Congratulations to Nancy V. Hmayed

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Nancy V. Hmayed is a Media Specialist here in Dearborn Public Schools. She does terrific work helping our students learn to read, learn to love reading, learn to research and so much more! Ms. Hmayed has just been appointed to represent librarians from schools on the Library of Michigan Board of Trustees. She will apply her specialized skill and knowledge to help students throughout the entire state (while still sharing that knowledge with our students).

Mission of The Library

The Michigan Legislature created The Library of Michigan to guarantee the people of this State and their government one perpetual institution to collect and preserve Michigan publications, conduct reference and research and support libraries statewide.

Please congratulate Ms. Hmayed on this valuable and influential role. She is a shining example of the great work and valuable role that our Media Specialists provide here in Dearborn.

Clever Log in issue

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We wanted to let you know that Clever logins into Chromebooks on Chrome OS 72 are not working properly in some cases. We apologize for any disruption this has caused.

We’re seeing login errors when students/teachers attempt to log into Chromebooks with Clever using their Google credentials. Users logging in with Badges, or logging in with Google credentials outside the Clever Chromebook login process are not impacted. We’ve been hard at work investigating that issue, including working with Google on a resolution.

In the meantime, we wanted to reach out with information on how you and your users can avoid running into that issue.

  • We recommend that you update to Chrome OS 72
  • Students logging into Chromebooks with Badges do not need to change their behavior
  • Students/teachers logging into Chromebooks with Google credentials should choose “Sign in with a different account” rather than “Next” on the first screen, then proceed to log in with their Google credentials

An article outlining the Clever recommended login flow is available here.

Thank you,

Katie Ginsburg

District Success

Google Document Sharing

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Google has updated Contacts. In Contacts, the “groups” that individuals create are now “labels”. Unfortunately, a side effect of this change is that you can NOT pick that “group” to share documents with. That group IS still available within Gmail.

I have a ticket open with Google (as do a few others) seeking resolution.

Change in Google Drive Search Bar

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Google has updated the Search bar in Google Drive. Now when you search, you will see four sections under the search box:

  1. Recent search terms
  2. People who have shared documents with you
  3. Document Types (and a short cut to recently edited documents)
  4. Advanced Search button

This new display makes these tools much more discoverable. (These have always been available via the “Ninja” button, but this change makes them easier to find and use). You can still use the Advanced Search box (via the “Ninja” button or Advanced Search link) to quickly find documents. This new presentation makes it a bit easier.

You can also use these together. For example, if you know that you are looking for a spreadsheet, you could click on the spreadsheet button in this panel. Then, in the Search box, you could type some words that are in the title or in the spreadsheet (you will see “type:spreadsheet” already in the search box, just add the words after that).

EduPaths

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EduPaths offers FREE professional development. Some have FREE SCECH’s, some are just informational.

Each summer, EduPaths works with content experts in different fields to develop courses for EduPaths. Most of our educators work directly with students and are glad to share their strategies with you.

The list below are approved courses and have been, or are waiting to be, published. The linked titles are published courses. The remaining list will be published through early Spring 2019. Use the live links below to get started!

The Arts

Arts still to be published in 2018-19 – tentative dates listed:

  • The MAEIA Arts Assessment Tools for Arts Educators – Part 4 (end of February 2019)
  • Authentic Assessment in the Arts – Part 1 (end of March 2019)
  • Authentic Assessment in the Arts – Part 2 (end of March 2019)
  • NEW EduPaths courses are published at the end of every month.

Language Courses (World Language & EL)

Language & EL still to be published in 2018-19 – tentative dates listed:

  • Effective Technology in the World Language Classroom – Part 1 (end of February 2019)
  • Effective Technology in the World Language Classroom – Part 2 (end of February 2019)
  • Technology in the World Language Classroom: Working Toward Proficiency – Part 1 (end of March 2019)
  • Technology in the World Language Classroom: Working Tow

Health & P.E.

Health & PE still to be published in 2018-19 – tentative dates listed:

  • Teaching Intersectionality in Health Education – Part 1 (end of February 2019)
  • Teaching Intersectionality in Health Education – Part 2 (end of February 2019)
  • The Physically Literate Elementary Classroom – Part 1 (end of February 2019)
  • The Physically Literate Elementary Classroom – Part 2 (end of February 2019)
  • Effective Lesson Structure in P.E. – Part 1 (end of March 2019)
  • Effective Lesson Structure in P.E. – Part 2 (end of March 2019)

New District Web Site

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Dearborn Public Schools web site is currently undergoing a refresh. It’s time to spruce things up, add a new coat of paint and reorganize things a bit.

Now we need your feedback. Please take a look at our new site while it is still under development. Next, provide feedback on your experience (there’s a big button on the front page).

Website Feedback Button

Quiz Default Review Options in iLearn

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Due to feedback from teachers, we have made some adjustments to the default settings on Quizzes in iLearn.

 

Checklist of default settings for iLearn Quizzes.

We know that timely feedback is one of the most powerful instructional strategies. Moodle allows for teachers to provide timely, specific feedback. Providing that feedback while students are working through quiz can assist students in learning. However, also have listened carefully to how teachers are currently using Quizzes and what they expect. It is through working with teachers that we have made the changes to the defaults. Please remember that these are the defaults. These can be changed and adjusted by the needs and use of the teacher. If your situation calls for providing instant feedback (i.e. if you are using a Quiz for students to review/practice), you can easily turn on the Specific feedback.

Teachers have the option to enter Specific feedback, General feedback and Overall feedback. These are great opportunities to communicate with students in an efficient manner.

Feedback Times:

iLearn allows for that feedback to happen at four different times for a quiz:

  1. During the attempt – is only available when ‘ How questions behave ’ has been set to ‘ Immediate feedback ’, ‘ Immediate feedback with CBM ’ or ‘ Interactive with multiple tries ’. If set to one of these options then a ‘ Check ’ button will appear below the answer and when clicked the student will submit that response and then receive immediate feedback.
  2. Immediately after the attempt – means within 2 minutes of the student clicking “submit all and finish”.
  3. Later, while the quiz is still open – means after 2 minutes, but before the close date (if the quiz does not have a close date, this phase never ends).
  4. After the quiz is closed – means what it says (you never get here for quizzes without a close date).

Feedback Type

Additionally, iLearn allows for the following information to be conveyed:

  • The attempt – Will show how the student responded to each question.
  • Whether correct – Displays whether the students response to each question is correct or incorrect*.
  • Points – The numerical points for each question and the overall attempt score.
  • Specific feedback – Will show the feedback for the response to the answer as set when adding the question to the quiz. Each response to a question can have feedback for both correct and incorrect answers. This is entered by the teacher in the appropriate section of each question. (*noted as one of the most powerful instructional strategies). 
  • General feedback – Displays the general feedback for the whole question as set when adding the question to the quiz. You can use the general feedback to give students some background to what knowledge the question was testing.
  • Right answer – Reveals the correct answer to each question, whether the student answered correctly or not
  • Overall feedback – Displays feedback for the entire quiz as set in the quiz settings

The new defaults will just show the student their answer while they are attempting the quiz. After they have attempted the quiz, it will students will see points and overall feedback, but nothing specific. After the Quiz is closed, students would receive feedback on why their answers are correct or not (if entered by the teacher).

Support

Please know that the Tech Coaches are available to assist you in utilizing iLearn for student achievement. You can reach out to them on their blog.

 

*Note: Currently, the Answers display is a bit inconsistent between different question types. For example, the matching question type shows students which of their responses are correct, but does not tell them the right answer for the ones they got wrong. The short answer and multiple choices question types do tell the student what the correct answer is.

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