Educator and author Larry Ferlazzo 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 EduCandy (https://educandy.com/), Fluent Key (https://fluentkey.com/), and FlexClip (https://www.flexclip.com/) as well as consider checking out his 2018 picks and bookmarking his site for revisit.
On October 8th Google announced that their app Grasshopper, created for students to use to learn to code, now can run in a web browser. The app/site has several courses designed to intuitively help someone build coding skills. Each lesson starts with an introduction to some vocabulary before moving into the coding lessons. Each lesson has a tutorial, a practice activity, and a quiz. You have to successfully complete each lesson before progressing to the next one. Grasshopper will save your work in progress.
For more information visit https://grasshopper.app/ and to start coding today on a Chromebook, Mac or Windows PC, browse to https://learn.grasshopper.app/
Last May (2019), all Google EDU account holders around the world that had YouTube Brand accounts were notified by Google that their YouTube Brand accounts would be deleted a couple of months later, in July 2019. While worldwide millions received that notice, in our district it was ~60 staffers and ~2400 students. Google later decided to instead suspend EDU Brand accounts in July and only outright delete them this coming November (2019). For the ~60 P-CCS staff, the Technology department submitted online forms necessary to obtain a temporary one year extension (until July 15, 2020) from suspension / deletion of their Brand accounts. Student brand accounts were not eligible for any extension and were suspended this past July.
One major result of the account suspensions that were not foreseen by Administrators or Google, is that if a user had configured their Brand account to be the default account to use when signing into YouTube, they could not view YouTube videos at all until they changed the default channel by selecting the box under “Settings > Advanced Settings” within YouTube.
If you encounter any students unable to view YouTube, please let them know the following:
Affected student users need to sign-out of Google (or delete their cookies) then navigate to youtube.com/channel_switcher and sign in again, remembering to change the default channel once they sign-in. Once this has been done on one device, it will fix the issue on any of their other devices.
Some students might find it easier/possible, to simply delete their Brand account by browsing to https://myaccount.google.com/brandaccounts and deleting the Brand account. Once deleted, they should be able to again log into YouTube.
For those interested, especially those staffers with Brand accounts and a one year extension, guidance on content retention as well as more background on the situation can be found here.
If you think you might have missed an email sent to a group that you’re a member of, head to groups.google.com, click on My Groups, then find and click on the name of the group and in most instances a page will open listing past email messages to that group.
At Groups, you can also adjust how emails are sent to you for each group for whom you are a member by clicking the down arrow to the right of “Every new message” found on the right hand side of the landing page:
Note, some groups are set to show who are their members; others are not. If set to show, click on “Members” to see a list along with the date they were added/joined the group.
This and more can be explored by visiting groups.google.com.
If you’re wondering how to enable your new ID/door access proximity card to work with many of our copiers instead of having to input a PIN number, please see the directions and a link to a video below.
1. Place the ID/ proximity card in front of the card reader on the copier
2. When asked if you’d like to associate and account with the ID, tap “yes”
3. Input your network credentials (what you’d use to login to a district desktop computer) NOT your Google login information
4. Tap “set”
5. Place the proximity card in front of the card reader again and you should be able to login without the need to input a pin number
If you need visual instructions, here is a 40 second video that shows you how: https://www.wevideo.com/view/1081340782
Please consider visiting https://tech.pccsk12.com/blog/ to skim postings of updates we’ve shared over the last couple of months!
Wayne RESA has shared a flyer listing some learning opportunities they have scheduled in the coming months focused on EdTech In the Classroom. Please note, two of their twelve opportunities — the Google CS First and the Code.org CS Fundamentals sessions — are designed for users who are already implementing elements of these programs in their classrooms and are looking to take a deep dive into the content/curriculum.
EdTech In the Classroom
Over this past weekend, the MISTAR Consortium implemented version 3.7.0.1 of MISTAR-Q. This version includes free NEW MOBILE apps for both PARENTS and STUDENTS allowing them to access their portals from Android and iOS devices as well as various improvements and bug fixes. To read an overview click here.
Mobile App Installation Instructions
To connect to our school district, there is now a FREE mobile application for smart phones or tablets.
It is quick and easy to get started!
On the device, connect to the Android Play store or the iOS App Store.
Look for the Q Parent Connection app, or Q Student Connection icon, like the icons below:
Links:
Install / Open the app.
Select the “Connect to school district” option. Use the filter to select the state, county and school district.
Click the “Enter Parent Connection” button OR “Enter Student Connection” button.
On the top right corner of the app, click the “Log in” button.
Enter the Parent Portal PIN and password. These are the same PIN and passwords used on a desktop computer. For Student Connection, use the same credentials as on a desktop too.
The Google Fonts team has teamed up with Thomas Jockin to create a series of fonts that are aimed at improving reading speed. To learn more about the research behind this initiative, see here for more details.
These fonts take into account typographical factors, such as size and spacing, that the font developers hope will improve reading speed. This can be particularly helpful for educators who want to leverage new tools that can improve reading among their students, especially those who are sensitive to visual crowding.
Google now offers eight different Lexend font families that have varied widths and spacing, so users can choose the font style that’s best for their reading speed.
To access these fonts in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides:
A PBS sponsored EdCamp Teacher Summit is taking place SATURDAY, August 17 from 9:30 am-3 pm on the Oakland Schools Main Campus. This event is FREE to educators working with children ages 2-8 years. Click here to learn more and register.
Watch highlights from their last EdCamp.