The Hour of Code is Coming During Computer Science Education Week: December 5-11!
In a world where technology is changing everything, the Hour of Code movement has introduced over 100 million students to computer science. Help Code.org reach every student with critical 21st century skills.
The Hour of Code activities webpage has just been refreshed with new content, an updated look, and a filter tool that will allow teachers to find the best activity for their classroom. Please visit Code.org to learn more!
Teacher Chromebooks are here! By now WCS teachers have started to receive their Chromebooks. If you have not received yours yet, it will be coming soon. Please begin using the Chromebooks by logging in with your long Westerville username and password. Below are a set of links to learn how to operate, care for and use your Chromebooks.
September 29th, 2016 Google introduced this new feature called Google Explore in Docs, Sheets and Slides to bring you insights, design tools and research recommendations so you can create better work, faster.
Explore uses Google smarts to help you create awesome presentations, spreadsheets and documents in a fraction of the time they used to take. Create your documents efficiently and effectively with Explore. Learn more here... Google's new updated blog.
If you have not noticed yet...Google Docs now supports Columns! Yes, you heard that right. We have waited and asked for this feature for years and Google has finally added it. Check it out by opening a Google Doc and choosing Format. You will have a choice of 1, 2, or 3 Columns.
Westerville City Schools is working with Clever allowing students to log into their District provided programs at home. Clever is a service that uses a student's Google account information as a portal to log into different technological tools that the district has provided to it's students. Clever provides student access at home to the following programs.
Please go to our Clever Update page for further explanations, directions and a printable handout with directions to send home to your parents.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Attention Westerville Educators! Would you like to present your expertise in Ed Tech at the state conference?
Ohio Educational Technology Conference: Call for Workshops, Sessions, & Displays
OETC is seeking innovative and fresh workshop, session, poster and display proposals for the 2017 conference. Presenting at OETC17 offers a unique opportunity for Ohio educators, technology experts and industry experts to gather and collaborate on ways to improve the quality and delivery of education to all Ohioans.
The deadline to submit an Education Session proposal is September 30! Workshop submissions end this Friday, September 9th!
Online PD opportunity!
Schoology is offering a series of Back to School Webinars for both the new user as well as the experienced user. These webinars take place August 2nd- August 18th. You can sign up to attend a session and will be sent the playback link if you miss it.
As part of the Learning and Teaching Roadmap, we have purchased both devices and digital content to support the district’s vision for educating students in a 21st Century Learning Environment. As the use of technology tools in our district has grown tremendously, so have the number of requests for repairs and assistance to the IT and the Ed Tech departments. In order to provide staff with a user friendly and timely experience in having their technology needs addressed,
The IT and Ed Tech departments are pleased to announce
the “Technology Solutions” help desk!
The cornerstone of this initiative is a new ticketing system that will allow us to quickly receive, respond and resolve your technology requests, such as:
Hardware (Computer, Laptop, Chromebook)
Software
Google Apps (GAFE)
Projectors
Network or Internet issues
Copiers/Printers
Phones/Voicemail
PowerSchool (including PowerTeacher and the Parent Portal)
Digital Content (Schoology, Lexia, Dreambox, Clever, TenMarks, A/R Star, etc).
Technology Integration Professional Development (Technology Integration Coaches)
So that we may efficiently and effectively address your technology issues,
it is extremely critical that ALL requests are submitted via our new ticketing system:
Hello Schoology Users! As we wrap up the school year, here are some important directions for how to finish out the year with Schoology.
Please know that your old courses never truly go away, but they do become archived at the end of the grading period. Reading about archived courses below, as well as how to save your course materials so that you can easily access them again next school year.
The EdTech team would like to invite staff to join an online book study on the book, Blended Learning in Grades 4-12, but Katlin R. Tucker. In this book study, educators will learn the process for integrating online learning with face-to-face instruction in a way that is aligned to the Common Core Standards. This class will address the issue of “how to blend?” using the online environment to increase engagement and drive higher-order thinking. It is appropriate for those who work with students in grades 4-12.
The book study will run for six weeks from June 1, to July 18, 2016 and will take place in Schoology. The book study may be taken for one Muskingum college credit or for 1.5 CEUs (15 contact hours). Muskingum credit will cost $130.00.
Hello Schoology Users! As we wrap up the school year, here are some important directions for how to finish out the year with Schoology.