Embedded Files
Google Takeout
Google Takeout
If you are a senior leaving Westerville, or a staff member that is retiring or moving on to a new position outside of the district, there is good news- You can take it all with you! Google Takeout is a simple service that will create a zip file of all content you want to move, which you can then upload to a personal Google Drive or other site.
to use Google Takeout
Go to takeout.google.com
Select the types of files you want to include. We suggest that you "deselect all" and then choose the options you want. There are 65 options, but the most popular options are Chrome bookmarks, Drive, and Gmail. Many of the services that are available for export (Google Voice for example) are not actually available with your account, so there will not be any data available.
Choose the export destination. We suggest selecting "send download link via email", which will let you download and then upload the information to a place of your choosing.
Choose "Export once" for the frequency and leave the file type and size in their default (.zip and 2GB) settings.
Click "Create Export" and that's it! Once Google has packaged all your data, a link to download it will be sent to your email.
Alternatively, if you have a Google Account setup for college or home use, you can transfer the content by using Google Transfer, which will copy data over. The biggest limitation here is that your WCS account has unlimited storage, while home accounts often are limited to 15GB unless you pay for more storage.
Image generated by Gemini
Ethical Use of AI
Ethical Use of AI
AI has become something of a flashpoint for numerous social, environmental, political, and economic debates. With any tool, there are questions worth asking to ensure that the tool will assist in furthering student learning rather than hinder it. In this post we will dive into some of the questions that you should ask with any tech tool, as well as giving a background to AI that will contextualize what it is and what impacts it is having. This post won't answer the questions around ethics, but will provide tools that can help you make the best decisions possible around AI usage and how we equip our students to face a future that will include AI.
Questions to Consider:
Does the tool assist in performing a task that would improve on the previous entirely human version of that task?
Are you equipped with the necessary knowledge to know if the tool makes a mistake, provides biased information, or doesn't make pedagogical sense?
Does the tool improve learning opportunities for all my students, or does it intensify divides between students? (both in access to information, and the quality of the information, ability to think critically, etc.)
What knowledge, skills, and attitudes do all users need in order to use this effectively?
Background on AI (more than you ever would want to know)
AI is a bit of a catch-all term that refers to any computer program that uses algorithms to make decisions. AI programs have existed since the early checkers/chess computers that were invented in the 1950s. More recently, Google's search engine, Roomba robots, driving aids in cars, adaptive advertising models, and virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri are examples of AI being used. A key feature of recent technologies has been "cloud computing", where decisions and information are not stored on the computer being used to access the information, but instead in data centers, where large numbers of computers and processors take the weight of computing power. The internet, particularly since the rise of social media, YouTube, and other programs has made heavy use of the data center model.
Generative AI is the next generation of computing development. It uses large networks of information to create models of information (called large language models). Rather that simply retrieving existing information, it can take existing information and manipulate it into new ways of looking at the information. In doing so, it attempts to mimic how human brains collate and assemble information, but comes closer to "averaging" the information it finds and presenting it either through video, text, audio, or images. Since the rise of ChatGPT and other models in the early 2020s, companies have integrated AI into the development of many programs including vehicles, computers and cell phones, and many curricular products that we use in schools.
In the greater tech world outside of education, AI has become a bubble industry, where technology companies are racing to build more data centers and capacity to support what they hope will be the next big thing in technology. As with all technology innovations, things typically calm down as consumer habits become clearer and initial overbuilding and excitement fades. AI's rise, and particulary that of data centers have highlighted some existing problems with social, economic, and political policies- from how electricity is generated, regulated, and billed, to how we govern development of data centers and infrastructure. It has also brought up discussions around how the bias of technology developers can be baked into the technologies they create and ethical lines around technology use.
In education, these debates, while newly focused on AI are part of a larger conversation around the use of any resource. We need to be aware of the social, environmental, political, and economic impacts that any resource usage can have on the world around us and ensure that the resources we are using are aligned to the future our students will inhabit. From paper to AI, every decision we make has an impact and requires our expertise as educators to ensure that we are making the most positive impact we can and preparing students with the tools to use AI ethically and critically assess how/when AI should be used.
Posted 3/19/26
Learn more about AI in Westerville
Learn more about AI in Westerville
Assignment Updates
Assignment Updates
Next year, Schoology will transition to a new assignment feature: Google Assignments. In the background, it means that Google has taken over the development of the feature instead of Schoology. The update will contain several quality of life changes including
The ability to add multiple files of any type to create a copy for students
Co-teachers will automatically have access to view content
Plagiarism checker
You will be given the option to set up the assignment via Schoology or Google. The Schoology option lets you attach standards, rubrics, and conduct grading within Schoology, while the Google option removes these options, but includes the option of attaching a rubric as a Google sheet.
If you grade within Schoology and sync grades, we recommend using the Schoology side to create the assignment.
Posted 3/08/26
AI Access in Westerville
AI Access in Westerville
As of January 5, students and teachers have access to Gemini and NotebookLM, two AI tools from Google. These tools are covered under our data privacy policies, so input data will not be sold or used to further develop Google's AI offerings.
We currently have an open Schoology course that you can join to find out more about Gemini, NotebookLM, Pedagogy and AI, or AI in general. Use this code to join: DSX2-VJNH-FN9DG
Our acceptable use policy makes clear that teachers are the final arbiter of AI usage approval. We suggest use of a Red/yellow/green light approach to when AI can be used by students for various tasks.
Pedagogical tools remain the best way to limit AI use when not permitted. There are currently no tools that can accurately spot AI automatically, but there are a number of ways to spot AI that can help in identifying academic dishonesty. Our current policies place non-permitted AI usage under the academic dishonesty heading of the student handbook and acceptable use policies that students signed at the beginning of the school year.
As with all tools, there are positives and negatives to the tool that can be mitigated or addressed in how we use them. Make sure to take a look at the training materials around the ethical uses of AI in the Schoology Course
Posted 2/15/26
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