Technology Update (Jan 24, 2021)

Staff Technical Support?

The IT Department and TTSD technicians want to provide both students/families with accurate and efficient technical support.  Please help communicate the following options to others (staff/students) for the best way to receive efficient, consistent and reliable support:

1. Tech Request 
2. Call x4051 (Family & School Help Desk Line)
1. Help Desk techs can answer quick questions (passwords, system status update, etc.)
2. If Help Desk cannot answer your question, they can try to connect you directly with your school technician or can enter a tech request for you.
3. If families call the main school office for technical support, please forward their calls to x4051.
1. MS/HS [only] can forward to school techs, if previously arranged.  
2. ES offices, please forward the calls to x4051 IT Help Desk and not your school media assistant.
4. Emails are not the most efficient way to receive technical support - as they are often lost amongst other emails and may not receive the necessary follow up.  Technicians will create a tech request if emailed. 

👏 ❤😀

** Thank you to all of our 2020-21 “adopted” Help Desk Specialists who have volunteered a few hours a week to help answer IT Help Desk calls. We could NOT provide this support without you! 

Quarter 3 Canvas Course Cards

Timeline for new Quarter 3 course cards (middle and high school teachers):

• Feb 1, 2021 - New Course cards for QT3 will load for TEACHERS
• Twality teachers will receive new QT3 cards on Feb 3, 2021 (additional time needed for scheduling)
• When preparing your Quarter 3 course cards, please reference the following Knowledgebase (KB) articles to help you copy content from other courses
• Canvas: Transition to a New Quarter
• Importing Individual FLVS Content from The Commons
• Combining Canvas Course Cards
• Feb 7, 2021 - New Quarter 3 courses are available to STUDENTS if you publish your class before Feb 8th.
• Feb 8, 2021 - 
• 1st day of Quarter 3
• (Teachers) Last day to post Quarter 2 grades for report card

CANVAS TRAINING - Beyond the Basics

January 13, 2021 provided a variety of professional development opportunities for teachers.  One of the resources made available by the high school instructional coaches and T&L Dept was a “Beyond the Basics” Canvas training by our vendor (Instructure).  The session was recorded and all the notes and guides made available during this training can all be found HERE:

👉👉🏾 CANVAS TRAINING - Beyond the Basics 👈🏼👈🏿

Technology Update (January 8, 2021)

Rich Content Editor (RCE) for Canvas:

• Beginning January 16th, the "new" Rich Content Editor (RCE) will be forced ON for all Canvas users.  Canvas has had a new editor out for a few months & has been available in TTSD's Canvas instance. Canvas has decided to turn off the existing interface editing tool.  If you would like to begin using this new "RCE" right away:
• Click on Settings in the navigation menu.
• Click on the Feature Options tab.
• Find "RCE Enhancements" in the list and click on the toggle. The toggle will turn green, indicating that the new editor is enabled in your course.
• See overview video: Rich Content Editor: New Rich Content Editor Enforcement...

Tech Night for Elementary and Middle School Families:

• "How iPads Make Learning Easier"
  
  
  Tuesday, January 19, 2021
  6:00-7:00 English
  7:00-8:00 Bilingual (English & Spanish)
  
  
  *Come learn with an expert trainer from Apple and one of our instructional coaches on how the settings on the iPad can make learning easier for your elementary and/or middle school student. 
  
  
  **Please join us with your student and their iPad
  
  
  You will learn how your iPad can:
  • Read to you
  • Type for you
  • Change English into another language for you 
  • Make the size of words bigger
  • Spell words for you
  • Create shortcuts to do things in less time
  
  
   

NEW NAME for PK-12 Teacher Resource Site: http://TeachHub.ttsdschools.org

• HERE you will find CDL instructional resources for teachers in all grades:
• PK-5 TeachHub
• 6-8 TeachHub
• Learning Currents

Technology Update (Week of November 30th)

THIS Weekend = Maintenance: We reserve the first weekend of each month to perform system and network maintenance to ensure the heath and security of our computer systems.

• Please anticipate possible interruptions in service on Sunday, December 8th (email, Synergy access, Google Drive login, etc.)
• Communication will be sent to families/students as well.

Monday, Dec 7th, we will be placing a new security feature when you login to the Employee Portal.  Beginning Monday, login to the Employee Portal will now require two-factor authentication for your security and you will be prompted for a code that will be emailed to you.

• Please review the KB article for step-by-step instruction.

  https://kb.ttsd.k12.or.us/articles/view/859

   

Status Update for Common Apps: Canvas, Meet/Google, Synergy, TTSD WebFilter: As we continue to maintain all systems related to Comprehensive Distance Learning, there are times when systems or services fail or are slow to respond.  

• Please visit the TTSD Knowlegdgebase website (http://kb.ttsd.k12.or.us) for status updates on these popular, widely used apps:
  
  
  
  
  

Technology Update (Sunday, November 22, 2020)

1. MORNING EMAIL SENT TO ALL STUDENTS, grades 5-12: Over this past weekend, all K-12 TTSD student Google account profile pictures were changed to student school photos.  During a time when teachers cannot physically meet in a classroom with you, it's more challenging for them to get to know all of their students. By making your student account profile picture your student photo, it makes it that much easier for teachers to connect with students -- and for them to recognize faces with names.
   
   
   
2. REPORT CARDS (QT1):
• ACCESSING REPORT CARDS IN PARENTVUE:
• Log into ParentVUE (http://pvue.ttsd.k12.or.us), click "Documents" and find your child's "Quarter 1 report card."  (Directions: http://familyhelp.ttsdschools.org/articles/view/855)
• PARENTVUE ACCOUNT HELP:
• Forgot your password?  CLICK HERE
• Or if you don't know if you have a ParentVUE account under the email you provided the school? Instructions: http://familyhelp.ttsdschools.org/articles/view/707
• Further assistance? Call your child's school office.
• Elementary Academic Feedback Forms:
• Teachers: ES Quarter 1 Academic Feedback Form Process
• Parents: Student Access to Quarter 1 Academic Feedback Form
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
3. Reopening 2020 - Digital Resources for Quarter 2

• Mastered the "Foundational Digital Resources for Comprehensive Distance Learning" (Google Meet, Canvas, curriculum?)  -- both you and your students?
• Take a look at the additional tools you may want to begin introducing to your students for: engagement, assessment, instant feedback, etc. Digital Resources to Support Reopening 2020
• And... DON'T FORGET about the amazing TTSD Teacher Resources for Digital Learning website. 

Technology Update (Sunday November 15, 2020)

1. IPad Battery Life - iPads are not capable of live streaming a video conference (like Google Meet) for 4 hours straight without being charged or plugged in during the day.... 
1. The IT department is getting increased calls from concerned parents regarding their iPads not staying charged all day while staying connected to Google Meet during classroom “breaks” or work time.
2. Battery hardware issues? = iPads that cannot hold a charge for an hour. Troubleshooting - look for the charging battery icon on the iPad, close unused Safari tabs/windows (we’ve seen some students with 100s of tabs open), try a different outlet or cable, try using the iPad while plugged in during class.  
3. When students are not actively participating in a live class, students should DISCONNECT from Google Meet.  Keeping Google Meet active for hours at a time requires a LOT of bandwidth and battery life, which may require iPads be plugged in. 
2. November 16th: Quarter 2 = NEW TERM!
1. Check out the KB articles to help you set up your new course cards (MS & HS teachers):
1. https://kb.ttsd.k12.or.us/articles/view/846
2. Elementary Teachers: Look for new grading period (Quarter 2) to help “Reduce the clutter” in your Canvas grade book, beginning November 19th!
3. Fine Tuning your Online Classroom:
1. Google Meet:
1. Breakout rooms = small group work and discussions to build opportunities for student=talk
2. Troubleshooting?  Update Chrome browser, close extra tabs and applications, minimize the number of “extra” applications you may have open/running (AirServer, Jabber, etc.)
1. TIP: try connecting to Google Meet off your iPad/Chromebook and share your screen using this 2nd device...
2. Canvas Features/Tips:
   
1. To Do list details
2. Notifications = where to easily find Teacher Comments
3. “New Analytics“:
1. Guide for teachers : View course grade and participation analytics, Send a message to all students based on specific course grade or participation criteria
2. Guide for Students: Student-specific overall grade, online participation, communication
   
   
   
3. Digital Resources that use Clever:
1. Looking for a direct link to digital tools that use Clever?  (RazKids, Adelante, iReady, Naviance, etc. ) Complete this form to have the resource added to your Canvas Course menu(s): Canvas Menu Link Request

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.