Tue, Oct 22, 2024

Penney Matos

Centennial HS's Digital Learning Coach

What is a DLC?

Status Dashboards

Having trouble with a site? Check out their dashboard:

Canvas Status
Clever Status
Google's G Suite Status
Kami Status
Lightspeed Status [Filter, Classroom Relay]
Nearpod Status
Respondus Status [Lockdown browser, StudyMate]

For Everyone

Designing for All: Best Practices for Creating Accessibility-Friendly Content

An FISD Tech Department coordinator (Teri Essy) created this presentation for the North Texas Canvas Users Group meeting: Designing for All: Best Practices for Creating Accessibility-Friendly Content

I highly recommend taking a look. It covers the ins and outs of best practice for creating digital content that is accessibility-friendly (ADA compliant). There are several recommendations that you may not have considered before!

Update Chromebooks

All staff and students need to update Chrome. Please remind students to update. Directions: Chromebook or other devices.

FISD Chromebooks are up-to-date when they reach Version 126.
Chrome browsers on other devices update to Version 130.

Note: If you use the FISD Testing Chromebook Carts, those Chromebooks need to be updated too. Please ask your students to check for update when using them.

Collaboration Corner

Lucid in Canvas

Recently, Michael Barnette was looking for a flowchart creator for his AP Computer Science 3 students to use on an upcoming assignment. The site he used for flowcharts in the past is no longer an option. We explored Lucid’s LucidChart Canvas integration and found that it meets his needs. Students click on the Lucid Assignment in Canvas and it automatically creates their copy of the teacher’s template (similar to a Google Assignments LTI 1.3 or Kami assignment). Students edit then submit when finished. Through the Lucid website, teachers can view students’ progress as they work! If you’re interested in exploring either of the parts of our Lucid integration: LucidChart (flowcharts) or LucidSpark (virtual whiteboard), reach out!

Things You May Have Missed

Assignments Best Practice

To best support our end users (students and parents), please follow these best practices:

Lesson Plan pages
- Use "course links" to link directly to Canvas Assignments, Quizzes, and Files.
- Assessment names should match in all 4 places:
  - Assessment Plan (if included in the plan)
  - eSchool's TAC (if included in the Assessment Plan)
  - Canvas Lesson Plan page
  - Assignment/Quiz in Canvas
Canvas Assignments
- Always assign a DUE DATE! This adds the Assignment/Quiz to your Canvas gradebook, the student's to-do list, their activity list, their Assignments "coming assignments" list, your and their Canvas calendars, and more! From and Until dates are optional.
- If the due date changes, update (1) the Canvas Lesson Plan page, (2) the Canvas assignment/quiz due date, (3) the assignment's due date in eSchool's TAC/HAC (if included), and (4) the Assessment Plan (if included).

Reach out for support!

News and Noteworthy Ed Tech

Diffit Premium Trial through December

Diffit is an artificial intelligence tool designed to assist educators in tailoring their teaching methods to accommodate students at various reading levels. Diffit has extended an offer for their Diffit Premium trial for all FISD teachers through the fall semester (through Dec. 31). If you're interested, click here.

Quick video walkthrough

Examples of teachers using Diffit

Canvas Updates

Below are some notable updates. For a full list of updates and more information about each, click here.

Oct 23 Deploy

For users with more than 3 assigned to cards, the "Add" button will appear at the top of the Add to tray (instead of having to scroll down to the bottom). Read more.

Sept 25 Deploy

Equation editor added to the RCE (Rich Content Editor). Read more.

MasteryConnect Updates

Sept 19 Deploy- Notable Updates

New Item Type: Drawing
Keyword Search
Updated Item Type
- Math
- Math with Rich Text
Deprecated Item Type
- Image Highlight
- Formula
- Formula Essay