Using Google Drawings to Create Infographics

Inforgraphics

One way students can show their knowledge of a topic is by creating an infographic. Infographics, by nature, require students to summarize their learning and choose important information to present visually and textually.

Google Drawings is a great tool to create infographics and it’s likely familiar to navigate. Google Drawings offers options for uploading images, drawing shapes, and adding color. Below is a short video tutorial for students on how to use Google Drawings.

For those who are familiar with Google Drawings and want some super neat tricks you may not know about, check out this video from Matt Miller.

For even more information on student-created infographics, check out this blog post by Matt Miller!

This post is actually a reposting of Dearborn Schools’ Tech Integrationist Amy Gwizdz (thanks Amy!) December post https://techcoaches.dearbornschools.org/2020/12/10/student-created-infographics-using-google-drawings/

 

 

personal pronouns now enabled in Canvas

Students and staff can now designate their personal pronouns in Canvas if they would like to do so. Personal pronouns display after a user’s name in various areas in Canvas, including:

  • Comment Fields
  • Discussions
  • Inbox
  • People Page (Course and Groups)
  • User Navigation Menu
  • User Profile Page
  • User Settings Page
——————–
What it now looks like on the edit page for a user:
Screenshot 2020-12-09 at 2.09.50 PM.png

Beware ‘Zoom’ Phishing and Smishing Scams among others

Avoid Zoom scam

No matter what kind of phishing or smishing message you receive, scammers hope you will click on the link they’ve included in their email or text. These links can download malware onto your computer AND/OR lead you to a page where you are prompted to enter your login information.

If the latter, you’ll arrive at a realistic, but fake Zoom login page. That fake login page is designed to get you to enter your user name and password. Scammers will use this information to log in to other services and platforms as well.

Avoid getting Scammed

Don’t click on anything! (This includes links, photos, attachments, and/or files). If you feel that this might be real, type the Zoom.us URL yourself in the URL bar and confirm that you can log in with your district Google credentials.

Always remember to double-check the sender address. Look carefully at the sender address as we are seeing return email addresses that closely mirror real email addresses. Also, please remember that mobile phones are an even bigger attack vector and smishing is on the rise. Return email addresses are harder to see when viewed on mobile devices. Often users on cell phones may be more distracted and in a hurry and scammers are hoping they won’t be paying close attention.

These steps should be followed for all email and text messages. While we all may be used to just clicking on links, we have to be careful that our behavior doesn’t help bad actors take advantage of us. If you get an unsolicited email or text and you aren’t sure who it really came from, NEVER click on any links, files, or images it may contain.

Resolve issues directly. As with Zoom warnings, if you receive an email or text stating there is a problem with your account and you aren’t sure if it is legitimate, contact the company directly. Go to the official website by typing the name in your browser and find the “Contact Support” feature to get help.

For more information

Read more about common phishing scams and how to avoid them at BBB.org/PhishingScam and at BBB.org/AvoidScams.

If you’ve been targeted with a phishing scam, report it at BBB.org/ScamTracker. Your reports can help limit scammers’ success in the future.

Elementary teachers — how to access the work of students changing classes

Save

Tomorrow marks the end of the first trimester for our elementary students. Some of our students are changing teachers and school tracks (Safe Start to/from Virtual) and those moves will be processed in our various systems (MISTAR, Canvas, Clever, etc.) this weekend so that on Monday those students are positioned to begin in their new classes.

With this in mind, below is some guidance to help staff access and retain student work so that they may finalize grades and feedback.

For SEESAW, follow these steps BEFORE a student’s exit date, to obtain a copy of their posted submissions. Teachers will lose access to a student’s Seesaw posts after the student has been moved out of their class. [Note, students do retain access to their past Seesaw posts — they would log into their Seesaw account via Clever, click on their profile icon (top left), and then click on “Past Work”. The work from the original class will not show up in their new class journal and the student’s family will also lose access to the class their student was removed from.] 

For IXL, follow these steps BEFORE the student’s exit date, to locate and save a PDF copy of their IXL progress. Teachers will lose access to a student’s IXL progress after the student has been moved out of their class.

For all CANVAS instructors, follow these steps AFTER students have been exited from course enrollment to access their grades and assignments (this guidance applies for any previously enrolled student that has been exited and no longer appears in a course). Teachers retain access to a student’s Canvas course submissions after the student has been moved out of their class.

 

 

P-CCS Remote Assistance Now Available Through Microsoft Quick Assist

Quick Assist

In an effort to provide faster support for staff, the P-CCS Technology Department now offers remote support through Microsoft Quick Assist. This is available for staff working either in district buildings and/or remotely. Please note that remote assistance may not be appropriate for the resolution of all issues and that our staff may still need physical access to staff equipment to provide support.

Safety and security are our top priorities, therefore, we have developed a process for offering remote support that cannot be replicated by others, such as scammers, who may want to take control of staff computers under false pretenses. Please read through our entire process below and note that 1) we will only use Microsoft Quick Assist to provide remote support and 2) we will only share the assistance code through the service ticketing system.

OUR PROCESS

  1. Upon review of certain service tickets, submitted at helpdesk.pccsk12.com, a building tech will determine remote access may help facilitate issue resolution. ……………………………
  2. The building tech will propose a day and time to provide that remote assistance using Microsoft Quick Assist (an installed Microsoft program, read more about it here), as well as ask for a best contact phone number (the tech will want to be on the phone with the staffer as they work on their laptop). Depending on the urgency and other factors, we may look to see if it is convenient to provide that assistance on the same day as the ticket is submitted. …………………………………………………………………………………………………….
  3. At the agreed upon day and time, the tech will call the staffer on the phone number provided. The staffer is expected to be able to retrieve their district email as the building tech will update their service ticket to generate an email that is sent to the staffer with a six digit code the staffer will be asked to enter on their laptop. ……………………………………..
  4. The staffer will enter that code in Microsoft Quick Assist. To do so, they must first locate and launch that program:
    1. In the bottom left corner of their Windows 10 laptop, click the Start menu
    2. In the “search programs and files” field, type “Quick Assist” and double click to open the top program result as in the picture below
    3. Quick Assist
    4. When the program is launched, after being provided the code in the staffer’s email, they should copy or input the code into the “Code from assistant” field within Get Assistance and click “Share Screen”
    5. where to enter code
    6. The tech will then prompt to take control of their computer. The staffer should click “Allow” in the window that displays.

Please note: When assisting with windows laptops, our technology staff will only use Microsoft Quick Assist. Scammers will often attempt to gain access to an intended victim’s computer with other third party programs such as Teamviewer, GoToMyPC, LogMeIn, etc. The district’s technology staff will NEVER ask staff to use these services. We hope that staff will remain vigilant and turn down those who might claim to be trying to assist them, but do not follow the process we described above. We also hope that staff remember that if at any point they feel as if a computer support call is not legitimate, they should end any remote session that might have agreed to and contact our Network and Data Security Administrator via email at dan.clanceyATpccsk12.com.

Personalize your digital Clever classroom

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With Clever Teacher Pages you can make spaces for subjects, projects, extra practice—and students can access everything from school or home. Here’s how it works:[vc_raw_html]%3Cstyle%20type%3D%22text%2Fcss%22%3Eol%7Bmargin%3A0%3Bpadding%3A0%7Dtable%20td%2Ctable%20th%7Bpadding%3A0%7D.c0%7Bborder-right-style%3Asolid%3Bpadding%3A5pt%205pt%205pt%205pt%3Bborder-bottom-color%3A%23000000%3Bborder-top-width%3A1pt%3Bborder-right-width%3A1pt%3Bborder-left-color%3A%23000000%3Bvertical-align%3Atop%3Bborder-right-color%3A%23000000%3Bborder-left-width%3A1pt%3Bborder-top-style%3Asolid%3Bborder-left-style%3Asolid%3Bborder-bottom-width%3A1pt%3Bwidth%3A150.8pt%3Bborder-top-color%3A%23000000%3Bborder-bottom-style%3Asolid%7D.c8%7Bborder-right-style%3Asolid%3Bpadding%3A5pt%205pt%205pt%205pt%3Bborder-bottom-color%3A%23000000%3Bborder-top-width%3A1pt%3Bborder-right-width%3A1pt%3Bborder-left-color%3A%23000000%3Bvertical-align%3Atop%3Bborder-right-color%3A%23000000%3Bborder-left-width%3A1pt%3Bborder-top-style%3Asolid%3Bborder-left-style%3Asolid%3Bborder-bottom-width%3A1pt%3Bwidth%3A317.2pt%3Bborder-top-color%3A%23000000%3Bborder-bottom-style%3Asolid%7D.c1%7Bcolor%3A%23000000%3Bfont-weight%3A400%3Btext-decoration%3Anone%3Bvertical-align%3Abaseline%3Bfont-size%3A11pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%3Bfont-style%3Anormal%7D.c7%7Bcolor%3A%23000000%3Bfont-weight%3A400%3Btext-decoration%3Anone%3Bvertical-align%3Abaseline%3Bfont-size%3A14pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%3Bfont-style%3Anormal%7D.c11%7Bpadding-top%3A0pt%3Bpadding-bottom%3A0pt%3Bline-height%3A1.15%3Borphans%3A2%3Bwidows%3A2%3Btext-align%3Aleft%7D.c3%7Btext-decoration-skip-ink%3Anone%3Bfont-size%3A14pt%3B-webkit-text-decoration-skip%3Anone%3Bcolor%3A%231155cc%3Btext-decoration%3Aunderline%7D.c4%7Bpadding-top%3A0pt%3Bpadding-bottom%3A0pt%3Bline-height%3A1.0%3Btext-align%3Aleft%7D.c2%7Bborder-spacing%3A0%3Bborder-collapse%3Acollapse%3Bmargin-right%3Aauto%7D.c10%7Bbackground-color%3A%23ffffff%3Bmax-width%3A468pt%3Bpadding%3A72pt%2072pt%2072pt%2072pt%7D.c9%7Bcolor%3Ainherit%3Btext-decoration%3Ainherit%7D.c5%7Bheight%3A0pt%7D.c6%7Bheight%3A11pt%7D.title%7Bpadding-top%3A0pt%3Bcolor%3A%23000000%3Bfont-size%3A26pt%3Bpadding-bottom%3A3pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%3Bline-height%3A1.15%3Bpage-break-after%3Aavoid%3Borphans%3A2%3Bwidows%3A2%3Btext-align%3Aleft%7D.subtitle%7Bpadding-top%3A0pt%3Bcolor%3A%23666666%3Bfont-size%3A15pt%3Bpadding-bottom%3A16pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%3Bline-height%3A1.15%3Bpage-break-after%3Aavoid%3Borphans%3A2%3Bwidows%3A2%3Btext-align%3Aleft%7Dli%7Bcolor%3A%23000000%3Bfont-size%3A11pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%7Dp%7Bmargin%3A0%3Bcolor%3A%23000000%3Bfont-size%3A11pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%7Dh1%7Bpadding-top%3A20pt%3Bcolor%3A%23000000%3Bfont-size%3A20pt%3Bpadding-bottom%3A6pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%3Bline-height%3A1.15%3Bpage-break-after%3Aavoid%3Borphans%3A2%3Bwidows%3A2%3Btext-align%3Aleft%7Dh2%7Bpadding-top%3A18pt%3Bcolor%3A%23000000%3Bfont-size%3A16pt%3Bpadding-bottom%3A6pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%3Bline-height%3A1.15%3Bpage-break-after%3Aavoid%3Borphans%3A2%3Bwidows%3A2%3Btext-align%3Aleft%7Dh3%7Bpadding-top%3A16pt%3Bcolor%3A%23434343%3Bfont-size%3A14pt%3Bpadding-bottom%3A4pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%3Bline-height%3A1.15%3Bpage-break-after%3Aavoid%3Borphans%3A2%3Bwidows%3A2%3Btext-align%3Aleft%7Dh4%7Bpadding-top%3A14pt%3Bcolor%3A%23666666%3Bfont-size%3A12pt%3Bpadding-bottom%3A4pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%3Bline-height%3A1.15%3Bpage-break-after%3Aavoid%3Borphans%3A2%3Bwidows%3A2%3Btext-align%3Aleft%7Dh5%7Bpadding-top%3A12pt%3Bcolor%3A%23666666%3Bfont-size%3A11pt%3Bpadding-bottom%3A4pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%3Bline-height%3A1.15%3Bpage-break-after%3Aavoid%3Borphans%3A2%3Bwidows%3A2%3Btext-align%3Aleft%7Dh6%7Bpadding-top%3A12pt%3Bcolor%3A%23666666%3Bfont-size%3A11pt%3Bpadding-bottom%3A4pt%3Bfont-family%3A%22Arial%22%3Bline-height%3A1.15%3Bpage-break-after%3Aavoid%3Bfont-style%3Aitalic%3Borphans%3A2%3Bwidows%3A2%3Btext-align%3Aleft%7D%3C%2Fstyle%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22c10%22%3E%3Cp%20class%3D%22c11%20c6%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22c1%22%3E%3C%2Fspan%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Ca%20id%3D%22t.77705c262f3ed1c2d804572c5cf58452bf9c6d65%22%3E%3C%2Fa%3E%3Ca%20id%3D%22t.0%22%3E%3C%2Fa%3E%3Ctable%20class%3D%22c2%22%3E%3Ctbody%3E%3Ctr%20class%3D%22c5%22%3E%3Ctd%20class%3D%22c0%22%20colspan%3D%221%22%20rowspan%3D%221%22%3E%3Cp%20class%3D%22c4%22%3E%3Cspan%20style%3D%22overflow%3A%20hidden%3B%20display%3A%20inline-block%3B%20margin%3A%200.00px%200.00px%3B%20border%3A%200.00px%20solid%20%23000000%3B%20transform%3A%20rotate%280.00rad%29%20translateZ%280px%29%3B%20-webkit-transform%3A%20rotate%280.00rad%29%20translateZ%280px%29%3B%20width%3A%20160.50px%3B%20height%3A%20145.14px%3B%22%3E%3Cimg%20alt%3D%22%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2FqJVNQVbj6WLUg45msN8IiUe1OoMck2tzkxelsaK4xed86j3Rj92BEfLRfy1diLR1CW7W2JdSgI3ltZe1FR96Lx4A3I9DzN15H1ViEFp6Kv0Ve0X6bXY1Z74osgeZaNHVGfVq17vh%22%20style%3D%22width%3A%20160.50px%3B%20height%3A%20145.14px%3B%20margin-left%3A%200.00px%3B%20margin-top%3A%200.00px%3B%20transform%3A%20rotate%280.00rad%29%20translateZ%280px%29%3B%20-webkit-transform%3A%20rotate%280.00rad%2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A reminder, access to Flash-based browser content ends next month

Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash has been supporting online games, content, and interactive features since 1996. But with changes in technology, other mediums such as HTML5 which are more power-efficient, more secure, and faster, Flash has become less and less popular. At one point 80% of the interactive content on the internet was Flash-based. By 2017, that number was down to 17%. Noting the continual decline and lack of support across the industry, Adobe determined an End of Life (EOL) date of December 31st, 2020 for the plugin.

What does this mean?

Many different learning websites including sites such as Starfall and CoolMathGames were entirely Flash-based. When the announcement by Adobe was made to end Flash (plugin player support/updates and distribution), many websites started to convert their interactive content to HTML5 and other delivery mechanisms. However, it is up to websites to make this transition. So, as you are planning different learning activities for students, please ensure that you have vetted the website to see if it relies on Flash. A way to check to see if a site uses Flash, Right-clicking on any part of a website will make a box appear with options you can click on. If you see Zoom in at the top of the box and About Adobe Flash Player at the bottom of the box, then you know that you have Flash on the website.

If the site migrates to open web standards (such as HTML5), you shouldn’t notice much difference except that you’ll no longer see prompts to run Flash on that site. If the site continues to use Flash, and you give the site permission to run Flash, it will only work through the end of 2020 or possibly a bit earlier (Chrome v.87 might not have the player built in).

  • You can check if you have a version of Flash player in Chrome by typing chrome://components into the address bar. If you have Adobe Flash Player installed, you may still be able to play Flash content, but it’ll need to be enabled first.

For more information please check out these articles:

https://www.blog.google/products/chrome/saying-goodbye-flash-chrome/

https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/

https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/flash-player-in-chrome-is-dead-in-2020-how-to-play-flash-files/

 

For those that teach IXL, access is available to content in four subject areas

IXL

If you are a teacher with IXL licensing, as a reminder, you can adjust the content that you can assign students, to include not just ELA and Math but also the subjects of Science and/or Social Studies* by clicking the boxes for those subjects within your teacher profile when logged into your IXL account.

FIRST LOG INTO YOUR ACCOUNT and SELECT YOUR PROFILE

IXL part 1

THEN CLICK SUBJECTS TO MAKE AVAILABLE….

IXL part 2

* Please note, while access to IXL ELA and Math extends through 2023, access to IXL Science and Social Studies is only available during the 2020-2021 School Year.

How visible do you want your Canvas course(s) to be?

A quick review of our Canvas courses after some teachers reported receiving access requests for particular files referenced in their courses from individuals not associated with the district shows that there are about 950 courses that are fully publicly visible, meaning that anyone with the URL can see all of the course content without needing to log in.  Since all courses default to Private (“Course”) visibility – the Course Settings would have had to manually been changed to “Public” visibility for that to be the case. Perhaps every one of those courses’ teachers want their course content to be available to anyone with the URL, but to play it safe,  consider taking a moment to review those courses you’d prefer were only visible to your students to confirm their visibility setting is as you’d expect and should it not be, change it from “Public” to “Course”.  Alternatively, if you’d now like to make “Public” a previously private “Course”, with a few clicks, you can make that happen.

This guide https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-customize-visibility-options-for-a-course/ta-p/844 explains the visibility options and this PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/tr-learncanvas/docs/CanvasCourseVisibilityOptions.pdf has a helpful table with a breakdown of those visibility options.

Course visibility