Google Classroom Sync - Update

Background

On November 12th, CTA (our Synergy host) had to disable the feature that lets teachers sync assignments & scores between their Synergy grade books and Google classroom classes. This was due to a communication protocol change that Google made without any advance notice. Google's change prevented all teachers from logging in to TeacherVUE.

Resolution

Edupoint released an update to accommodate the change. This patch will be installed the evening of Friday, December 20th. If you use the classroom sync feature, please read our recommendations for re-establishing the sync process without creating any duplicate assignments.

Recommendations 

(Dec 8th) RESCHEDULED = IT Maintenance "Down Day"

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend falling on the 1st weekend of the new month, we have rescheduled our regularly scheduled technology maintenance "down-day" to be this Sunday, December 8th.  We reserve the first Sunday of each month for network/system maintenance to avoid interruptions throughout the month.

We always try to keep interruptions to a minimum. Please plan accordingly for potential interruptions to TTSD Wifi, Infinite Visions, email, Google, Synergy and other TTSD systems on Sunday.  

...Susan Barnard & IT Team

TeacherVUE Access Restored

Access Has Been Restored

Issue: Users were briefly unable to access TeacherVUE on Monday and early Tuesday morning due to an issue at the ESD.

Resolution: As of 7:45AM, Tuesday morning access has been restored for all users.  However, at this point, Google Classroom integration has been turned off to help with troubleshooting the source of this problem.

TeacherVue Error Message

There is a specific problem accessing TeacherVue in Synergy - beginning earlier today.  We have a ticket into CTA (our ESD where Synergy is hosted) in hopes they can fix this ASAP.  We will update this post when the problem has been resolved.

WEEK 4: Protect IT!" - Cybersecurity Awareness Month

TTSD staff:

Did you know?  Every October is dedicated to improving our understanding and awareness of how to protect ourselves and our data online.

For TTSD's Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we will be sharing the following information and activities with you:

October Events:

• Week 1: "Own IT." 
• Week 2: "Secure IT" & 2019 Digital Citizenship Week 
• Week 3:  Online Cybersecurity Awareness Lesson for all TTSD staff  << COMPLETE THIS WEEK
• Week 4: "Protect IT."  << THIS WEEK

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WEEK 4: "Secure It"

IDENTITY THEFT AND INTERNET SCAMS - 1 page, quick read on how to #BeCyberSmart on the Internet

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Remember to "Think Before your Click!"

WEEK 3: Online Cyber Security Awareness Training for all TTSD staff

TTSD staff:

Did you know?  Every October is dedicated to improving our understanding and awareness of how to protect ourselves and our data online.
(And... Oct 14th-18th is Digital Citizenship week!!)

For TTSD's Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we will be sharing the following information and activities with you:

October Events:

• Week 1: "Own IT." 
• Week 2: "Secure IT" & 2019 Digital Citizenship Week
• Week 3:  Online Cyber Security Awareness Training for all TTSD staff  << THIS WEEK
• Week 4: "Protect IT."

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WEEK 3: Online Cybersecurity Awareness Training due Oct 31st 

Look for an invite in your email from
"TTSD-Online Learning (Canvas) <notifications@instructure.com>"

Or Register HERE

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Remember to "Think Before your Click!"

WEEK 2: "Secure It" : Cybersecurity Awareness Month

TTSD staff:

Did you know?  Every October is dedicated to improving our understanding and awareness of how to protect ourselves and our data online.
(And... Oct 14th-18th is Digital Citizenship week!!)

For TTSD's Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we will be sharing the following information and activities with you:

October Events:

• Week 1: "Own IT." 
• Week 2: "Secure IT" & 2019 Digital Citizenship Week << THIS WEEK
• Week 3:  Online Cybersecurity Awareness Lesson for all TTSD staff
• Week 4: "Protect IT."

*************************

WEEK 2: "Secure It"

Secure at Work - 1 page, quick read on how to protect yourself at work.

*************************

Remember to "Think Before your Click!"

Please do not update to MacOS 10.15 (Catalina) and iOS 13...YET

We will NOT upgrade to macOS Catalina (macOS 10.15) or iOS 13 (iPadOS 13) at the moment.

JAMF was updated yesterday to the latest version which will allow us to manage the iOS 13 and macOS Catalina. 

macOS Catalina - users will be able to download the installer through System Preferences > Software Update BUT the users will not be able to install macOS Catalina due to a running background process.

Updating current macOS Mojave (10.14.x to 10.14.6) - Click More info...

iOS 13 - delay for 90 days from the release date. The users won't be able to install iOS 13 until the Holiday Break through Settings > General > Software Update

Restore existing iPads with iOS 12.4.1 

• You can still reset and update iPad that is still working to iOS 12.4.1 
• You can NOT restore to iOS 12.x.x using Apple Configurator 2 or iTunes because Apple unsign all iOS versions except iOS 13.1 and 13.1.2

October is National CyberSecurity Awareness Month!

Did you know?  Every October is dedicated to improving our understanding and awareness of how to protect ourselves and our data online.

We will be sharing some helpful resources through TTSD email that can be found HERE, if you want a preview or to find additional resources: 

Week 1: "Own IT."
Week 2: "Secure IT." [& 2019 Digital Citizenship Week for our schools]
Week 3:  Online Lesson for all TTSD staff: Cybersecurity Awareness
Week 4: "Protect IT."

Remember to "Think Before your Click!"

(Oct 6th) 1st Sunday of the Month = IT Maintenance "Down Day"

Sunday, October 6th is our regularly scheduled technology maintenance "down-day"

This Sunday, October 6th is our regularly scheduled technology maintenance "down-day."  We reserve the first Sunday of each month for network/system maintenance to avoid interruptions throughout the month.

We always try to keep interruptions to a minimum. Please plan accordingly for potential interruptions to TTSD Wifi, email, Google, Synergy and other TTSD systems on Sunday.  

...Susan Barnard & IT Team

Apple event at 10am today...

Apple will have a big event at 10 AM. We expect their App Store (iOS and MacOS) will get busied which will delay app download on our iPads.

Student iPads NOTICE - Self Service message

Hello teachers in grades K-8,

Please ask your students to open their "Self-Service" app on their iPads to see if they receive the following message:

"Self Service is a component of Jamf Pro, developed by Jamf.  This app must be associated with a Jamf Pro Server. "

If any of your students receive this message, please help them "reset" their iPad before we get too far into the school year. 

On only these iPads that receive this message, please follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings >> General >> Reset >> "Erase All Content and Settings"
2. Once the iPad restarts, please follow these directions to help the student sign into the iPad again: https://kb.ttsd.k12.or.us/articles/view/386

If you run into any problems, please submit a tech request with the number (and names) of students in your classroom that are having this issue.

Thank you.  We apologize for this inconvenience.

Sunday, August 4th is our regularly scheduled technology maintenance "down-day"

This Sunday, August 4th is our regularly scheduled technology maintenance "down-day."  We reserve the first Sunday of each month for network/system maintenance to avoid interruptions throughout the month.

We always try to keep interruptions to a minimum. Please plan accordingly for potential interruptions to TTSD Wifi, email, Google, Synergy and other TTSD systems on Sunday.  

...Susan Barnard & IT Team

Coming this August - Locked mode in Quizzes in Google Forms!

Google Forms Updates & Improvements
Locked mode in Quizzes in Google Forms will be available starting in August. In addition to Locked mode, Google Forms will now enable you to import questions from other Forms into new ones in order to save time.

From the article..."Educators can enable locked mode in Quizzes in Google Forms on managed Chromebooks. This mode prevents students from navigating away from their assessments until they submit their answers, which helps them focus during quizzes and encourages academic integrity. Thousands of educators used locked mode in beta, and this August locked mode will be available to all G Suite for Education users on managed Chromebooks..."

Jabber Users - New Certificates Issued

If you use Cisco Jabber software on your TTSD device to manage your phone extension, we had to issue new security certificates (3) today. 

You will see the following prompt (or one similar) when opening Jabber.  Please click "Always Trust" (3 times...one for each certificate) at the verify certificate window:

Sunday, June 2nd TTSD's Network Down Day

This Sunday, June 2nd is our regularly scheduled technology maintenance "down-day."  We reserve the first Sunday of each month for network/system maintenance to avoid interruptions throughout the month.

We always try to keep interruptions to a minimum. Please plan accordingly for potential interruptions to TTSD Wifi, email, Google, Synergy and other TTSD systems on Sunday.  

...Susan Barnard & IT Team

May 5th - Monthly Maintenance Day

This Sunday, May 5th is our regularly scheduled technology maintenance "down-day."  We reserve the first Sunday of each month for network/system maintenance to avoid interruptions throughout the month.

We always try to keep interruptions to a minimum. Please plan accordingly for potential interruptions to TTSD Wifi, email, Google, Synergy and other TTSD systems on Sunday.  

...Susan Barnard & IT Team

Sunday, April 7th TTSD's Network Down Day

This Sunday, April 7th is our regularly scheduled technology maintenance "down-day."  We reserve the first Sunday of each month for network/system maintenance to avoid interruptions throughout the month.

We always try to keep interruptions to a minimum. Please plan accordingly for potential interruptions to TTSD Wifi, email, Google, Synergy and other TTSD systems on Sunday.  

...Susan Barnard & IT Team

Monday of Spring Break (3/25/19): Infinite Visions and Employee Portal will be down for maintenance.

Just a notice that on Monday, March 25th (during Spring Break), the Infinite Visions and Employee Portal will be down for maintenance.  We will be posting a replacement "Quick Links" website while it's down so that those of you who are using the Employee Portal to access links such as email, Synergy, Google docs, etc. can still find these resources at http://portal.ttsd.k12.or.us

Maintenance should be complete by Tuesday, March 26th, and we'll be back to "normal" (with access to iVisions and IV for our bookkeepers).

SBAC Microphone Issue on Mac Mojave Computers

Apple implemented new security "feature" in Mojave that impacts the microphone use with SBAC/OAKS Secure Browser testing on macOS Mojave computers. The user must purposely enable access to the microphone or camera:

Is there a technical solution to fix this?

No. Apple wants users to purposely enable access to the microphone or camera.

What device and operating system does this effect?

This issue affects ANY mac computers that run macOS Mojave

How do we fix it?

Crowdsourcing. I volunteer to help but teachers and students can grant the necessary access with guidance. 

How?

Go to System Preferences --> Security & Privacy --> Privacy --> Microphone. 

Check the OaksSecureBrowser option, if it is AVAILABLE.

I do NOT see the OaksSecureBrowser option, what to do next?

The option only becomes available after the microphone access is being triggered once. 

Launch the OaksSecureBrowser app --> Go to the Sample Test Site --> Run Diagnostics -->  Recording and Playback Check --> Click the Speaker icon to do the speaker check --> Click the Recording icon to do microphone check --> Click OK to grant permission when OaksSecureBrowser asks to access the microphone. 

I'm putting together a KB article. Please look through and distribute to teachers.

NOTE: 

• This issue only affects Mac computers that run on Mojave. 
• The microphone access option should get enabled by default if the users click OK when being prompt

Newest Scam - impersonating the Superintendent ("Business Integrity Program")

Please be aware that TTSD has NOT implemented a "Business Integrity Program"

If you receive an email from Supt Sue Rieke-Smith with the following subject and that refers to a new " Business Integrity Program" please DELETE it immediately.

[ATTENTION REQUIRED] Revised and Updated Handbook From Superintendent

As a reminder NEVER provide your user name and password on sites you do not recognize.  Always check with the sender, if it seems questionable.

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Snippets from email scam:

~~~~~

G Suite (GMail, Google Docs, etc.) experienced disruption this AM - RESOLVED

At 4:00am this morning...

Status: Service disruption
We're aware of a problem with Gmail affecting a significant subset of users. The affected users are unable to access Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Classroom, Chat and various other services.
Users are getting 404s when signing-in

And then at 5:30am this morning...

Status: Service disruption Gmail service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users within the next 1 hours. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change. The affected users are unable to access Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets, Classroom, Slides, Chat and various other services.

EMAIL SCAM: "Are you available?"

All staff:

Please be aware there continue to be email scams targeting our staff.  There are many warning signs to look for in identifying an email scam, including:   

1. Sender's email address that is close to our district email (or just use the name of the individual they are impersonating), but not correct. Please look carefully at the sender's email address. Check with the individual (via phone or face to face, if in question).
2. The grammar in the emails is often not proper English or commonly used phrases.
3. NEVER send money or offer to pay for something for someone, when initiated through email like the one below.

Please pass this information along to your coworkers.

EXAMPLE OF LATEST SCAM TO AVOID - DELETE THIS EMAIL IF YOU RECEIVE IT:

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: avanvleet@ttsd.k12.or.us <avanfleet.ttsd.k12.or.us@gmail.com> 

Date: Thu, Jan 17, 2019 at 5:20 PM   

Subject: Re: Are you Available ?

are you available?

i will need you to help me get a eBay gift card activated at the store of $100 each in 5 pieces total of $500 I’ll be reimbursing you after the meeting i only need the pictures of the cards with receipt 🧾 you scratch it after the meeting....