August 29, 2024

In this episode of the I.T.S. Talk Time Podcast, you will hear about the many resources that the Digital and Learning Resources teams has available for all.

Digital and Learning Resources Website - https://tinyurl.com/dlrepisd

The website has information and tips on technology for teachers, students and parents. We also have information on the events that we host.

DLR Catalogue of Courses - https://tinyurl.com/dlrcatalogue

This Schoology course allows our EPISD teachers and staff the opportunity to register for any of our online courses being offered through EPISD University and Schoology.

We also discussed information on the EPISD Digital Citizenship program. 

Teachers can access the lessons at https://www.commonsense.org/education 

You can view the selected lessons below:

Elementary Lessons

Secondary Lessons

The last, but very important topic discussed was the 2024 EPISD Mock Presidential Election which is being held on Tuesday, October 29 via our EPISD Mock Election Central website at https://tinyurl.com/episdmockelections. On this website we wil host campus live results, district live results and our live webinars that will be streamed via YouTube at 8:30am, 10:30am, 12:30pm, and 2:30pm.

This year we will also be hosting an early election day on Monday, October 28th.

Schools will receive their digital ballots links to share with their faculty and staff. Students will only be allowed to vote once and all results will be automatically tallied on the Mock Election website.

There is also a page for teacher resources to use in the classroom. 

If you have any questions about any of these resources, contact your Instructional Technology Specialist, or email us at its@episd.org. 

You can also click on the Leave a Message button to give us feedback on the podcast and also to let us know what you would like to hear on a future episode.

October 24, 2023

Hello everyone :) We are back. This Season 2, Episode 15, of the I.T.S. Talk Time podcast. We are trying out a new platform to see how many more listeners we can get. We can now be found on Spotify Podcasters. Click HERE if you wish to follow us and listen on Spotify. We will be working hard to add Apple Podcast links as well.

In this episode we have Chris Sherman talking about EPISD Digital Citizenship and our new Catalogue of Courses. You can find the catalogue at https://tinyurl.com/dlrcatalogue. In there you will also find the Digital Citizenship course that all teachers need to complete for the new campus recognition. You can see the status of your campus at https://www.episd.org/Page/6832.

Karen and Julie share new updates to our Canva EDU integration inside of Classlink for both teachers and students.

Julie shares updates on the EPISD Robotics program to include number of schools and competition.

Last but not least, Jesus shares updates to the November, free virtual field trips.

If you'd like to implement any of the resources shared in  our podcast for your lesson creating or with your students, be sure to reach out to your Instructional Technology Specialist. 

If you'd like to add a questions or leave some feedback about episode 15, please click on the Leave Us a Message button at the top of this page.

January 06, 2023

     Happy New Year! Welcome and Bienvenidos to episode 14 of the I.T.S. Talk Time Podcast. This is our very first video podcast where we met and recorded via Microsoft Teams. We hope you like it.

     Sunday, January 1st marked the final day for the 12 Days of Techmas. We had 1,070 students and teachers enrolled and the submissions were very good and quite create. Watch as Karen shows off some of the student submissions.

Julie Rivas shared some some fabulous updates on the 2022-2023 EPISD Apple Teacher Academy. We are in our final month of submissions, as well as co-teaching activities. Our team feels very confident that the majority of our participants will make it past the finish line. To learn more about the fall Apple Academy, click here.

Jesus took some time to speak about the 2023 EPISD Blended Learning Academy which kicks off on January 10th. We are very excited to meet all of our participants and share valuable information to help them transform their classroom and activities into active lesson where students will have the choice in how they will show what they have learned. We have a little over 100 participants annd are excited to get going. To learn more about the Blended Learning Academy, click here.

In this episode we had Earl Yager, our department tech guru join us to speak about artificial intelligence (AI), specifically about a brand new ChatBox called, ChatGPT. This new program is bound to revolutionize the education community and there is a lot of talk out there. Watch as Earl shows us various examples of how educators can use this program to assist them in their lesson planning, Blended Learning, rubrics and student sample creation. You can register for ChatGTP at https://chat.openai.com/auth/login. You can use your EPISD Google account to create an account or your own personal email. As of Thursday, January 05, you could not use your EPISD Microsoft login, but that may change since this program is on a BETA trial period, which means it is free for the moment, but could go into premium paid mode soon. You can listen to various podcasts on this new and amazing program.

• Catlin Tucker - How Disruptive will ChatGPT Be?

• Jake Miller - The Edtech News Brief, Chat GPT, AI, and the Implications for Education

• Matt Miller - Navigating ChatGPT, Chatbots & AI in Education Panel Discussion Ditch Summit Dec 2022

Laura Salazar shared a few of the Virtual Field Trips and online learning opportunities for the month of January. Watch as she shows you how easy it is to access and register for them. You can find our virtual field trips and virtual learning by clicking on the Learn tab at the top of this page.

Last, but not least, Karen Balbier shares some amazing  shoutouts to all of our current Apple Teacher Vanguard Academy participants who have completed all of the program requirements and will be joining us for the Spring 2023 graudation. A big round of applause to all of this year's participants.

If you'd like to implement any of the resources shared in  our podcast professionally or with your students, be sure to reach out to your Instructional Technology Specialist.

November 18, 2022

     Welcome and Bienvenidos to Ep. 13 of the I.T.S. Talk Time Podcast. 

     In this episode we share more information on the 12 Days of Techmas activities that started on Thursday, December 1st! We have brand new activities for your students to try using their 1-1 devices which they are sure to have a lot of fun. You should have received an email with the Schoology course code already. Students will have a new activity to work on everyday until December 16th, but the course will stay open through the holidays. We can't wait to see all the wonderful submissions and to interact with all of your students.

December 01 - Code.org Santa Tracker

December 02 - Ugly Sweater Contest using Pages

December 05 - Create and Animated Holiday Card with Scratch

December 06 - Christmas Escape Room

December 07 - Holiday Sounds with GarageBand

December 08 - Pixel Art with Numbers

December 09 - Digital Dreidel

December 12 - Help Wanted: Santa Needs More Elves!

December 13 - Minecraft EDU Winter Wonderland

December 14 - Record a holiday Poem or Story using GarageBand

December 15 - Create a Snow Globe Using Keynote

December 16 - Holiday Memories

Julie Rivas shared some great facts and information on Computer Science week which usually happens the first week of December. This year's events will run from December 5-11. Teachers can also sign up to officially host an hour of code activity with their class or school. You can also head on over to https://www.csedweek.org/ and learn all about their Celebrating Progress themed events. This organization will be hosting a CS Heroes panel on Monday December 5th at 11am El Paso/MST that you can register to view online.

• Scratch Jr. Activities - https://www.scratchjr.org/teach/activities 

• Minecraft for Education Hour of Code - https://education.minecraft.net/en-us

• CSEdWeek 2022 Kickoff - https://csteachers.org/Events/csedweek-2022-kick-off-panel 

• CS Heroes Celebrating Progress - https://www.csedweek.org/heroes 

• Hour of Code Activities- https://hourofcode.com/us/learn

• Microsoft Make Code Activities- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/makecode

Laura Salazar shared a few of the Virtual Field Trips and online learning opportunities for the month of December. Go to the Events tab at the top of this page and click on Virtual Field Trips and Apple Learning for this months learning opportunities.

Last, but not least, Karen Balbier shares some wonderful shoutouts to all of our current Apple Teacher Vanguard Academy who are hosting the Technology Integration and Learning team in their classrooms as they complete the co-teach part of the academy. 

If you'd like to implement any of the resources shared in your class and with your students, be sure to reach out to your Instructional Technology Specialist.

November 18, 2022

     Welcome and Bienvenidos to Ep. 12 of the I.T.S. Talk Time Podcast. We started off this episode talking about the 2022-2023 EPISD Student Digital Film Festival. We are celebrating our 15th year and if you participated in the festival before, you should have already received an email from Mr. John Roach, who is our Film Festival Coordinator inviting you to fill our this year's Interest form. All EPISD teachers and staff should have received the same information as well. The film festival is open to all students Kinder-12th grade in the Region 19 area. Students can submit films up to 3-minutes long in various categories to include Educational Mystery, Comedy, Drama, and Music Video to name a few. You can start submitting your participation interest so that you get on our mailing list for more information to come. This year, we hope to host the award ceremony at Coronado High School in their beautiful Fine Arts Auditorium on April 23, 2023. You can find more information by clicking on the Events tabs and selecting the EPISD Film Festival page.

     Karen Balbier shared information on the upcoming 12 Days of Techmas activities that start on Thursday, December 1st! We have brand new activities for your students to try using their 1-1 devices which they are sure to have a lot of fun. Expect an email with the Schoology course code no later than Wednesday, November 30th. Students will have a new activity to work on everyday until December 16th, but the course will stay open through the holidays. We can't wait to see all the wonderful submissions and to interact with all of your students.

     Julie Rivas shared some great facts and information on Computer Science week which usually happens the first week of December. This year's events will run from December 5-11. This is a great opportunity to introduce your students to coding and get them started in learning about computer science. Elementary students can start with an app on their device called Scratch, Jr. There is also the Minecraft For Education website for all our EPISD students where they can work on the new Hour of Code tutorial called, Escape Estate. This is available for download under New and Featured. The Hour of Code website has many tutorials and challenges available for students at every grade level. Teachers can also sign to officially host an hour of code activity with their class or school. You can also head on over to https://www.csedweek.org/ and learn all about their Celebrating Progress themed events. This organization will be hosting a CS Heroes panel on Monday December 5th at 11am El Paso/MST that you can register to view online.

• Scratch Jr. Activities - https://www.scratchjr.org/teach/activities 

• Minecraft for Education Hour of Code - https://education.minecraft.net/en-us

• CSEdWeek 2022 Kickoff - https://csteachers.org/Events/csedweek-2022-kick-off-panel 

• CS Heroes Celebrating Progress - https://www.csedweek.org/heroes 

• Hour of Code Activities- https://hourofcode.com/us/learn

• Microsoft Make Code Activities- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/makecode

Last, but not least, Karen Balbier shares some wonderful shoutouts to all of our current Apple Academy Teachers who have recently completed their last workshop and how have earned the Apple Teacher Recognition. These teachers are still working hard to complete of the academy projects and prepare a lesson to co-teach with their Instructional Technology Specialist. We hope to get all who signed up across the finish line and a part of our EPISD Apple Academy Celebration next Spring. 

Congratulations to the following teachers:

Patricia Silva --Annette Gossett--Lilia Sanchez--Candie Barrera

Juana Basave--Raul Holguin--Guadalupe Ibarra--Sinai Meza

Adrian Portillo--Stephanie Sanchez--Jessica Armendariz--Christine Canales

Dora Jones--Peter Jones--Gabriel Ledesma--Evelyn Martinez

Michelle Rodriguez--Fabian Perales--Mayra Perez--Eduardo Acosta

Roxana Angulo--Ashley Niermann--Veronica Orozco Lares--Norma Ramirez

Angelica Vasquez--Alejandra Araiza Garcia--Jeselle Charo

October 28, 2022

On Friday, October 21, EPISD held its very first Girl Powered event at Franklin HS for girls in grades 7-12. This event was designed to inform our young ladies about the many opportunities available to them in the fields of STEAM/STEM. For this episode we invited four former and current educators in EPISD and experts in their fields as both educators and parents. 

First we have Veronica Montes, a long-time EPISD educator and current, Elementary Integrated Literacy and Social Studies Facilitator in the Academic Services team. Listen to her speak about her and her daughter's experience at this event. She speaks about the importance of informing our students of these opportunities so they can make a more educated choice in their future careers.

We also have an eye-opening conversation with Dr. Cynthia Ontiveros, Principal at the of the Young Women’s STEAM Research & Preparatory Academy at EPISD. She talks about her student's growth starting from 6th grade and now part of the first graduating class. Many of the young women where given that experience in the STEAM and many of them have decided to continue in the field in their future college endeavors. Listen to Dr. Ontiveros as she speaks about their All-Girl Drumline and that family environment that helps in making sure all girls are successful.

• YWA Information and Applications (https://www.episd.org/Page/12089) - See Yourself At Young Women's Academy

All the way from Miner Nation and also a long-time EPISD Educator, we have Dr. Diane Golding who is an Assistant Professor of Instruction, and a Fellow for the Center for Faculty Leadership at the University of Texas at El Paso. She is also the Director of the "Yes, She Can" Program. Dr. Golding talks to us about the need for exposure in these fields and shares examples of young women who are pursuing fields in STEM. She also talks about a free, and open to the public, GAIA MakerSpace program and she also shares information on the Yes, She Can Program which aims "to increase the number of women, particularly Hispanic women,  in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) academic studies at UTEP from Undergraduate to Graduate degrees."

• GAIA Maker Space Central at UTEP (https://www.utep.edu/technologysupport/learning-environments/GAIA.html)  - Open to the public, as well as school field trips. Send an email to gaia@utep.edu to schedule field trips and for more information.

• Teach Engineering (https://www.teachengineering.org/)  - Free K-12 STEM Curriculum

Last but not least, we have Kimberly Wright,  another long-time EPISD Science educator and a STEM Instructional Designer, keynote speaker, trainer, and coach. She is the winner of the Million Women Mentors Trailblazer Award for her work within STEM education. Kimberly talks about the continuing need to keep our young women informed about the many fields available to them in the STEAM/STEM. She talks about various resources available through Discovery Education's, which all of our EPISD teachers and students have access to. She also mentions various partnershipe with DE in which students can participate. We can't wait to learn about more of these opportunities.

• 3M Young Scientist Challenge (https://www.youngscientistlab.com/challenge) - The annual 3M Young Scientist Challenge invites students in grades 5-8 to submit a 1-2 minute video describing a unique solution to an everyday problem for the chance to win $25,000 and an exclusive 3M Mentorship.

• 3M Young ScientistFinalists Video Archive - https://www.youngscientistlab.com/competition/video_challenge/archives/2022?award=finalist 

Laura Salazar wrapped up the show introducing a few of the new virtual field trip and learning opportunities available in for the month of November. Go to the Events tab and click on Virtual Field Trips and Apple Virtual Learning to view the events and register.

If you have any questions or would like to leave us a message be sure to click on the button at the top of this page.

October 21, 2022

Happy Principal's Appreciation Month shoutout by Ms. Lendy Aguirre's 5th grade class at Cooley ES.

October is Cybersecurity month and in this episode we interview Raoul McKinney who is our district's Information Technology Security Network Administrator. He will be talking to us on the importance of staying safe online and watching out for scams and phishing emails. Below are some poster resources from KnowBe4 and also a link to their cybersecurity videos which you can log into using your EPISD email and password.

• KnowBe4 Cybersecurity Video Resources

• KnowBe4 School/Classroom Cybersecurity Poster

We also share an interview with Ms. Vikky Basurto who is a 2nd grade teacher at Dr. Green Elementary. She shares her and experience during the 2022-2023 EPISD Apple Teacher Academy and her students experience after creating their very own book using the Pages app. 

Mr. Herman Seufert, a Secondary Instructional Technology Specialist in the Technology Integration and Learning team, shares important information on keeping all your files backed up to the cloud. You can also watch the video below to learn how to do this step-by-step using Microsoft OneDrive.

• Back Up Your Files to OneDrive (Microsoft Stream video - you may need to log in with EPISD email and password to view)

Remember that you can leave us messages and questions about the show, or leave a shoutout for an amazing teacher, staff, or volunteer at your campus and we will share it on the show.

Podcast Music – Modern Attempt by Track Tribe - https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC3UwNWDM2meDecdKLBEVOHQ/music

September 30, 2022

This week's podcast is focused on virtual learning for both teachers and students. You can some of the sessions on our website by going to the Events tab and clicking on the Virtual Field Trips link to view some of these sessions. 

Apple Professional Learning has posted their new learning events for the month of October. You can view all of them and register at https://tinyurl.com/appleprofessionallearning or by going to the Events tab and clicking on Apple Professional Learning.

Microsoft will also be hosting a virtual conference called, Microsoft Ignite from October 12-14, during our intersession break. The sessions will start at 8:00 am MST/El Paso time. You can head on over to their website at https://ignite.microsoft.com/ to learn more and register. You can also click on the link in our Events tab in our TIL website.

October is Digital Citizenship month and the week we return from the intersession break, is Digital Citizenship week. This would be the perfect opportunity for your school to teach the lessons are part of our district's yearly digital citizenship curriculum. You can also find a calendar activities for Kinder-12th grade at https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship-week, or by going to the Learn tab on our TIL website and clicking on Digital Citizenship.

In this week Tech FYI segment, we discuss the progress in the Promethean ActivPanel management system. Most boards should be registered in this system and in the Radix apps system. These boards should be seeing the Chrome app in the Locker under the admin account. The EPISD System Analysts are working on making sure updates and apps are also added to the personal accounts that many of you have created on those board. Be on the lookout for more information.

We have started using a new messaging system called Pod In Box for our podcast show where listeners like you can leave us messages and campus shoutouts. If you click on the I.T.S. Talk Time Blog tab you will see a button that says, Leave Us A Message. This will take you to our Pod In Box page at https://podinbox.com/itstalktime where you can record a message. Listen to this episode for this week's shoutout from Ms. Alferez 4th grade class at Zavala Elementary. 

Remember, if you have any questions about anything covered in this episode, you can leave us a message in the blog, or you can contact your Instructional Technology Specialist.

Podcast Music – Positive Fuse by French Fuse - https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC3UwNWDM2meDecdKLBEVOHQ/music

September 23, 2022

In today's episode we showcase Ms. Ruth Arzola's 5th grade science class and the great work they did with the Apple Keynote presentation app. You will hear the teacher talk about what she has learned so far in the 2022 Apple Academy and how she brought it back to her classroom and integrated it in an activity within their Physical Properties of Matter unit.  You will hear the students talk about their experience and how easy it was for them to use the app in their learning.

In our Tech FYI section, Laura talks about the importance of keeping iPads up to date to fix any issues, especially Classlink and ST Math issues, and to also keep laptop apps like Chrome updated to avoid issues with Classlink and the apps inside like Schoology, iStation, and ST Math.  You can learn how to update your iPads and apps by clicking on the links below.

Updating an iPad - https://youtu.be/7uGtmiOPXF8 

Installing and Updating Apps in Self-Service - https://youtu.be/4uk5eKSCFr0 

Jesus shares 7 new features in Reading Progress and you can click on the link below to view the YouTube video created by Mike Tholfsen's on these new features.

Top 7 new features for Reading Progress in Microsoft Teams 2022 - https://youtu.be/vieBYJCTANs 

Laura shared an upcoming virtual conference called, Adobe Max Creativity Conference which happens October 18-20. If you wish to learn more about the many Adobe creative products., you can find more information and register at https://max.adobe.com. 

Podcast Intro and Exit Music:

 She No Dull Beat by Nana Kwabena from the YouTube Audio Library https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC3UwNWDM2meDecdKLBEVOHQ/music 

September 09, 2022

Over the weekend the Los Angeles Unified School District, A district of  540,000 students and 70,000 district employees was the target of a very sophisticated Ransomware attack over the Labor Day weekend. All of these students and staff have been asked to change their passwords and all of their computer systems were forced to shutdown. This is not the first time ransonware gangs have affected school districts and businesses. Since our dependence on technology due to the pandemic, these attacks have become very common and our biggest line of security is training and education. 

In this episode we discuss the reality of these attacks and what students and staff members can do to prevent this from happening to them and our district's systems.

In this episode you will hear about the importance of making sure we talk about digital citizenship, whether it's through the lessons provided in Common Sense for Education, or Discovery Education, but also to show those phishing emails that we are being bombarded in our email to our older students so that they understand what to look out for. In education we call these teachable moments.

We also discuss a very good learning resource for teachers and staff that they have access to called, KnowBe4. Listen to our podcast to learn more and visit the links below for more information.

• KnowBe4 CyberSecurity Training - You can access it in the MyEPISD website or at https://training.knowbe4.com/ui/login

• Common Sense Education Digital Citizenship - https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship 

• Discovery Education Digital Citizenship - https://classlink.discoveryeducation.com/learn/search?q=digital+citizenship 

• Los Angeles Unified School District Cyber Attack News - https://www.npr.org/2022/09/07/1121422336/a-cyberattack-hits-the-los-angeles-school-district-raising-alarm-across-the-coun 

Podcast Intro and Exit Music:

 Contrast by Anno Domini Beats from the YouTube Audio Library https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC3UwNWDM2meDecdKLBEVOHQ/music

September 02, 2022

We will be dedicating every first session of the month to virtual learning. In this podcast session we shared the new Apple Professional Learning Virtual Conferences for the month of September. You can find and register for the sessions by clicking here.

We also shared the new virtual field trip sessions from Flip, Discovery Education, and Connect2Texas. You can go to our Learn tab and click on Virtual Field Trips to see all of the free offerings. Be sure to register as soon as you can to reserve a spot.

In our TechFYI segment we talked about the new Apple Education Community website which replaces the Apple Teacher Learning site. You can access that site by going to https://education.apple.com/en. 

We also shared information on the Canva webinar called, Canva Create - The Future is Visual happening on September 14, 2022, 10AM Pacific Time/11AM MST/El Paso Time. You can find more information at https://www.canva.com/canva-create/ 

Podcast Intro and Exit Music:

 Follow the Shadows from YouTube Audio Library https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC3UwNWDM2meDecdKLBEVOHQ/music

August 25, 2022

This week our podcast's focus was on Schoology new features and news. We started off the broadcast by sharing information on Parent Schoology codes and how teachers can get them and share them with parents. The IT department has stated that the codes in Parent Portal have been reset so any codes showing might not work. This will soon be fixed, but teachers can get parent codes from their Schoology course. Listen to our podcast to find out more and click on the links below for more information.

• Differences between a student and parent account tutorial (share with parents) - https://youtu.be/1HLjTOuTyjg 

• Teacher Access to Schoology Parent Codes tutorial (teachers only) – https://youtu.be/yvK5Wd6JiWQ  

• Parent Schoology Account Setup Document (share with parents) – https://tinyurl.com/parentschoologyaccount 

Laura Salazar shared a new feature called Annotation Assignment which allows teachers to upload an image or PDF so that the student can use the new annotation tools to mark up the image or PDF. This will save students and teachers many steps and when a student submits an assignment, teachers can view the annotations and also use the annotation tools to add remarks and mark up the document. Listen to her simple explanation of the tool and learn more by clicking the following links below.

• Schoology Annotations Assignment tutorial - https://youtu.be/pk__q4S4mfE 

• Student Annotation (Instructor) - https://docs.powerschool.com/SGYH/instructors/course-materials/student-annotations-instructors 

• Student Annotation (Students) - https://docs.powerschool.com/SGYH/students/courses-students/student-annotations-students  

• We continued our Schoology 411 topic with Karen speaking to us about the new Microsoft Immersive Reader function that is now embedded inside of Schoology. Currently, it is only accesible in Schoology Pages and Assignments, but it allows everyone with a Schoology account in our district to use this great accessibility feature to have a page or assignment read to them and you can also use the grammar functions to view things like syllables, nouns, pronouns, and create more spacing to name a few functions. Another amazing piece to the Immersive Reader is that you can translate the page or assignment to fit your language needs. Microsoft has over 50 languages in their translation feature which not only benefits our students, but also our parents so that they can understand assignments in their own language and provide better support to their students. Take a listen to Karen's explanation of this amazing tool and click on the links below for more information on Schoology Immersive Reader.

• How to use the Microsoft Immersive Reader Tool in Schoology Learning tutorial - https://youtu.be/AkhrkuAImyQ 

• Immersive Reader Support page - https://docs.powerschool.com/SGYH/additional-features/immersive-reader 

Jesús also shared a tool, which is not necessarily a new tool, but it is a tool that Chris Sherman will be adding to the new Blended Learning Academy happening in the Spring. It is called Schoology Portfolio. This is available for teachers and students and can be used to create a portfolio of their work or progress. It can be used by students to upload files and images of their work, assessments, and success stories throughout the school year and share with parents via a link. This can also be used to showcase student growth during Parent/Teacher conferences. High school students can create Schoology portofolios to share with their prospective colleges showcasing all of their amazing work in and out of school to help them in the admissions process. Teachers can also create portfolios to share with their administrator for their T-Tess evaluations to showcase their and their student's growth as part of their SLO growth and completion. Listen to the conversation and click on the links below for more information.

• How Do I Use Portfolios? (Enterprise Only)

• • Reasons to create ePortfolios (electronic) Teacher/Student Guide - https://www.studentartguide.com/articles/how-to-make-an-eportfolio-for-students

Our awesome Karen Balbier shared some important news on the return of the MiniCast El Paso STEAM conference happening on October 15 at new Don Haskins PK-8 school. MiniCast is looking for presenters and conference participantsListen to her segment and find more information on becoming a presenter and registering for the conference at the link below.

• https://www.steamregion19.org/

In our TechFYI segment we shared news about the new 3rd/8th grade laptop refresh and also the teacher laptop refresh.

If you need more information on any of these topics, please contact your Instructional Technology Specialist.

Hope to see you next Friday on Twitter Spaces at 11:30am. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter at EPISD_ITS.

Podcast Intro and Exit Music:

 Arc of the Sun from YouTube Audio Library https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC3UwNWDM2meDecdKLBEVOHQ/music   

August 19, 2022

     We are so glad that we had the opportunity to record this podcast. It has been an extremely busy week with the apple academy that we thought this was not going to happen. 

Karen, Laura and Jesús had a very good conversation on student choice and talked about the different apps that you could present to students so that they could use them to create their products and complete their projects. Listen the conversation and let your Instructional Technology Specialist know if you need any assistance implementing any of these fun apps and programs.

     Apple Professional Learning has started its webinar series and they have put out a schedule for the month of August. We will be adding the updated calendar every month in the Events tab. There is still a week of learning left.  Click on the links below to register and see the August calendar.

• Register at https://tinyurl.com/appleprofessionallearning

• View the calendar at https://tinyurl.com/applecalendaraugust2022

      We started a new segment called, Tech FYI. This is where will be sharing various news and updates to our devices and programs. Today we talked about updating Promethean ActivPanels if you are having issues connecting to them from a macOS Monterrey MacBook. There is a new update and all you have to do is click on the Locker app and find Update. After you install the latest update you should have no further issues connecting to the board and you will see a new app look on the panel as well as some newly added apps in the locker. Click on the link below for instructions.

• Promethean Update

     We also talked about the new LadiBug software update in Self-Service that will work on MacBook computers which have been updated to Monterrey. Go to Self-Service and install/reinstall the app if your computer was recently updated so that you can continue using the LadiBug app. Click the link below to see if your Lumens document camera is compatible for the Ladibug MAC 3.5 update.

     Apple has just released an important security update for MacBooks as well as iPads. Go to your system settings or preferences and open Software Update to install. Check out episode 3 for instructions on how to updated computers and iPads.

     Last, but not least, there have been many phishing email attempts sent through our servers and have landed in almost everyone's Outlook Inbox. Be on the lookout for email from co-workers and even admin that are asking for things like money or your cell number. Check with that person to make sure they sent you that message and do not click on any links until you verify its authenticity. To learn more about Phishing emails and scams, head on over to MyEPISD and click on the KnowBe4 link to view tutorials and materials related to these types of scams. Be sure to stay safe while surfing the web.

Podcast Intro and Exit Music:

Tango de la Noche from the YouTube Audio Library at https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC3UwNWDM2meDecdKLBEVOHQ/music 

August 12, 2022

Welcome to episode 3 of our I.T.S. Talk Time podcast. In this episode  Karen and Laura talk about the differences between a Zendesk ticket and a PowerUp ticket. This is very important as we start the new school year and we start finding issues with student devices and accounts. You definitely want to listen so that you know which type of ticket will need to be submitted and who will submit the ticket. 

Many of teachers have either moved to new schools or their schools have been merged into new PreK-8 schools and it is important that you update your Outlook email signature. Julie will be sharing tips on doing this and you can click on the resource below to get make a fancy and professional looking email signature.

In the last episode we talked about virtual field trips and where you could find some on our website. In this episode, Laura and Jesus talk about their classroom personal experience with virtual field trips and how they can extremely beneficial to students by helping them bridge the gap and give them a connection with their learning and an experience they will never forget. Listen to their conversation and then click on the Learn tab to view virtual learning experiences you can sign up your class for. 

Jesús guides you through the necessary steps to get teacher and student devices ready. From checking for damaged devices and charging cables, to updating operating systems on both MacBooks and iPads. Pay close attention to the tips and be sure to click on the links below that will show you how to update Apple devices. 

Last, but not least, Karen talks to us about using Microsoft Teams to  communicate districtwide, video-conference, and use their new reading fluency tool called, Reading Progress and their new SEL app called, Reflect.  If you'd like to give a shout out to a special person at you campus who supports you and your students, please let us know.

Join us every Friday at 11:30 AM on Twitter Spaces by following @EPISD_ITS. You can also follow us on Facebook @EPISDTEchnLearn, on Twitter at @EPISD_ITS, and on Instagram  and TikTok at @episd_tech_n_learn.

Create a signature in Outlook email - https://youtu.be/DKoTqYvUWmM 

Create a signature in Canva - https://youtu.be/i2AhII_yFP4 

Updating iPads - https://youtu.be/7uGtmiOPXF8 

Updating a teacher/student MacBook - https://youtu.be/1gCn2LWfxWQ 

Microsoft Teams Schoology - https://episd.schoology.com/course/5112432282/materials 

Click here to send us a campus shout out request!