December 2019 Technology Newsletter
By: Michael Kealy
Happy Holidays From The Technology Department!
Please remove files that you no longer need/use
To tell which files are the oldest you can sort your folders by "last modified" which will show you the last time a file was modified. Files that have not been modified in over a year or more should be considered for deletion.
Refresh Your Cache
It's always a good practice to clear your browser cache on a regular basis. Refresh your Cache shows you how to clear your cache in any browser.
*Refreshing your cache may cause you to lose recently visited websites and saved login credentials and passwords.
REMINDER: zSpace is available
REMINDER: TEQ Online PD
Course Offerings:
Adobe
Digital Storytelling
Promethean
Apple
Digital Citizenship
Science
Assessment
Early Childhood
iPad
SMART
Blended Learning
Educational Frameworks
Math
Social Studies
Chromebooks
ELA
Microsoft
Special Ed
Civics
ENL/ELL
NAO STEM
Computer Science
General Interest
Project Based Learning
and more!
Teq is an approved NYS CTLE PD Provider, so any qualified courses that you complete can be used towards your state-mandated professional learning hours. Just be sure to take the quiz after completing a course to receive your certificate of completion!
G-Suite Updates
Send emails as attachments in Gmail
What’s changing
You can now attach emails to other emails in Gmail without downloading them first.To insert emails in a new thread, drag and drop them into the draft window.
Another way to insert emails in a new thread is to select the emails and then from the overflow (three-dot) menu select “Forward as attachment”.
To reply to an existing thread, you can pop-out the compose window and then drag and drop emails to it.
Who’s impacted
End users
Why you’d use it
We’ve heard from you that there are situations where attaching emails makes more sense than forwarding separate emails, like wanting to forward multiple messages related to a single topic. With this new functionality, you can do exactly that. Sending emails as attachments allows you to write a summary email message to your recipients, and attach the set of supporting emails that recipients can directly open in their mail client.
How to get started
- Admins: No action required.
- End users: You'll know this feature is available to you when you see the "Forward as attachment" option in the three-dot More menu. Follow the steps in this Help Center article.
Additional details
When emails are sent as an attachment:
- The attached email becomes a .eml file.
- You can attach as many emails as you’d like.
- When you click on a .eml email attachment, it will open in a new window.
Helpful links
Rollout details
- Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 9th, 2019
- Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 6, 2020
*Please note that this feature is rolling out gradually. You’ll know this feature is available to you when you see the “Forward as attachment” option in the three-dot More menu.
Propose a new meeting time or add a note to Calendar invites from Gmail
Quick launch summary
When you open a Google Calendar invite in Gmail, you’ll see a new “More Options” dropdown menu, allowing you to propose a new time for the meeting or add a note to your RSVP. Selecting either option will open the respective event section in calendar.google.com, where you can make those updates directly.
Note that this feature is only available for Gmail on the web at the moment.
Availability
Rollout details
- Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 9, 2019
- Scheduled Release domains: Gradual Rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 6, 2019
Technology, The Future, and Education
What is technology? Most people typically define technology as something that was introduced or invented after they were born. For example, most of us would not consider the light switch and running water cutting edge technology, but at one point it was!
In most of our life times cutting edge phone technology has consisted of touch tone phones, answering machines, cellular phones, voice mail, and now video phones i.e. facetime/skype. Wow a lot has changed, and we're just talking about telecommunications!
Over time society and education has moved on from the Industrial Revolution and on to the Information Age. However, we are facing another transition... Some might call it the "People Age." This age will be about connecting people.
Take a look around and you'll notice the connections:
Uber connects people with rides, but doesn't own any cars, Airbnb connects people selling and seeking accommodations, but owns no properties, and Alibaba connects people with retailers, but owns no inventory. These are just a few well known examples.
How are you preparing students to CONNECT with people and become self led/directed entrepreneurs and business owners in a globally connected world?
Let me put it a different way. Social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Tic Toc, and Snapchat will not be considered "technology" by many of our students including our current elementary students since the technology existed when they were born. This technology is something that has existed and is common place for them. Yet many educators are likely to have never used these technological tools.
In schools we tend to look at social media as a distraction or a tool that can cause confrontation and problems for our students. While social media tools can be distracting, and cyberbullying can occur, we are also ignoring the fact that most business and industries are leveraging these "connections" to recruit candidates and market their products. Facebook alone made 55.8 billion dollars in 2018!
I recently heard that Revlon (the company that sells beauty products) devotes more marketing resources to it's mobile platforms then it does to it's desktop website platform. In fact the marketing division let's the interns manage the desktop website.
Consider this: It would not be uncommon for a student to have more social media followers than their school teachers, administrators, and even district!
The point is have you recently thought about what the future will look like and how you will adapt to prepare students for this new reality?
NEW NYSED Digital Literacy Standards Are Coming...
In the past year a draft of these new standards was presented and a public comment period ended in November 2019.
"NYSED understands and respects the fact that not all students will pursue a career in technology. It is important to note, however, that for all other occupations, the number of jobs that require medium to high-level technology skills are growing, and the number of jobs requiring no technology skill are shrinking.
As New Yorkers, we must prepare all students to live and work in our dynamic, technology-driven 21st-century world. This imperative is the basis of the vision for the draft New York State K-12 Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards."
Once these standards are adopted all teachers will likely be required to integrate them into their existing curriculum in all grade levels and/or subject areas.
http://www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/computer-science-and-digital-fluency-review
Michael Kealy
Beacon City School District
Email: kealy.m@beaconk12.org
Website: https://www.beaconk12.org/domain/24
Location: 101 Matteawan Road, Beacon, NY, USA
Phone: 845-838-6900
Twitter: @techkealy