Launching PowerTeacher Gradebook

If you have difficulties launching PowerTeacher Gradebook from Spotlight or a browser, try the following...

• Go to your Applications folder  (Click on the Happy face in your dock. Click on Applications)
• Find the Application "Gradebook" and drag it to your dock.
• Click on it to launch Gradebook.

If you have any problems, please let us know.

iMovie broken??? (and fixed!)

Recently, many of you may have witnessed a rather large number of students with iMovie "issues"...typically a variety of weirdness, anything from strangely imported clips, to software based green screen malfunctions, to audio problems...  and, most recently, the issues surrounding the use of the built-in iSight camera with iMovie (or lack there of).

Through a bit of research, we have come to understand that this is a known issue with-in apple.  Apparently their latest update actually broke some bits of functionality for the iSight camera and some of the software that uses it, like iMovie.  The malfunction is related to incompatibilities in the iSight "driver" (small bits of operating system software that tell hardware how to talk to each other and play nice with the software side of things).  From helpful article:

The latest OS X update has caused some problems with the FaceTime camera on the latest MacBook Air model, leaving certain third-party apps like Skype unable to use the camera. The problem apparently concerns 32-bit apps that use the camera, including Skype and iMovie. OS X 10.8.5 updated a particular plugin for the FaceTime camera, but not for 32-bit apps, according to a Skype for Mac engineer:The 10.8.5 update updated a CoreMediaIO plugin that accesses the MBA camera, but didn't bundle the 32-bits version of it. Other (older and newer) versions of the OS do include a universal version (32 and 64 bits), but not 10.8.5. This means 32-bits apps such as Skype or iMovie cannot load the plugin, making the built-in facetime camera invisible to these them.

I guess they are calling it "the FaceTime camera" now, instead of the iSight camera or built-in webcam....whatever the case, through the unrelenting and exhaustive detective work of Mr. Borchert, and the considerable "find and copy and paste" efforts of Mr. Dearborn (might seem like I make light of it, but it does takes considerable skill and experience to get it right, which we all know these tech guys have in spades, thankfully), we can now enjoy full functionality of the iSight camera with iMovie.  It appears that most of the other strangeness has cleared up as well, though we have not tested every scenario....that is, at least until Apple decides to break it again....har har.  Anyway, many thanks to those guys for diggin' in to find and fix the issue!

As always, run RadMind to pick up the tweak.

Thanks,

PS

Large Radmind

We recently put a large update out in radmind (Mac OS 10.8.5).   Please be aware that running radmind could take from 5 to 20 minutes on the wireless network.  If you are able to plug your machine into a network cable, it will run more quickly.

The update will take longer if you have multiple machines running radmind at the same time off of the same access point, so you will want to make sure you stagger, if possible, when your students run radmind.

Common Core Resources

In today's eSchool News I found an article that would have made ex-highlands science teacher Mike Zeman overjoyed.  It is a top 15 list (his favorite genre of on-line posts) of great common core resources.  It is a list complied from Twitter and contains three that I thought looked particularly interesting:

1. 6 Sources for Primary Source Documents - With its focus on informational reading, primary sources have increased their relevance beyond the social studies and science classrooms. Find some great ones at these sites.
2. New Common Core Resources for Educators - an eSchool News article that talks about Activate Instruction, an open platform where teachers can browse, search, submit, and rate common core aligned lessons.
3. Common Core Month with the Teaching Channel - A Youtube channel that will focus the whole month of September on the Common Core.

Spend some time and at least check out the 3 I highlighted.  If you think they were worth your time, pass them on and check out the other 12.

Playing Audio Files in Google Drive ---- Without having to download them first

Google Drive used to have a built-in audio player that would recognize common audio formats and play them back right from the browser, without having to download the file first.  For some reason Google took that feature out.  3rd Party addon developers have created some plugins to Google Drive to bring back that functionality.  You and your students can play audio files right from the Google Drive browser window by following the directions in this 2 minute video.

Why are tools like Google Docs important for us to embrace?

I recently had an "aha" moment on the subject when my son, following in his proud mother's footsteps, completed his engineering degree and set out to find a job. During the process, he quickly determined that there were some key skills that would give him the edge in obtaining the job he'd set his sites on, skills that had not been part of his university curriculum. To fill the gap, he completed a series of adjunct courses offered through MIT's online continuing education program. The story ended happily and he landed his dream job.

This is an excerpt from an article that I read recently discussing some if the reasons that schools haven't been fully embracing digital learning, and suggesting that there is, at least, one main benefit.  That benefit is a customization of learning that is illustrated in the quote above.  Customization in letting students have choice in what they learn, how they learn it, and how they demonstrate what they have learned.

Does any of this sound familiar to what you've been hearing around the Highlands lately?  Be reflective about what you are really trying to accomplish with your students.  I know you hear this somewhat regularly from different members of administration, most recently Mrs. Viniard at the opening day institute, but it is an important part of changing behavior.  Realize your strengths, and reinforce them.  Recognize areas that you need to improve and overcome them.

The article that the quote is from can be found Here.

Tech Committee Date Change

Mrs. Viniard would like to join us at our first tech committee meeting of the year and is unable to make the September 4th Date.  I would like to move it to 3:30 PM on September 5th instead.  Please let me know if you plan on joining the committee.

Lesson Flipping opportunity for elementary continent or weather units

Just found this video and lesson plan through Google+.  It's an EdTED project that has a great video about the differences between the Arctic and Antarctic and an accompanying lesson plan.  http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-arctic-vs-the-antarctic-camille-seaman

And we're off!

The first day of school has come and gone, laptops have been distributed to MS students, all new staff accounts are up and working, and I'm really excited to see and hear how you are using or plan to use Google Apps in your classes.  I've already talked to a couple teachers about ideas for using GAFE to do some group reporting and I'd love an invitation to your room to witness your kids collaborating with each other using the tools.

The tech department is here to help you reach your students.  Let us know if you require any support in your classroom while planning, delivering, or evaluating lessons.  

I'd like to have the 1st Technology Committee meeting of the year on Wednesday, September 4th at 3:30 in the Board Room.  I've already got grade level members from Kindergarten and 3rd Grade and would like to see reps from the other grades as well.  We'll try to map out a skeleton agenda for the year, talk about creating a technology plan that meets curricular needs, and talk about Tech PD.

Finally, I know that we zipped through the Google Apps content pretty quickly last week and want to provide you with a chance to have some follow-up time for specific questions and perhaps some clarification on some of the sharing features.  I will be in the LRC on Thursday, August 29th at 7:30 if you need a bit more assistance.  If you plan on coming, please sign up by Friday, August 23rd Here.

Bookmark this page as I'll be posting tech news, resources, and, as always, things on my radar....

The video below is a brief tutorial on using Google Forms, something we didn't cover much last week. Use your school google account and follow along.

15 years down and still growing...

2013... Fifteen years at Highlands has gone by so quickly and every year brings more change than the last.  This year is no exception.  Here are some of the things you should be thinking about regarding technology as we start the year.

1. Change your summer voicemails and email auto-responders to indicate you are back at school.  If you need to set up a new voicemail, call your extension from your own phone, and choose option 5, then follow the voice prompts.  
2. Projectors/Sound Systems - a few classrooms have had projectors added or replaced.  If you require some PD time with the equipment, please let me know and we'll schedule some time with you to get you up to speed.
3. New operating system - All district laptops have been upgraded to OS X "Mountain Lion".  There are several new features that I think will be useful to you including:
1. Notification Center
2. Air Play Mirroring - Send your display to any AppleTV either at school or at home (if you have an AppleTV at home)
3. Safari 6 - Addresses and search are done in the same bar - no more "Google Search" box on the right hand side of the menu bar
4. Universal Access - If you have students with special vision or hearing needs, Apple has made it easy to get to these settings any time by hitting option+F5 from just about anywhere.
5. Easier Sharing - Most apps will let you share via email, AirDrop (another newly improved feature), or even twitter if you have an account.
6. New Names - iCal is now called Calendar and Address Book is now called Contacts
7. New gesture based commands - by swiping with different numbers of fingers in different directions you can make your mac complete actions. 
4. PowerSchool
1. We have updated powerschool and there are a few changes there as well (Surprise!)
1. We can now assign multiple teachers to a section, hopefully eliminating the need for the use of the "FlexNclassname" logins.  We are still working out the details with this and will be sharing more information as we have it.
2. New Gradebook app - Instead of downloading the gradebook application from the PowerSchool website each time you want to use it, you can now find it in your Applications folder.  Just launch it and enter your credentials to get to it.  No need to visit the website first.
3. Schoology integration - Most activities (not all) that you used to perform in the gradebook application will now be completed right from Schoology - We'll give you more training on this early in the year.
5. Google Docs
1. We have created a Google Apps domain for the district.  Your username and password is the same as your school network login, no need to remember separate login and password information.  You can access this at https://drive.google.com/a/district106.net/
2. There will be training on using the basics of google docs early in the school year.
6. Novell Messenger
1. We have had the ability to use internal instant messaging for many years, but it has not been utilized as it could have been.  This year it is an expectation that all staff be logged-in to messenger when they are at school using their laptop.  Messenger will also work outside of the building if you want to connect with other staff or students (Grades 6-8) in real-time while you are at home.  Your username and password are the same as usual, and the address of the server is chat.district106.net , don't change the port number in the login screen.  Let me know if you want me to visit your team and do some PD.  It should only take 10-15 minutes.
7. Teaming - We will be starting to migrate off of teaming this year in a gradual way.  Make sure you talk to your principal to talk about what tasks will remain on Teaming for now.
8. Tech Committee - Tech committee will be reconvening this year.  I'd like to see a rep from each grade level/specialty if possible.  Email me if you will be your team's rep.
9. Contacting the Tech Department - Please continue to utilize the workorder system for the day-to-day requests that you have.  If you have to call for an emergency that is impacting learning your classroom, call the help desk at 3811 and someone will respond right away.  Tim is no longer an initial point of contact for support issues.  If his expertise is required, the case will be escalated to Tim or I through our department processes.  My expectation is that the help desk will be manned at all times when students are in attendance.  If you ever call the help desk during the day and do not talk to someone, please let me know.

I want the tech department to be a resource for you and your students.  I look forward to working with you in making technology an effective learning tool.  Make a personal technology goal for the year and let me know how I can help you achieve your goals.  

Welcome back

Eric