TECH & LEARNING
April 2016
NEW MYCONNECT INTERFACE
A NEW MyConnect Interface is coming in June! The interface is designed to have a more responsive user design and allow you to have more options for customization. Please watch this short video below to prepare for the change. We will be making a separate video to inform students of the change.
PAST ENROLLMENT COURSES
BANDWIDTH UPGRADE FOR ALL PUSD
SAFE AND SECURE STUDENT PASSWORDS
In our ongoing effort to strengthen security and our commitment to securing student information and academic digital content, we have reset all elementary student passwords to a randomly generated four-digit code. Student user names remained the same.
At the secondary level, we are reminding parents to assist their students to regularly change their District password. Changing passwords is especially important for students who are using the initial six-digit password that was provided to them when they first started using the PUSD network. If your student is still using the original District password, we are asking that you ensure your student has changed this password as soon as possible.
2016-17 TLC for MyConnect Integration
INNOVATIONU NEXT STEPS
The InnovationU Tech and Learning Challenge garnered a lot of input from PUSD employees. The PUSD employees who had the top ranked ideas after the conclusion of the final Pairwise Voting stage were: Kim Lundgren, Alison Thompson, Heidi Uyloan, Frances French, and Dena Glynn.
The originators of the top five ideas are invited to meet with Dr. Collins on April 27th to discuss potential next steps.
The Top Five Ideas
- STEAM, Increase VAPA - By increasing Standards based classes in Visual and Performing Arts classes (VAPA), for all grade levels, students will have more opportunity to develop and increase the technology and 21st century skills needed in school, and then career or college.
- Library Media Services Plan - Develop a District-wide strategic library media services plan to support District Technology Skills Scope and Sequence and CCSS
- Ed Tech TOSAs - Create Ed Tech TOSA positions for Elementary and Middle Schools in order to successfully integrate and use technology tools.
- Increase LANs - Increase technology support by hiring more LAN personnel. As we increase the number of devices we must also increase the support to keep systems functioning well.
- CCSS Integration Specialists - We need a program in place to meet teachers where they are and provide support for them to integrate the Common Core standards effectively with technology integration.
Thank you for your smart and creative thinking around this year’s challenge and thank you to all who participated by submitting ideas, commenting, and voting.
IT'S TESTING TIME!
Smarter Balanced Testing will begin after the April break. The test windows are as follows:
- Grades 3-8: April 18 – June 3
- Grade 11: April 19 – June 3
- Science for grades 5, 8 and 10: April 18 – May 3
For teachers, be sure to:
- Have your testing tickets ready (student name and SSID)
- Login with your username and password before testing day to be sure it is working
- Take the practice test to experience how to manage the test
- Continue student practice on Typing Agent (grades 3 -8) and Typing.com (grade 11)
- Charge all devices so that they are ready for testing
TYPING AGENT REPORT
Our implementation of Typing Agent is off and running and students who’ve been using it are making great progress in their keyboarding skills. Since implementing the program in January, 12,162 students have logged in and completed 277,060 lessons! If your students haven’t had a chance to access it yet, be sure to have them login to MyPlan and click on the Typing Agent icon to get started! They can even do it from home! The PUSD Quickstart Guide and additional supports are available at this link in MyConnect: https://poway.instructure.com/courses/2062/pages/typing-agent .