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Tech Bytes
April 20, 2021
Hotline
For Immediate support, call the support hotline at x88850 between 7:30 am and 1:00 pm Tuesday through Friday. (April 20-23rd).
Office Hours
Office hours will be held from 1:00 pm- 3:00 pm Tuesday through Friday. (April 20-23rd).
Aeries Updates
- Gradebook Custom Marks - The Gradebook Custom Marks feature flag was added, allowing districts to define custom marks that can be used by teachers in the gradebook to indicate Missing, Temporarily Excused, Info/Note, or a Percentage of Max Score.
- Gradebook- The student deletion process was improved. See Gradebook - Manage Students
- The Actions dropdown was replaced by buttons. A confirmation dialog box with the student name is now displayed before the action is finalized.
- The deletion process now creates a report of the student scores that is available on View All Reports> Report History.
Hybrid Simultaneous Instruction
Oh, that ECHO!
Having multiple devices in close proximity in the same meeting can cause an echo or feedback. To reduce this issue:
- The mute button is your friend! Only the person speaking should be unmuted.
- Students who are in the classroom should have their device speakers muted or should have headphones in.
- Use the speaker on your Logitech camera so everyone in the room can hear the in-person students, but you will have to turn it off when a student in class unmutes to share.
- Be sure the Logitech camera is not next to a wall or plexiglass - the sound will bounce off the surface and create an echo.
- If you are using a Chromebook with your Logitech Conference Cam, plug it in on the right side of the device to ensure audio and video connect properly.
- Project your meeting so students who are in-person don't have to also be in the meeting on their Chromebooks. When doing small groups, make sure students have headphones in and their microphones are muted unless speaking. Encourage students to use headphones with a microphone.
- If you are using Google Meet, you may need to mirror the image from your document camera so students in the classroom can see it properly. Try the Video Mirror or Cam Flip extensions.
Instruction Tips & Tricks
- Choose tools for equitable access, meaning students who are at home and in person can all access the tools in the same way. Peardeck, Nearpod, Flipgrid, Padlet, and Google Slides are all good resources that provide equitable access.
- Partner up students who are at home with those who are in person for small group work.
- Be aware of privacy issues. If you are projecting your meeting and have the chat showing, a private chat between you and a student might show up for the class to see. If a student who is online needs one-on-one time, consider a breakout room and using headphones for that conversation.
- Consider balancing screen time with offline activities for all students. Catlin Tucker's Offline Activity Choice Boards are a great option.
- For more information, check out this article from Common Sense Media.
District Policy Reminder
Phones should not be moved between classrooms. Requests for extension re-assignment must be submitted by the site Principal, AP, or office manager via a Help Desk ticket.
Only one cable from the phone should be plugged into the wall and the other into a computer. Plugging both into the wall can result in a network outage for the entire site.
Updates
- Breakout rooms in Google Meet can be set ahead of time in Calendar.
- Headphones have been delivered to elementary sites for in-person students. They should be in soon for secondary in-person students.
- Power strips will be delivered to sites this week
- Webex Meetings Update:
- Web Browser
- Grid view now available (up to 6)
- Self-selecting breakout rooms is currently unavailable in the web browser.
- Desktop app
- Zoom in and out of grid view to focus on one person or many using the slider in the top right corner.
- “Locking” the view on a participant is now “Move to Stage”. To see how to lock your students’ view on the teacher, WATCH THIS VIDEO.
- In preparation for returning to in-person instruction, QR badges for TK-2nd grade students have been uploaded to the PUSD Curriculum 2020-21 Drive. You can find these by navigating to the Curriculum Drive, then to the QR Badges folder.
- Sharing video in Google Meet is still not working. It is a known issue that Google is working on resolving.
Innovative Technology Services
Email: helpdesk@pusd.us
Website: gopusd.com/helpdesk
Location: 351 South Hudson Avenue, Pasadena, CA, USA
Phone: 626-396-3699
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PasadenaUnifiedSchoolDistrict
Twitter: @PasadenaUnified