FTT - What's in the Toolbox?

What's In The Toolbox?

Quick Guide To Online Learning Tools

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

Now that our school year is under way and we've settled in as much as we possibly can given all of the excitement of working in a high school, it's a good time to think about our use of technology in our classrooms and to take an inventory of the tools we have at our disposal. The goal of any learning tool, digital or not, is to support learning. Sometimes it's a matter of increasing student engagement. Other times it could be a need to make materials more accessible. I recently came across this article that lists 5 Questions To Help You Make EdTech Decisions. Of course, your content and the needs of your specific students may lead you to add to this list, but these 5 questions are a nice place to start:

• Is there a tool to help check for understanding so that all students can share their learning?
• Have I identified open-ended creation tools that give students a space to create a product that demonstrates their learning?
• Will students be able to collaborate with their peers and work toward a common goal?
• Do these tools help students build transferable skills they can apply in a variety of contexts?
• Will these apps or websites work in the environment my students currently use (home, school, hybrid), and do they take connectivity, accessibility, and hardware into account?

Keeping the learning goals in mind, here is a quick and easy guide to what we have as a district for use in our learning spaces. 

Here is a rundown of the online products we pay for, along with a brief explanation of what they do. Feel free to book a time with me to explore more!

1. Edpuzzle

2. Hapara

3. Padlet (at HP)

4. Pear Deck

5. Schoology

6. Screencastify

7. Turnitin

8. Texthelp: Read&Write and Equatio

We also have premium (free to all educators) access to:

Canva

Flip (formerly Flipgrid)

There are MANY other online tools that offer fremium and/or free limited versions. 

A quick reminder about SOPPA:

The Student Online Personal Protection Act is a "digital privacy law that provides safeguards to protect the privacy and security of data about students when it is collected by educational technology companies. The Act is intended to ensure that sudent data will be protected when it is collected by edtech companies."   

We as a district need to account for the agreements we have with edtech companies and how data is collected and how it is protected. Any online tool that is used in our classrooms that utilizes the single sign-on ( Sign on with Google), falls under SOPPA.

Not sure if a tool you are using is SOPPA compliant? You can always go to LearnPlatform to check. If you are using something new, you can also request that it gets in the cue to be approved.

FTT - Updated Remind Instructions for 2022

Remind: THE Communication Tool for School

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

This is an updated blog from 2019 when we first got a district license for Remind. It has been a point of emphasis that any communication between staff, students, athletes, or parent/guardians should only be through district-approved formats (Gmail, Schoology, Remind). Luckily, remind is just as simple and easy to use as it was in 2019 with a few minor changes.

1. Logging On

To enjoy the premium features through our district license, log in here using your Google sign in. 

If you've been previously using a personal account, you'll have to switch over to your district email.

2. Student Onboarding (It's already done....sort of)

Once logged in you'll see that through some Infinite Campus - Remind integration magic, all of your courses have automatically been uploaded to your Remind site. Not only are your courses already created, but your students have also been directly added using their IC data. Two caveats:

• Parents and Guardian information was also added to your Remind classes. In order to send a message to JUST your students, you can filter just the students
  
  
  

  
  
  
• And if you have students that are missing, it means that they do not have a cellphone registered with the school.

 To add missing or new students to your remind class, give them the Class Code that begins with an "@" sign, and is directly under your course name. Or you can manually add them using the "Add People" option on the top right corner of your page.

3. Sending Messages

Remember, whether you're sending a direct message to a few students/athletes, or an announcement to the whole class/team, make sure you are filtering your intended audience. You can type in an individual student, or filter a group. (Ignore SIS Link and Grade)

This is also where Remind has made some strides in the messaging department. In addition to text messaging, Remind has teamed up with Google Drive, Quizlet, OneDrive, Flipgrid, and a few other apps to beef up your messaging ability. Now you can attach different varieties of files and videos with your Remind message.

Also find that Remind can translate your message into over 50 different languages! 

As usual, you can schedule your messages ahead of time to help with organization and planning.

Questions? Comment below!  

FTT - Those Little Things That Make a Big Difference! Schoology Edition

Those Little Things That Make A Big Difference!

Schoology Edition

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

Sometimes as teachers we do a peculiar thing. We ask our students if there are any questions and then when there are none, we assume everyone has the knowledge they need to move on. Why is this peculiar? Because we know from our own learning experiences that just because there are no questions it doesn't mean we necessarily know it all. Often we don't ask because we simply don't know what we don't know. Also, we might not be ready for more until we really need it. 

I have found this to be true over the past few weeks of working with our staff. I have looked at a lot of grade books and grade book setups and have had wonderful conversations about your use of technology in the classroom. Along the way, I have dropped some tidbits of Schoology information that has been pretty mind blowing for many of you.  As you know, my office is a no judgement zone. You can ask me anything. It occurred to me that you may not know what to ask, or you might not really need the information until you really do need the information. 

Here are a few of those little things that can make a massive difference for you and your students.

1. Have content automatically open in a new window.

When you add a piece of content in Schoology, the default is for it to open within Schoology. Sometimes it is better for that content to be accessed in a new window. Videos and images, for example, can be better viewed in a larger window. At times Google products will give you the discouraging frownie face within Schoology. Yes, most students know that the workaround is to click the icon to open in a new window. Why not just do it for them? 

Here's how:

Simply click to uncheck the little ABC icon when adding content.

2. Make sure students' "overdue" work list is accurate.

When adding an assignment in Schoology, the default is that there will be something turned in digitally, within the Schoology environment, by students clicking the Submit button. Since we are a blended learning environment not everything is turned in digitally. If you are giving an assignment that does not require students to submit something digitally you should disable submissions. That way, when students, parents, and case managers look at what is overdue, your paper and pencil assignment won't be on that list. 

Here's how:

Simply click the icon that looks like a file folder with a green arrow
to disable submissions. It is at the bottom of the assignment editing window.

3. Place content on your materials page where YOU want it.

When you click to add materials, you know that your content will automatically appear at the bottom of the page. Sure, you can click and drag it or click the gear and choose Move. But why not just have it appear where you want it initially? 

Here's how:

Notice the gray lines above and below your content on the materials page. As you hover over those gray lines they turn green. 

When it is green, click to add materials to that location. 

4. Show students how to reorder their course tiles.

As students join activities and sports and those rosters get added to Infinite Campus, Schoology tiles will be generated. Student course tiles can become jumbled or even seem like they are missing. Showing students how to reorder their tiles not only helps make sure their most needed tiles are front and center, it also give students control over their own view in Schoology. 

Here's how:

Have the students click Courses and then My Courses and click the reorder courses button. They can click and drag their course tiles so their most important are on top.

5. Show students how to adjust their notifications.

We are often reassured that students receive an email notification from us when we add something to Schoology. We are also often annoyed that students don't check their email. 

Have you seen our students' email inboxes? They are inundated with messages and many of them are Schoology notifications. Let's teach them how to get the ones they really need by adjusting their notification preferences. 

Here's how:

Have students click on their profile in the upper right corner and go to Settings. When they click the Notifications tab they have the ability to adjust both email and phone notifications (if they are using the Schoology app on their phone. At first glance it looks like you can turn notifications On or Off. However, if you choose Custom you can choose that specific notification by class. Students can always go back and adjust these as needed. 

What are some of the little things that you have learned? Feel free to reach out and share them with us!