Google Educator Certification + Chromebook Tips

Google Educator Certification

Join Cassie and Matt in becoming Google Educators! This certification includes completing 6 modules (4 required and 2 elective) that explore Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sites, Chrome, and Chromebooks. After each module you need to take an exam to demonstrate your understanding. The exams are $15.00 each. Upon passing all 6 exams you will be reimbursed $90.00 for the cost of the exams by the technology department.

This week we are working on the Basic lessons and taking the exam. Click here to find the lessons. This module is not required for certification but will provide a good starting point before we start working on the more complex courses. Cassie and Matt will be available from 4:00pm - 5:30pm at South Campus on Monday, November 24th and Monday, December 1st to offer help on the basics course. You are not required to attend these help sessions and you can move through the modules at your own pace!

If you are interested in this opportunity but have not yet signed up, please complete your registration here.

Chromebook Tips

This ThingLink has a great overview of Google Chrome features, Chromebook shortcuts and a few Chrome web apps for education. For those unfamiliar with ThinkLink, it is a great tool that teachers or students could use to link information about a topic in a visually appealing way. Think of it like an interactive poster. Create your own at thinglink.com.

Google Educator Certification + kidPicker Application

Google Educator Certification Opportunity

Join Cassie and Matt in becoming Google Educators! This certification includes completing 6 modules (4 required and 2 elective) that explore Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sites, Chrome, and Chromebooks. Click here for additional details. After each module you need to take an exam to demonstrate your understanding. The exams are $15.00 each. Upon passing all 6 exams you will be reimbursed $90.00 for the cost of the exams by the technology department.

Cassie and Matt will be completing a module every two weeks. The module's materials will be sent out via tech tips. Cassie and Matt will be available from 4:00pm - 5:30pm at South Campus on Mondays according to the following schedule to help with the current module. You are not required to attend these help sessions and you can move through the modules at your own pace!

If you are interested please sign up here as this opportunity is currently limited to 25 staff members!

Schedule:

• Beginning Tuesday, November 18th - Learn the Basics Module* + Exam
• Help on Monday, November 24th or Monday, December 1st
• *The basics module and exam are not part of the certification described above, but are helpful to complete prior. The basics exam is free.
• Beginning Tuesday, December 2nd - Gmail Module + Exam
• Help on Monday, December 15th
• Beginning Tuesday, December 16th - Calendar Module + Exam
• Help on Monday, January 5th
• Beginning Tuesday, January 6th - Drive Module + Exam
• Help on Monday, January 12th
• Beginning Tuesday, January 20th - Sites Module + Exam
• Help on Monday, January 26th or Monday, February 2nd
• Beginning Tuesday, February 3rd - Elective Module I* + Exam
• Help on Monday, February 9th
• *Cassie and Matt will likely do Chrome as the elective module. 
• Beginning Tuesday February 17th - Elective Module II* + Exam
• Help on Monday, February 23rd
• *Cassie and Matt will likely do Chromebooks as the elective module. 

KidPicker Application

kidPicker is a tool that equitably randomizes the student selection process, allowing a teacher to maximize the spread of students selected on the same day. It also tracks simple teacher scorings (1,2,3) in a Google Spreadsheet. 

Check out these instructions to get started!

Google Play for Edu + Simple Chromebook Shortcuts

Introducing Google Play for Education

White Bear Lake Schools now have access to the Google Play for Education Store. This means that teachers can send out specific Chrome and Android apps to groups of students.

Google Play for Education is an extension of Google Play designed for schools. Here educators can discover Android and Chrome apps approved by teachers for teachers, as well as educational videos and a collection of classic books for their classroom.

Teachers can search for approved apps by grade, subject and standard, including Common Core State Standards. Instant distribution lets educators bring apps directly to classrooms and schools.

See this presentation made by our own Nicky Lavalley for instructions on how to send apps to students.

Please contact Steve Asper (steve.asper@isd624.org) with any specific questions related to Google Play for Edu.

Useful Chromebook Shortcuts

Here is a handful of Chromebook shortcuts that Sunrise 8th graders think will save you time! To see a full menu of keyboard shortcuts open a Chromebook and press Ctrl + Alt + ?

The screencast was made by 8th grade students in the Tech Depot. Tech Depot is an advisory group at both Sunrise and Central middle school that assists with Chromebook repairs, troubleshooting, and shares their tech wisdom with students and staff.

As always, please contact Cassie Knutson (cassie.knutson@isd624.org) or myself (matt.skogen@isd624.org) with questions. We are available to meet with you one on one or in small groups to help make your innovative ideas a reality.

Digital Citizenship, Chromebook Tutorial, and the Technology and Leadership Cohort

Digital Citizenship Resources

Teaching the norms of responsible technology use is becoming increasingly important as we continue to embed technology in our students' learning experiences. There are many online resources for teaching digital citizenship so that students have safe experiences as the communicate and collaborate online. 

Elementary School Resources:

• PBS Webonauts Internet Academy, Through the Wild Web Woods, and AT&T's Safety Land are great online resources for elementary students. 
• Professor Garfield Online Safety, Cyberbullying, and Fact or Opinion are free iPad applications that teach students how to be safe online, how to recognize and respond to cyberbullying, and how to decide if something is a fact or an opinion.

Middle School/High School Resources:

• Seven Digital Sins and Flocabulary's "Think Before You Post - Oversharing are great online resource for middle and high school students. 

Take some time to review these great resources and consider using them in your classroom!

Chromebook Tutorial

Our 8th graders at Sunrise each have a Chromebook in their hands and hundreds of additional Chromebooks are now available at our elementary, middle, and high schools. This Chromebook Tutorial is a self paced opportunity to learn basic to advanced Chromebook skills.

2014-2015 Technology & Leadership Cohort

Starting October 27, 2014, 30 teachers will begin White Bear’s second Technology & Leadership Cohort focused on improving leadership and technology skills through four blended courses. Members will also earn 15 graduate credits and a Technology & Leadership Certificate through Hamline. The Cohort will be taught in a blended format with all face to face meetings being held Monday afternoon/evenings once month. Applications are due October 9th!

Our New Face Lift, Google Classroom PD, Tech Cohort and BrightBytes

As you can see, we've made some changes to the way that we will pass on our tech wisdom to you. On this blog you will be able to search through the whole archive of Tech Tips to quickly find answers to your questions. 

Google Classroom PD for CEUs

On Monday, September 29th Cassie and I will be offering a 45-minute professional development session on Google Classroom. The session will start at 7 am in the South Campus Media Center.

You will receive CEUs for your attendance at this session! You will need to register in PDExpress to get credit for this session. (login here) Once logged in click "In District Events" at the top of the page and select "In District Event Catalog". 

2014-2015 Technology & Leadership Cohort

Starting October 27, 2014, ~30 teachers will begin White Bear’s second Technology & Leadership Cohort focused on improving leadership and technology skills through four blended courses.  Members will also earn 15 graduate credits and a Technology & Leadership Certificate through Hamline. The Cohort will be taught in a blended format with all face to face meetings being held Monday afternoon/evenings once month.

Last year’s Cohort was a huge success, and we are delighted to extend the opportunity to a new group of White Bear teachers!  Learn more in the brief description below and read the full description at bit.ly/WBLAS1415cohortinfo. 

Applications are due October 9th, so start crafting your responses soon!  

The focus of these classes will be to enhance practice of integrating technology into White Bear’s curriculum as well as build leadership skills in teachers in the field of technology and learning. 

Contact the tech department or one of last year's cohort members with any questions.

It's coming...

Be ready to participate in this year's BrightBytes survey in the upcoming weeks. Important technology related decisions for the district are made based on the data from this survey. Those who speak are the ones who are heard. Our goal is 100% participation at every school.

IFTTT, Community Ed Schoology Page, Schoology Notification Settings (May 13, 2014)

Tip #1: If This Then That

If This Then That is a service that allows you to make connections between many of your online services. You create recipes that trigger an action in one service when something happens with another service. An example that I used in class was every time the daily weather for White Bear Lake was posted on the Weather Channel, IFTTT would add  that weather data to a new row in one of my Google spreadsheets. My students then compared the weather data that they were collecting for class with the data that was automatically added to the spreadsheet from the Weather Channel.  Essentially it is a way to automate some of the tasks that you do already, freeing up some of your time. It also has features that can do some pretty cool and unique things.  For a more detailed description click here.

IFTTT is also an app for Android and Apple.

Tip #2: Stay in the loop: Community Ed Teacher Page

You may have seen the new "White Bear Lake Teachers" page in your list of courses in Schoology. This page was created by the folks in Community Education to keep you in the loop about professional development opportunities.

"This will be where we post all flyers from Colleges and Universities offering professional development for teachers. We are moving away from paper flyers being placed in mailboxes and moving toward an online posting of flyers. We decided Schoology is the way to go to forward this communication to teachers."

-Kristine Wehrkamp

Tip #3: Notifications or not. The choice is yours.

As you are being enrolled in various courses and creating your own, you may or may not want to get an email about everything that happens in the course. Luckily, the choice is up to you! This is how you change notifications for a specific course and here is reminder on how to change notification settings for your account.

Formative Assessment with Pear Deck & Nearpod

Here are your Tuesday tech tips!

This week's tech tips feature two great presentation tools that can be used to increase student engagement and gather formative assessment data from students.

Tip #1: Pear Deck

Pear Deck is an app that connects to your Google Drive account allowing you to take existing Google presentations or PDFs and turn them into interactive lessons with embedded formative assessments. Students can join the presentation and participate through their devices. You can also create new presentations in Pear Deck. Click here for more information (including some great videos) on using Pear Deck.

Tip #2: Nearpod

Nearpod is a website that functions similar to the Pear Deck app in that it allows you to add interactive formative assessment features to existing presentations or to create new presentations with these features. A Nearpod app is available for Apple and Android devices allowing students to easily join in on presentations. Click here for a video overview of Nearpod and visit Nearpod.com to get started.

So which should you use? Give both a try! Both have features that the other doesn't. For example, with Pear Deck you can ask "pop" questions that weren't initially part of the presentation and with Nearpod you can ask questions in which students can submit a drawn or handwritten response.