Technology Skills for Delaney Students
We know from feedback from students, parents, and yourselves, that our younger students continue to struggle with some common technology skills. Asking our younger students to be productive with Chromebooks and technology in general is well ahead of where they are developmentally but with the help of our amazing Technology Teacher Jenn Moon we are trying to give students the skills they need during this time. Jenn created this fabulous resource for classroom teachers to link in weekly learning grids or virtual classrooms going forward. Each of these areas will continue to be explored during Technology Classes but mentioning this resource to students and recommending they go through and practice will provide extra reinforcement they need.
Student/Paraprofessional Printing
At the end of the calendar year (December 31, 2020) Google will stop supporting their printing service. This service is currently how anyone with a Chromebook (mainly students and Paraprofessionals) print to classroom printers. We have been aware of this and have switched to a service called PaperCut. Anyone that uses a Chromebook and needs to print will still have the ability to do so and the process will be almost identical. Here is a set of step-by-step instructions and a video tutorial to get you started. This should set whatever printer is chosen as your default. You will likely only need to reference these resources if you need to print to a printer that is not your default.
Flash is no longer supported
At the end of the calendar year (December 31, 2020) just about all web browsers will stop supporting Flash. This includes Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox which are our two most widely used web browsers. Adobe, which developed Flash, first announced they would stop supporting Flash in 2017 and web browsers followed shortly after by announcing they would not allow flash content to run in their browsers. This is not a surprise to the Tech Dept. and should not pose a significant problem for us because websites in general have been migrating to open web standards which are faster, more efficient, and more secure platforms for content. This has also been a criterion when evaluating online subscriptions. However, there are older websites that have continued to use Flash for their online games and platforms. These websites will no longer work. If you or your students are attempting to access a website that asks you to enable Flash or gives you an error where the game or content should appear you will not be able to use it and will need to find another resource. If you come across this I am glad to assist you in searching for a suitable alternative.
Device Cleaning
Per Allan's Friday Memo from 12/18: "According to the CDC, “Coronaviruses on surfaces and objects naturally die within hours to days.” The virus will not survive over the December break... If you want your classroom Chromebooks sanitized, please open them so that they are flat and place them on the students’ desks. Sean and his team will work with Glenn to clean them and put them back in the cart." We will put the sanitized devics back into your carts to charge so they are ready when students return in the new year.