TechBytes

This past week, students were targeted in a phishing scheme that promised paid internships. Although we have a closed network, which means students cannot receive emails from outside of the District, these emails came from compromised PUSD Staff email accounts. Communication has been sent out to students and families informing them of the scheme. Any students who have responded to the email need to change their PUSD password as well as passwords on any sites for accounts they may have shared (email, bank, etc.).

Although we do our best to reduce access and opportunities for students to be targeted, we encourage teachers to teach lessons on Phishing to help students be on the lookout for future schemes. Please see the links and video below for lessons and reach out to edtech@pusd.us if you need additional resources.

• February 6: Secondary Grading Window opens
• February 13: Elementary Grading Window opens
  
• February 16: Secondary Grades due
• March 4: Elementary Grades due
• March 15: 3189 Loaner Chromebooks will be deactivated

A Windows 11 update has been pushed out to all PUSD-managed Windows devices which upgraded devices from Windows 10 to Windows 11. For more information about the process and new features, please click on the Smore linked below. After the update, you may need to sign in the PUSD Secure network again using your PUSD credentials (username without @pusd and password).

In the upcoming weeks a physical inventory of Elementary Chromebooks will take place. EdTech will be reaching out to your school site Destiny contact with more information. All staff must turn in any 3100/3110 student Chromebooks they are using, as any of these devices not checked out to a student will be deactivated. This does not include the older 3189 Chromebooks.

As a reminder, when there are issues at your site, the best way to get help quickly is through a Help Desk call (626-396-3699) or ticket (gopusd.com/helpdesk). Not following this process can result in a delay in resolving your issue.

Common Issues to contact the Help Desk for include:

• Application or Account issue with Aeries, Canvas, Clever, etc.
• Computer or Device issue
• Device Checkout
• Network/Internet issues on site
• Voicemail/PIN resets
• Phone requests

From Ditch That Textbook

Gamifying your content immediately dials up the engagement of a lesson. Students want to play games and the more we can make learning fun the more we can grab the attention of even our most reluctant learners.

Here’s how we can gamify our classrooms in meaningful and time-efficient ways.

• Identify the important, powerful lessons and activities you want to put the time and effort into gamifying.

• Familiarize yourself with tools that make it easy to gamify