Technology Information and Updates
Distance Learning Edition #2
The number of Parent and Student Technology Support Tickets handled in the month of August.
Castro Valley Unified 1:1 Chromebook Device Program - Update
We have deployed close to 9,000 Chromebook devices across the district. These devices help close the digital gap and gives students access to their at home distance learning.
There are students that are struggling to stay connected to video conferencing to Google Meet/Zoom. Low Internet bandwidth is the main cause as video conferencing needs upload speed to transmit higher amounts of data that many home plans cannot handle. All Google Meet /Zoom conferencing tests on campus with high Internet speeds are very stable.
Unfortunately, MiFi's are not a strong solution to boost bandwidth.
We are continuing to monitor our Chromebook inventory, but we are waiting for a couple of Chromebook orders that are backlogged.
*Special Thanks to the secretaries for their help in the front offices.
For an overview, click here
All Things Chromebook - Security, Internet Content Filtering, YouTube
Chromebook Security - Securly
Chromebooks are managed by CVUSD. These can only be accessed with a current CVUSD account. Chromebooks are provided for CVUSD related learning and not personal .
- "Guest Login" has been disabled.
- Securly content filtering has been deployed for CVUSD Chromebooks to protect students. This also includes many web based games, Netflix/video streaming, some social media, other non-academic sites. - If teachers need a site whitelisted, please email gko@cv.k12.ca.us directly.
- Students may not send or receive emails from outside cv.k12.ca.us.
YouTube "Restricted Videos"
YouTube sets their own filtering for school accounts which identifies some videos as "Restricted". In addition, CVUSD sets YouTube filtering for all videos. As of Aug 24, we removed our filtering for YouTube to allow students to access, but we are still encountering problems with "Restricted Videos". Google Support has been notified.
Google Hangouts and Chat Settings
Video Hangouts is turned off, and Chat is on/off per principal decision.Introducing Clever
Clever is a new software portal that is being piloted to help support the many websites and logins for students and teachers. Clever also helps the district roster classes from Aeries to most of our software systems. Think of it as a one-stop quick login and access. Use your Google credentials.
At the moment, Clever is only being piloted for a few software applications with more apps being added in the next months. If you would like to test and tinker, you can login at www.clever.com/in/cvusdclever. Use your Google email credentials to login and try setting up your class homepage. Right now, only class teachers and students have logins, soon the rest of our specialists, and other staff will be able to use Clever to access all of our software.
More info at Clever.com.
Additional Monitors to Extend Screens
Teachers are welcome to borrow monitors that they may have in their classroom or at their school sites. Please check them out with the principal per site processes. Borrowing staff will be responsible for returning back to the original locations. A few extra monitors will be made available for pickup in the CVHS cafeteria annex on Wednesday, September 9.
You can watch this YouTube video to help connect a monitor to your laptop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYgOKhmhwZ8
Connecting Devices to Your Laptop
Staff can also use their projectors in the classroom as a very big monitor. The link above will help you change your settings to "Extend" versus "Mirroring".
Upcoming Features in Google Meet and Classrooms
Google for Education Apps and Other Online Resources - CVUSD
Google is CVUSD's software application standard. We use Google Mail, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Classroom, Slides, Hangouts, and newly added Google Meets to support our daily work and Distance Learning. These applications provide us with consistency for work across our organization as well as provides administrative tools to protect and optimize work for all of our students and employees.
Google software features are updated regular and change with frequency, we will do our best to update everyone of changes in features.
Google for Education does not keep/sell any user information and data.
Dongles, Connectors, and Adapters for Devices
Technology Quick Links
Peter Vallejo's Technology Distance Learning Website
Please use the CVUSD Technology Website (*new and still updating). This page has information for Google Account info, Chromebook FAQ, and Parent/Student Tech Support Request.