As you may know, we are working on updating DEC. We are referring to the new DEC as DEC 2.0. Currently, it is very much in beta. We need your feedback to make it as polished as possible for teachers. I’ve done a video to give you an overview of DEC 2.0.
In the spirit of Holiday gift giving, we are working on a gift for all teachers. However, that gift isn’t quite ready. Still, we are pretty excited about this gift, so we want to make a preview available for those who are interested. This is a gift that we hope all will love and appreciate. Students. Teachers. Staff. Administrators. Everyone. We are currently targeting February for the delivery of the gift, but, again, this being a gift giving season, (combined with our excitement over distributing this gift), we have decided to open up a “sneak peak” at this wonderful gift.
So, here goes. A wonderful gift for all. See, iLearn is an absolutely wonderful resource. However, some consider it a bit “clunky looking”. So we will be updating iLearn with a new, more modern user experience. (I told you it was wonderful). We want you to be able to play around and get acclimated with the new interface. Thus, we’ve set up a “sandbox” iLearn course for you to play with. Please note that students will NOT be able to sign in or use the course.
Note that this site is still being developed. However, it will give you a great feel for what iLearn will look like.
Gone are tons of Blocks on the right hand side.
Gone is the navigation block.
Gone is a look and feel that is dated.
Welcome
To an updated look and feel
To a navigation drawer
To a gear based editing system
To Tours to help guide users
Teachers can open a preview of a great present starting immediately. Simply head over to the iLearn Sandbox and log in using your district user name and password (soon to be passphrase).
Well, I’m surprised by this one. Google Docs has seen a recent update that brings columns as an option. Now, you can format your Google Docs with up to three columns. Simply pick “Columns” from the Format menu item.
*Note, select text to mix multiple and single columns.
Many of our students love to read. However, they may not be able to get to the library. Dearborn has brought Open eBooks into the district via a federal grant.
At this point, students need to use a mobile device to access the Open eBooks. Here are the directions.
That’s right the Holiday season brings an uptick in Malware, SPAM and Phishing attempts. (Phishing attempts are emails that try to “trick” you into clicking on a link and/or stealing your credentials). The following information should help you stay safe both at work and at home. These guidelines are applicable to general email usage.
Here are a couple that we’ve seen:
Phishing Attempt
So many things wrong with the one above. First of all, I don’t know the individual who sent the email (it is a real person, their account has probably been compromised). Secondly, the email is actually an image, not plan text. If I hover my mouse over the email, the URL that it points to is not Google Drive but “snipli.com” (snipli.com is a URL shortener – which may be fine OR can be used by hackers to obviscate the real destination). Thirdly, I’m Bcc’d. Fourth, there is very little real information in the email “Please review it and get back to me if interested.” without an explanation of what it is or why I’ve received it is a red flag.
Anytime that you have an attachment that is a .zip file, do NOT click on it. Next, notice that there is no specific information about what I’m “paying” for. This type of message should be marked as SPAM immediately.
Another popular phishing attempt comes from “Amazon”. It may even have the Amazon logo. If you see one like this never click the link. Instead, go to https://amazon.com and sign in there. By the way, clicking on that link would take you to the page below:
Looks pretty legitimate doesn’t it (except for the words Phishing being added). This page would have everything that a thief needs to use your credit card. Again, DO NOT CLICK on the link. Open a browser, enter https://amazon.com in the URL bar and then sign into your account.
The bad guys are trying to do one of the following:
Trying to get you to install malware
Trying to steal your credentials
Security is extremely important. Stay safe “out there”.
Many people are using AutoCrat to share information or create mail merges automatically. This is a fantastically efficient way to share information. Please be aware that Google has just made a change that may effect these forms. If you automatically collect user names, Google is changing the name of this field from <<username>> to <<Email Address>>.
It appears that Google has recently made a change to the field that automatically collects email addresses, changing it from <<username>> to <<Email Address>>. As Autocrat basically creates merge messages, it’s still looking for <<username>> and will generate an error in the send status column (e.g. Error: Invalid email: undefined).
To fix this you’ll need to go through all of your spreadsheets and edit your templates. Unfortunately, it appears the changes are rolling out arbitrarily (I have a mix of spreadsheets that have been updated).
School districts in Wayne County have placed a proposal on the November 8th ballot to provide added funding for our schools. It is the “Regional Enhancement Millage Proposal.”
If approved by the entire county, the 2 mil proposal will generate approximately $6.2 million from Dearborn but the District will receive $7.8 million in additional funding for our schools. Money would go to local schools starting this year and the millage expires after six years.
School districts in Wayne County have placed a proposal on the November 8th ballot to provide added funding for our schools. It is the “Regional Enhancement Millage Proposal.”
If approved by the entire county, the 2 mil proposal will generate approximately $6.2 million from Dearborn but the District will receive $7.8 million in additional funding for our schools. Money would go to local schools starting this year and the millage expires after six years.
Open eBooks is a mobile app that provides thousands of popular and award-winning books free for students in Title I schools. These eBooks can be read without checkouts or holds. Students enrolled in Title I schools can download Open eBooks and access books for free from their mobile device.
Follow these four easy steps to get Open eBooks on any mobile device – including tablets, iPads, and on smartphones of all types.
Step 1: On an iPhone or Android phone, open the app store and type in “open ebooks”
Step 2: Click GET then click INSTALL to download the app.
Step 3: Open the app and click Log in with Clever.
Step 4: Search for the student’s school to log in with their username and password.
iOS Link
What platforms are the Open eBooks app available on?
The app is currently available on iOS and Android. Subsequent versions will be optimized to support as many open platforms as possible. There will be a web-optimized version coming in 2016. Open eBooks uses the EPUB3 standard but will expand to include PDFs in early 2016.
Will the app be available on Chromebooks or Windows devices?
At this time, the Open eBooks app is only available for the iOs and Android platforms.
Does “unlimited access” mean the books will be free of Digital Rights Management?
In-need youth can borrow up to 10 books at a time and replace each book with a new book as many times as they’d like. The contributed eBooks will include Adobe Digital Rights Management software, which means that the book will be visible only to the student who is accessing it and cannot be shared.
How is users’ privacy protected and respected?
No personally identifiable information is captured about the children using the Open eBooks application. First Book captures educator information through its registration process, but protects this information under its privacy policy. For more information, see the Open eBooks privacy policy.
Are individual readers’ activity tracked?
No, individual readers’ activity are not tracked. Reading will be tracked anonymously and in the aggregate. A student’s privacy is paramount and the partners will work tirelessly to ensure that student privacy is maintained at all times.
ACCESSIBILITY
Does it work for people who are print-disabled?
Yes. Built with Readium’s rendering engine, the Open eBooks App takes advantage of the accessibility features that are native to the EPUB3 format in which the books are rendered. Open eBooks is compatible with Apple and Android’s Text to Speech (TTS). In the future we plan to improve the implementation of Readium to make this even more robust.
We’re working on improving the experience and accessibility in future updates and versions of the app and its content. Again, making this content accessible is a top priority and we are working with all our industry partners to make progress in this area.
We also encourage families, teachers and librarians of readers with print disabilities to try applications like BARD, BookShare, and Learning Ally. These great resources can help students build an even bigger collection of eBooks.
How does it work for readers with Dyslexia?
Open eBooks supports Open Dyslexic Font for those with Dyslexia.
To enable:
Open your eBook
Click the [Aa] button in the top right corner
Click the Open Dyslexic Font located in the top row on the far right
