Category: Blog

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

Please consider visiting https://tech.pccsk12.com/blog/ to skim postings of updates we’ve shared over the last couple of months!

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:

Android Q ParentConnection

Apple Q Parent Connection

Android Q StudentConnection

Apple Q Student Connection

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:

• From the Font menu in the toolbar, select “More fonts”.
• Then, search for Lexend and select the fonts to add them to your saved fonts. These will now appear in the “My fonts” list and in the Font menu in the toolbar. 

Source: GSuite Release Announcement August 13th

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.

The 3D modeling tool Sketchup for Schools is now available online for district students when using Chromebooks and Windows computers via their Google ‘waffle’ (aka app launcher) OR dashboard.

To learn more, visit …

• Getting Started with SketchUp for Schools
• Saving, Opening, and Downloading Models with SketchUp for Schools
• Creating and Editing Models in SketchUp for Schools

This year’s top Webby Awards in the category of Education went to Smithsonian Learning Lab and Ted-Ed. If you haven’t visited those sites in a while (or ever), we urge you to check ’em out.

Every year for the last 23 years (since 1996), the Webby Awards have been an award of high distinction for websites in many categories. Their awards gallery and archive is also worth exploring.

Background: The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category—The Webby Award and The Webby People’s Voice Award. Members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) select the Nominees for both awards in each category, as well as the Winners of The Webby Awards. In the spirit of the open Web, The Webby People’s Voice is awarded by the voting public. Each year, The Webby People’s Voice Awards garners millions of votes from all over the world.

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. 😉