Best Practices

secure Your Computer

If you walk away from your computer, please lock it to avoid unauthorized access to confidential material. An unlocked computer is like an unlocked door: anyone can access your email, your files, or your grade book. Per the CISD Acceptable Use Policy, it is an employee's responsibility to protect confidential information. The easiest way to prevent unauthorized access is to lock your computer when you're away. (Refer to the AUP > System Access > Point #4.)

There are two ways to lock your computer:

1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard + the L key.

2. Press Control + Alt + Delete and select "Lock this computer."

Upon your return, type in your district password in order to access your computer again.

On a similar note, if you are a one who takes his/her laptop home on a regular basis, be cognizant of leaving your laptop in your car while you run errands, go to dinner, etc. after school or on the weekends. It's not unheard of for someone to break into your car for your laptop...and then you've just given a stranger access to your confidential files!

Web Browsers

Teacher laptops come with Microsoft Edge and Chrome browsers already installed. Please keep both of these options on your computer. 

Sometimes, a district-wide tool will work better in a certain browser. If you notice that, for instance, Skyward worked fine in Chrome but now does not, your first troubleshooting step is to try using Skyward in Edge. (Sometimes a system will update and be compatible with one browser immediately but not the other. This is beyond the CISD Technology Department's control.)

If you choose to use Chrome for the majority of your web activity, we encourage you to log in to to your CISD Google Workspace account so all your bookmarks are saved across devices. 

Extended View vs. Duplicate View

When you connect your teacher laptop to the interactive display, your laptop should automatically switch to duplicate view, which means that you see the exact same view on your laptop screen as you do on the interactive display screen. 

If you ever plug your laptop into an interactive display and see a blank screen (or your laptop's background image but nothing else), press the FN and F8 buttons on your computer at the same time and select "Duplicate." 

On the other hand, if you would like to display something for students on your interactive display but need to work on something else on your laptop (that you don't necessarily need displayed for everyone), pressing FN + F8 and selecting "Extend" will, in essence, turn your interactive display into a second computer monitor until you switch it back to Duplicate mode. 

1. Practice locking and unlocking your computer. (Get in the habit of doing this every time you leave your workstation.) 

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