Transition: Microsoft To Google

2009 was the first year that Google and all of it's products was piloted in our district.  Since then, collaboration, creativity, and sharing has occurred thousands of times among Pulaski Community School District employees.

Starting in March 2016, All Microsoft products will be unavailable for teacher use.  

Specific questions have been asked with our Director of Informational Technology answering them:

Per email from Mr. Fraedrich on Friday, January 15:

Q.  Why March 25th and what is happening on that date?  What do I need to do before March 25th?  

     A.  Our goal is to have Microsoft Office removed from staff computers that aren't keeping it by the start of next school year (September 1st, 2016).  The reason we picked March 25th is that it is the first day of Spring Break and it gives us a chance to get a start on the removal process.  We will be starting the process on March 25th, however it doesn't mean that during spring break it will be removed from all computers.  With some staff teaching Summer School and staff taking their laptops home frequently it gives the Technology Department plenty of time to complete the process by September 1st.  We will have a better idea of the timing of the removal and will communicate that schedule as we get closer to March.  Before Spring Break we ask that you start looking through files on your U: Drive to determine what you want to convert and what you want to leave in Microsoft Office format on your U: Drive or upload to Google Drive for storage.  We ask that you try to do this before March 25th so that you can be sure you have access to Microsoft Office to help in that process.

Q.  Can I use my classroom or department budget to purchase Microsoft Office?

     A.  The transition from Microsoft Office is primarily a budgetary decision, but it is also to encourage collaboration with staff and students, utilize free unlimited Google Drive cloud storage, and take advantage of the access from anywhere that Google Apps for Education provides.  For these reasons and in fairness to all staff in the district we are discouraging the individual or department purchase of Microsoft Office licensing.

Q.   Are the files in my U: Drive going away if I don't convert them?

     A.  Nothing is happening to any files in anyone's U: Drive.  Microsoft Office files that aren't converted and/or uploaded will remain, you will just no longer have Microsoft Office installed on your computer to open and edit them.  All other files (videos, pictures, PDFs, Etc.) will remain in your U: Drive.  We encourage you to use this opportunity to do some file cleanup to help identify what files you want to convert and upload, what files you can delete, and what files you might want to upload without converting to store in Google Drive.     

Q.  Can I request to be on the list to keep Microsoft Office installed on my computer?

     A.  We are currently conducting meetings with departments or content areas to determine Microsoft Office needs and working with staff to determine alternatives or making decisions on retaining the software.  See question below for more information.  

Q.  Who do I contact to get help with Google Apps or for help finding alternative programs to accomplish tasks I performed in Microsoft Office?

     A.  Your building LMS can assist with helping you accomplish what you need in Google Apps or find an alternative.  They will try to help you with your question and if need be reach out to the Technology Department for assistance.  We are also conducting Google Apps basic training sessions with building staff over the next couple weeks.  Elementary training sessions will be during the January 22nd inservice.  High School and Middle School staff training opportunities will take place in the next couple weeks as well.  There will be time for questions during the training.  There will also be Apple Core training classes focused on utilizing Google Apps for Education to its fullest potential.

On Tuesday, January 19, at 7:10 AM, Mods 7-10, and 3:10 PM, Adam Juelich and I will show a few steps that will make the transition efficient.  The entire presentation is below.  We will be answering questions and giving further details about the presentation.

Choose Objects To Be Creative

Listicle Series: Why I Arrive At 5:13 AM

Converting Microsoft To Google - Tech Coaching

I spent some time with Jessica Moseng, physical education and health teacher, discussing the workflow to convert Microsoft to Google.  I get it, not every Word Document or Powerpoint will convert perfectly.  However, Mrs. Moseng discovered that it was an easy process.

5:13 AM Tech Integrator - Why I Arrive At School Early

Last night, I learned a valuable lesson from Mark Cuban on "Beyond the Tank". First and foremost, Mark is very smart.  If I EVER had the chance to pitch a product on "Shark Tank" and Mark Cuban offered me a deal, it would take a Google Search (less than 0.23431 seconds) for me to accept his offer.

I would love to work with him.

Mark was helping the creator of "Simple Sugars" and talked about listicles.

Please watch the direct conversation. (Not viewable on iPad)

I immediately thought about how I could help people to understand the life of a Technology Integrator.  I also thought about how many parents ONLY know educators through grades their  son/daughter earns in respectable classes and what their students verbally bring home after a long day at school.  As a parent of teenagers, I know that many important pieces of information can get "lost in translation".

Listicles can give an insight into the items that make people real.  Real people are viewed as people. Real people make relationships and relationships are the key to everything.  Building a relationship with people can break down barriers that can cause differences. Putting all people respectfully on the same page. 

With that, my first listicle.

My reason for coming to school early!

Market Place Project Digital Skills To Master in Explain Everything

The Market Place Project in Spanish II has always been an enjoyable experience.  This year, we are continuing the project, but the students will utilize Explain Everything to demonstrate proper dialogue while bartering for a product.

This will be our third time using Explain Everything.  Mini projects one and two were introduced through tutorials.  We are increasing the levels of digital skills each time we innovate with Explain Everything.  Our hope is to continue to build on the creativity and other modern day skills with the students.  We are already seeing students not "concerning themselves with learning the tech" as Explain Everything is just "our tool".  The process of learning the content is becoming the focus.

The Spanish teachers and I discussed the Unit 3 Market Project and collaborated on how it would look.  Some areas of emphasis for me as a technology integration specialist include Creativity and Global Communication.

The Exceeding Expectations is highlighted because we are going to encourage students whose final products are pleasing to them to post them on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook with #RaiderStrong 

Our Day 3 which is when the Explain Everything App is utilized looks like this:

As a help tool, I demonstrated the three skills that students will need to master 

• Background
• Characters
• Layering
• Animation

Using Explain Everything.



UPDATE:
We played the video above and walked students through each of the three skills that were to be mastered.  Students, all 168 of them, have completed the assessment.  We are SO impressed!
Please view the conversations from "The Marketplace" that students created.

Explain Everything for Spanish 2 Directives (Morning Routine)

Students continue to learn the features of Explain Everything while practicing the Spanish language.

Explain Everything in Spanish II Class

In Spanish II, students created a postcard in Spanish that pertained to a place that they visited.  With Explain Everything's features

• Easily crop images
• Layering
• Multiple text font and size options
• Exportable as a PDF to Google Drive

the students were able to create their two slide PDF, export it to Google Drive, and share it on Canvas.  All within a 55 minute mod.

The students who were prepared simply copied their paragraph from their Google Doc app into the Explain Everything text boxes.

As a technology integration coach, I presented the features to Explain Everything for about 5-6 minutes using AirServer.  Since this learning opportunity was multiple sessions, I taught the first Explain Everything tutorial and stayed in the classroom for the entire 55 minutes.  The second time I taught the tutorial, but then left the classroom.  The third and subsequent times after that the content teacher Ms. Slusarek taught the entire lesson.  This will be the case when I am in Mrs. Van Gheem-Rottier's room tomorrow.  As the first slide of the video displays, while the instructor is focusing on the content, we have instilled an expectation of creativity which aligns with the four c's.

Leadership

Leadership is in the Technology Integration job description!  Because of that, I was asked to be a "guest speaker" for a class on leadership.


The students were fantastic listeners and will "lead" in anything they do!



Below is the presentation to our middle school students in  "GO Time" (Growth Opportunity) Leadership class!

Stick Around iPad App in High School Psychology

In May of 2014, I introduced our staff to the Stick Around App. It is an incredible interactive app that is perfect for content area.  Today, Mr. Krause, High School Pshychology, utilized this app to solidify the parts and functions of the brain.  I introduced the basic features of the app for about five minutes using AirServer to broadcast functions of the iPad app onto our screen.  After that, we periodically would broadcast tips and tricks for about thirty seconds to the students as the situation arose in our classroom.

I was thankful that our Superintendent, Mr. Thompson, joined us today as he was able to witness a technology coach and a classroom teacher working efficiently together.

Truthfully, this learning opportunity couldn't have went any smoother!  It was awesome!

View how and what the students accomplished during this interactive lesson.



Collaboration: Students discovered links and information on one iPad and shared that information with another student on a different iPad utilizing Google Drive.
Creativity:  Students were able to decide the design and content of their puzzle.
Critical Thinking: Not only did students need to label parts of the brain, they also needed to provide additional resources for supporting the purpose of each brain part.

edCampGB Final Thoughts

As my first edCamp got underway, I somewhat had an idea of what an edCamp is.  After experiencing it, I now know.

Educators.Relaxed.Collaborating.Learning.

Four fellow teachers joined me that really haven't been exposed to technology as much as maybe other people.  It was a thrill for them to become so excited about the format (relaxed) and the learning that they experienced.  We had a multiple hour conversation after the conference and really became excited about what can be incorporated. Awesome!

My personal experience was fantastic!  Meeting people from twitter was one of the best aspects,. but other aspects of the day rocked as well.

There are so many great options for the schedule, that it is always difficult to choose.

I decided to attend the Evernote, iTunes U, and Tech Coach Sessions.

Evernote: We discovered that we could make a class account and had many people using the account on iPads at one time.  Updating and adding to a note worked flawlessly.  We talked about the benefits of Evernote over other options, due to the ability to upload everything: words, pictures, videos, links, audio.

iTunesU:  This was really an introduction to what iTunes U is.  I enjoyed learning about the "Beyond Campus" and "K-12" section.  I added

• AP European History  (For introduction to our high school AP teacher)
• TED Education Creative Problem Solving
• Google Apps in the Classroom
• Apps for the Classroom
• On The Road To Implementation Common Core with Common Sense
• Common Sense Ending Cyberbullying and Online Cruelty

I will be share the iTunesU resource with our teachers some time during the year as a Tech Tool Tip.

Tech Coach:  Discussed strategies for teaching teachers technology.  We focused on

• ISTE standards
• How to move the non users in our district to users
• Offerings of teaching tech in our district, learning at different times (Learn @ Lunch)
• How we obtain our resources, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, ZITE app
• How we save the resources we find, Evernote, Google Docs, Diigo, all over the place :)

Overall, the day was fantastic and many resources were obtained!

Our tech director would like to incorporate this edCamp idea into a day of professional growth for our teachers in our district.

We can...more details to come!

Commitment To Teachers

Last evening I attended a training session for volunteers who will be working for a company throughout the football season.  The company is a worldwide leader in providing services for people who attend sporting events and national parks.

While I was there to learn the ins and outs of my volunteer position, as soon as they stated their philosophy for us to follow, a blog post developed in my head.

As a service to our teachers in my district, I will be a Technology Integration Specialist.  I will be introducing, co-teaching, and supporting teachers using technology to enhance how the content is taught by teachers and learned by students.

With that being said, my entire focus during my time as a tech integration specialist will be...

Following through with this will allow each teacher, who receives support from me, to know that I will provide as much information about the tech tool that I can find.  Teachers provide content, I provide supporting tech tools that can enhance the learning experience.  No matter what the level of comfort using technology the teacher may be at, I will spend as much time with the teacher as needed.  I want the teachers to know that I care about their technology integration experience and want it to be the best it can be.  If it is, more experiences are likely follow.

So with that, I will do everything I can to help teachers with meaningful learning experiences which provides them with the eagerness to continue to learn and use a technology tool to enhance their content.