Many of you have older iPads, 30-pins or iPad 4s. We will be collecting these this week. Our May Virtual Professional Learning is focused on how to backup your files in preparation for that exchange and as part of curating our resources.

Additionally, we are changing the way building apps are distributed to District devices. You will lose all apps pushed out by the school. They will become available in the ASD20 Catalog almost immediately afterwards for you to download at will. Any data stored locally in these apps will be lost, so backing up is important. An iCloud backup is not currently an option for use with our District devices. Web-based apps, like the Google Suite, will not be affected. Notability and Explain Everything are two apps that will need to be individually backed up. There are tools to help in the Backup Your Resources folder in our Digital Teaching and Learning Resources Google Drive folder. There are mini-backup workshops scheduled this week: Monday and Thursday from 1:30-2:30, and Tuesday and Wednesday from 12-1 in the 300s pod.

None of the apps purchased with your Apple ID through Apple's App Store will be affected by this.

We’ve been talking about backing up your resources a lot lately. This is a very timely issue for us right now; some of us need to exchange iPads and all of us will be effected by our change in practice regarding the distribution of apps. Not considering our current needs, a regular backup your computers and iPad is a good practice.

For your iPad (and iPhone if you have one), there is of course the iCloud backup. It’s a nice security blanket. You can also backup your iPad to iTunes on your computer. Do you need help with that? Ask me or one of our techs to make sure you have iTunes on your computer and we’ll walk you through an iTunes backup. Some apps, like Notability, can be directly backed up to Google Drive. That’s a nice feature that is manually setup in the settings menu.

Backing up your computer is just as important as your iPad or smartphone, but more often neglected. An external hard drive is a great tool for this. Some can wirelessly backup your computer, some need to be plugged into a port. Make sure your external hard drive has plenty of storage, even if it does compress the files. Already have an external hard drive? Those don’t last forever! Most aren’t meant to last more than five years. Replace it before your lose the data on your backup!

Here are some articles on backing up your computer:

• Best Ways to Backup Your Computer
  
• Tips On Backing Up Your Computer
  
• The Beginner’s Guide to PC Backup
  
• The Complete, Easy Guide to Backing Up Your Mac
  
• Using Time Machine to Backup or Restore Your Mac
  

There many things that can happen to the digital tools we depend on: age, lighting strikes, a virus, ransomware, malware. With a good habit of backing up your devices, you’ll be safer.

iPads are being returned for students and staff! Who is returning their iPad? Who is exchanging their iPad? What do we do? What are the timelines? How do I make sure my resources aren't lost? Our May Professional Learning time was designed around those questions, those needs. Building space and more immediate staff needs are changing the appearance of this time.

Are you having department meetings this month? Please invite me! I'll answer any questions you might have and provide whatever digital assistance your department members might need. I am posting videos on how to backup your resources as well as information regarding which resources you should back up. I will also be available during digital study halls and afternoons during finals week to assist. Ready to work on your own? Check out the Digital Teaching & Learning Google Drive folder for tutorials on how to backup your resources.

I'm here to make this a smoother process for you. Call (x2663) or email me!

Partner with us and help us ensure your tools are approved and ready for the next school year. Visit Pine Creek's Resource List; it includes the resources submitted at the end of last school year and may be a better resource at the moment for us than the District database. Don't see your resource? Fill out the Digital Tool Application and we'll get it submitted to District IT for approval. Once the tool is approved, we'll update our list and inform you. This process takes time, especially if a purchase needs to be made. Don't wait until the last minute. Don't wait until right before the next school year starts. Start the process now.

Please be patient with us and the District as we embark on this new process. The District database is continually being updated as is our own resource list. Our goal is to ensure you have the resources you need while protecting our students' privacy.

Have questions? Contact anyone of your Digital Resource Team members, Susan, Sasha or Steve.

• Share with you what tools we have available to you and your students
• Show you how to use the tools we have
• Push out course-specific apps to you and your students
• Co-teach with you so that you can focus on the content and I can focus on the tool and any digital issues
• Trouble-shoot issues, iPad and Desktop
• Share our Vision and what it means as we travel down the road towards making that it real
• Help you plan and reflect on lessons using digital tools
• Provide Digital Citizenship tips and resources

I'm here to serve you!