Vol. 1, Issue 3 May 14, 2013
Tech News Tuesday weekly eNewsletter IN THIS ISSUE
Cool Tool of the Week – YouTube Shortcuts Student Tech Mentors Online Resource of the Week – Starfall.com Security Now – Secrets to Keep: How to change your Password iPad Tip of the Week – Guided Access Mobile App of the Week – Google Keep Video Link of the Week – Blended Learning Energizes High School Math Students Trending Topic – Blended Learning
TECH NEWS TUESDAY
| Vol. 1, Issue 3 – MAY 14, 2013
Tech News Tuesday
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Table of Contents
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Page 2 WEEKLY ENEWSLETTER PROVIDING INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY STAFF RESOURCES
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Cool Tool of the Week Page 4
What better way to show YouTube video shortcuts then to watch a YouTube video about it
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Visit the Tech News Tuesday feedback page Current and Past Editions Modesto City Schools | Office of Instructional Technology www.mcs4kids.com/mcsit
TECH NEWS TUESDAY
| Vol. 1, Issue 3 – MAY 14, 2013
2 ISTE NETS-S
ISTE NETS S for Students
Student Tech Mentors of the Week by Lindsay Bryan
Grace Davis High School, Drama Department
Angelo Narducci, a freshman here at Davis, has helped TREMENDOUSLY this year! He has learned how to master the lightboard in the theatre (including our brand new intelligent lights that even the light tech from Sacramento Theatrical Lighting had issues working with!). Angelo took the manual home over a weekend and absorbed it to the point that he was suddenly an expert on all things light related. When we purchased a new airbrush system, I just gave it to Angelo and told him to figure it out and then teach me because he is so good at figuring things out. When we performed at the Gallo Center, it was an obvious choice that Angelo should operate the follow spot. The Gallo technicians LOVED working with
Online Resource of the Week
(weekly words of weekly wisdom)
MAKE
Edmodo is a socia learning platform for teachers, students, and parents. It has the look of Facebook but with educational applications. On Edmodo, teachers are at the center of a powerful network that connects them to students, administrators, and parents. In Edmodo’s secure environment, teachers and students can collaborate, share content, and use educational apps to augment inclassroom learning. These powerful capabilities enable teachers to personalize learning for every student. Edmodo is free.
SOLVE
USE
FIND
Modesto City Schools has a districtwide deployment of Edmodo. TO LEARN MORE VISIT:
Angelo because he doesn’t need a lot of instructions—technology is intuitive to him. I am so glad I get to keep him for another three years!
www.starfall.com Starfall.com is a free public service to teach children to read with phonics. The systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice, is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL). Starfall is an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children. Additional Common Core aligned activities can be accessed on a subscription based service at: http://more.starfall.com
Modesto City Schools | Office of Instructional Technology www.mcs4kids.com/mcsit
TECH NEWS TUESDAY
| Vol. 1, Issue 3 – MAY 14, 2013
Security Now
secrets to keep: how to change your password How to create a secure password: At least 6 to 8 characters long Use upper case (A) and lower case (a) letter combinations Use numbers… 1, 2, 3, 4 Use symbols $ * ! # Try to recreate a word you can remember in a creative way such as “password” could be “pA$$wØRd*”
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HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MCS WORKSTATION PASSWORD All MCS users have to change login passwords twice a year. We recommend changing it before you leave on Summer Break and again at Thanksgiving. You MUST change your MCS password from a district computer, you cannot change it from home. 1. Log onto your MCS Workstation Computer as usual and let the computer start up. 2. Press the following three keys together on the keyboard:
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3. With the left mouse button click once on:
4. With the left mouse button click once in the text box for Old password and type your current password you use to log onto your MCS Workstation Computer. Then click with your mouse in the New password text box and type in your new password. You will have to type the new password one more time in the Confirm password text box. Then click the round blue arrow button.
5. You will then get a message that your password has been changed. Click the OK button and you are finished!
Resource web links:
> How to Create Secure Passwords video > Strong Password Generator
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> More about Phishing Scams in Plain English video
NEVER GIVE YOUR MCS USERNAME OR PASSOWRD TO ANYONE! YOU WILL NEVER BE ASKED FOR YOUR MCS PASSWORD FROM THE HELP DESK OR IT DEPARTMENT IN PERSON, ON THE PHONE, OR IN AN EMAIL. IF SOMEONE REQUESTS YOUR PASSWORD IT IS A SCAM.
Modesto City Schools | Office of Instructional Technology www.mcs4kids.com/mcsit
TECH NEWS TUESDAY
| Vol. 1, Issue 3 – MAY 14, 2013
iPad Tip of the Week
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Guided Access What is Guided Access?
How to Use Guided Access Use Guided Access: Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Guided Access, where you can: • Turn Guided Access on or off • Set a passcode that controls the use of Guided Access and prevents someone from leaving an active session • Set whether iPad can go to sleep during a session Start a Guided Access session: Open the app you want to run, then triple-click the Home button. Adjust settings for the session, then click Start. • Disable app controls and areas of the app screen: Circle any part of the screen you want to disable. You can use the handles to adjust the area. • Ignore all screen touches: Turn off Touch. • Keep iPad from switching from portrait to landscape or from responding to any other motions: Turn off Motion. End a Guided Access session: Triple-click the Home button and enter the Guided Access passcode
Guided Access helps someone using iPad to stay focused on a particular task. Guided Access limits iPad to a single app, and lets you control which app features are available. Use Guided Access to: • Temporarily restrict iPad to a particular app • Disable areas of the screen that aren’t relevant to a task, or areas where an accidental gesture might cause a distraction • Disable the iPad hardware buttons
Free iPad Basics online tutorial and videos
Mobile App of the Week
Google Keep
http://goo.gl/SpjvU Quickly capture what’s on your mind and recall it easily wherever you are. Google Keep is a mobile app for Android, a Web App on Chrome, and can be accessed from your Google Drive Account. Learn more about Keep in this video link. Chrome Web App link. Modesto City Schools | Office of Instructional Technology www.mcs4kids.com/mcsit
TECH NEWS TUESDAY
| Vol. 1, Issue 3 – MAY 14, 2013
Video Link of the Week
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Blended Learning Energizes High School Math Students
About This Video Educator Peter McIntosh helps his students to take ownership of their learning by using interactive subjectmastery tools like Khan Academy. Links: Unity High School Khan Academy Blended Learning Program McIntosh Khan Effects on Homework Scores Chart Freshman Algebra Test Results at Oakland Unity
Trending Topic of the week
video from
Blended Learning Blended learning is not about replacing teachers with technology, but rather empowering them with new opportunities. Resources: > Knewton’s Blended Learning: A Disruptive Innovation > Smart Infographic: Blended Learning & The Teaching Profession from Digital Learning Now! > Blended Learning Implementation Guide from Digital Learning Now!
Modesto City Schools | Office of Instructional Technology www.mcs4kids.com/mcsit