Technology Updates
October 2019
REMINDER: you can still take part in the online technology PD offerings for Microsoft Sway, Forms, or Teams. Please contact Karen directly if you are interested.
In this issue:
1. How to setup Google Voice
2. Smart Notebook Flash Update
3. How to create a PDF file from a Word document
4. Resources for creating videos for e-instruction/e-learning
5. Microsoft Stream - a secure video sharing platform
6. How to save files directly to your Microsoft Team environment
7. Restricted YouTube videos explained
How To Setup Google Voice
Below are instructions on how to setup a Google Voice phone number for purposes of masking your cell or home number - primarily for use with e-learning days:
Setting up a Google Voice number is a two step process – outlined below:
On your computer, go to voice.google.com.
Sign in to your Google Account.
After reviewing the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, tap Continue.
Search by city or area code for a number. Voice doesn't offer 1-800 numbers.
Next to the number you want, click Select. Follow the instructions.
To Activate Your Google Number:
Log in at voice.google.com if you are not already logged in (using your Google Account login credentials)
Click the gear icon in the upper right to access the Setting page
You will see your Google Voice number listed under your Account Info
Below your number is a link or box to click – click on the + New linked number to link your Google Voice number to your desired (most likely your cell) number. This will forward calls coming into your Google voice number to any number you link it to.
Follow the prompts/instructions to complete this process and you are finished.
Create a PDF File From Word
There may be times you need to create a PDF file from a Word document. Doing so maintains formatting in the document as well as allows to print the PDF file to a OneNote notebook page. To do so, follow these steps:
- Open or create a Word document
- Click on File > Print
- In the printer dialog window, change your printer to Microsoft Print to PDF
- Click Print > name the document > choose a Save location (OneDrive)
Resources to Create Videos for E-learning or Flipped Classroom
Microsoft Stream - Secure Video Sharing
Save Files Directly to Teams!
To facilitate using Teams for your classroom, you can save files directly to any of your Teams (classes) directly from your Microsoft Office desktop apps. Click here to find out how!
What’s up with YouTube's Restricted Videos?
YouTube has become an incredible source of video content on just about any topic you can imagine. YouTube’s biggest selling point AND biggest liability is that it aggregates user created & uploaded videos and makes them easily streamable to the masses. This is clearly a double-edged sword. As you are most likely aware, most YouTube videos are benign and often helpful, but there also exist videos that can cause irreparable harm to young minds.
That said – in the recent past, YouTube (and their parent company Google/Alphabet) have started to realize that perhaps some of the content on their servers should not be available unless you can prove you’re of a suitable age. Some videos might contain violence, nudity, drug or alcohol references, bad language, or other undesirable content. This has caused them to institute a “Restricted Video” setting that they can apply to their videos. Sometimes, videos do not contain any of the above topics, but YouTube has still deemed them to be restricted. The important thing to understand is that YouTube is the entity that classifies videos as restricted – NOT MPS.
Videos that are restricted can be subject to a little more scrutiny before serving them to the general public. For example, our web filter (among others in the industry) uses YouTube’s Restricted Video settings to determine whether to allow videos through the filter. Because we serve content to kids from Kindergarten all the way through Grade 12, it’s understandable that some videos might get caught up in that filter.
The technology department does have ways to allow videos through, but we must first be aware of them. If you have a video that keeps getting blocked, please let us know the video’s URL. This will look something like this: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqm_lRCL-G0). If you submit a support ticket with this URL in it, we can usually unblock the video in a short amount of time.
MPS Technology Team
Karen Londgren
Nick Esping
Kent Powell
Email: karen.londgren@marshall.k12.mn.us
Website: https://www.marshall.k12.mn.us/domain/17
Phone: 50753763920