October 2024

Tech Tips

Innovation Funds

Looking for new tech tools for your students? There's money for that!

The 2020 Tech Levy provides funds for classrooms to integrate new technology that is not already supplied by the district: subscriptions to online tools, coding robots, video equipment, podcasting gear - the list goes on.

If you have an idea for an innovative project, see the Innovation Funds Process document and work with your administrator to submit. The first review of applications will be 13th October.

Helpdesk

ABC - Always Be Charging

When using Chromebooks in school, it's important to keep the battery healthy, so that it will continue to last all day. Staff and students should try to charge their Chromebook as often as possible -- for staff, leaving it plugged-in all day will help to maintain battery life.

Previous types of batteries performed better when completely drained, then charged fully. This is not recommended for the new lithium ion batteries in our ASD devices.

Instructional Technology

Groups in Google Classroom

The time has finally arrived - the student groups feature in Google Classroom is here! In each of your classrooms that you would like to use groups, you will navigate to the People tab and click on Groups in the Students section. Once you make student groups here, you will be able to easily assign things to the groups. Gone are the days of selecting all the individual student names to customize your assignment sharing! 🎉

Check out the GIF or click this link to learn more about using student groups in Google Classroom.

Daily Calendar Math in Seesaw

While Calendar Math isn't a new addition in Seesaw, we thought it might be a good time to remind folks about this time-saving and robust ready-to-go activity for our K-2 classrooms. Each month has standard calendar things, such as days of the week, weather, special days, and tracking days in school. However, there are also quick warm-ups connected to math standards to add in that little extra review. If you happen to have a Newline board in your classroom, it would be so fun to have students come up to the board and interact with the learning, too. The Calendar Math activities can be found in the Daily Routines category of the Seesaw Library.

Click here to hop over to the October edition of Calendar Math.

Guardian Access View in Google Classroom

Email summaries in Google Classroom only give guardians very basic information about completed, missing, and upcoming assignments. Classroom's new Guardian Access allows parents to see their student assignments in the Google Classroom environment, almost as if they were students in the Classroom. Guardians can't view communications in the Classroom, but they can view their students' assignments, directions, and submitted attachments. You can enable Guardian Access in the Google Classroom settings.

Tech Tools

Adblocker Changes

Until now, the Department of Technology has been recommending uBlock Origin as an adblocker for staff and students. With changes to how Google's extensions work, this will soon become obsolete and staff are encouraged to install uBlock Origin Lite, which provides the same functions with a streamlined interface.

For students, we will be removing uBlock Origin from Chromebooks starting 4th October. They can download the updated extension at the same link, or by visiting the Chrome Web Store.

Newline Q Pro Support

Removing Apps Default

This feature allows you to access Documents, Slides, and your Drive directly through Chrome without them automatically opening in their respective desktop apps. You'll be able to keep them open as tabs in Chrome, similar to how they function on your Chromebook.

An Introduction for Guests

Learn how to effectively use a Newline Q Pro board as a substitute teacher or guest in someone else’s classroom. Just don’t forget to log off when you're done!

Uploading Screen Captures to Your Google Drive

Learn how to upload your screen captures all at once, making it easy to save them for documentation or share directly with your students in Google Classroom.

AI Tools Update

As you have been learning about your own use of artificial intelligence (AI) for instruction, we have made certain recommended tools available to staff. This school year, students may also start using AI tools in line with ASD guidance. The exceptions at the moment are ChatGPT and Google Gemini -- we are awaiting the release of new privacy policies from these tools before unblocking them for students.

Later in the year, you can look forward to example lesson plans using AI tools thanks to our ASD teachers who have agreed to be AI Innovators, who are working closely with the Instructional Technology Team to create student experiences that embrace the possibilities of AI in the classroom.

Digital Citizenship

Media Balance

How much time do you spend on your phone? What you think and the actual amount might be very different! Your phone has a built-in setting that allows you to track your screen time (iOS | Android) as well as set limits for how much you can use certain apps, or make your phone less appealing as it gets closer to bedtime.

This is an important lesson for students (and staff!) to learn, as excessive phone use has been shown to have negative effects on mental health. Somewhat surprisingly, too little phone use can also have negative effects (feeling disconnected from the world, from friends, etc.) -- the trick is to get the balance right.

As you engage in Digital Citizenship conversations this year, encourage students to develop healthier relationships with their technology.

Data Security

Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which provides a reminder to ensure that you are keeping yourself safe online, along with the staff and student data with which you are trusted.

CISA (the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency) identifies the following four easy ways to protect your data:

Recognize and report phishing. Most successful online intrusions result from a recipient of a “phishing” message accidentally downloading malware or giving their personal information to a spammer. Do not click or engage with these phishing attempts. Instead, recognize them by their use of alarming language or offers that are too good to be true.
Use strong passwords. Simple passwords can be guessed. Make passwords at least 12 characters long, random and unique for each account. Use a password manager (e.g. Lastpass or Bitwarden), a secure program that maintains and creates passwords. This easy-to-use program will store passwords and fill them in automatically on the web.
Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA). While ASD has MFA for Microsoft, Google, and Skyward, you should also use MFA on any site that offers it (especially in your personal life). MFA provides an extra layer of security in addition to a password when logging into accounts and apps, like a fingerprint scan or a code sent by text. Using MFA will make you much less likely to get hacked.
Update software. When devices, apps or software programs (especially operating systems) notify us that updates are available, we should install them as soon as possible. Updates close security code bugs to better protect our data.

For more information and resources, see CISA's Secure Our World site.

Click here for a PDF of password tips

Skyward

Teachers, customize your Student List

On the Student List within Teacher Accesss (navigate from the main menu > Student > Features > Student List) new fields (student birthdate, SSID, and language) have been added. For futher customization, columns can be added, removed or reordered. Under the More dropdown, export the list to Excel or create a shortcut tile from your dashboard.

CTE Teachers - IRC and WBL Activities Training

October 29, from 3:45 pm to 4:45 pm Data Services is offering training to secondary CTE teachers on entering IRC and WBL Activities within Skyward Teacher Access. Sign up as part of the Fall Training Series.

Shout outs!

First graders in Ms. Slater's class at Hazelwood Elementary are excitedly exploring the Newline Board during their lesson.

The year is off to a great start with Newline Boards!

Kudos to our teachers at Auburn Riverside, Hazelwood, Ilalko, Lakeview, Rainier, and West Auburn who led a seamless start of the school year with their updated displays - the Newline Interactive Boards! We appreciate your excitement at implementing this new tool to provide students with an engaging, interactive, 21st-century educational experience. We're excited to see the many ways you'll use these powerful tools to enhance your students' learning journeys!

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