive a reminder to carry out this maintenance in the third week of September.
Clearing History on your Chromebook:
On your Chromebook, open the Chrome browser.
Click on the menu (top right corner of your window)
Click More tools
Clear browsing data (CTRL+Shift+Del)
At the top in the “Basic” section, choose a time range. To delete everything, select All time.
Next to "Cookies and other site data" and "Cached images and files," check the boxes.
Click Clear data.
Cookies and cache can make your device more vulnerable to security hacks or delays over time, so it is important to regularly clear your cookies and cache on your Chromebook can help keep your information safe and speed up your online experience.
Cookies
Cookies are files created by websites to save your information to make your browsing experience faster and more aligned to your interests and browsing experiences. This can also save your login information and your shopping cart for saving purchases you may have second thoughts about. Over time, if too many of these build up, they can slow down your computer and will need to be removed.
Cache
Cache is designed to save on loading time for websites you’ve already visited. It saves images on sites to make loading the website faster. This is helpful because images can be large files that take a while to load, but a cached image saves your browser time trying to load the image. If too large of a cache is created, it can slow down your computer and affect its performance.
Deleting Files on a Chromebook:
On your Chromebook, open the Apps window to see your "Files" Folder.
Click on the "Files" Folder
In the left menu, go to My files
Click on Downloads
Search for the file you want to delete
Click on the file you want to delete to select it (Hold the CTRL button to select multiple files)
Click on the trash icon to delete the file
Confirm your decision by clicking "Delete" again, to permanently delete this file from your Chromebook
Shout out!
Shout out!
Distance Learning Week Presenters
Distance Learning Week Presenters
A huge shout out to the many teachers who shared their expertise during our Distance Learning Week, and helped our teachers prepare for the start of a very unique year!
Kara Abernathy-Freidman • Traci Anderson • Mary Beckett • Megan Black • Jaclynn Board • Maeghan Bowman
Hannah Brenlan • Lacey Burchett • Jami Burtis • Taryn Capps • Michelle Dodge • Lainee Dow • Lisa Gallinatti
Ana Kear • Chelsi Kessler • Casey Killett • Jessica Lee • Denise Maria • Michael Martin • Julie Mckenzie
Stephanie Schliecher • Deanna Tompkins • Jessica Udd
Technology Support in our Schools
Technology Support in our Schools
The beginning of the school year always brings a wave of tech support needs, but working exclusively remotely creates even more need for technology resources. BIG THANKS to our Building Tech Coordinators for all of their work to prepare technology for staff and students. Also, appreciation to our NEW Distance Learning Technology Assistants (DLTA) who are our front line in providing real-time help to students and families while they are learning at home. Teachers may wish to share their DLTA contact and/or the language lines to families.
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