12-12-2023 Tuesday Tech Tips
11-28-2023 Tuesday Tech Tips
In today's Tuesday Tech Tips, read all about getting insights into student performance with an exciting new Google Classroom feature, keeping up to date on all the happenings in GCSD right on your own Google Calendar, a reminder concerning toner cartridges, & more! ➡️ ➡️➡️ | 💡 Quick Tip 💡
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Just press ctrl-shift-t to open the last tab you closed! Repeat as needed.
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Chromebook Update Problem
(and solution!)
Last week we started seeing some Chromebooks locking up with an error screen that says "Let's Guide You Through the Recovery Process", "Something has gone wrong", or something similarly ominous. Please refer to this guide to fix this problem on your own.
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New Google Classroom feature!
With Google Classroom Analytics, teachers now have direct visibility into student performance and engagement in the classroom, including if assignments are being completed and how grades are trending for the classes they teach, providing them with a centralized snapshot of how each student in their class is trending.
For example, if a teacher sees that a student has low assignment completion this month, they can drill down to the list of missing assignments and follow up to see how to best support this student. Click the animated GIF below to learn about Classroom analytics as a teacher.
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Stay 'n Sync with GCSD's Bustling Schedule
Add GCSD Calendars to your district Google calendar with ease.
Whether you're keen on districtwide happenings, building-specific events like exciting ice cream socials or parent nights, or you need to track the letter rotation days through the Secondary Rotation Calendar, we've got you covered. Stay ahead by noting board meeting dates, recesses, conference days, grading window dates, and essential testing schedules—all at your fingertips.
Click HERE to get started. We recommend doing this on a Chromebook or Windows device- not a mobile device like a phone. Simply select your preferred building from the dropdown menu and never miss a beat in the GCSD calendar of events! Detailed directions can be found at the bottom of that page.
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Replacement Toner Installation
When a shipment of new/replacement toner cartridges for printers or copiers arrives at your location, we kindly request all departments to please ensure that the cartridges are promptly installed into the printers and/or copiers. Even if the unit may not appear ready for installing the new toner, it is okay to install the toner since it has reached a level that was deemed ready to be replaced.
This proactive measure will help maintain uninterrupted workflow and ensure that all printing and copying tasks can be efficiently carried out without any delays. Please do not store toner for your printer or copier.
Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated- Thank you!
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Looking for PL Hours? Be sure to check out the ITT’s page for Recommended PL HERE. You’ll find upcoming webinar and session opportunities, as well as on-going opportunities for digital tool certifications and self-paced learning. These offerings are updated frequently so bookmark the site and check back often!
For assistance with these topics, or anything else related to instructional technology, please click HERE to book an appointment with your building's ITT.
11-14-2023 Tuesday Tech Tips
In today's Tuesday Tech Tips, read all about a tool that instantly removes backgrounds from your digital photos, how to access millions of images from the Smithsonian, a clarification on students' access to YouTube Shorts, & more! ➡️ ➡️➡️ | 💡 Quick Tip 💡
 And even if you don't have multiple signatures, please make sure you have at least one. It can make it easier for the person you're emailing to help you, especially if it's someone who doesn't work in the same building as you and might not know right away who you are. |
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Remove Backgrounds from Photos in Seconds with remove.bg
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| Background or not, we think Gipper is awfully cute. |
Thanks to remove.bg's clever AI, you can slash editing time - and have more fun!
No matter if you want to make a background transparent (PNG), or add a white background to a photo - you can do all this and more with remove.bg. This can all be done with the free version of the product, and without logging in. Try it HERE.
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Access Millions of Smithsonian’s Images for Free
If you'd like to learn about how an English chemist and mineralogist who died in Italy in 1829 and never even visited the United States came to found the Smithsonian Institution, the fascinating story can be found HERE.
People everywhere can now download, remix, and share Smithsonian Open Access content for any purpose, for free. They have everything from portraits of historic Americans to 3D scans of dinosaur fossils. What will you create, imagine, and discover?
Check out Smithsonian Open Access HERE and browse the collection today!
If you'd like to learn about how an English chemist and mineralogist who died in Italy in 1829 and never even visited the United States came to found the Smithsonian Institution, the fascinating story can be found HERE.
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Teachers--Please keep the following in mind if a student reports that a YouTube video is blocked for them:
1) The district keeps YouTube in "restricted mode" for students. Staff members can go to the video in YouTube themselves and look for the "Watchable by greececsd.org" seal or a button that allows staff to approve some (not all) videos and channels for students.
2) YouTube Shorts are blocked for students by our filter. These are TikTok style videos that have the word "shorts" in the url, such as https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ha_DdoQPLn8. Shorts are generally not instructional and are less carefully curated for appropriateness by YT.
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Looking for PL Hours? Be sure to check out the ITT’s page for Recommended PL HERE. You’ll find upcoming webinar and session opportunities, as well as on-going opportunities for digital tool certifications and self-paced learning. These offerings are updated frequently so bookmark the site and check back often!
For assistance with these topics, or anything else related to instructional technology, please click HERE to book an appointment with your building's ITT.
10-31-2023 Tuesday Tech Tips
Click the image below to enjoy the Halloween edition of the Tuesday Tech Tips!
10-17-2023 Tuesday Tech Tips
In today's Tuesday Tech Tips, read all about adding interactivity to (and removing ads from) YouTube videos, connecting your classroom with experts and organizations around the world, annotating your Google Slides presentations, & more! ➡️ ➡️➡️ | 💡 Quick Tip 💡 By default, the compose window in Gmail is popped into a small window in the bottom, right corner in Gmail. For some of us, that small window feels claustrophobic. Have you ever wished you had a larger composition mode? In this week's Quick Tip, learn not only how to change the compose window to full-screen, but also how to make this the default view in new emails, plus how to go to full-screen in reply emails. |
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New Tool: Interactive Questions for YouTube Videos in Google Classroom
We recently shared some information about avoiding ads in YouTube. Subsequently, there were changes in Google that made some of those directions obsolete. In response to that, we'd like to share another option, which is a new functionality in Google Classroom: Interactive Questions for YouTube. Teachers can use interactive questions for YouTube videos to:
- Create interactive YouTube video assignments (think Edpuzzle)
- Save time with the autograde tool
- Simply share YouTube videos in Classroom to make them ad-free even without adding the interactive questions (we think*)
*Throughout our testing, it has been the case that this process removes ads in YouTube, although we haven't been able to find any documentation that explicitly says that.
As always, make sure the video you're working with is labeled "Watchable by greececsd.org" or "Video approved for greececsd.org," otherwise your students won't be able to access it. Staff members can approve videos labeled "Video not approved for greececsd.org," but keep in mind that doing that approves the video for all GCSD students, so please exercise caution.
Plenty of details and directions on this exciting new feature are available HERE.
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Make the World Your Classroom
One of the most transformative ways to leverage technology in education is to break through the four walls of the classroom, and collaborate with experts from around the world. A resource that can help you connect with virtual learning opportunities is the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC).
CILC partners with world-renowned museums, zoos, science centers, experts, and more to connect individuals to live, interactive, virtual visits that inspire learning. Just a few of the hundreds of providers accessible through CLIC are:
- National Museum of the U.S. Army (info HERE)
- Smithsonian American Art Museum (info HERE)
- The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center (info HERE)
- National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (info HERE)
Registration is free, as are hundreds of the videoconference opportunities found there. Visit CILC by clicking HERE, and reach out to your ITT for any support you need.
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Annotate your Google Slides with its New Pen Tool
Google has introduced a feature that lets you highlight or emphasize key content while you present in Google Slides. With the new pen tool, you can circle, underline, draw connections or make quick notes directly on your presentation.
Whether you're delivering a lesson with your students, or you're in a department meeting at District Office, annotations can help make your presentations more engaging, interactive, and impactful.
All the details can be found HERE.
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For assistance with these topics, or anything else related to instructional technology, please click HERE to book an appointment with your building's ITT.
10-3-2023 Tuesday Tech Tips
In today's Tuesday Tech Tips, read all about ensuring your Toshiba copier doesn't run out of toner, how to access and share YouTube videos that won't include some of the ads, some Chromebook printing info, & more! ➡️ ➡️➡️ | 💡 Quick Tip 💡 Have you ever wanted to write an email that looks like a newletter, announcement, or is just slick? Well, Gmail has that built right in. It's called a "branded email," and it's just a click away. |
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Copy This
If you see the “waste toner is full” notice on a Toshiba copier, make sure you inform your school secretary/key operator to arrange replacement of the toner box immediately to avoid jobs being automatically canceled by the copier.
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| Image coutesy of www.freepik.com |
Subtract Ads in YouTube
Unfortunately, many so-called "YouTube adblocker" extensions are not safe, and may even contain malware. So how do you show a YouTube video to your students and ensure that there aren't any embedded ads? There will still be in-play ads, but there won't be ads surrounding the videos. Here are two ways to do this:
- Embed the video in Google Slides. This is helpful if you want your video to start and/or end at times within the video, and you can choose to manually start the video or automatically start it when the slide changes!
- View a YouTube video in your Chrome browser without ads by changing part of the URL you get from the address bar (not the ‘share’ link to the video). Just replace the text in the URL from watch?v= to embed/. For example, make this change:
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Here's a setting you may want to change on your Chromebook
If you plan to print pdfs from your DOWNLOADS on your Chromebook, be sure to change the default setting for viewing your pdfs, otherwise printing to PaperCut will not be an option.
We highly recommend that you follow the steps HERE to change the default setting for pdfs to the "Viewer" rather than the new "Gallery" app.
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For assistance with these topics, or anything else related to instructional technology, please click HERE to book an appointment with your building's ITT.
9-12-2023 Tuesday Tech Tips
Welcome to a new year of Tuesday Tech Tips! You can read this week's Tech Tips by clicking HERE, or through the Canva newsletter embedded below.
You can advance to the next page or go back to the previous one by using the arrow keys on your keyboard, or by clicking on the page.
6-20-2023 Tuesday Tech Tips
A quick reminder to request all equipment moves from techhelp@greececsd.org or complete a ticket at webhelpdesk.greececsd.org; Non tech staff may NOT move PCs, printers, etc on their own. Such moved equipment will be returned to the original location.
Staff not returning in the fall are asked to return all personally assigned mobile devices (laptop, Chromebook, iPad, etc) to their direct supervisor.
In today's Tuesday Tech Alerts, read more about Chat GPT and AI, plus how to organize your digital data with Wakelet, an exceptional way to spend the end of Summer Vacation, & more!➡️ ➡️➡️ | 💡 Quick Tip 💡 Have you ever wanted to remove the background from a photograph or other image, but didn't know how? Check out the linked video below, and you'll learn how to do it quicky and easily.  |
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| Shutterstock |
What's the DL on AI?
Whether you've seen on the news that you might be replaced by a robot, or you read on Instagram that you can use Chat GPT to create a recipe for you with whatever you have in your icebox, or if you fastidiously devour every installment of these Tech Alerts, you've probably heard about Artificial Intelligence, or "AI."
To help you navigate this Brave New World, we've curated a wealth of resources about Chat GPT and AI in general in this highly informative Wakelet linked HERE. We invite you to check it out!
PS- If you're interested in what Chat GPT produced when I supplied the prompt "write a short paragraph telling my readers to visit our Wakelet to read about AI," here's what it wrote:
Attention, readers! Are you eager to explore the fascinating realm of Artificial Intelligence? Look no further! I invite you to embark on an enlightening journey by visiting my Wakelet profile. There, you will discover a treasure trove of captivating articles, insightful discussions, and cutting-edge insights on AI. From its groundbreaking applications in various industries to its profound impact on society, my curated collection will satisfy your curiosity and expand your understanding of this rapidly evolving field. So, join me on this intellectual expedition and dive into the boundless possibilities of Artificial Intelligence. Your adventure awaits at my Wakelet page!
That's not bad...hmmm, maybe the person who writes the Tech Alerts is the one who should be worried about being replaced by a robot! 😟😯😧
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Wakelet Up, Before You Go-Go (on Summer Vacation)
After checking out the Wakelet in the section above, you're probably wondering, "What exactly is Wakelet, and how can I make my own?"
Imagine Pinterest, but instead of just images, Wakelet allows you to capture, organize, and save any kind of content that you find online. We're talking videos, social media posts, blogs, websites- anything with a web address. And of course, any content that you create yourself.
Have a look at this short video below, which is also linked HERE, to learn more about Wakelet directly from their own experts.
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We know August is a long ways away, and maybe not exactly what you want to think about here in the last week of the school year. But come late summer, you might just be ready for some time away from your kids/parents/significant other/neighbors, etc., and what better excuse than to spend some quality time, from one hour up to a few days, with your ITT Team learning about instructional technology?
So give yourself something to look forward to all summer, and sign up for some Tech Camp sessions! With 19 sessions offered and over 15 hours of possible PL, there are plenty of choices for leveling up your instructional technology use next school year. There's something at Tech Camp for everyone, and it's open to all GCSD employees.
Register for one session or many, and learn about all of the offerings, by visiting the schedule HERE.
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Well friends, that about does it for the Tuesday Tech Alerts for the 2022-2023 school year. We hope these have been a valuable source of information for you, and thank you for taking the time to read them. Assuming that whole AI takeover thing doesn't happen in the next twelve or so weeks, you'll start hearing from us every other Tuesday starting again in September! Until then...
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