Category: Blog

As the tech department works throughout the district and observes all the wonderful things being done with technology to support student learning, we are reminded that we have a precious resource in our technology-rich environment.  Because resources are finite, we are reminding all classroom teachers and staff to remain vigilant in securing the 1:1 and cart-based devices in our classrooms and media centers. As you know, these are highly desirable devices and given that our buildings are often very much open to the public, we need to secure the devices each afternoon before leaving for the day, and during intervals in between when the devices are unattended.

If you are aware that there is an issue with the locking mechanism on a cart, or a key has been misplaced, please submit a service request immediately, and make sure your existing key is in a safe place that is not easily accessible when not in use.

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.

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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

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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.

Check out EduPaths which now has 300+ FREE Professional Development courses (& FREE SCECHs) for educators.

EduPaths is a FREE professional development portal for ALL Michigan Educators. EduPaths courses are designed to expand understanding on a wide variety of topics and help educators share best practices. Courses are available online and are completely self-paced and intended to help educators personalize their own learning plan anytime and anywhere.

It is FREE to register for an account, and once registered you will be able to access an ever expanding set of FREE courses. Click the link to their November newsletter.

  Here’s a snapshot of the courses now available for SCECHs.

[This posting from Dearborn Public is worthwhile and applicable in our district too.] With the holidays fast approaching, a rise in phishing attacks is traditionally seen as well. Phishing attacks can be frustrating to deal with. The best defense is to not fall for them in the first place. Unfortunately, we are seeing phishing attacks become “better” (i.e. harder to detect) and more polished.

What Phishing Does

Phishing is an attempt to do one of two things

1. Tricking users into revealing their credentials.
2. Getting users to install malware.

Credentials

Quite frankly, your credentials are very valuable. For many of our users, district credentials lead to student information, lots of valuable district information and more. Plus, many users “reuse” passwords. So, learning a user name and password on one site can lead to the ability to log into other sites.

Protecting Against Phishing

We employ several strategies to prevent phishing attempts from ever reaching our users. However, even the best of all of these combined will not be perfect. Occasionally, phishing attempts will land in your inbox.

Tips to Identify Phishing Attempts

• Be suspicious of “odd” grammar and punctuation
• Be suspicious of “odd” wording
• You probably didn’t “win” a gift card (especially if you never entered a contest)
• Be wary and wise about contests
• Be aware of “urgent” deadlines
• Watch out for shortened URLs
• Look at where the link is actually taking you
• Carefully review the actual URL of the site that you are on

Spear Phishing

Spear phishing is targeted at specific individuals. Unlike phishing (which usually blankets a wide variety of users), spear phishing aims to trick high profile targets into giving up their credentials.

Preventing Becoming a Victim

It is important to prevent becoming a victim.

• Use the Tips to Identify above.
• Turn on 2-Step or 2-Factor Authentication (here’s how for your Google account)
• Use a Password Manager.
• Be suspicious (especially when on a mobile device).
• Instead of clicking on a link, enter the URL of a website that you want to visit (or use a known bookmark)

[Please note, the P-CCS Tech department will periodically send out training exercises or notes to help staff hone and heighten their skills to avoid falling victim to a phishing campaign.]

You can quickly create new files directly from your browser with “.new” domains for several Google products. For example, you can type “Cal.new” into your browser to create a new Google Calendar event.

The current “.new” domains are:

• Docs.new
• Sheets.new
• Slides.new
• Forms.new
• Cal.new
• Keep.new 
• Sites.new

Note, the above are not case-sensitive (Docs, dOcS and docs will all work) and you can type either the singular (doc, sheet, slide, form, site) or their plural (docs, sheets, slides, forms, sites) before the “dot” new.

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.

Slido is a polling tool that has recently launched a Google Slides add-on and a corresponding Chrome extension. With Slido installed you can create polls directly in the Google Slides editor. The poll will appear as a slide in your presentation. The poll slide includes your question and the directions for your students to respond to your poll.

When your students responds to your poll, their responses will appear on the slide. By using Slido‘s Google Slides add-on you don’t have to toggle between your presentation and a polling website in order to view poll responses.