Tech Notes 🖥️

• Have started a refresh of staff iPads this fall which will be ongoing throughout the year.
• Wireless Network Controller hardware upgrade: completed.
• Classlink Launchpad most recent newsletter
• Assistive Tech most recent newsletter
• Google is phasing out support for JamBoard; will work through remainder of school year.

How to report a network issue:

Prior to opening ticket ensure device time is accurate (especially on MacBooks).

In ticket ensure you provide as much detail as possible:

Who

Names are ideal, general terms like entire class are unhelpful as unable to track user/device

When

Approximate time issue started

Where

Room number where available, general description otherwise

What

Actions that have been tried (Turning WiFi on/off or restarting/shutting down device / etc)

Incident IQ Ticket Type Path: Network/WiFi > Report a Network Outage

Audience: All Staff

Completion: 11/30/23

Questions? Contact the help desk

Training start date: On or around 10/16/23 it will be sent out

All staff will be receiving an invite to complete email safety training.

• An example of the invite email is shown below.

• The link will take you to the training.

• When you get to the training site click on Start Course.

• The training consists of three videos that should run consecutively once started and will take just over 6 minutes to watch. If you stop a video part-way you will be able to resume it where you left off.

Our goal for every classroom and collaborative workspace is to have the ability to project and to connect via AirPlay (via AppleTV) or a wired connection. SmartBoards are still destined to go away for all gen ed classrooms and the majority of specialist spaces. Due to some specific usage and curriculum needs, they will be strategically retained in special services rooms (which literally means tech will discuss with special services to determine best option for a particular space).

Smart Notebook software will continue to be licensed. Moving over to Lumio (the web version of Smart Notebook) is recommended as a transition step.

Streaming services protect their content in such a way that wirelessly streaming will not work. That's not our restriction; that is a choice content providers make to protect their investment. Most staff have experienced this, but just a reminder that a physical, wired connection is going to be necessary if you are using a streaming service (Netflix, Prime, Disney, Hulu, etc...)

Document cameras: Requests should go through tech to get options on approved models. Presently we support Ipevo, Qomo, and Aver. This is not a standard classroom item therefore a budget code will be needed for such requests.

The chart below shows some of the major checkpoints in the first couple days of a student enrollment for creation of accounts and deployment of a device.

It is not an exhaustive list (the full list would indeed be exhausting to look at), just enough to provide a sense of when accounts are created and when systems should be accessible. In general, a device could be deployed to a student on their first day of enrollment, but the morning of their second day is when most services/systems would be expected to work.

The most common question we are getting in regards to maintaining multi-factor authentication setup is when someone gets a new phone and has to set up the Authenticator app again.

In that scenario, we need to clear out the connection to the previous device so that a new device can be set up fresh. The ticket type for this can be found in help desk following the path User Accounts > MFA/2FA > New Phone - Clear MFA Configuration.

We are continuing to add items to Classlink Launchpad so that it can serve as the central hub for access to applications and useful information.

• Over MEA break, student access to Infinite Campus will be added (this is already the case for staff).
• Canvas access for staff and students is also being added.

Additional notifications will be sent out to staff and students via tech notice and Canvas announcements.

In August we moved over to a new help ticketing system.

We will be tweaking things for a while, but here's a tip of the month:

When starting a new ticket, you'll be presented with 5 categories to choose from. Those are:

• Devices/Hardware: Use when a device is not working correctly or is damaged
• Software/Online Systems: Use when the issue is with specific software or systems
• Network/Wi-Fi: Use for issues with connecting, or or for mi-fi requests.
• User Accounts: Use for anything related to an account, such as MFA issues, password, requests for contractor or student teacher or similar accounts.
• Other Requests: The Everything Else bucket for moves-adds-changes, Assistive Tech staff requests, BLC requests, Parent help, and the ever popular Issue Not Listed.

Current help email addresses will still work, but submitting tickets from within the system is preferred as more detail can be captured and attaching screenshots to tickets works better from within the application.

Reminder that our filter does not allow YouTube access via the app, only via Safari. This is a side-effect of how the filter regulates content. We understand that can be a little frustrating and create the impression that YouTube is not working at all, but accessing a video via Safari should work.

Note that staff can still "approve" most videos that might be initially unavailable. (If unavailable due to content community guidelines which categorize the video as dangerous, hate speech, etc, you'll not be able to permit it).

Over the course of this school year, the district and school webpages will be migrated to an updated version of the entire site. The Communications department will manage the bulk of that effort and share information along the way. There are some impacts that are more immediate, though, which is why they are being shared here.

The "Teacher" menu on school sites will be removed. It will eventually be replaced with an updated directory on the new site. You would most commonly recognize these pages as the space where a teacher bio lives.

Links to specific classroom or grade level pages will also be removed. Staff lists for specific grades or departments will be retained for now.

• If there is content on a classroom or teacher page that you still want to share, our recommendation is to utilize Seesaw (elementary) and Canvas (secondary) for content that would be appropriate in those systems.
• It is also recommended that the school Handbooks be reviewed; those have undergone a number of revisions for this year to consolidate information to be more consistent across the district.
• Another path for communicating classroom information is to leverage the Smore newsletter format, in order to take advantage of built-in tools for translation in particular.

The fastest and best way to get help is by opening a ticket using one of these contact methods. Less effective and in some cases inconsiderate: Sticky notes, direct emails, or giving out the direct phone extension of whatever tech person you happen to have known forever.

Web: https://shakopee.incidentiq.com/ (Preferred)

E-mail: helpdesk@shakopee.k12.mn.us

Phone: 952-496-5100

If you need a call-back please add a good number and time to contact you in ticket.

Whenever possible and necessary we may also use remote support tools such as Splashtop to assist you.

Details help! For instance, student name and ID number is useful when submitting a ticket in regards to a student issue. Or letting us know if you already tried common troubleshooting steps such as restarting. "Student 123456 had this specific problem on their iPad starting at 9 AM this morning." is a much more useful starting point than "I have student with a problem." We appreciate the detail and it helps speed up the process of resolving an issue.

Email: helpdesk@shakopee.k12.mn.us
Website: https://techtools.shakopeeschools.org/
Location: 1200 Shakopee Town Square, Shakopee, MN, USA
Phone: 5100

Background photo: MN Arboretum AppleHouse pumpkin patch, 10/15/23.