Schoology Connect Conference June 20, 2019

SAVE THE DATE:

JUNE 20, 2019

8AM - 3PM

Location:

Olentangy Berlin High School

3140 Berlin Station Rd,

Delaware, OH 43015

Calling all educators and administrators! Join us June 20, 2019 for CONNECT OH - a FREE day of interactive, professional learning opportunities with Schoology!

With regional networking and relevant content, this one-day event will leave you inspired and ready to advance what’s possible in your school or district.

CONNECT OH will include:

• A special message from Schoology on Advancing What's Possible in Education
• A keynote from a local educator or administrator to kickoff the day
• Your choice of sessions from Schoology and the community on topics like:
• Ongoing Professional Learning
• Curriculum Framework
• Student Centered Learning
• Assessment and Feedback
• Engaged Communities
• Leadership and Administration
• What’s New with Schoology’s LMS and AMP
• Networking opportunities with educators and education leaders in your region
• The opportunity to learn from and ask questions to Schoology product experts
• A certificate of participation that can be used for continuing education units (CEUs)

Registration will be open soon, but we are currently accepting presentation proposals: Share Your Expertise! presentation proposals are due APRIL 1st! No Joke!

MakerX 2019 is Coming!

Looking for an activity to which you can bring your family, inspire your educator side, and also have a great time? Well, look no further. MakerX 2019 is coming!

MakerX, The Columbus Maker Expo is an annual public festival celebrating "creating with

technology". It brings together makers from all over the region to share their work and engage
the public. The core of MakerX is non-profit educational institutions in the Columbus region but
the event welcomes participation by community makerspaces, other non-profits, businesses,
clubs, and individuals.

There will be exhibitors and activities for everyone including drone racing, robotics,
augmented and virtual reality demos, DIY instrument building, garden welding,
3-D printing demos and samples, coding, Lego, cardboard creating and much, much more. A complete list can be found here.

Westerville City Schools will be represented by students and teachers showcasing coding
and robotics. The Augmented Reality sandbox will be present for hands on experiences,
as well.

MakerX The Columbus Maker Expo is a festival of creating with technology. It is suitable for
all ages and will take place on Saturday, April 6, 2019 in the Buckeye Building of the
Ohio Expo Center (aka State Fairgrounds).

For more information, please see the MakerX website or contact Rachel Lacy or
Anne Baldwin with any questions.

Cool Stuff We Learned at OETC

This week the Ed Tech Team as well as other Westerville staff went to the Ohio Education Technology Conference. This year's theme was Artificial Intelligence and there were a number of speeches and sessions focused on how AI might transform the world of education.  We learned a ton of cool stuff and are bringing the highlights (and accompanying resources) back to you! Below is a small sample of the hundreds of sessions that were held over three days. Take a look at any/all that interests you!


Create a Self Organized Learning Environment!
SOLE is a specific program that has some value, but there are a number of features of the program that can be applied to many different circumstances. The framework is useful for guiding inquiry based learning. Links in the presentation contain a number of resources including question stems for beginning and inquiry process.

Google Doc add ons for students and  teachers!
There are tons of great add ons (mini programs that extend the functionality of Google docs) there are options that allow rubrics, voice grading, equation editing, block distractions, and a host of other options including some interesting surprises!


Machine Learning with Google Explore and AI Experiments!
Google has a ton of experimental AI programs that can be applied to different classes. Many of these are also helping Google train their AI programs in how to recognize different inputs. For art and music teachers in particular, there are a ton of ways to create art or music from different interesting inputs (For example, creating music from how a painting looks) Other options are aimed at Universal Design for Learning and other accommodation that can make it much easier to reach students with particular needs such as real time closed captioning on Google Slides.  Take a look at the hundreds of cool projects! The best part is they are open source and you can contribute your own if that is your inclination.

Clever Crazes for Kids: FREE Steam-integrated K-8 Academic Enrichment!
This site was created by U.C. and Purdue. It consists of different games and challenges for kids that revolve around STEAM learning. (Science/tech/engineering/art/math) The kicker here is that kids can earn real prizes for what they do here. The materials are fun and engaging and can be a nice supplement for kids.

Open Space: Open Education Resources from InfOhio!
InfoOhio has created a site where they gather Open Education Resources. These are free, completely modifiable materials that operate under Creative Commons Licensing which means that you can change them, cut them up, use them, etc. as long as the original author is credited. They are curating the resources on this site. Looking for something new to get away from repetitive textbook exercises? Start here! (or ask your tech coach- its what we do!)

The Future Ready Framework!
Westerville signed on the Future Ready Framework awhile back and PD is ongoing about the different gears that make up the framework. All the gears are aimed at making sure students are...ready for the future

Smartphone Addiction!
Smartphones allow us to access ways of connecting with people, succeeding, sharing stories, and getting positive feedback  as much as we want. This has led to adults and students becoming addicted to smart devices. Some interesting statistics were shared regarding the lack of self control that many people feel they have over the phone usage. This reality gives us the opportunity to have productive discussions about how to guide students (and adults) into using phones for productive reasons, not just for entertainment and breaking cycles of addiction while maintaining the positive impact of technology. 

General themes!
Universal Design for Learning 
is emerging as a new facet of education trends. Remember, the names are different, but the intent is the same. Give every student the best education possible using the tools we have available.

Applying Blended Learning in the classroom.
A number of teachers presented on how they are applying using technology and other tools to personalize learning for their students (again, good teaching wrapped in a trendy title) They offered a great chance to see things in action across every grade level. Many teachers were also open to having visitors. If this is something you are interested in, let your tech coach know and we can talk more about how to implement this.

Tools, Tools, Tools
In almost every session, presenters shared new and existing tools they use to improve the efficiency of their teaching and how their students access knowledge. There are far too many to list here, but we encourage you to think about things you have always wanted to do. Chances are that there are tools that will assist in doing that. Talking to your ed-tech coach or library media specialist is a great place to get started!

Pizza can be improved?
Apparently, it is possible to order a hot dog stuffed with pizza toppings with the bun created by...wait for it....a slice of pizza. According to all who tried it.  This is a true game changer.

this is just the tip of all the different things that we saw at OETC. If you want to improve instruction, try something new, or just hear more about what we saw, let your Ed-Tech coach know!

Project Based Learning Comes to Westerville.

In Partnership with Otterbein University, Several Westerville City Schools teachers have taken part in the Out of the Gate Project. This project pairs Otterbein students with teachers in the district to take part in intensive Professional Development and, as part of the student teaching experience, plan and implement project based learning in the classroom. The goal of the project is to engage student in deeper, more meaningful learning. Project Based learning involves approaching learning through driving questions that often contain multiple curricular areas. Students research solutions, put together presentations, and present their findings to an authentic audience.

Several Westerville Teachers took part in the Fall symposium where the classroom teachers and their Otterbein student teachers presented the work that they did over the fall semester (photos courtesy of the Out of the Gate Project).

Megan Glassmire (L ) and Dawn Ramsey (R) Huber Ridge 4th Grade
Driving Question: How do we keep the natural environment safe

Beth O'Reilly (L) and Tracy Jones (R) Wilder 3rd Grade
Driving Question: How can we encourage people to live, work, and play in our community?

Several other Westerville teachers are participating in the program as well including Caitlin Begeny (Genoa), Linda Amici (Alcott), and Kelly Moff (Annehurst).

The program will be continuing next year. Interested teachers are encouraged to contact their Ed-Tech coach to learn more about the program.

Schoology can do that?

 Each week it seems like there is a new app that we can use to increase student engagement, foster creativity, or increase student performance. Many of these apps can be very effective, but it can be cumbersome to keep track of what does what and how many logins you have to different programs and sites. It has been awhile since we took a look at some of the lesser known features of Schoology, but many of these apps and features are available within Schoology with the added bonus of having all your students signed in with no additional work required! Some more popular apps and their Schoology equivalents are below:

1: FlipGrid VS Discussions with Video Reflection
Flip Grid allows you to create a grid of video based responses where students can make short reflections on their learning. In Schoology, it is possible to record video or audio clips as a method for any assignment or discussion. in order to do this, simply choose the microphone icon and follow the prompts to record.

2.  Poll Everywhere vs. Polls within Schoology
Poll Everywhere is a popular app that show real time student responses. Schoology has a similar feature that is located within the updates tab on each course page. Create a poll and students can respond to your questions and see the summary of what responses were.

3. Student Websites vs Schoology Portfolios
Many teachers use websites as a way for students to gather their work in a portfolio. Schoology has a built in portfolio feature that can be used as well. Click on your name in the top right of the screen and choose "my profile" in your profile, there is a tab labeled "portfolios". Here you can create pages and folders and even import assignments from Schoology.


There is a ton more that you can do within Schoology that emulates some of the more popular education apps. You can also add certain features like Khan Academy or other sites directly within Schoology. If you want to know more about consolidating the websites you use for teaching into one site, contact your friendly local Ed-Tech Coach!

Pretty Fly for Our WiFi

In our district, there are three WiFi networks that Chromebooks have access to: Guest, Inet, and WCS. Each have different levels of network access. Make sure you are using the right one to meet your needs and avoid the panic when a site you swore worked yesterday no longer works by following the tips below!

Guest: This is designed for visitors to our district. Depending on where you access this network from, you may need to have a sponsor that can approve your accessing the network. This is also the most limited network. There are a large number of blocked websites. 

Inet: The Inet is the default setting for many of the Chromebooks and is most like what students have access to. It has a medium level of access to sites. If you are having trouble accessing certain websites or portions of websites (videos, images, etc.), this is a good place to look first in your troubleshooting. Many sites use larger hosts like Amazon or Google for their content and they will occasionally be blocked by this network. The login information for this network is programmed into the Chromebooks. 

WCS: This network is tied to your login information, so it gives teachers more access to sites they may need.  It is the least locked down of the websites and offers access to a number of sites that may not work on other networks. If you can access a site like Netflix to show a documentary or instructional video from your desktop, but not on a Chromebook, you are most likely not signed into WCS on the laptop. In order to sign in there are a few steps that you need to take. 

1. Go to the toolbar at the bottom of your screen and click on the clock at the bottom right

2. Click on the WiFi symbol and choose WCS

3. Fill in the login info...

-You will need to do several things in order to do this:

a. Change the EAP method from LEAP to PEAP. 

b. Type in your username (whatever your Google login is minus the @westerville.k12.oh.us

c. Type in your password- the same that you use for Google login. 

You should be connected! Happy Interneting! As always, if you have questions or want to know more about the technology available to you, contact your friendly neighborhood ed-tech coach!

Using Technology to Bridge the Gap for Teacher Absences

From time to time even the strongest immune system can be foiled by a few germs. But you can still make the most of those days by using technology to bridge the gap. As the “season of sickness” looms ahead of us, here is a valuable article from Common Sense Education on the ways you can use tech tools to make the most of sick days or when you have a guest teacher. Stay well! But just in case...

Teacher Absent? How Tech Can Bridge the Gap

We hope this helps! If you have any questions or need some help, don't hesitate to reach out to your building's Ed Tech Coach!

The Embed Code: Getting all your content in one place

One of the downsides of using technology for lessons is that the content that we teach is rarely in one place. We get greater control over the content, but this often means grabbing video, audio, and text from a variety of sources. At the same time we know our students- the more clicking to get to content, the more issues will arise. It can be frustrating to have the perfect content available, but no easy way to get it to students without an unholy amalgamation of links, text and pictures.   Enter the Embed Code. A handy way to get content on one page.

Most web content creators and hosts like YouTube provide embed codes that allow users to insert direct, interactive links to content into their site. For example:

The embed code allows you to bring multiple sources of content into one place. You can even embed a website into another website! They can look intimidating, but the process is much simpler than you might think. Follow the steps below to insert content into Schoology or other sites. 

How to Embed Content into another site

1. Find the content you want to insert

2. Many sites have either an embed button or a share button where you can find the code. If there is not one,this site has a way to do it through a process called the iframe. 

3. the code you embed will look something like this <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i9SSOWORzw4" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Wait! Don't be intimidated!

The great part is that you don't have to understand how HTML code works or even what is inside the code to embed it.

4. copy the code

5. Go to your Schoology page and access your assignment, page, or other place you want the content to appear and follow the steps in the picture below

Now your content should appear! Schoology and other sites also play nicely with Google products like Drive and YouTube. The insert content button on many pages allows you to import embed code directly without having to follow the steps above. 

6. If you are using a different site, the process is similar, you just need to find a way to switch to HTML view for a moment. Sites like Weebly, Blogger, and Word Press all have these options. 

A few tips:- You can play with the width/height numbers in the code to adjust the size of the content you embed. 

-The Publish button (under file) in Google Slides, Docs, and Sheets can provide an embed code so you can directly link content into a page too (again, Schoology has easier ways of doing this through the Google Drive App, but for other sites it can be a useful tool.).

-Many content creation sites like blogs, web design programs, and learning management systems have a button or menu choice to switch between HTML view and WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) view. HTML view is where you can paste in code.

As always, feel free to contact your ed-tech coach with any questions or to learn more!

Happy Embedding!

Spotlight on Pointview's Efforts to Reach Parents and Strengthen Communication

Creating a communication system that is accessible to families, supports a wide variety of content, is easy for staff members to use, and doesn’t cost any extra money is a dream for many school leaders seeking to build stronger school-home connections. Pointview Elementary principal Sherry Birchem is one such leader. Sherry is in tune with the needs of her families and her staff and has worked diligently to build a strong sense of community in her building, including spearheading the effort to streamline school-home communication. After many trials, Sherry has found the system that fits the bill: Schoology. Through making use of Schoology's easy sign-up process, closed system for sharing images and video, and ability to send emails and text messages to families when updates are posted, Sherry is set to create a robust communication system that meets the needs of Pointview’s staff and families.

Watch this video to learn about how Sherry is working to better connect the Pointview community, including what she has tried in the past, why she is excited about Schoology, and what lies ahead:

Interested in setting up a school-home communication system in your building through Schoology? Contact your Ed Tech Coach today!

Alexa, Siri, Google, whoever you are, set up voice control for my classroom.

The ever more ubiquitous Amazon Echo devices and other smart assistants like Google Home are great for home use. If you have one, you may have already realized some of the things it can do: play music, change the thermostat, read recipes, and a host of entertainment options. Most of these functions come from third part apps. There are thousands of existing skills or apps with more being added daily.  One of the most useful functions is that a smart speaker has an answer to most questions you can ask. If you ever wondered what imitation vanilla extract is (you don't want to know), Alexa or Google has the answer. While all of this is a nice gimmick and a fun addition to your home, smart home  devices have some useful applications for school as well.


1. Automating class procedures: Smart home devices can set timers, play music, keep calendars, and play reminders for transitions in classes allowing the teacher and students to focus on learning.  They also has a number of built in skills like rolling dice, picking random numbers, picking cards, calculator, thesaurus, and dictionary functions as well. Simply ask for what you need and you get it!

2. Specific questions: Smart home devices can also help students to find basic answers to questions they may have. If the teacher is busy working with a student and someone wonders how long the Great Wall of China is, they can ask and get an immediate answer all through using their voice.

3. Custom Skills: Amazon recently created a system for creating custom Apps called Skill Blueprints. You can choose from a variety of premade templates to create skills that can assist in the classroom. There are a large number of options, but some will be more useful in the classroom than others.

-Storyteller: Students and/or teachers can create custom made, interactive stories that follow a genre theme. Right now there are options for fairy tales, sci-fi, fables, and adventures.

-Custom Q&A: set up custom questions and answers for common questions in the classroom

-Babysitter: Avoiding the name, this skill allows you to set up instructions and steps to follow. This could be very useful for when a sub is in the room, or for setting up recurring sets of instructions for classroom procedures.

-Quiz/Flashcard programs: You can also create quiz and flashcard skills that are custom built for any subject area you might want. You can choose the questions, answers, and hints. There is a learn mode and a test mode for these skills as well.

-Others: To add a bit of fun depending on your classroom, there are customizable jokes, inspirations, insults, and games that can be used in the classroom as well.

But Wait! There's more!
Chromebooks have a built in voice assistant as well. It is turned off by default, but can be turned on. While there is not the level of customization available that Amazon has (for the moment) It can be used to control Google searches, timers, calculators, and other basic functions using your voice. If you would like to set it up, follow the instructions here

If you have a smart device at home, try out the  features and consider if it would be a good addition to your classroom. If you are interested in learning more, contact your Ed-Tech Coach! or check out the additional resources here:
ITSE on the use of digital assistants