Author: PCCS TIS

The Find-Me printing choice continues to be our best and most popular option for timely releasing and roaming print jobs. Please review the following diagram to understand how to set up “Find Me Printing” after which, when you select it, you may then walk up to one of our new multi-function printers and upon logging in, be presented with the choice of which jobs to print. This guidance and other helpful tips for staff laptops can be found at https://tech.pccsk12.com/devices-hardware/hp-probook-g5-handbook/

Here’s a reminder that this school year ALL P-CCS students will have access to a powerful Universal Design for Learning (UDL) tool that can improve their educational outcomes. Read & Write for Google offers a range of powerful support tools to help students with reading, writing, studying and research.

Some of those tools include:

• CHECK IT tool, an innovative spelling & grammar check
• Translation tool (single word; over 150 languages!)
• Text-to-speech to hear words, passages, or whole documents read aloud with easy-to-follow dual color highlighting
• Dictionary definitions and pictures to identify the meaning of words
• With speech-to-text, dictate words to assist with writing, proofreading & studying
• Word prediction offers suggestions for the current or next word as you type
• Collect highlights from text in documents, from a web page or PDF for summarizing and research
• Create and listen to voice notes directly inside of Google Docs
• Simplify text on web pages to remove ads and other items that can be distracting
• “Talk to the Text” digital annotation (in PDF files)
• Tools to make digital text accessible (in EPIC!, MeL, MI Open Books, etc…)
• Seamless integration with many of the district’s online curriculum resources

For more information, go to the R4WG@PCCS website: bit.ly/RW4GinPCCS

As we begin the school year, we recognize that many instructional staff, perhaps especially those new to the district, will continue to have questions and/or welcome support to better use their HP ProBooks. With this in mind, here’s a reminder we’ve made a help page for the ProBook and will add to it as the year unfolds.

If you still have questions after visiting the link or if you have some wonders related to implementing educational technology in your classroom or have a software issue in your office, please submit a service request and ask for assistance from a Tech Integration Specialist (Matt Smoot or Rick Coughlin)

Service Request

HP ProBook Help

More and more, P-CCS will be relying on Clever to provide a single sign-on solution for our staff and students, making it easier for everyone to access many digital learning services and tools. Our department encourages staff to learn more about the Clever Portal, how it works and how it can benefit you and your students.

Clever is hosting a live training on August 12, 10:30 am PT / 1:30 pm ET to provide a detailed overview on how teachers can use the Clever Portal in the ‘19-’20 school year (registration link here). This is a great opportunity to ensure you have all the information you need to use Clever in your classroom. During the training Clever will provide (i) step-by-step instructions on how to use the Clever Portal, (ii) instructions on how to access Clever Academy, and, (iii) review exciting new product updates for teachers.

As a next step, please register for the live training using this link. If you cannot attend, we will send out the recorded webinar afterwards so that you can check it out when it is more convenient for you!

As a bonus, Clever will also give away a prize for one lucky attendee… this limited edition Clever Academy duffel bag. 😉

Last August, Google introduced a new version of Google Classroom. This included the most notable and popular feature of ‘Classwork,’ which allowed teachers to organize assignments and questions by modules and units.

On September 4th, 2019 all previous versions of Google Classroom (classes without ‘Classwork’) will be reverted to the newest version and will now include the ‘Classwork’ tab. This means that instructors will not have the ability to revert back to the older version of Classroom on or after 9/4/19.

When classes still using the previous version are automatically converted to the new version of Classroom, any class materials that exist in the Class Settings page will not be carried over to the converted classes. You will still be able to access these materials, excluding any YouTube content, via the Drive folder. To learn how to add materials to ‘Classwork’ page click here.

• If you use the previous version of Classroom, you can convert it to the new version before September 4 by adding the Classwork page. 

As always if you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Technology Integration Specialists via a service request.

For the coming school year we’re excited to announce that all students will be able to use the premium version of Text Help’s Read & Write for Google Chrome. 
Read & Write is a powerful UDL (Universal Design for Learning) tool and Chrome browser extension and its premium version has been of benefit for students at both Eriksson and Field.

While we will be offering additional training opportunities for teachers as the school year progresses, we are offering two early-bird sessions on August 19th for those with time and interest to come and learn more about this UDL tool.  Please see the form below for more information and sign up for the offered times on the 19th: forms.gle/GYMnZzzma1adfGLi8

If you would like to learn more about Read & Write, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bp0to8a9Z0

Or visit the website: https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/products/read-write/read-write-for-google/

Please note, the 2.5 hour trainings on August 19th are not compensated training; if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at tis@pccsk12.com

Common Sense Education is considered by many educators to be the gold standard when it comes to digital safety, reviews of edtech software, and digital resources for teachers. Common Sense has teamed up with edWeb.net to provide timely monthly webinars that explore innovative technologies, digital citizenship strategies, formative assessments, the development of critical thinking skills and more.

Both companies have also archived and posted all previous webinars which can be viewed anytime for free. Check out the site to watch previous webinars.

ISTE stands for International Society for Technology in Education. Each year they hold a conference in the summer that brings tens of thousands of people from all over the world to learn about innovative educational technology and its impacts on education. This year in Philadelphia, ISTE wanted to highlight the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Nearly 20,000 educators engaged in their NASA Playground which included 2D and 3D modeling, augmented reality and other innovative technologies. Check out this article!

Noteworthy Resources:

Be A Nasa Scientist Poster w/ QR codes

NASA resources: A universe of learning at your fingertips (Tons of NASA Resources)

Almost since the beginning of the P-CCS adoption of the Google platform (Google Apps for Education/G Suite for Education), we have had access to a great resource originally referred to as Synergyse and later as G Suite Training. You know, that little question mark at the top right corner of your Google Apps next to your profile picture?

Well, Google is phasing it out as of September 30th, 2019. Our beloved little question icon will go away and with it the at our fingers training and support that it offered. If you still want access to great resources for learning how to use Google tools and have relied on G Suite Training, there is hope. Here are some of the top resources you can still rely on:

What other resources are available?

Additional training and support resources are available at:

• G Suite Learning Center
• GSuite Training Center
• G Suite YouTube Channel
• G Suite Support
• G Suite Administrator Help Center

Additional education specific training resources available at:

• Google for Education Teacher Center
• Google for Education YouTube Channel
• Google Applied Digital Skills

Until September 30th, there’s still time to check out GSuite Training embedded within your Google apps.

Go to the G Suite service you want to learn.

Click the Training menu (Training for G Suite menu) for a list of relevant lessons, or use the search feature to find a particular lesson.

Select the lesson and follow the onscreen instructions.

Access the G Suite Training Video Library

If you are curious about the training that is included in this extension and available through September, you can also simply explore the video library. Here you can access all of the videos, categorized by application. Gmail alone has over 100 video tutorials! Most of which are about 30 seconds to two minutes long. Just in time learning!!!