BSD Technology
Burrell School District utilizes Google Workspace for Education for teaching and learning. Each student K-12 has their own district email address to access their district issued Chromebook.
Burrell School District Family Communication Services
Facilitating a seamless web experience for all Burrell students and staff through the web.
* Browsers like Safari and Edge may not fully support Google apps *
For the convenience of our families, Google Meet is BSD's conferencing system.
A personal or student Google account is needed for access.
Email application used by the district in addition to Skyward for communication.
@burrell.k12.pa.us
Student-Issued Technology
Chromebook
All students are provided with a district-issued Chromebook and charger for their education.
Badge
(K-3 only)
Student badges include their name, student ID, QR code (Chromebook login) and barcode (library books & lunch).
Stylus
K-5 and 9th grade Chromebooks are touch screen. Elementary touchscreens are best utilized with their finger while 4, 5 and 9 are provided with a district-issued pen-type stylus.
Chromebook Bag
All BSD students receive a Chromebook bag to organize and protect their district issued technology.
Tech Tips Tuesday
November 16, 2021:
Google Calendar's latest feature is called Focus Time. It allows you to create time on your calendar so that new and/or existing meetings can be automatically declined with a customized message as to why you are unavailable. See it in action HERE (vid does not have sound).
Introducing Google Docs Smart Chips! Docs most recent upgrade allows tagging of people, files and events. Check it out HERE and learn how you can use it to level up your Docs game!
October 26, 2021: Work Smarter, Not Harder
October 19, 2021: Did you know that you can highlight your cursor on your Chromebook for demonstration purposes? Click on the clock in the bottom right corner. Click on Accessibility > Scroll down to the section, Additional Settings > Click Highlight mouse cursor. This way, as you are demonstrating, your audience is able to follow your cursor on the screen.
(If you do not see Accessibility click on Settings > Advanced > Always show accessibility options in the system menu.)
Instead of going to Google Drive each time to create a new Doc, Slides, Form or Sheet, you can type into the address bar (omnibox) docs.new, slides.new, forms.new, sheets.new. Try it, it's a huge time saver!!
October 12, 2021:
Chromebook keyboard Image
Chromebook Shortcuts are an easy way to make quick work of tasks instead of digging through menus. An easy way to force yourself to remember them is to pick one and teach it to your students.
TIP: A frustration when working in Google Slides, especially when your Slides are vertical, is having the slide change upon scrolling to the top or bottom of the slide to see it. Make this quick change in your Preferences to keep the slide you are working on in place. Google Slides: Tools > Preferences > Do not change slide focus on scroll
October 5, 2021: Google Drive Tips
Ignore #2 - we already have Google Drive installed!
Tip #8 - Copy and paste the address below https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/search?q=%s
September 21, 2021:
September 7, 2021: Open your Google Calendar to be seen within the district for scheduling purposes.
Open Google Calendar > on the left side you will see a list of your calendars. Find your name > hover your cursor to see the snowman. Click the snowman > Settings & Sharing > scroll to the section called Access permissions for events. > Click Make available for Burrell School District and set the dropbox to See only free/busy (hide details).
When scheduling an appointment through the Google Calendar with someone in the District, add their name to the guest line. Click FIND A TIME and if their calendar is shared (and it should be) you will be able to see the times they are available.
PL Coaches (or anyone else who would want/need to) share your calendar with your co-coach or building admin > scroll to the section called Share with Specific People > Add people > add the person and choose the permissions of your choice.
May 18, 2021: Did you know Kami has a comment/annotation bank?
Instead of copying and pasting or retyping , save your most frequently used annotations for assignment/assessment feedback to the bank! You can even organize the bank into folders by assignment, course, etc. for reuse. Check out the video HERE to see it in action. Be sure to watch in its entirety. There are a lot of really great tips embedded in this less than 10 minute nugget.
Another fun Kami hack is to use the signature tool for uploading Bitmojis of yourself to insert them as stickers into a student's assignment. For example, if you'd like to tell a student they did a, "Good Job!" use the Bitmoji Chrome extension, search for your Bitmoji, right click, save and upload into Kami.
Animated .gif images can be used too as stickers through the Signature tool. How fun would it be for a student to open their feedback from you to see an animated image!
More Teacher Resources:
May 11, 2021: Google Level 1 Certification preparation at the Google Teacher Center
May 4, 2021: Instead of forgetting to collect email addresses, making questions required and changing the default quiz point value, change the default settings for all Forms!! Open a Form > click the snowman (three vertical dots, top right) > Preferences. The screenshot below shows the three default settings that can be changed. Each Form created in the future will follow the settings you've selected.
April 27, 2021: Google Apps Activity Dashboard - Have you ever noticed the chart looking arrow next to the Share button in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides? This button opens the Activity Dashboard for your file. The Activity Dashboard shows you a list of collaborators who viewed or commented on your file. For more information about the Activity Dashboard click HERE. This could be a quick way for you to track students.
April 13, 2021: YouTube tips - If you have 30 minutes, HERE is the entire playback explaining each item in greater detail and a few others.
(11:56) Picture in picture: Double right click on the video to reveal a popup box that includes the option to use Picture in Picture. While watching a video tutorial, you can pop out the video to be picture in picture that will follow you to other screens.
(13:52) Force users to open a video full screen, without comments and ad free! VideoLink no longer needed. Open your YouTube video > Go to the omnibox (search/address bar) > add a "-" (dash) after the T in YouTube. Copy and paste the new address to share/post.
(17:11) Control start and end time of a video in Slides. Need only a clip of a video? Insert > video > paste URL of YouTube video > Format options > Video playback > control start and end time to only what is needed.
March 9, 2021: Check out THIS explanation for how to use the Jigsaw Method of group collaboration when online. If you have an extra 30 min, I highly recommend watching the entire video as it explains everything outlined above in slightly greater detail. HERE is also the slide deck from this presentation if you'd like to click through.
November 17, 2020: Chrome Tab Groups
November 10, 2020: Did you know you can drag and drop the apps in your waffle to reorganize them?
October 13, 2020:
Links across devices - Right click on the tab > Send to your Devices > Choose which device you would like to send the page.
September 29, 2020: Google Meet Breakout Rooms
May 12, 2020: Did you know?
... you can be the first to try Google’s newest product offerings? If you’d like to see what is in Beta, check out there list HERE.
... you can add tasks to your list directly from an email? See how HERE.
... you can request a Read Receipt for your email? Check out how HERE.
... you can schedule an email to send? Check out how HERE.
April 13, 2020: Google Forms as assessments
April 7, 2020: Open Google Slides in present mode, screenshots and permissions
Tech Tips Tuesday
November 16, 2021:
Google Calendar's latest feature is called Focus Time. It allows you to create time on your calendar so that new and/or existing meetings can be automatically declined with a customized message as to why you are unavailable. See it in action HERE (vid does not have sound).
Introducing Google Docs Smart Chips! Docs most recent upgrade allows tagging of people, files and events. Check it out HERE and learn how you can use it to level up your Docs game!
October 26, 2021: Work Smarter, Not Harder
October 19, 2021: Did you know that you can highlight your cursor on your Chromebook for demonstration purposes? Click on the clock in the bottom right corner. Click on Accessibility > Scroll down to the section, Additional Settings > Click Highlight mouse cursor. This way, as you are demonstrating, your audience is able to follow your cursor on the screen.
(If you do not see Accessibility click on Settings > Advanced > Always show accessibility options in the system menu.)
Instead of going to Google Drive each time to create a new Doc, Slides, Form or Sheet, you can type into the address bar (omnibox) docs.new, slides.new, forms.new, sheets.new. Try it, it's a huge time saver!!
October 12, 2021:
Chromebook keyboard Image
Chromebook Shortcuts are an easy way to make quick work of tasks instead of digging through menus. An easy way to force yourself to remember them is to pick one and teach it to your students.
TIP: A frustration when working in Google Slides, especially when your Slides are vertical, is having the slide change upon scrolling to the top or bottom of the slide to see it. Make this quick change in your Preferences to keep the slide you are working on in place. Google Slides: Tools > Preferences > Do not change slide focus on scroll
October 5, 2021: Google Drive Tips
Ignore #2 - we already have Google Drive installed!
Tip #8 - Copy and paste the address below https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/search?q=%s
September 21, 2021:
September 7, 2021: Open your Google Calendar to be seen within the district for scheduling purposes.
Open Google Calendar > on the left side you will see a list of your calendars. Find your name > hover your cursor to see the snowman. Click the snowman > Settings & Sharing > scroll to the section called Access permissions for events. > Click Make available for Burrell School District and set the dropbox to See only free/busy (hide details).
When scheduling an appointment through the Google Calendar with someone in the District, add their name to the guest line. Click FIND A TIME and if their calendar is shared (and it should be) you will be able to see the times they are available.
PL Coaches (or anyone else who would want/need to) share your calendar with your co-coach or building admin > scroll to the section called Share with Specific People > Add people > add the person and choose the permissions of your choice.
May 18, 2021: Did you know Kami has a comment/annotation bank?
Instead of copying and pasting or retyping , save your most frequently used annotations for assignment/assessment feedback to the bank! You can even organize the bank into folders by assignment, course, etc. for reuse. Check out the video HERE to see it in action. Be sure to watch in its entirety. There are a lot of really great tips embedded in this less than 10 minute nugget.
Another fun Kami hack is to use the signature tool for uploading Bitmojis of yourself to insert them as stickers into a student's assignment. For example, if you'd like to tell a student they did a, "Good Job!" use the Bitmoji Chrome extension, search for your Bitmoji, right click, save and upload into Kami.
Animated .gif images can be used too as stickers through the Signature tool. How fun would it be for a student to open their feedback from you to see an animated image!
More Teacher Resources:
May 11, 2021: Google Level 1 Certification preparation at the Google Teacher Center
May 4, 2021: Instead of forgetting to collect email addresses, making questions required and changing the default quiz point value, change the default settings for all Forms!! Open a Form > click the snowman (three vertical dots, top right) > Preferences. The screenshot below shows the three default settings that can be changed. Each Form created in the future will follow the settings you've selected.
April 27, 2021: Google Apps Activity Dashboard - Have you ever noticed the chart looking arrow next to the Share button in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides? This button opens the Activity Dashboard for your file. The Activity Dashboard shows you a list of collaborators who viewed or commented on your file. For more information about the Activity Dashboard click HERE. This could be a quick way for you to track students.
April 13, 2021: YouTube tips - If you have 30 minutes, HERE is the entire playback explaining each item in greater detail and a few others.
(11:56) Picture in picture: Double right click on the video to reveal a popup box that includes the option to use Picture in Picture. While watching a video tutorial, you can pop out the video to be picture in picture that will follow you to other screens.
(13:52) Force users to open a video full screen, without comments and ad free! VideoLink no longer needed. Open your YouTube video > Go to the omnibox (search/address bar) > add a "-" (dash) after the T in YouTube. Copy and paste the new address to share/post.
(17:11) Control start and end time of a video in Slides. Need only a clip of a video? Insert > video > paste URL of YouTube video > Format options > Video playback > control start and end time to only what is needed.
March 9, 2021: Check out THIS explanation for how to use the Jigsaw Method of group collaboration when online. If you have an extra 30 min, I highly recommend watching the entire video as it explains everything outlined above in slightly greater detail. HERE is also the slide deck from this presentation if you'd like to click through.
November 17, 2020: Chrome Tab Groups
November 10, 2020: Did you know you can drag and drop the apps in your waffle to reorganize them?
October 13, 2020:
Links across devices - Right click on the tab > Send to your Devices > Choose which device you would like to send the page.
September 29, 2020: Google Meet Breakout Rooms
May 12, 2020: Did you know?
... you can be the first to try Google’s newest product offerings? If you’d like to see what is in Beta, check out there list HERE.
... you can add tasks to your list directly from an email? See how HERE.
... you can request a Read Receipt for your email? Check out how HERE.
... you can schedule an email to send? Check out how HERE.
April 13, 2020: Google Forms as assessments
April 7, 2020: Open Google Slides in present mode, screenshots and permissions