Google Slide Update

Ever wish Google Slides had more options?  Well now, it does!  Take a look at the video link for a preview of all the newest options. 

Google Slides Update  - by Teacher's Tech 

Cisco WebEx | A New Virtual Classroom Tool

"This technology allows teachers to bridge the gap between school and community without the time, safety issues and expense of a field trip.  [It] allows us to increase the number of stakeholders in the education process which provides students with a much more diverse education.  Students can be face to face with someone in their desired field which can increase the buy in by students to their own education."

- Lisa Tomlin | Teacher NCWHS 

"I think this tech has incredible potential for educational use.  First it allows instructors to visit the class room without having to travel to school therefore increasing the number of hours available to teach.  Second, it allows recording so the seminar can be saved for rewatching or viewing by other classes.  [WebEx] also allows for multimedia presentation using videos, webpages, computer coding, graphical displays and any number of file formats.  The audio and video into the room allows for [the outside party to view] the classes."

- Dr. Andrew Bland | MD Nephrology 

These two quotes, the first from Lisa Tomlin (Science teacher at Normal West) and the second from Dr. Andrew Bland, MD Nephrology, demonstrate the vast potential found within our new Cisco WebEx system.  This system is made up of multiple parts.

U5 Chromebooks | Fall 2017

Chromebooks Fall of 2017

Unit 5 recently approved the integration of Chromebooks for 6th, 9th and 10th grade students for the fall of 2017.  These devices will be the first in the rotation to phase out the current Windows student machines.

Google Takeout | Getting Your Stuff Out of Google

What

(1) Download an archive of all of your Google data (files, emails, videos, etc...) and take it with you.  (2) Transfer your files and emails to another Google account.

Who

Anyone with a district Google account (Staff, students, etc...)

Why

Graduation | Leaving or coming into the district

Google Earth - Chromebook Version with Lit Trips......

Linked is a great Blog Post By Eric Curtis of Control Alt Achieve.  He highlights Lit Trips within the NEW Google Earth within the post and the video.  Before Google Earth had to be downloaded in order to use it, but now it has a web version which runs within the Chrome browser.  This is especially great since next year we will have Chromebooks within our district.   Enjoy!

Lit Trips on Chromebooks with the New Google Earth

NASA Comes to Normal

What do an Oceanographer, Business Manager, and Education Specialist have in common?  They all work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) at NASA and recently participated in a video conference session with a class of fifth graders at Sugar Creek Elementary!  The NASA professionals shared their experiences on the Mars rover program and fielded questions filled with excitement from eleven year olds for almost a full hour.  The experience was a demonstration of the immense educational potential when solid pedagogy and technology combine forces!

Google Keep Notes; Now in Google Docs!

Google Keep has always been a wonderful tool for keeping notes about anything that is important to you.  You can organize them quickly, add images, drawings, and even checklists.  But now Google has kicked up the productivity of Google Keep by allowing you to access your notes directly from within a Google Doc!  Another great feature is that you can now take notes from directly inside of your Docs and have them tagged automatically in such a way as they always appear front and center when you open that Doc again!

Check out the video below for a walkthrough of the process and some instructional ideas for using Google Keep together with Google Docs!  You can also read the full announcement from Google here.

Google Lit Trips and Tour Builder

Tour Builder is all about telling a story.  With this resource you can build a clickable, interactive story that guides students to different places around the world.  Watch how Bobby Lake, a high school history teacher, talk about the stories he creates for his students using Tour Builder.

make sure to read the whole post for more!

Custom Unit 5 Google Templates

Staff and students can now submit their own template designs to a special Unit 5 template gallery accessible in Docs, Sheets, and Slides!  This can be used to make a great tool (magazine template, tracking tool, etc...) easily accessible to users across the district!  As an initial example, you will find a 2017 Calendar template in the Google Sheets area to play with.

So how do you access and submit templates?  Well, it's very easy...