Newsletter Archive – Page 23

Digital Citizenship Week

Every year, the third week of October is coined Digital Citizenship Week. It’s a great time to focus on Digital Citizenship with our students.

To help guide instruction on Digital Citizenship, consider the 5 competencies:

The five competencies of digital citizenship

Inclusive: I am open to hearing and respectfully recognizing multiple viewpoints, and I engage with others online with respect and empathy.
Informed: I evaluate the accuracy, perspective, and validity of digital media and social posts.
Engaged: I use technology and digital channels for civic engagement, to solve problems and be a force for good in both physical and virtual communities.
Balanced: I make informed decisions about how to prioritize my time and activities online and off.
Alert: I am aware of my online actions, and know how to be safe and create safe spaces for others online.

A Change in Mindset: Focus on the Do’s not the Don’s

Watch this video to learn how to shift from telling students all the things they shouldn’t do online, to helping them see all the things they should do while working online.

Interested in exploring Digital Citizenship with your students? Explore these resources:

Brain Pop is a district K-12 subscription that has many videos and activities surrounding digital citizenship.
Nearpod also has free lessons available for Digital Citizenship week. Click HERE to access Nearpod’s free lessons.
Common Sense Media also has free (just sign up for an educator account) resources and lessons for Digital Citizenship. (If you’re an elementary teacher, your Media specialists incorporate these lessons into their curriculum with all K-5 students).
A Digital Citizenship Framework and Lessons is a TechNotes blog post by Lori Gracey providing several resources for digital citizenship lessons.
Digizen is a website that has tons of resources on digital citizenship, social networking, digital values, and more.
Google provides a Digital Citizenship and Safety Course for teachers and students. The course has five units, each with an introduction, lesson, and review, lasting a total of 23 minutes each. Topics covered include privacy, phishing and scams, online safety, searching, and online reputation.
DigCitCommit has a list of great resources. Not only that, but if you have created your own resources, you can submit them to share with others.
Google has some resources on their Be Internet Awesome site. They also list a few partners that are worth checking out. For example, PearDeck has created Be Internet Awesome interactive presentations to coordinate with Google’s lessons.
SeeSaw is a PCCS K-2 subscription and has more than 1,500 activities under the Digital Citizenship category in its Activity Library.

Google Assignments 1.3–A Closer Look

At the beginning of the year, we updated to the Google Assignment LTI 1.3 in Canvas (blog post). This provided important security updates and the new option to grade a Google Assignment using the Google Feedback Tool (that has been in place) or the Canvas Speedgrader. As you might have noticed, it has caused some subtle changes in the workflows for students and teachers. We have done our best to summarize the differences in the presentation below. Click the option to see a side-by-side comparison between the Google Feedback Tool and Canvas Speedgrader.

If you have not used Google Assignments before, it allows each student to get a copy of a Google file that is automatically organized in their Drive and shared with the teacher. Additionally, the teacher can view students progress on the assignment as they work. Here’s a tutorial to set up a Google Assignment.

If you still have questions about the workflows, please submit a tech ticket, we have done our best to test it extensively.

Google LTI Feedback compared by Kaelyn Bullock

Canvas

Trouble Syncing Canvas Grades to MiStar?

If you are running into errors with your grades passing from Canvas to MiStar, check out the resources below. First, you’ll want to make sure it is set up correctly. Most importantly, you want to check that your Assignment Groups match your MiStar Gradebook Categories.

Canvas

BrainPop’s October Teacher Lounge Newsletter

BrainPop’s October newsletter for K-12 instructional staff can be found HERE. As a reminder, all district students, K-12 can access our paid subscription to BrainPop/BrainPop Jr via Clever at https://clever.com/in/pccs.

Some highlights;

— Digital Citizenship offerings

— Native Americans offerings

— Assigning BrainPOP learning activities is easier than ever!
Click Assign from your Teacher Dashboard to quickly create differentiated learning experiences for all of your students.

ACTION REQUIRED: Turn on Google 2-Factor Authentication by this FRIDAY

ALL P-CCS Staff must turn on two-factor authentication by this Friday, September 30, 2022 for their district Google account.
If you do not turn on two-factor authentication by Friday September 30, you will no longer be able to log in to your P-CCS’s Google workspace (Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, etc.) beginning October 1, 2022.

Directions on how to manually turn on two factor authentication

[If you aren’t sure if it is set up, log out of your district Google account and log back in. If you don’t see the notice to enroll, you’re all set. Alternatively, go to your profile and click on manage google account. From there, on the left hand side click on security. Scroll down to where it says signing into google and it will tell you whether 2-FA is either on or off.]

Staff don’t need to use their cell phones and personal phone numbers, although that’s certainly a choice. A telephone alternative, backup codes, can be used if someone prefers to not use a phone, or when one might not be available. Backup codes come in sets of ten you can generate at any time when you are already logged in to your account, which can then be printed or saved in a secure place. For how to obtain and use backup codes check out this support article.

You can establish multiple verification methods (for example, set up two or more phone numbers that can be called back as well as have the option to use backup codes). Staff can choose to use one or more district telephone numbers they have access to at work AND backup codes so that when they are in their classrooms and offices, they can opt to be called on those district lines (instead of a text, they’d click to have a phone call provide their code) and when they’re not able to answer their district phone, such as when they are away, they can opt to use a backup code (you need to have downloaded them ahead of time) if they are asked to authenticate.

Please refer to this previous blog post for even more information regarding two factor authentication.

Podcasts in the Classroom

Podcasts are a popular medium. Perhaps you have been thinking about using podcasts in the classroom to help encourage active listening. They are useful for incorporating mindfulness, current events, and course content. Check out the collection of resources below to help you get started.

ACTION REQUIRED: Turn on Google 2-Factor Authentication

ALL P-CCS Staff must turn on two-factor authentication by September 30, 2022 for their district Google account.
If you do not turn on two-factor authentication by September 30, you will no longer be able to log in to your P-CCS’s Google workspace (Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, etc.) beginning October 1, 2022.

Directions on how to manually turn on two factor authentication

Staff don’t need to use their cell phones and personal phone numbers, although that’s certainly a choice. In the last blog post we called out a telephone alternative, backup codes, that can be used if someone prefers to not use a phone, or when one might not be available. Backup codes come in sets of ten you can generate at any time when you are already logged in to your account, which can then be printed or saved in a secure place. For how to obtain and use backup codes check out this support article.

Please refer to this previous blog post for even more information regarding two factor authentication.

Tips for Cross-listed Courses

Whether you are new to crosslisting or have done it for awhile, review this list to help run it as efficiently as possible. Crosslisting should only be done at the beginning of a term (prior to any student submissions so to avoid their loss).

Be Sure To:

Keep “People” hidden on the Course Navigation Menu to protect student privacy
Change the course name so students don’t get confused if their scheduled section meets at a different time
If you want to use discussions, set it up as a group discussion so students are only interacting with people in their section

Streamline Your Workflow:

You can assign things (especially quizzes) per section to customize availability times and due dates
You can sort Speedgrader submissions by section
You can sort the Gradebook by section

Canvas Crosslisting Tips by Kaelyn Bullock

Please submit a tech ticket if you have additional questions.

Canvas

REMC’s latest free offerings from their Sept newsletter

REMC Power Up

New Classroom Resource: Power Up Teaching and Learning

The REMC Association is excited to introduce a new educator resource: Power Up Teaching and Learning. Power Up Teaching and Learning is created to help professionals “power up” their common teaching practices using educational technology and includes guiding questions, learning activities, ideas and resources.

REMC student centered learning

REMC to bring blended, self-paced, mastery-based learning experiences to your classroom with Student-Centered Learning Across Michigan

Do you want to meet the needs of EVERY student in your classroom while making it manageable for you? The REMC Association is partnering with the Modern Classrooms Project to bring you the Student-Centered Learning Across Michigan (SLAM) project. This project will support teachers, in any subject area, grade level or school, as they implement three core, research-based practices that have been proven to impact student and teacher outcomes.

Do you know the PCCS technology Essentials?

Check out all of the essential websites, know who to get help from, and know what credentials to use when using this handy cheat sheet!