I.T.S. a Tech Update
May 2021
- We want to start sharing information on saving your Schoology courses to your resources as you start wrapping up. It's never too early to start thinking about this before they are magically archived.
- Our department will be hosting an Active and Blended Learning Academy starting on May 18th and running through August 27th. You can read more about it in the academy section below.
- Are you using the OWL app to manage your Meeting OWL Pro system? A new update with enhanced features just came out. Check out or OWL section for more information.
- Want to practice some coding? Scratch is having its annual coding day, but they are doing it for an entire week! Read all about it in the Scratch Week section.
- Need some Mother's Day activity ideas? Check out our section on that special day ❤️
- We also want to share a great end-of-year awards celebration template that you can use during your end-of-year virtual awards ceremony.
- Last, but not least, check out our new asynchronous course for Keynote, Pages, and Digital Choice boards.
As always, if you have any questions or digital learning needs, please be sure to contact your Instructional Technology Specialist.
Active and Blended Learning Academy Spring/Summer 2021
Greetings Teachers,
The Active Learning Department will be hosting the Active and Blended Learning Academy starting on May 18th and running through August 27th. You should have already received an invitation email from Christopher Sherman which shares deadlines and an application link. Click here to complete the application form.
There are only two requirements for teachers to join the Academy.
- Attend one orientation meeting on May 18, 19, or 20, from 4:00 to 5:00 PM. During this meeting, we will explain the expectations for the Academy, and you will have one last opportunity to decide whether you want to participate.
- Commit to completing a minimum of 22 hours and a maximum of 26 hours of online professional development. There are 7 required workshops that will take about 20 hours of work, and there are two required elective workshops that will take between 2 and 6 hours of work.
Below you will find the letter of interest that was shared by Christopher Sherman.
Saving Schoology Courses
The video below will show you how to save your Schoology courses to the My Resources area.
If you have any questions, be sure to contact your Instructional Technology Specialist.
Meeting OWL Pro Update 4/27/2021
There is a new update for the Meeting Owl Pro. If you are using the app to manage your device, make sure your OWL is not connected to your computer, and once you connect to your device, go to the About section to update your OWL.
You can find more information by going to this Schoology course - Meeting Owl Pro and Jabra Panacast
Version 2.7.0.23
Release date: April 27th, 2021
Bug fixes:
- The Meeting Owl Pro’s tilt movement will be more calibrated to the tilt set in the Meeting Owl App after disabling the 360° Panoramic Strip.
- The incorrect icon will no longer be shown on the Owl’s Main Stage when using Presenter Enhance with Owl Connect.
- The incorrect icon will no longer be shown on the Owl’s Main Stage when using Camera Lock with Owl Connect.
- The Owl’s Main Stage will no longer take longer than 1 minute to switch from Primary to Secondary Owl in Owl Connect.
Enhancements:
- Presenter Enhance can now be enabled/disabled by pressing the Options button, located above the USB and power cables, on the Meeting Owl Pro.
- Icons on the Owl’s Main Stage were updated, including the Mute icon.
- The Owl’s software version will be more visible on the loading (splash) screen.
- Improvements were made to the Meeting Owl Pro’s video to reduce graininess.
Watch the video below for important OWL updates and new features!
Scratch Week - May 17-23
This year, we’re transforming Scratch Day into Scratch Week: a global, virtual celebration of Scratch! We invite you to imagine, create, and share along with us in the Scratch online community during the week of May 17–23.
You can download and install Scratch on both the iPad and the MacBook by going to Self-Service. There are plenty of tutorials that students can use to learn and you can even print out the Scratch activity cards, or better yet, display them on your screen for student's to code with you ;)
Contact Julie Rivas at jlrivas@episd.org or Jesus Morales at jmmorale@episd.org if you have any questions.
Click on the following link to learn about Scratch week - https://sip.scratch.mit.edu/scratchweek/
Mother's Day Activities for All ❤️👩👧👧👩👧👦👨👩👧👦
Head on over to We Are Teachers -12 Awesome Mother’s Day Surprises Teachers Can Still Help Pull Off Virtually at https://www.weareteachers.com/mothers-day-virtual/
You're going to love their ideas!
Happy Mother's Day to all our wonderful teacher moms at EPISD❤️
End of Year Virtual Awards Ceremony Template
If you'd like to add some music to your presentation, you can download Creative Commons music (non-copyrighted) from the YouTube Audio Library. You must be signed in to a Google account in order to access the music. Don't worry, your EPISD email and password can be used to sign in to everything Google (except Gmail).
Here's the link to the template - https://slidesmania.com/virtual-graduation-end-of-year-awards-using-google-slides-or-powerpoint/
While your there, check out the plethora of education templates this website has to offer.
*NEW* - Multimodal Assignments With Keynote
In its simplest form, Keynote is a presentation tool similar to PowerPoint. If used to its fullest potential, however, Keynote can allow students to demonstrate their learning in a wide variety of ways. By allowing students to express what they know through text, pictures, video, audio, and even animation, Keynote allows you to get an accurate picture of the learning that is occurring in your classroom.
Head on over to our EPISD Digital Learning Resources and Updates Schoology course and click on the Apple Folder to start your path to using Keynote in your classroom.
*New* - Add Some Wow! to Writing Projects with Pages
Pages is a built-in app on both the MacBook and iPad that is great for creating multimodal writing projects. Students can personalize their writing by adding text, pictures, audio, video, and more. They can even export their final product as an eBook, allowing them to become authors of an authentic piece of published writing. In this course, you will work through different elements of Pages in small steps in order to create a project that your students can complete in the classroom right away. (This course is designed for both iPad and MacBoook.)
Head on over to our EPISD Digital Learning Resources and Updates Schoology course and click on the Apple Folder to start learning about the Pages app.
*New* - Increase Student Engagement with Choice Boards
Head on over to our EPISD Digital Learning Resources and Updates Schoology course and click on the folder to begin your journey!
Testing Season Round 2 - STAAR/EOC Online Testing Tips
May is a busy month for testing. In elementary we add 3rd and 5th to the mix and we obviously continue with our secondary testing. Below are tips to make this as easy and painless as possible.
We have created a list of tips for those of you whose students will be taking the online STAAR/EOC assessments.
1. All students in 3rd-12th grade taking an online test will need to download the ETS Testing browser app from the Self-Service app. Teachers must make sure their MacBook laptops are on the EPISD-SECURE WiFi network before they begin the installation. By default, many district-managed devices start off on the EPISD-Public-Access. Make sure students switch over to the EPISD-Secure network before starting. Students at home who will be coming to school to take the test must do the same once they arrive at class. Remember that they have never been on the district WiFi, especially on the EPISD-SECURE network. There is information below this section that will guide you in setting up the SECURE network on student devices. The app installation can take from 7-10 minutes depending on the speed of our network. Make sure to plan for it.
2. Guide students through the tutorials weeks before you take the test and have them practice taking the test at least two times for each subject so that they are aware of all the tools they have at their disposal. Practicing will make sure that their scores are based on their content knowledge more than their lack of understanding of the online testing environment. Do not wait until the day before the test to practice. Make that the third time they practice to ensure they are ready.
3. Be sure students charge their computers and shut them down before going to sleep the night before the test. As they shut them down using the Apple Menu, tell your students to uncheck the box that says, "Reopen windows when logging back in" so that the computer does not open any unnecessary programs or apps. The testing browser will not work if there are browsers and apps open like Chrome, Safari, MS Teams, Zoom, and Siri to name a few. You can tell if an app is open if you see a black or white dot under it. The only app that should be open is the Finder.
4. If you have to install the app the morning of testing, restart the computer as soon as you finish to see the testing app in the Launchpad (rocket icon). Make sure that students uncheck the box that says, "Reopen windows when logging back in" and once students log in to their computers, have them click on the WiFi icon at the top and switch to EPISD-SECURE.
5. The testing app will not work with Siri enabled. Go to System Preferences and click on Siri. If it is enabled, have students uncheck the box to disable it before trying to open the online testing app.
6. If the testing app security check comes up with any errors, have the student click on the question mark to see what needs to be done to make the connection secure.
***Remember that if there are any browsers or apps open in the background, students will not be allowed to enter the online testing environment. Check the Dock at the bottom. The only app that should have a black or white dot under them should be the Finder (blue and white face) app and the online testing app. To close an app, Secondary (right) click on the app icon and click on Quit to close the app completely.
Note: Student computers that have not been on campus and connected to the district's EPISD-Secure network might run updates when they restart the device after installing the testing app. These system updates can take up to 30-minutes so make sure you take care of the students in class days before testing so that you can focus on those students that have returned to school for the very first time since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic.
If you have issues with the testing app, or student login credentials for the testing app, be sure to immediately contact your Campus Testing Administrator/Coordinator. The Instructional Technology Specialists have no control over student devices or testing accounts.
MacBook Spring Cleaning
Promethean Support Tutorials
As always, you can contact your Instructional Technology Specialist if you have any questions.
Active Learning Monthly Newsletter
Apple Professional Learning Virtual Conferences - Online
Explore helpful resources, practice new skills, and reflect on ways Apple technology can support great learning and teaching. Hosted by Apple Professional Learning Specialists, these hands-on sessions run for approximately 60 minutes and are offered twice daily, Monday through Thursday. Click on the image to register.
*iPad is used for all sessions unless indicated otherwise.
*Please note the time zone when registering.
EPISD@Home iPad Tips
EPISD@Home MacBook Tips
Three-Minute Quaranteaching Tips
***New*** EPISD Digital Learning Resources and Updates Courses Hub
EPISD Schoology 101: Professional Development
Course Code - ZMB94-7NCS4
Macsimizing Your Mac - EPISD Teachers and Staff
Course Title: AL201: Macsimizing Your Mac Online Course - Spring 2021
Course #: 202747
Course Section #: 19524
3.0-Hours of CPE Credit
This course will guide teachers in using features and settings that will assist them every day in completing tasks on their new MacBook Air laptops. Most importantly though, it will assist them in creating great resources to use in their lessons and delivery to differentiate the learning which will allow students to achieve mastery in many different ways.
If you are in need of a district-issued MacBook Air laptop, upon completion of the course, you will download your certificate at EPISD University, and schedule an appointment via the Zendesk, or by calling Technology Services at 915-230-2601to schedule an appointment to receive your device.
Click here to register for the course.
Macsimizing You Mac - Student Edition
Please share the course code with students in grades 3-12th only - 3P9R-88K7-7CQB4
Contact Us
We are Instructional Technology Specialists that serve all campuses in EPISD. We spend most of our time sharing ideas and teaching best practices for integrating technology as a seamless part of learning in the classroom. Please contact us if you are looking for a technology integrated session that would best meet the needs of the students in your classroom.