NEOTIE Conference and Magazine!

Based on the overwhelming positive feedback received about the first NEOTIE conference, we are hosting the next one Saturday, October 3rd at Beachwood High School. 

With over 30+ sessions packed with real classroom experience, delivered by expert practitioners that openly share what works, and what doesn't, NEOTIE promises to be worth your time. The conference includes Ignite Sessions, lunch, and snacks in-between sessions, and a t-shirt - all for $15!

For more information, and to sign up, visit http://neotie.org/

Single or Team registration is available. 1 hour of Graduate Credit through Lake Erie College or contact hours are available. Sign your teachers and administrators up today!

In addition, we have created our own online NEOTIE Magazine. It is our first issue, Back to School. Please share this with everyone using your favorite social media!

We hope to see everyone at Beachwood High School on October 3rd! Please email us if you have any questions!

Technology Newsletter September 11, 2015 : Welcome Back and Reminders.

Welcome Back!

I wanted to welcome all of you back! I hope you had an amazing summer. Many things happened with regards to technology that will impact you greatly over the next couple of years, thanks to the support of the Board. This will include a new computer for each teacher divided over the next two school years, improvements to our phone system, Windows XP lab replacements, and improvements to out behind the scenes connectivity and wifi improvements next summer. It will be a very exciting year.

New District Web Site Support and Google Sites

The new web site is up and running. I want to thank the building webmasters and the staff in general who have been gradually learning how to update through the new engine for their efforts. I know some webmasters have held initial after school sessions. Others will be contacting you with opportunities. I will be supporting their efforts when needed.

For those who are unable to attend after school, I try to provide access to video content and walkthroughs. I attached 4 videos here. The first one directs you to how to use their help system and training materials. The other 3 are a quick training that I made for the staff yesterday. I reworked some of what I did previously to try and simplify things. Feedback is always welcome, as my goal is to provide this content to help you.

Eschoolview Help Section Overview

Eschoolview Create and Update a Page Part 1

Eschoolview Create and Update a Page Part 2

Eschoolview Create and Update a Page Part 3

I downloaded some of the Eschoolview manuals and included additional video content in a shared Google Folder below.

Eschoolview Helpful Hints Folder

A number of staff members have asked if they can use a Google Site. The answer is yes. It could be used as your main page but also can be used as a supporting page to your site content. If you have created one, please forward the link to your building webmaster and it will be posted to your site. I am able to assist them if they are not comfortable with that process. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please send them my way. Please remember to also include your building webmaster in the discussion. I am happy to help. The goal is to make this as easy as possible for you.

Flipboard and Twitter as a Resources

I wanted to shout out Twitter again but also introduce everyone to Flipboard. Flipboard allows you to turn the Internet into your own personal online magazine. It is a particularly useful way to have articles on education topics organized for you. When you initially set up an account you can choose topics of interest such as teaching, education technology, literacy, schools and more. It pulls any new article postings each day related to those topics. It is a great way to keep up on the resources educators are posting without complicated searches.

Flipboard
https://flipboard.com/

Flipboard also has an app available on all phones and devices from Apple, Android and Windows. It is free and highly recommended.

I regularly Tweet and Retweet interesting resources at https://twitter.com/SeanWhelanTech . Many of those articles come from Flipboard.

Kristen Gregory and Jay Bishop held some wonderful PD sessions on how to use Social Media to benefit your educational goals while keeping yourself safe. I wanted to reference this again because they were really fantastic.

The presentation links are here.

In the case of Twitter, I made a walkthrough on how to change privacy and security settings based on who you want or don't want to have access to you. 

Twitter Settings Guide

Reporting Web Site Content

One question that comes up from time to time is how to handle web content that is inappropriate. Yes, we have filtering software but one thing to keep in mind is that this software isn't always perfect. It blocks certain terms and website content but it can't always distinguish in every situation. This leads to certain inappropriate sites getting through and certain educational sites being blocked.

I am the teacher. What can I do?

For High School: Please email HSTrouble.Reports@westg.org

For Elementary and Middle School: Please contact your AV/Tech Supplemental Holder. They will put is a Trouble Ticket that will make us aware of the issue. 

Information that we need from you:

The URL of the web site:

Do you need it blocked or unblocked?

Why?

The more we know about the situation, the faster we can help you.

Trouble Reporting Tips

One of our goals in 2015 is to improve the error reporting process so we get to your needs faster. This requires a little help from you. Please make sure you report issues early. If something is a reoccurring issue, please let us know so we can help. Don't let it get to the point of frustration. 

For High School: Please email HSTrouble.Reports@westg.org

For Elementary and Middle School: Please contact your AV/Tech Supplemental Holder. They will put is a Trouble Ticket that will make us aware of the issue. This is important because it allows us to organize and keep track of progress.

Information that we need from you:

Date: 

Time:

Room Number:

What is the problem you are having:

Were there any error messages? 

What were they?

Does this happen all the time or in specific situations?

The more you tell us, the faster we will pin down the actual problem and be able to resolve you issue. 

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. Also, if there is something I share that you would like to implement in your classroom or with your team, please let me know. I would be thrilled to help.

Technology Newsletter May 2015

Thank You For a Great School Year!

As we head into summer, I wanted to thank you for an amazing year. This was a new position for me this year and I had the opportunity to work with and support many of you. Thank you for your willingness to try new things in your classrooms. I know there were many changes this year due to changing standards and state testing. I feel our district really did an amazing job of working as a team to make this the best possible experience. This was new for all of us. We will use what we learned to continue to improve the process and make this easier on you and our students. 

Please feel free to contact me any time if I can help you over the summer with anything you are preparing for next year.

New District Web Site and How It Affects You

http://esv729.eschoolview.com/

Our district is moving to Eschoolview as our web site provider. Our current website will remain active until the end of the school year. This week, you should have received information on how to log into the new site. Please let me know if you did not receive this. Our goal was to move any Frontpage or Dreamweaver sites to the new hosting. In the future, you will update these through the new web site. 

There are some really important things that you need to check now.

1) Is your site present on your building's page? If you go to more than one building, make sure you are present at all buildings.

2) If you had any hidden web site folders in SchoolPointe (our current site), we need to save that information and upload it to the new site. This will only affect a very small group of teachers. Please let me know if this affects you and I will be happy to meet with you and help you fix this. 

3) Websites were converted during the early part of May. If you made any posts this month, they are likely not moved over. All of your previous content should be there. Please make sure to add anything from May that you want to keep to the new site. Let me know if you need help.

NOTE: If you currently have a Google Site or other outside teacher site, your link should be present on the new page. If anything is missing, please let me know ASAP.

I also shared a folder on how to update your web page. This is meant to help you get started. I plan to add content to the folder as staff need dictates.

Eschoolview Helpful Hints Folder

If you have any questions or concerns, please send them my way. I am happy to help. The goal is to make this as easy as possible for you.

Twitter as a Resource

Even if you aren't comfortable with the idea of posting to Twitter yourself, Twitter is an amazing resource for teachers looking for helpful content and valuable resources. There are many educators who post links to articles, web resources and tools that can help you meet your classroom goals. You can search for and follow educators based on topics of interest. I highly encourage you to consider this. For the summer, this is a wonderful way to keep up on new trends while maximizing your time.

I regularly Tweet and Retweet interesting resources at https://twitter.com/SeanWhelanTech . 

Kristen Gregory and Jay Bishop held some wonderful PD sessions on how to use Social Media to benefit your educational goals while keeping yourself safe. 

The presentation links are here.

They are well worth checking out, as they can make navigating the vast amount of resources available to educators much easier.

In the case of Twitter, I made a walkthrough on how to change privacy and security settings based on who you want or don't want to have access to you. 

Twitter Settings Guide

Reporting Web Site Content

One question that comes up from time to time is how to handle web content that is inappropriate. Yes, we have filtering software but one thing to keep in mind is that this software isn't always perfect. It blocks certain terms and website content but it can't always distinguish in every situation. This leads to certain inappropriate sites getting through and certain educational sites being blocked.

I am the teacher. What can I do?

For High School: Please email HSTrouble.Reports@westg.org

For Elementary and Middle School: Please contact your AV/Tech Supplemental Holder. They will put is a Trouble Ticket that will make us aware of the issue. 

Information that we need from you:

The URL of the web site:

Do you need it blocked or unblocked?

Why?

The more we know about the situation, the faster we can help you.

Trouble Reporting Tips

One of our goals in 2015 is to improve the error reporting process so we get to your needs faster. This requires a little help from you. Please make sure you report issues early. If something is a reoccurring issue, please let us know so we can help. Don't let it get to the point of frustration. 

For High School: Please email HSTrouble.Reports@westg.org

For Elementary and Middle School: Please contact your AV/Tech Supplemental Holder. They will put is a Trouble Ticket that will make us aware of the issue. This is important because it allows us to organize and keep track of progress.

Information that we need from you:

Date: 

Time:

Room Number:

What is the problem you are having:

Were there any error messages? 

What were they?

Does this happen all the time or in specific situations?

The more you tell us, the faster we will pin down the actual problem and be able to resolve you issue. 

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. Also, if there is something I share that you would like to implement in your classroom or with your team, please let me know. I would be thrilled to help.

Technology Newsletter April 2015

Happy April!

I really like using this blog as a way to introduce resources that could be beneficial to instruction in your room. These are meant to be an intro and overview. Please feel free to set up a meeting where we could go over any of these together.

Kahoot!

I shared this at one of the afterschool PD sessions but it is worth mentioning for teachers looking for a free and fun student response system.

The teacher site is:

https://create.kahoot.it/

This is where you would create your free account and set up your first interactive discussion, quiz, or survey.

Kahoot! is game based. Students earn points based on their answers but also the speed of their response. There is a leaderboard of the top 5 students that is displayed during the activity. You also see the number of responses to each answer so you can use this as a way to correct any misunderstandings.

The students would log in at:

https://kahoot.it/

They use the code provided. Students do not see the questions on their screen. You display them on your projector or television in front of the room. The student device acts as a response system.

I created a short video walking through their sample Kahoot!

TACKK!

https://tackk.com/education  

(Make sure to include the "education" on the end of the url.)

Tackk is a new web tool on the scene that allows you to create collaborative web content. It's free for teachers and students and has a wonderful education community with ideas on how to use it in instruction.

https://tackk.com/@education/tackks is their education specific blog that has a wealth of instructional ideas for how to use this in the classroom. 

https://tackk.com/tackk-edu-advocates is a direct link to educators using Tackk where you can see examples of ideas that might inspire your own classroom use. 

Tackk is very easy to use and it is free!

Tackk Video1

Tackk Video2

Tackk Video3

Tackk Education Resources

Reflector 2

http://www.airsquirrels.com/

Reflector is an interesting piece of software. It allows you to use your computer like an Apple TV or a Chromecast to display content from portable devices. They just updated to Reflector 2 and it has a free trial. It's only $14.99. I highly recommend you try out the free trial to see if it meets the needs of your classroom. The new version is much more stable and does allow you to record what the device is displaying on screen. I currently use it on my computer when I make videos for staff on what content looks like on an iPad or Chromebook. 

Trouble Reporting Tips

One of our goals in 2015 is to improve the error reporting process so we get to your needs faster. This requires a little help from you. Please make sure you report issues early. If something is a reoccuring issue, please let us know so we can help. Don't let it get to the point of frustration. 

For High School: Please email HSTrouble.Reports@westg.org

For Elementary and Middle School: Please contact your AV/Tech Supplemental Holder. They will put is a Trouble Ticket that will make us aware of the issue. This is important because it allows us to organize and keep track of progress.

Information that we need from you:

Date: 

Time:

Room Number:

What is the problem you are having:

Were there any error messages? 

What were they?

Does this happen all the time or in specific situations?

The more you tell us, the faster we will pin down the actual problem and be able to resolve you issue. 

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. Also, if there is something I share that you would like to implement in your classroom or with your team, please let me know. I would be thrilled to help.

Technology Newsletter March 16, 2015

NEOTIE February 2015

Thank you to the staff that attended the free NEOTIE Educational Technology Conference at Beachwood. I know the weather was crazy but the sessions were fantastic. I know I sent this in a previous email to staff but wanted to mention again that resources from every session are available at http://neotie.org/ . There is literally something for every classroom. There will be another event coming in the future. I will announce it to the staff as we get closer.

15 Awesome Websites

NEOTIE was filled with awesome sessions. 

One of my favorites was: 

15 Awesome Web Sites : You can use in your classroom immediately.

I am a big fan of sessions that allow teacher's access to free technology resources because we are all facing tight budgets.

One of my favorites was Movenote. Movenote is a sight that allows you to take documents and turn them into a video presentation. This is a great way to introduce or review lesson material with your students. You can choose to put yourself into the video or just the audio. It's a great way to insure that your presentation of the material travels with the student.

Another is EDpuzzle. Edpuzzle is a terrific tool for taking video content from Youtube, TeacherTube, Vimeo or even your own content and turning them into an interactive tool. You can add quizzes, audio and even edit the video to match your classroom needs.

InstaGrok.com is a site that provides searchable concept maps on a wide variety of topics. You can can customize and share them. It has a free version you can use immediately.

These are just 3 of the 15 resources contained in the presentation above. I encourage you to click on it and find something new and exciting for your classroom. Please let me know if I can help you with any of these.

PARCC and TIDE Testing

Our staff should be very proud of the amazing job done during the first year of online testing. There have been a few glitches along the way but in almost all cases, they were the equivalent of a trip to the pencil sharpener to fix a broken pencil. This only happens due to teamwork. Every department and staff member had a role in preparation and implementation. Thank you for the extra time and leadership that each of you put into making this a great experience for our students. I had the chance to see how this was working at all 4 buildings. Thank you for the quick reporting of issues and the time you spent preparing for testing. We were able to stay very close to all schedules due to your support.

Our students also should be commended because they were incredibly flexible and handled this new process and any issues with behavior that says alot about how we teach our kids. This is brand new to everybody. We have a great deal to be proud of. 

Trouble Reporting Tips

One of our goals in 2015 is to improve the error reporting process so we get to your needs faster. This requires a little help from you. Please make sure you report issues early. If something is a reoccuring issue, please let us know so we can help. Don't let it get to the point of frustration. 

For High School: Please email HSTrouble.Reports@westg.org

For Elementary and Middle School: Please contact your AV/Tech Supplemental Holder. They will put is a Trouble Ticket that will make us aware of the issue. This is important because it allows us to organize and keep track of progress.

Information that we need from you:

Date: 

Time:

Room Number:

What is the problem you are having:

Were there any error messages? 

What were they?

Does this happen all the time or in specific situations?

The more you tell us, the faster we will pin down the actual problem and be able to resolve you issue. 

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.

Technology Newsletter January 15, 2015

Welcome to 2015

As the first newsletter of the year, I want to welcome you back but also use this as a way to share some new tools and helpful tips for the remainder of the school year. Please review the section on Trouble Reporting. We need your help to improve the process while meeting your needs.

The Answer Pad for Formative and Summative

I am always on the lookout for new tools to share. This one came from January's Ideastream meeting. The Answer Pad (http://theanswerpad.com/) offers a way to use existing paper quizzes with a digital tool for answer completion and grading. There is a free version and a paid version. I am always a fan of sites that allow a usable free component to allow teachers to really explore and benefit. The site has plenty of information if you want to try it out. Please contact me, if I can help with any implementation.

Animoto

https://animoto.com/education/classroom

This was another tool from Ideastream. Teachers can sign up for a free Plus account that allows unlimited videos and presentations. This is a great tool for creating and using digital content in the classroom. There are some short videos at the bottom of the page that show how teachers are using this with their own classrooms.

Powtoon

https://www.powtoon.com/edu-home/

This was mentioned at Ideastream. I shared it at one of last year's PD sessions. There is a free education version. I do encourage you to look for education versions of tools that you encounter on the web. The education version usually provides premium features to educators and no extra cost.

Powtoon is another fun presentation tool that allows you to create animated videos and presentations. The nice part about tools like this and Animoto is that they are fast, easy to use and save time. Often it is hard to create content like this due to the amount of time involved. I do encourage you to share creations that you make for students with others who teach the same content. You can divide the work and save time.

Ideastream Education Resources for the Classroom

I would recommend bookmarking this site for free resources. 

http://www.ideastream.org/education/educators#ed-classroom 

Ideastream Instructional Resources for Educators is updated regularly with new content. If you are looking for streaming video content, check out PBS Learning Media and Ideastream. They have full programs and clips from a wide range of educational topics.

There is a direct link to Infohio. If you haven't taken a look, it is loaded with resources for teachers K-12. There are various search functions on the site. There are many interactive and digital opportunities.

The remaining content links range from content for really young students to high school. 

Trouble Reporting Tips

One of our goals in 2015 is to improve the error reporting process so we get to your needs faster. This requires a little help from you. Please make sure you report issues early. If something is a reoccuring issue, please let us know so we can help. Don't let it get to the point of frustration. 

For High School: Please email HSTrouble.Reports@westg.org

For Elementary: Please contact your AV/Tech Supplemental Holder. They will put is a Trouble Ticket that will make us aware of the issue. This is important because it allows us to organize and keep track of progress.

Information that we need from you:

Date: 

Time:

Room Number:

What is the problem you are having:

Were there any error messages? 

What were they?

Does this happen all the time or in specific situations?

The more you tell us, the faster we will pin down the actual problem and be able to resolve you issue. 

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.

http://www.thegooru.com/share-google-drive-files-attachments-gmail/

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!

http://www.thegooru.com/docs-sheets-slides-coming-apps-launcher/

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

http://www.thegooru.com/7-of-the-best-new-add-ons-for-google-docs-and-sheets/

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

http://www.thegooru.com/guide-to-the-new-google-sheets/

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

http://www.thegooru.com/add-custom-features-to-google-forms-with-add-ons/

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.