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.
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.
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 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.
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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
Are you looking for a new classroom tech trick? Need to earn some SCECHs? Look no further than a REMC Course!
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.
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.
You 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.
This feature was previously mentioned along with some other exciting updates in this blog post.
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 |
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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
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Canvas Studio is a tools that allows instructors and students to actively collaborate through video and audio media.
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.
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.
BrainPop’s May 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.
Pics below show what’s in their May newsletter.
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May 2022
Dear Educators,
May is Mental Health Awareness Month—a time to prioritize social and emotional well-being. Late spring can be particularly challenging as you juggle assessments and finish up the school year strong. No wonder Teacher Appreciation Week falls in May! We hope you take time for yourself this month (and always).
To support mental health awareness with your students, this month’s newsletter features movies highlighting topics such as self-esteem, conflict resolution, and mindfulness.
Warmly,
Jackie Glassman,
Director of Educator Content
Educator ResourcesCelebrate Earth Day with Applied Digital Skills |
| New Math Lessons from Applied Digital Skills Looking for engaging lessons to celebrate Math Awareness Month? Our new collection of math lessons uses project-based learning to explore math topics such as probability, percentages, and fractions. These lessons teach students the basics of organizing data sets and using formulas in Google Sheets. |
| 22 Digital Days Challenge for Educators We have a fun bite-sized challenge for educators – #22DigitalDays – 22 tasks to engage teachers & students in digital dabbling, which can be adapted as necessary. Get started and share these cool tips, tricks and resources to use in the classroom and beyond. |
| Computer Science Educator’s Guide To help teachers gain skills and confidence in Computer Science, we are partnering with European Schoolnet to offer a free online course: “Computer Science: Educator’s Guide” starting on April 25th. Sign up now!
ARRAY 101 Educator Forum Livestream
Arts & Culture: Manga Out of the Box |
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