October 2021
Digital Citizenship Week - October 18-22, 2021
Engage students with daily activities
Use these CASEL-aligned activities to help students reflect on how technology impacts their social and emotional well-being.
Google Meet Updates
Zoom has made some recent changes to their app. If you decide to continue to use Zoom, use a PC or laptop when hosting a Zoom meeting. Please be advised that the Zoom Grid view is NOT working on Chromebooks.
At this time the district is recommending using Google Meet if the users are using Chromebooks. Below are some tutorials and a list of updates.
What's New in Google Meet? A lot!
2021 Monthly Enhancements:
September 2021
New Google Meet Translated captions beta
Mute all participants on iOS
August 2021
Add Co-hosts to Google Meet
June 2021
Add captions to live streams
Cross Domain Live Streaming
Google Meet recordings available for Education Plus "student" licenses
New Admin settings for joining meetings
New updates to Hand Raise on desktops & laptops
May 2021
New languages for Google Meet captions
New Google Meet layout
Check your meeting code expiration
Present to Google Meet from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
2021 Monthly Enhancements
April 2021
Turn on Meet saver mode to save data, battery power and limit CPU
Q&A with Google Meet is available on Android devices
Polls in Google Meet are available on Android devices
New Android Safety controls for Education users
End meeting for all on an iOS
March 2021
Tile view now on Android
New caption languages for Google Meet on mobile
Tile view now on iOS
New iOS Safety controls for Education users
Q&A with Google Meet is available on iOS Devices
Polls in Google Meet are available on iOS Devices
Create Breakout rooms before a video call through Google Calendar
Use Meet Global Dialing for Google Workspace meetings
February 2021
End meeting for all
Mute all for Education users
Preview how you look and sound before a video call
2020 Monthly Enhancements
December 2020
New languages for Google Meet captions
November 2020
Updates to attendance tracking
Updates to breakout rooms in Google Meet
Hand Raising with Google Meet
Start and Join a Google Meet video call through Google Hangouts
Accept knocks in bulk in Google Meet
October 2020
Change your Background in Google Meet
New look for the Google Meet Android App
Try breakout rooms in Google Meet
Dial-in from more countries with Google Meet
Ask questions or conduct polls on Google Meet
September 2020
Filter out noise during Google Meet meetings on mobile
Get attendance reports for education users on Google Meet
Use a whiteboard in Google Meet
Updates to tiled view
Blur your background in Google Meet
Added participant controls for education users in Google Meet
New look for the Google Meet iOS app
Present & chat capabilities for education users
August 2020
Cast Google Meet to your TV
Block participants from knocking again
July 2020
Blocking anonymous users from education meetings on Google Meet
June 2020
Filter out noise in video meetings
Meet in Gmail for Mobile
Improvements to tiled layouts
Saved layout preferences
May 2020
Hide or show Meet in Gmail
Meet premium video meetings—free for everyone
April 2020
Tiled layout for larger calls
Meet in Gmail for web
Present high-quality video and audio in Meet
Low-light mode on mobile devices
March 2020
New controls for education accounts
Software News
Screencastify New Enhancements:
More Active Learning: Interactive Questions will allow educators to engage students by adding multiple-choice questions. Students get instant feedback on their answers, and teachers can view their student’s responses and scores.
Look Who's Watching: With Analytics, a snapshot of student engagement will be just a click away. Get a list of everyone who has viewed the video via the Watch Page Link and the total number of times the viewer logged in to watch.
To find out more, join the on-demand webinar
Update on Easy Interactive Software at Avery and DHS
Epson Easy Interactive 5.03 software.mp4EdTech Instructional Video Library
During the 2020-2021 school year, I put this video library together because I wanted people to have access to the many, many videos that myself or staff members have created. In this library, there is some really great information. One warning.....software is dynamic and some of the videos, although created last year, may already be out of date. It's not a sustainable model, but I wanted to share it with you regardless.
Accessibility and Engagement Tips!
I was in search of an answer to a question about removing ads from a website when I remembered a presentation that myself and Karen MacKenzie-Sleeman did at a DHS PD in December of 2019. This presentation, adapted from a MassCue presentation by Kara Wilkins, is a reminder of some of the easy steps teachers can take to make materials more accessiable and engaging for all students.