Lackland Tech Bytes
by Dana Kickler (aka EdTechYoda), May 2016
The Hard Drive (info for long time storage)
- For the older students using email, you should open up their email account and see what they have been sending/receiving.
- Internet History - In Safari, tap the book icon in the top left corner. You bookmark list should include History. Tap on that and you will see the last 30 days worth of where the student has been. In Chrome, tap the three dots icon in the top right corner and tap History. Chrome lets you see 60 days worth. *Note: If it is blank, or shows less than the maximum days, they have been hitting the Clear button at the bottom, which is a good indication that they are hiding something they don't want you to see.
- Photos App - open the Photos app to see what they have been doing with the camera.
There's an App for That!
(classroom workflow solution)
SeeSaw: The Learning Journal
- Easily Capture Student Learning in Any Form
- Sign In Options that Work for All Ages (QR code)
- Encourage Reflection and Provide an Authentic Audience
- Strengthen Connections Between School and Home
- Seesaw Blogs -- the easiest way to create a blog for your class!
- Teacher Resource Center
Showbie - Paperless Classroom
Find out how easy it is to assign, collect and review student work from thousands of compatible iPad apps, or have your students complete assignments with Showbie’s built in tools. Provide rich feedback using digital ink, text and voice annotations right on images and PDFs, and then add your students’ best work to personalized digital portfolios that can be securely shared with parents.
Google Classroom
Classroom is designed to help teachers create, collect, and grade assignments paperlessly, including time-saving features like the ability to automatically make a copy of a Google Document for each student. It also creates Drive folders for each assignment and for each student to help keep everyone organized.
RAM (action items)
Cloud/Server Storage and Backup
Don't forget to get your files backed up and/or migrated over to the mini pc for those of you who have the new ActivPanels, before the end of the school year. ALL of your files should be stored in your H drive (on our server) or in the cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive).
You all have a Google Drive account with unlimited storage, so there is no reason not to use it. And that way, you can get to your files and documents from anywhere in the world! If it is training you lack for this to happen, PLEASE invite me to one of your weekly team meetings, and I would be HAPPY to show you how this works. It is a lot easier than you might think!
Monitor (stuff to check out)
Create your own Zaption interactive video with a free Zaption account!
I'm leaving Newsela for Elementary here again because I love it, and they just announced that they are releasing a special Texas version (aligned to TEKS) which will be ready for back to school this fall! https://e.newsela.com
AND there is now an app! Read current event articles, take quizzes, and take notes or respond. This is a fantastic way to engage kids in nonfiction!
Processor (stuff to process and learn)
The full split screen feature is only available for iPad Air 2, which you don't have, BUT you can still do the 1/3 screen split. Also, some of these features are purposely blocked on student iPads, like Siri, so don't expect all of these features to work on student iPads.
Also, there is a "iPad Tips and Tricks" course in Lynda.com (free video tutorial library with your Bibliotech library card - if you don't have one, get the registration form from the library). To use Lynda.com, you go to the Bibliotech website: http://bexarbibliotech.org and scroll down to find "Lynda Training" under Active Learning. You will be asked for your Bibliotech card number and PIN (both of which you will get when you sign up), and then you're in! Search for "iPad Tips and Tricks" (not the one with "2010" in title). There is also a course for "iOS 9 New Features" that probably gets more detailed than the quicky video above from YouTube. Thanks to Cara Coffey for letting me know about this AWESOME resource!
And as always, let me know if you have any questions.
And lastly, if you made it all the way down here, thanks so much for reading and let me know what you think!
Coming soon! (next year)
Dana Kickler
Email: kickler.d@lacklandisd.net
Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCneRjUjRzUPbMXCZiCHdmKA
Phone: 210-357-5039
Twitter: @danakickler