Troy Patterson

Document and Calendar Sharing

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Every once in a while, life provides opportunities to test our patience, our learning and our trouble shooting skills. We’ve discovered another of these opportunities.

Essentially, we had a database file go asunder. This file syncs with our Google Groups. We were able to locate the database and recreate it. The file sync was rerun. However, the groups ended up being recreated.

The end result of this is that the groups are now “new”. They have the same names. They have the same individuals in them. However, they now have new identifier numbers. These new identifier numbers are crucial.

Calendar Items and Documents that are shared will most likely need to be shared again.

The exceptions are calendars and documents that are public. These will remain public. We have put some additional procedures in place so that we can maintain the same identifiers should this ever happen again.

Until our next learning opportunity…

iOS Calendar Issue

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Please note that if you have updated to iOS 9, there is a calendar issue with Google Calendar. The issue involves items created on an iOS device. The new events will NOT sync to the Google Calendar. The fix is relatively simple. Follow the directions below.

On your iOS device, go to Settings:

1. Settings > Mail, Contact, Calendars > Scroll down to CALENDARS section
2. Under “Sync” change it to All Events

We are investigating if you can change the setting back to Sync “1 month” or not.

iLearn Experience

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One of our coaches is working with a group of Chemistry teachers. The coach was able to create a quick 4 question quiz in iLearn. The students then took the quiz on their phones. The teachers used the results of the quiz to divide the students into 3 groups. One group is working with the content teacher, one group is working with the co-teacher, and one group is working independently.

It is terrific to see the technology supporting excellent instruction.

This just in…

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Our class has become at least a half digital or technology based class. 

Thanks so much. The chrome books are amazing. Our 12th graders are enjoying the fact that our class is similar to college courses. 

This email was received today. It highlights the experience of students and teachers utilizing the technology in the classroom. We will be continuing to roll out Chrome books in classrooms.

Slimming Paint

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There is an issue with slimming paint. Wait. Why would you care about slimming paint? Or maybe, what is slimming paint? Technically, slimming paint is a project to re-implement the Blink<->cc picture recording API to work in terms of a global display list rather than a tree of cc::Layers (~aka GraphicsLayer in Blink terminology).

Clear? Now that we have that out of the way, what it means is that using Chrome 45 and iBlog and lead to some intermittent issues with the display of the Dashboard. Items in the Dashboard may move out of place. This can be frustrating.

We expect a Chrome update will fix this soon.

FREE PD

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Upcoming No Cost* Professional Development

All courses below will be eligible for 6 SCECH credits pending course completion.

*$10 SCECH Registration Fee

Sept. 1 – Sept. 20, 2015:  Refining Curriculum with Deeper Learning in Mind

Participants will learn and apply best practices in project, problem and inquiry-based learning toward the development of a lesson, unit and/or assessment that they will deliver within and beyond their classrooms.

Click Here to Register

Sept. 1 – Sept. 20, 2015:Advanced Application of Next Generation Assessments

Michigan educators with a strong existing background in technology integration and Next Generation assessments will participate in a ‘masters class’ through this six-hour virtual course. Participating educators will synthesize high-quality exemplars with their own portfolio of formative and summative assessments to create, implement and reflect on a Next Generation assessment that is grade-level and subject area appropriate.

 Click Here to Register

 Sept. 1 – Sept. 20, 2015:  Advanced Practices in Literacy Instruction & Technology

Participants will enhance their existing knowledge & instructional skill with emerging theory on literacy instruction & powerful technology applications toward the development of long-term literacy support structures for their students.

 Click Here to Register

Sept. 1 – Sept. 20, 2015:  Authentic Student Learning & Gamification

Participants will discover mind-bending applications for Game Theory in the classrooms through both the case study approach as well as the development of a lesson, unit or assessment that they may apply within and beyond their classrooms.

Click Here to Register

Sept. 1 – Sept. 20, 2015:  Introduction to Applying Google Apps for Education

This is an online program that participants will install, explore and apply up to fifteen new Google Apps and/or Chrome extensions that enable them to leverage the integration of Chromebooks in their classrooms.

Click Here to Register

Sept. 1 – Sept. 20, 2015:  Introduction to Next Generation Assessments

Educators will understand and facilitate Michigan’s vision for Next Generation assessments by learning and applying appropriate strategies, structures, and support practices through this six-hour virtual course. Participating educators will explore and apply aspects of technology integration, blended learning and data collection toward the creation of a classroom-ready assessment that is conducive to the K-12 environment.

 Click Here to Register

Sept. 1 – Sept. 20, 2015:  Professional Development through Social Media

In this online course participants will discover and explore a range of common and up-to-date social media platforms as well as establish channels that allow for powerful professional development and innovative leadership.

Click Here to Register

Click here for Virtual Professional Development FAQ’s

 

Moodle Moot Completed

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This past Wednesday and Thursday, the Dearborn Moodle Moot was in full swing. There was a terrific amount of learning going on. The teachers did some fantastic work. The training really provides a useful introduction to getting started with iLearn.

Kudos to all the teachers who worked hard, learned and grew during the conference.

Required Yearly Staff Training

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Each and every year, staff members need to complete training in three areas:

  • Response to Bullying Behavior
  • OCR
  • Bloodborne Pathogens

In order to facilitate flexibility, these courses are available for staff online. Every staff member should’ve received badges last year. These will be showing up as expired now.

Inbox — DPS-Mail (30 messages) 2015-08-06 10-21-49

 

The new courses are now available for the 2015-2016 school year. Once you sign into iLearn, you will see a link to the three required courses. Please follow the directions carefully for each course.

iLearn Moodle Courseware 2015-08-06 10-11-07

 

Once you have completed a course, you will automatically receive a badge (please note that it may take up to a half hour for the badge to appear). You need to acquire all three badges.

Chromebook signin

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Beginning this fall, users who are signing into Chromebooks will have the @dearbornschools.org part of the sign in pre-populated. This will make it quicker to login, easier for our younger students, and less likely for users to sign in to the wrong account.

Please note that this only applies to Chromebooks at this point.

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