In early summer, Google will be replacing multiple-location Drive files with shortcuts

drive with shortcuts

FYI, starting on June 27, 2022 and in the weeks thereafter, Google will be replacing multiple-location Drive files with shortcuts. Any impacted users in our domain will start seeing an in-product notification banner about two weeks before the replacement starts. The banner will notify them about the change and will point them to a support article with more info. The migration will take place automatically—no action will be required by users.

Google’s change is meant to simplify folder and file structures and helps reduce confusion around files with multiple parent folder locations.
When a file is replaced with a shortcut:
  • One location is preserved for files or folders currently contained in multiple locations. All other instances of the item will be replaced with a shortcut.
  • Ownership and sharing permissions for files and folders are preserved.

Drive shortcuts

Suggested Laptop Maintenance

The tech department would like to suggest the following maintenance steps to ensure the best performance from your new laptop.

  • Clear your Chrome Browsing Data and Cookies every couple of weeks (with Time range All Time) / Ditto for all Microsoft Edge users (click here for easy steps)
  • Do a full restart of your laptop at least once a week
  • If you teach in the Virtual Academy, at least monthly come onto campus (the parking lot is sufficient) with your computer. After initially connecting via district WIFI, restart your laptop and log back in, then allow 15-20 minutes for any updates to run in the background while you are on it. So if you are planning to come on-campus for any reason, please bring your laptop, and restart and log into it when there!

Making sure you perform periodic restarts and logging into your laptop while on the district network does several important things to improve performance including clearing the laptop’s Random Access Memory (RAM) which can otherwise over time bog down its system resources and allowing important and useful district updates to to run at start up (as one example, a needed component to run the updated Canvas Studio Screen Recorder requires a one time laptop restart and new log in while in district so a log in script that is associated with user accounts can install it).

We appreciate your help to ensure the best possible performance of your laptop. Please submit a tech ticket if you have any questions.

Matt Miller May

cover of Tech Like a Pirate by Matt Miller

If you have not heard of Matt Miller, author of Ditch that Textbook and other titles, it is your lucky day! His website, books, and podcast are full of great teacher tips. Recently, he has promoted an EfficienTEACH series to help you save time and have a big impact on student learning. Check out some of his fantastic resources below, click the picture to access the links.

How To Install Apps on New Dell Laptops

As of now, all instructional staff working with K-12 students should have been issued a new Dell Latitude 3520 laptop, with the exception of a few make-ups that have yet to be deployed. We appreciate everyone’s patience and want to thank staff for being cooperative, given our expedited time frame to issue all devices in the district. Even we are adjusting to the new technology and all the changes involved with the new Dell laptops. Besides the differences in the look and feel of staff laptops, one of the biggest changes is the addition of the Microsoft Company Portal.

Intune Company Portal - Apps on Google Play

What is the Company Portal?

The Company Portal is part of a new data management system that allows PCCS staff to securely download and install district-vetted programs and updates. The Company Portal can be thought of as an App Store for PCCS, including all apps and utilities used in-district. We surveyed the list of programs that were being used by teachers and staff members in the district and included the vast majority of these in the current app list in the Company Portal. The list of available apps in the portal is ever-growing,

You may have noticed that installing programs outside of the Company Portal prompts for an administrator username and password. This is completely to be expected and is designed to protect your laptop and files safe from malware or malicious programs. Safeguarding devices connected to our network protects our infrastructure and makes our districts less susceptible to cyber attacks. It’s also something our insurance company has begun to insist on for us to remain with coverage.

How do I install the Company Portal on my computer?

The Company Portal should install on your laptop after about an hour of initial use. Once you log into your laptop for the first time, it gets pushed out to your device and usually takes about that long to appear. Once installed, and following another restart, a shortcut to the Company Portal should later appear on your desktop. If you do not see an icon for Company Portal, it’s possible that it hasn’t been pushed to your device yet. A restart often helps, but it is also possible that you can find the Company Portal by searching for it.

If you click the Start button and begin to search for “company portal”, you should see the app populate in the search results. Once the program opens, feel free to right-click the icon at the bottom of the screen and select Pin to taskbar so it is readily accessible when you want to open the Company Portal in the future.

Once the Company Portal opens, click Apps to see a full list of all available apps in the Company Portal.

How do I install the apps I need?

Click the app you’d like to install and click Install. Please do not disconnect from the Internet or close the lid during the installation process. Some apps are larger than others and require more time to download and properly install.

You will know an app is completely installed when you see the blue checkmark and Installed at the top of the screen.

Should I install everything in the Company Portal?

There is no need to install all available apps in the Company Portal. If you have a specific software need, there is likely an app added to the library to meet that need. See the table below for some examples.

To use: Install these apps:
Smart Notebook software SMART Education Software

SMART Product Drivers
Microsoft Office Microsoft 365 Apps for Windows 10

Please note, if it is a paid app or subscription service (and some of them are), and you don’t have the license for it, you won’t be able to run it even if you do install it.

 

There is software I would like to use and it’s not available in the Company Portal. How can I install it?

If there is software you’d like to use and it provides educational value, you can request to have it added into the Company Portal. Please click here to submit a tech request and choose Computer Software Request. We will gladly evaluate the request and add it to the Company Portal if it is something Teaching and Learning and/or the Technology Department deem educationally valuable for staff members.

 

I still don’t see the Company Portal on my laptop. What do I do?

If you don’t see the Company Portal, even after searching for it, it may be due to a setting tied to your logon profile. Please submit a tech request and let us know so we can look into it!

 

Have any questions?

If you have any questions about how the Company Portal works or need help setting up any apps, please submit a tech request and a member of our department would be happy to help you.

Seesaw’s Monthly Feature Update Report AND Seesaw Connect

Seesaw is now maintaining an up-to-date online set of slides reviewing their monthly updates and showcasing what’s new as well as lessons they’ve introduced and webinars they’re offering.  Teachers who use Seesaw are encouraged to bookmark the site for periodic reference as the service continues to evolve.

Seesaw updates

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Seesaw Connect 2022

Seesaw Connect is a FREE virtual conference for any educator. Explore short on-demand courses that interest you, no matter where you are in your Seesaw journey. Get inspired by passionate educators that share simple ways to engage students. VISIT HERE TO LEARN MORE AND ENROLL

Seesaw Connect

REMC May Professional Learning

REMC May courses
Here is the latest issue of the REMC Connect newsletter featuring their free courses with 10 free SCECHs.  The courses begin May 2.  The registration deadline is April 29.

Are you looking for a new classroom tech trick? Need to earn some SCECHs? Look no further than a REMC Course!

Through the support of REMC SAVE’s vendor partners, all courses are FREE and there are no SCECH fees. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn, connect, collaborate and grow from the convenience of your home. 

Check out May 2022 courses here:

Register by Friday, April 29th. You will receive a welcome email with the course login and other information prior to the course starting on May 2nd. If you have questions or need further assistance with your course registration, please contact Erin Rommeck, REMC Event Coordinator.

Google Docs Email Templates

Ever find yourself writing emails and thinking that you should really save it to re-use later? Google Docs now makes it easier to draft an email in Docs and send it with just a few more clicks.

Entering @email in docs.google.com will load a template complete with To, Cc, Bcc, and Subject lines. It can also be accessed via Insert > Building Blocks > Email draft.

preview of email template screenYou can access your contacts and enter them directly in the correct fields. Then you can draft your email. Because you are in Docs you can share it with your grade-level team or co-teacher for feedback and suggestions.

When you are ready to send, click on the Gmail icon and it will automatically populate the Gmail message with what you entered in Docs. Then congratulate yourself because that yearly email or other frequent communication is saved in Drive to save you time in the future.

Draft email in Docs

This feature was previously mentioned along with some other exciting updates in this blog post.

April 2022 Canva Monthly Newsletter

Greetings from the Canva K-12 Education team! This monthly newsletter includes new feature updates and tips for getting the most out of your enterprise-level Canva for Education tools.

Canva Tutorials for Students

Help students create, communicate and utilize Canva for Education. Short, easy-to-follow video tutorials help students of all abilities get the most out of Canva for Education whether creating presentations, editing photos, collaborating with classmates and much more!. SEE TUTORIALS

Comment-Only Links

Now you can share your design with others with a comment-only link! This link allows recipients to comment on your design and provide meaningful feedback without changing or editing the content. LEARN MORE

Awesome Analytics with Canvas Studio

Canvas Studio is a tools that allows instructors and students to actively collaborate through video and audio media.

It has the ability to:
Why would you use it?
And newly-updated View Insights!
  • You have always been able to view graphs on who viewed you video and for how long.
  • Now you can also see what parts of the video get played or replayed most often so you can better understand what was useful for students.
  • You can see a viewer list and easily see the completion rate for each.

Image of Studio viewer list

If you want to chat more about the possibilities with Canvas Studio, submit a tech ticket and we’d be happy to answer your questions and walk through it with you.

Check out the redesigned REMC Classroom Resource Page

from REMC’s latest newsletter…

The REMC Association of Michigan is dedicated to improving learning by empowering educators through top-notch professional learning and ready-to-use classroom resources. We strive to make our tools easy to access and implement. Check out our newly designed Classroom Resources webpage with FREE resources and classroom tools.

Looking for a lesson in Digital Citizenship? Interested in starting an Esports program?  Need a free place to access and store videos? It’s all located at: https://www.remc.org/classroom-resources/

We provide lessons and activities for students to grow their effective use of technology and be successful digital learners. There are also toolkits specific to presentation skills, media literacy and digital citizenship. Check out MI Streamnet to learn more about how you can avoid ads and distractions that occur when accessing videos and educational content from other sites.

Moving educational technology forward also requires professional learning for those in the trenches. We have a section dedicated to resources for those of you providing training and support services. The best part is everything is FREE and all content is licensed under a Creative Commons license so there is no need to worry about use or altering resources to meet your needs.