Just a reminder that BrainPop (and at the elementary level, BrainPop JR) are available digital resources for all of our elementary, middle and high school students. Log in is via Clever (clever.com/in/pccs).
Their latest newsletter offers the following:
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The online Sora app was designed around the modern student reading experience. This app, developed and curated by Overdrive, empowers students to discover and enjoy ebooks and audiobooks, for both leisure and class-assigned reading. ALL STUDENTS in all of our district’s schools AND ALL STAFF can log into our Sora page using their Google Accounts at http://links.pccsk12.com/sora and begin checking out ebooks!
Once logged in, students and staff are able to “borrow” ebooks and audiobooks from a selection of thousands of titles available in their school, district and/or Wayne county library collections. Check out this 2 minute video for how to access the app via the Google apps launcher (aka waffle) as well as how to add a library collection (only need to do that once per year).
With over 2,000 staff members and over 15,000+ devices to support, it’s important to have a system to track issues, document trends, and assign support to the appropriate technicians or tech integration specialists. If you are needing assistance with anything technology related, we ask that you use the Service Request ticketing system. There are a couple of ways to access this system.
Go to links.pccsk12.com/helpdesk
Once there, to log in, you will input your district GMAIL Email address for your “Username”.
For “Password” you will input your network password (not necessarily your Google password) – Your network password is the password you use to log onto a district desktop computer.
Then you fill out the service form with the details that best describes your situation and support needs.
Alternatively, to locate the service portal…
If you might submit more than one service ticket during the year, consider bookmarking the Service Desk url by clicking the Star on the right side of the address bar (see pic below), so that it is easy to locate the page again.
Looking for some tech-related PD? Consider signing up for a free basic OTIS account to access their free course content . Their calendar to see what’s available when can be found here. OTIS is bringing some special guests for great back to school webinars! They’re covering everything from Google apps, to coding, to engaging educators in professional learning. Two of their many sessions are noted below. More free courses can be reviewed and signed up for here.
Google Forms is the greatest thing since sliced bread. You know the basics of creating a Google Form, but what else can you do to leverage the learning power and student engagement elements of Google Forms? Let’s go over how to reuse your Google Forms from last year. Why and how to use Branching Forms. Join Alice Keeler to start the school year off right by upping our Google Forms game!
Join Alice Keeler for this session, which is an intro for teachers on how to use Google Jamboard app in the classroom. It will cover everything from the basics of how to navigate to lessons/activities you can use today! Alice will also cover some important pedagogical considerations to help you know when and how to use Jamboard…
We’d like to alert you to two online services we use (Zoom and Google) who are enforcing changes to the student experience in the coming school year. In June we posted about Google’s upcoming age-based changes taking effect and have re-posted our information below with a bit more elaboration.
This summer Zoom announced a policy change that will be going into effect in a few weeks that prohibits any student from having a Zoom account associated with a K-12 educational institution. This is being done in part to align their terms and conditions since people under the age of 16 aren’t otherwise permitted an account (up until now those under 16 had only been permitted under the “School Subscriber” terms within Zoom for Education accounts) and in part done to increase the security of meetings. Their new solution is called external authentication, which allows institutions to have an increased level of security without having students in their account. Students will be able to join Zoom meetings safely and securely without the use of a Zoom account and will simply authenticate for meeting access using their district Google account. Some FAQs they have shared are posted below.
Will Breakout Rooms work if my students do not have Zoom accounts?
Yes, you can still use Breakout Rooms as usual. If you would like to pre-assign students to Breakout Rooms, you will need to upload a CSV file with the details .
Will my guest speakers or teacher be able to join a meeting?
Any external guests will not be able to join the meeting unless that specific party has an authorized account in your SSO Identity Provider.
How is this different from standard Zoom/SSO Authentication?
This is authenticating users upon joining a meeting and does not create a Zoom account.
Can I pull a report of the students and have accurate attendance information?
Yes, all student’s names will be documented accurately with their associated email address.
[We had a virtual meeting with our account representative last month to discuss these upcoming changes and among other questions asked about the ability for users to add their personal pronouns. While they said that it was possible, it would have to be mapped via a field in Google since Zoom accounts were no longer going to be associated with our students. At this point, we’re not in a position to set up that mapping, but are looking into other options.]
Due to enhanced cybersecurity insurance requirements in response to the dramatic rise in cyber-attacks, districts must ensure that staff pass two-factor authentication to gain access to personally identifiable data (PII), including student data within MISTAR. Districts, including ours, are required to enable two-factor authentication for staff accessible applications (Q and Student Scan) by August 27, 2021.
NOTE: The Student Connection and Parent Connection applications accessed by students and parents ARE NOT required to be enabled at this time.
Google regularly updates/changes their Workspace apps. To follow their launched release changes, visit HERE. To check out details on planned release changes, visit HERE. In no particular order, some recently launched or expected release changes to note include:
File / Video Security Updates
Emoji reactions in Docs – Starting this fall you will be able to add emoji reactions to portions of a document, a quick way to provide feedback without the need to leave a full comment.
In an effort to make more secure the SMART web interface where staff go to view payroll information and perform business functions, the system will require multi-factor authentication starting July 1, 2021. The initial piece of information staff will be asked for is their email address, and after providing it, staff will need to retrieve an access code they are then emailed to continue to log into SMART. For more about this change, visit this explanation page.
VIRTUAL COURSES, The REMC Virtual Courses offer an easy, convenient way for teachers to connect and collaborate during the summer from the convenience of their home. The Virtual Courses are free, offer free 10 SCECHs when completed, and are open to all Michigan school personnel. There are no registration or SCECH fees because REMC SAVE’s vendor partners provide support for all REMC professional learning opportunities.
If you have questions or need further assistance with your course registration, please contact Erin Rommeck, REMC Event Coordinator.
Each offering includes a robust toolkit of resources to support teacher planning and student learning. Participants may choose to attend one or more of the seven sessions. To earn SCECHs, participants must attend the live webinar and complete the assigned task following the webinar. Two (2) SCECHs per session.
Blended Learning Sessions:
Teaching Strategies for Virtual and Blended Learning Environments: Introduction
Session details and dates available: https://bit.ly/3jDOBDO
Teaching Strategies for Virtual and Blended Learning: Help Students Demonstrate Mathematical Thinking K-2
Session details and dates available: https://bit.ly/3zzgoh4
Teaching Strategies for Virtual and Blended Learning: Help Students Demonstrate Mathematical Thinking 3-6
Session details and dates available: https://bit.ly/3pRD5bz
Teaching Strategies for Virtual and Blended Learning: Help Students Demonstrate Mathematical Thinking 7-12
Session details and dates available: https://bit.ly/3vmZw9I
Teaching Strategies for Virtual and Blended Learning Language Arts: Growing Early Literacy Learners K-2
Session details and dates available: https://bit.ly/3xec3xy
Teaching Strategies for Virtual and Blended Learning Language Arts: Growing Literacy Learners 3-5
Session details and dates available: https://bit.ly/3xx4suv
Teaching Strategies for Virtual and Blended Learning Language Arts: Growing Literacy Learners 6-12
Session details and dates available: https://bit.ly/3gkyc7V
from this newsletter
Zoom announced on June 22nd Pronouns, a new feature in Zoom 5.7.0 to help users feel more included, able to express themselves, and be seen. To learn more, see https://blog.zoom.us/zoom-pronoun-sharing/
As a reminder, Canvas also allows for user selection of their pronouns. For more about that, see this blog post https://tech.pccsk12.com/personal-pronouns-now-enabled-in-canvas/
