Weekend Technology Maintenance - Potential Interruptions

Parents, Students & Staff,

As a Technology Department, we reserve the first Sunday of each month to perform maintenance on our network/system maintenance to avoid multiple interruptions throughout the month. We always try to keep interruptions to a minimum. 

This Sunday, November 1st is our regularly scheduled technology maintenance "down-day."  

 

Please plan accordingly for potential interruptions to the following over this weekend:

• ALL STUDENTS: Login through Google to resources . This could include access to: Email, Google Docs, Canvas, StudentVUE. 

• HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: Additionally, this may impact login to student Chromebooks.  We recommend not performing any Chrome OS updates over the weekend.

• K-8 STUDENTS: Student iPad access to Self Service (to download Apps) - beginning Saturday

 

Please look for additional information this next week from your schools on updating your devices and apps to keep them up to date for best success!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Padres, estudiantes y Personal,

 

Como departamento de tecnología, reservamos el primer domingo de cada mes para realizar el mantenimiento de nuestra red / sistema para evitar múltiples interrupciones durante el mes. Siempre tratamos de mantener las interrupciones al mínimo. 

Este domingo 1 de noviembre es nuestro "día de inactividad" de mantenimiento de tecnología programado regularmente.  

 

Por favor planifique debidamente por posibles interrupciones de lo siguiente durante este fin de semana:

• TODOS LOS ESTUDIANTES: inicie sesión a través de Google para acceder a los recursos. Esto podría incluir acceso a: correo electrónico, Google Docs, Canvas, StudentVUE. 

• ESTUDIANTES DE LA ESCUELA PREPARATORIA: Además, esto puede afectar el inicio de sesión en los Chromebooks de los estudiantes. Recomendamos no realizar ninguna actualización de Chrome OS durante el fin de semana.

• ESTUDIANTES K-8: Acceso de iPad para estudiantes a Autoservicio (para descargar aplicaciones) - a partir del sábado. ¡

 

Por favor busque información adicional de sus escuelas la próxima semana sobre cómo actualizar sus dispositivos y aplicaciones para mantenerlos actualizados para mejor éxito!

Update from Technology (Week of October 26th) - Down Day Sunday is THIS weekend!

November Network "down day" This Weekend

• Sunday, November 1st "Down Day"
• Please communicate to your families during conferences:
  
• No App download from Self Service - Sat & Sunday
• Sunday afternoon - reinstall most used iPad Apps Canvas Student, Google Meet, etc. 
• Email and text communication will also be sent to our families Friday to explain how some services may not be available (like iPads' Self Service) over the weekend.

Parent Tips for Canvas

• Canvas Parent App: 
• Quick access to:
• Class grade
• Missing/Late Assignments & Alerts
• Web Browser Canvas Access (even on a mobile device): https://ttsd.instructure.com
  
• Missing/Late Assignments
• To Do List (Up Next) for all students/children
• Comments from teachers >> Found under Grade Menu

G Suite Enterprise for Education 

• At the end of September Google ended their "Free" access to G Suite Enterprise for Education.  We renewed our licensed with Google Enterprise to gain advanced features of Meet, including:
• Larger meetings (up to 250 participants)
• Live streaming for up to 100,000 in-domain viewers
• Record meetings
• Attendance reports
• Breakout rooms
• Q&A
• Polls
• If you do not have these tools, please place a tech request and we will work with you and your TTSD account. 

HP Printer Issues

• Some crazy new printer errors are popping up on Macs who are trying to print to HP printers.
• If you see the following message, please submit a tech request for a quick fix.

Google Meet Released Breakout rooms, Polls and Q&A (for browsers)

Creating "Breakout Rooms" & "Polling" with Google Meet:

• The "long awaited" polls and breakout room function is now (slowly...) coming to TTSD staff, beginning today.  This new feature will roll out slowly across our district.  To see if you have it, within a Google Meet session, look in the upper right corner by Chat and your icon and you may see this new tool (see screen shot).  It appears TTSD students have use of these tools when using Google Meet through a browser, like Chrome or Safari.
  
  
  
• As we begin our testing of this new feature, we will continue to update this KB article with tips and tricks.  At this point in time, we know using Google Meet on an iPAD using SAFARI browser allows for the use of these new tools for students as well.  We will continue to test and research regarding the Google Meet app to see if these features will roll to the app as well.  

Highlights - Canvas Assignments, Screen Recording, Teaching Online

• "Most Successful" Approach for Canvas Assignments (for K-2, 3-5, 6-8. 9-12)
• Creating "Breakout Rooms" & "Polling" with Google Meet
• 9 Ways Online Teaching Should be Different from Face-to-Face

Technology Update, Monday October 5, 2020 (Middle School Students & Staff)

 

Hello Middle School Parents and Middle School Staff:

This weekend we performed our monthly network maintenance.  We also completed a transition back to our original internet filtering process  for all middle school students.  This morning (Monday, 10/5/2020), between the work performed over the weekend and this additional change that needed to be pushed out to our 6th graders' iPads, we had an issue with students using Google Meets during their Morning Meeting.  I apologize for the disruption and lack of communication to our 6th grade families over the weekend notifying them of this change. 

To ensure your child's ipad is working properly, please:

1. Log into the "TTSD Web Filter" (before 11pm or after 6am [due to curfew restrictions back in place]) 
   
2. Open the "Self Service" app  
   
3. "Reinstall" Google Meet  

And, as always, please remember to continually check for iOS updates and run any that appear (Settings >> General >> Software Update).  The newest version for TTSD iPads is iPadOS 13.5.1.

Thank you.

Susan Barnard

IT Director

Tigard-Tualatin School District

Google Meet Grid View, Updated = REMOVE Meet Grid View Extension

Google Meet now has the capacity to host a grid as large as 7x7 (49 "tiles") in the Chrome browser on Macs, Windows & Chromebooks.  To access this new feature...

• Click the three dots in the lower right corner while participating in a Meet
• Choose "Change Layout"
• Select "Tiled" 
• Use the slider bar at the bottom to select the # of tiles to display.

See below to uninstall... 

Uninstall an extension

1. Open Chrome.
2. Select More   More tools  Extensions.
3. Next to the extension you want to remove, select Remove.
4. To confirm, select Remove.

Tip: To remove an extension that's a button on the browser toolbar, right-click the button and select Remove from Chrome.

Update, Friday September 25th

 Top Technology Tips for Staff:

• Google Meet: What You Need to Know! - best practices and options for securely hosting Google Meets to minimize unintended guests. 
• Q: How can attendees enter your Google Meet session?
• A: Using Google Meet with Canvas 
• By link with a "knock" to be let in
• By invitation << most secure
• Q: How do you remove someone from your Meet session?
• A: "Remove" G. Meet attendee
• Q: How can students join by phone?
• A: During the Meet, click Add People and enter the student's phone number to call the student/family into the Meet. 

• Keep it Simple
• As we end our 2nd full week of Online School 2020, focus on the basics: community, connection, routine and getting to know the BASE tools: Meet, Canvas, Google Docs.
• Review the Digital Resources to Support Reopening 2020 list of "intro" apps to build a strong foundation for students/families to get use to their student devices and a TON of new tools.
• In Canvas, keep your assignments simple.  Use one submission type multiple times (JUST use the media submission or JUST use the textbox, etc.). Students need to experience success on submitting their assignments so they can focus on the lesson and not the tool for submission.

Keep up the Great Work!  Some amazing stats this week:

• 1200+ Google Meet sessions hosted THIS WEEK alone
• 11,250 unique users connected to Google Meets THIS WEEK alone (more than TWICE the maximum attendees this past spring)
• Elementary school Canvas activity (since Sept 14, 2020)
• Assignments = 78,358
• Discussion Topics = 1,697

Update from Technology (Week of Sept 21st)

Welcome to the SECOND week of TTSD online school! Here are some updates from last week and tips for this upcoming one:

• K-8 filter capacity issues should be remedied (ie no class-wide dropped G. Meets)
• STAFF can connect directly with Canvas through Chat, phone or email (see Help button from within Canvas)
• STUDENTS & families can call the Technology Help Desk 503-431-4051 for a live response M-F 8am-4pm (voicemail after hours will be returned the next day)
• Technology can support the following apps as we reopen Fall 2020 (limited support for first 4-6 weeks): "Digital Resources to Support Reopening 2020"
• Remind setup instructions for teachers now available. 
• Student and Family Friendly iPad How-To Videos 2020-2021