Ed Tech Blog
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Dear plucky pedagogues, This week I am focusing on iPads. K-2 teachers have been using iPads for several months with their students. High School teachers will be using them shortly with their pivot robots. They operate on the Apples IOS and require some getting used to if you have been using Chromebooks. Think of the iPad as a large iPhone with the same benefits and limitations. For example: with the IOS app some features in Nearpod like teacher annotation do not work yet. Other applications like Zoom controls, such as allowing participants to share screens, are in different places (under security tab instead of video). Like Chromebooks (and your iPhone), devices should be powered down periodically to clean out the active memory. iPad Charge time: like the Chromebooks, it is critical that we routinize charging nightly, especially as students begin transporting them back and forth to school. While iPads use a standard lightning cable, genuine Apple cables and boxes work best. Also charge ports can get dirty and lightning cables will not “click” into place.We can maximize battery life by closing unused applications and changing screen settings; in settings you can enable “dark mode” which will reduce glare and conserve battery life. You can also pull down the menu from the top right corner and dim screen brightness to 50%. Neither of these will negatively impact your viewing except in very bright outside light, but will conserve the battery considerably. Reinstalling Apps: One troubleshooting technique is to use the “HPS self Service” app (looks like a four color square at the bottom of your screen). When you click this you will see all the apps on the device and a “reinstall” button below. Reinstalling an app, or all apps, can sometimes resolve issues. iPad as a laptop: You can configure your iPad just as a laptop by adding a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Unfortunately, these would be at your own expense (or “Donors Choose”), but relatively inexpensive. iPad questions and concerns: I need to know what folks' needs are with iPads to develop helpful coaching. Please shoot me an email with specific questions and concerns! Tech Tools of the Week: These tools are more for consideration as we move forward. It is hard to know the need for remote teaching resources next year and beyond. However, for the tech curious, these are tools that could be considerable upgrades to applications we currently use as our subscriptions expire : GoGuardian is a suite of applications for administration, teachers and counselors, currently used in the district by Veritas. Go Guardian could resolve some of the blocked video we currently run into, but more importantly it contains tools that allow teachers to more closely monitor and interact with remote learners, such as being able to see what screens they are viewing. Most importantly it uses A.I. to alert counselors to any potential self-harm ideation and could be a tool to help protect at-risk students. Bramble is a new video conferencing tool that uses gamification to make interacting online more natural. It allows students to go off and group themselves in separate breakouts, and to easily and naturally move between breakouts. It consists of avatars moving through a series of video game-like rooms each with a different purpose. Great for both social interactions and business/ teaching functions. Sign-up for a demo if you are interested in breaking out of the Zoom grid. Tech Resource of the Week: Mindfulness for Teachers is a free self-paced curriculum created by IBM for teachers AND students. You need to register, but can then complete and/or assign the course to your students. The platform, P-tech, has many learning opportunities in sustainability, money management and a host of technical IT skills. New hardware is arriving to help make the transition to Hybrid learning. Here are the video and written instructions from Carlos Quilis on how to set up your camera, speakers and monitor. If you need any help setting up, or learning how to use these tools, I’m here to help. Reach out through email or visit my Office Hours. Morning Office Hours: office hours from 7:30 to 9:00 AM M-Th. I will, of course, be available at other times by pre-arrangement and always by email. Take a deep breath and try to relax!
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AuthorRobert Frye is a retired 33 year veteran Of Holyoke Public Schools Archives
April 2021
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