Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Newsletter December 23, 2014

Last Newsletter of 2014

I wanted to quickly wish everyone a safe and Happy Holidays! From the web hits, this newsletter is getting a great deal of traffic. Feedback is always welcome, so please let me know what you are finding beneficial.

Google Updates

There have been a number of recent Google Updates. I wanted to share a few that I think will benefit.

1) Sending email attachments from Google Drive as true attachments: If you have ever had trouble with others being able to download or access attachments when you send them through Gmail, this recent update will make you very happy.


2) Docs, Sheets and Slides are coming to the app launcher: Currently, we have to go to Google Drive first before creating new Docs, Sheets and Slides. This update will allow you to access this feature directly from the launcher. Great news!


3) 7 Great Add ons (Check out the updates to Doctopus with amazing new features):


4) The new Google Sheets adds some fantastic new features for those who have wanted more from their spreadsheets.


5) Google Forms has add ons that make the survey tool even more useful:


Trouble Reporting

As we head into the new year, I want to remind everyone of the importance of proper trouble reporting. Both elementary buildings and the middle school have AV/Tech supplemental holders. If you are having issues in your room with something not working properly, internet access problems, or any other tech concerns, please make sure to report them to the AV/Tech. This will make sure that a trouble report is created. If you are at the high school, please use the email address HSTrouble.Reports@westg.org.

Some things to consider:

1) Please provide as much information as possible. I know it may seem like "it doesn't work" is enough but the more details that we have make it easier to recreate your issue so it can be fully resolved. 

Ex: If the problem occurred with a specific web site, give us that information. If there were any errors on screen, please share those. Was the machine working fine outside of this issue? Was this the first time this happened?

2) If there are multiple machines in the room, please identify which machines had the the issue. Sometimes problems are machine specific. 

3) Did you do anything to try and troubleshoot? Ex: Did you reboot the machine? Did you try another browser? Did you exit and relaunch the program?

4) Have you reported this before? If so, when and to who?

5) Best times to reach you.

Our goal is always to get you up and running so that you can use the tools you need for instruction. The more information you give us, the faster we can accomplish that goal.

How to schedule a time to meet?

The easiest way to contact me is through email at sean.whelan@westg.org. Please let me know what you'd like to meet about, your room number, free periods, and any other info that might be helpful to me in order to prepare for our meeting. I'd love to meet with you to see if I can help facilitate any issue you might be having.