Author: Mark Salzer

As a reminder, about once a month Google publishes their Google for Education newsletter filled with brief news items with clickable links that might be of interest.  Check out past issues HERE and/or Sign up to have Google for Education updates, including GfE newsletters emailed directly to your inbox.

You might also want to check out Google’s Education blog.

Note, some of the product news you will see are feature enhancements only available, initially, to those participating in Google’s Early Adopter Program (EAP), or other beta Programs. As a district we have chosen to not sign up for them, and consequently not permit user access because their terms of use permit much more liberal access for Google and third parties to our student data and we take very seriously our charge to preserve and safeguard that data. We regret any inconvenience such a conservative stance might pose and are hopeful that soon piloted features are incorporated into our formal G Suite Core Services agreement which has much greater restrictions on what Google is permitted to do with our data, but until they are, otherwise appealing features will continue to remain unavailable. The good news is, as features are vetted, they often make their way from EAP et al to Core Services and are incorporated within six to nine months of initial release.

This is a friendly reminder for those that use a non-district computer running Windows 7, you may be interested to learn more about what its EOL means by reading this support article from Microsoft. It’s possible you may be able to upgrade the computer to Windows 10 via this page after researching the computer’s specifications and licensing. It’s also possible you may want to consider replacing the computer with one that can more readily handle a newer and more secure operation system. Bottom line, the Windows 7 computer will continue to run, but with each passing month it will be more susceptible to compromise since no further support updates will be provided after January.

Educator and technologist Richard Byrne shared his 2019 picks of potentially useful Web 2.0 websites that are accessible, free, classroom appropriate and browser-based at his blog.  Interested educators may want to consider skimming his posting to learn a bit more about sites such as VidReader  (create transcripts of YouTube videos),  Canva  (online presentation, brochure, infographic creator —  teachers can get all of the pro features of Canva for free as well as Pro licensing for one class of 30 students — see this posting for more ideas), and Glide (easily turns any Google sheet into a mobile app).

Monarch, the online teacher training program for MISTAR has its first pilot run from January 13 through March 13, 2020. Learners will work online at their own time and pace and from any device to gain mastery of MISTAR teacher applications.

Registration form – Please register by January 8, 2020

What can a user expect to do?

Each activity features a short introduction, a video or resource and a quick feedback exercise that are typically completed in 15 minutes or less.  Players can choose which activities best fit their learning needs. Some may spend more time in the Grade Book activities, while others may do many things with other teacher tools.  It’s up to the learner! 

Cannot remember your (Personal Identification Code) PIC number? Contact our HR Office or see the steps to perform a lookup online here.

Other Questions? Please email sis.support@resa.net or call 734-334-1870.

Starting in January G Suite users will be able to attach emails to other emails in Gmail without downloading them first. For some situations attaching emails might make more sense than forwarding separate emails, like wanting to forward multiple messages related to a single topic. With this new functionality, you can do exactly that. Sending emails as attachments allows you to write a summary email message to your recipients, and attach the set of supporting emails that recipients can directly open in their mail client.

You’ll know this feature is available to you sometime in January when you see the “Forward as attachment” option in the three-dot More menu.

Also available starting sometime in January, you will be able to propose a new meeting time or add a note to Calendar invites directly from Gmail. When you open a Google Calendar invite in Gmail, you’ll see a new “More Options” dropdown menu, allowing you to propose a new time for the meeting or add a note to your RSVP. Selecting either option will open the respective event section in calendar.google.com, where you can make those updates directly.

Ah, there’s nothing like phishing on Black Friday. The sun breaking over the horizon, the water gently lapping.

Oops. Phishing, not fishing. Phishing is bad.

This is an example of a phishing email. The scammers have used the Amazon logo. They have included “deals” that seem reasonable. However:

• The sender’s email does not match with Amazon
• Hovering your cursor over the link in the actual email will display a link to a site other than Amazon
• There is some odd wording

Please be aware of phishing attempts and scams.

A few things to remember:

• Just because it has a logo, doesn’t mean it comes from the company. It is easy to copy and paste the Amazon logo, the Apple logo, etc.
• Watch out for things that are “time-sensitive”
• Do NOT use the link within an email to log in and fix an issue. Type the URL you know into the URL bar yourself
• Watch out for “tracking numbers” that claim to come from UPS, FedEx, etc.
• Be wary of promised Gift Cards for completing a survey (almost all of these are fraudulent).

Also:

• Reputable companies won’t ask for your Social Security Number/Bank Account Number/Credit card to prove who you are
• Remember that phishers are trying to get information (either log in information, credit card numbers, or personal information)
• You can click on the 3 dots (More) to get a menu of choices for the email and are encouraged to select Report phishing if you determine it is a phishing email to help train the system and help others avoid the trap (and if instead it is spam and didn’t go into your spam folder, consider doing likewise to help train the system). You can also click “Show Original” to see the actual header and often it clues you in that something didn’t come from whom it purports to.
  • 

Reprinted and adapted from this Dearborn Public Schools’ blog posting.

ON A SLIGHTLY RELATED NOTE: Please consider checking your Google security settings here https://myaccount.google.com/security and run the security checkup https://myaccount.google.com/security-checkup?continue=https://myaccount.google.com/security especially with an eye towards revoking access to apps you no longer use.

Typing Using Your Voice

Working on the go, or need to document something quickly? Use Google Docs Voice feature to do the work for you. Type using your voice in Google Docs!

Google voice features are everywhere. We use them every day across a range of our devices whether it be Google voice on our phones, Google Homes or even asking Google questions such as directions hands-free. But did you know, you can even use the voice feature in Google Docs too? Whether you’re working on the go, or just need to jot something down quickly whilst it’s fresh in your mind, Docs has got you covered.

Note: This feature only works on a Chrome browser. Make sure before you begin that your device has a built-microphone to be able to use this feature.

In Docs:

• Click > Tools > Voice Typing  (Ctrl+Shift+S)
• You’ll be asked to Allow or Block this feature > click > Allow
• You’ll see a grey microphone appear on the left hand-side of your Google Doc
• Select your chosen language from the drop-down
• Once you click the icon > it will change to an orange microphone icon
• Click > then start talking as normal, making sure to speak at a good volume and as clearly as possible
• Google Docs should then begin to type your spoken words

SYNC DATA FROM ONE SPREADSHEET TO ANOTHER

Save time by importing existing data into a new spreadsheet without having to copy it all again.

We often find we need to copy important data into more than one spreadsheet, but it can be tricky if the data is large and complex. Use this handy formula to important your data in minutes.

• To start, open up the spreadsheet or tab you want to copy to the new Sheet > copy the sheet’s URL
• Make a note of the cells you want to import
• Open the new sheet where you want the data to appear
• In the cell begin to type > =IMPORTRANGE (you’ll see the code as you begin to type)
• Type > quotation “ (very important) then paste the URL from the sheet and add another quotation mark at the end of the URL
• Then add a comma , > quotation mark again “ > then type the exact name of the specific tab you want to copy followed by an exclamation mark !
• Finally, type the range of cells you want to import eg: A1:A19 followed by “ quotation marks
• Press > Enter and your data will now appear in your new Sheet
  

Check out REMC’s winter learning opportunities and free virtual courses in this month’s REMC Connect.

Or simply click on either image below for more information and to register.