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Instructional Technology Newsletter
September 2022
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Welcome back, NBPS!
Welcome back and we hope you all had a restful and enjoyable summer and are gearing up for the upcoming 2022-23 school year!
In preparation for the year, please review the instructional technology resource page, the technology checklist, and the technology department reminders.
Below you will find some new and improved updates from some of the existing applications used within the district. There are also some reminders and refreshers that could be helpful when starting the new school year!
Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead!
Instructional Technology Resources
Click here to access to the website that will provide you with access to presentations, newsletters, in depth recorded training sessions, videos, and resources pertaining to district subscriptions, Google apps, and extensions.
Technology Checklist
Click here to please review all action items on the checklist to get you prepared for the school year. Items pertain to your devices, as well as instructional preparation.
New Application Updates!
Google Classroom
Google Classroom allows you to copy an existing or archived classroom in order to reuse assignments, rubrics, and instructions.
- Go to classroom.google.com
- Click the three vertical (or horizontal) dots in the top right of the class card for the course you want to archive.
- Select "Copy"
- Rename the details
- Select "Copy"
- All assignments that were created in the previous classroom are now drafts under the "Classwork" tab
- Invite students and teachers to the new classroom
Click here to watch a quick tutorial.
Google Classroom & PearDeck Integration
The Pear Deck for Google Classroom add-on allows Premium users to share Pear Deck lessons with students, review student responses in the Teacher Dashboard, and provide individual feedback and grades, all from within your Google Classroom.
Click here to see step-by-step instructions about how to use the add on, see what students will see, and learn how to review student work.
Google Calendar
You can set up a block of appointments on your calendar that other people (ie. parents for conferences or students for extra help) can reserve. You create a block of time of when you are available and they can book time slots within that block. These appointments can include a Google Meet link to host the conference, too.
Watch the video below on how to create a block of appointments and how you can share out to parents or students to reserve time to speak with you.
Additional information is provided here.
BrainPop
BrainPop videos are known to help students in grades K-8 build background knowledge on a wide range of topics. With the addition of Pause Points, students now have new opportunities to stop, think, and express their ideas about what they’re learning on BrainPOP—making movie-viewing a truly interactive experience in your classroom. Pause Points are questions and prompts that activate students’ background knowledge, while build subject-specific vocabulary. Every Pause Point scaffolds concepts and skills within a topic that align to grade-level standards. Formats include:
- Multiple Choice: Check for understanding while practicing standardized test-type questions.
- Open-Ended: Type, speak, or draw responses.
- Reflection Points: Prompts provide additional information or summarize key ideas to support understanding.
Students cannot fast-forward through a Pause Points movie and must answer questions to move on. Students can go back and edit their answers if needed. Teachers cannot add their own questions to movies, but you can choose questions based on grade level that are aligned to essential skills to support school, district, and state-level standards.
Click here to access a video tutorial on how to use Pause Points, and here for the library of videos with the Pause Points feature.
Hapara
Previously those who had access to the Hāpara Admin Console were able to choose to enable or disable the ‘reasons for tab closure’ messaging feature. This feature is no longer optional and now all educators will need to select a reason to send to a learner before their tab is closed.
Why did they do this?
It's instructional best practice
By giving feedback about why you are closing a tab, you’ll help learners build digital citizenship skills and change their off-task behavior.
Data shows providing a reason for closing a tab reduces off-task behavior over time.
Data shows that students often revisit a closed tab, assuming their connectivity faltered. Without this transparency in educator decision making, the off-task behavior repeats.
Click here for an image to see an example of what this would look like.
Quick Mini New Tips & Tricks for Google Workspace!
Google Forms
Forms looking a little boring?
Well, Google forms now lets you customize your fonts under the "Themes" section! You can change the font and font sizes of the different portions of the form.
Google Docs
Need to highlight different parts of your document but they're all spread out and it takes forever?
Well, by holding down the Control Key (Command on a Mac), highlight the different text you want throughout the document, and you can bold, italicize, underline, change the color, or highlight all at once to format those lines.
Google Meet
In a Google Meet but you need to access something in your drive but you don't want to miss part of the presentation?
Well, now you can navigate away from the Meet tab and open a floating window with a video tile and not miss a second. This new feature is called "Picture in Picture Mode" found under the options tab within the Meet.
Refreshers!
Google Classroom
- Go to classroom.google.com
- Click the three vertical (or horizontal) dots in the top right of the class card for the course you want to archive.
- Select "Archive."
- Archive your classroom to remove it from your active class list.
- Choose "Archive" again in the pop-up window to confirm.
- Click "Archive" to confirm.
- To find the class that's been archived, select the stacked-line icon on the top left of the "Classes" page.
- Click "Archived classes."
Click here to watch a quick tutorial.
2. Control your notifications!
- Go to classroom.google.com
- Click the 3 lines in the top left corner next to the Google Classroom logo
- scroll all the way down to "Settings"
- Under "notifications", customize your preferences for receiving email notifications
Clever
Click here for a refresher tutorial on how to use Clever.
Curriculum and Instruction Department
Email: jamie_schoenbach@nbpsnj.net
Website: https://www.nbpschools.net/technology
Location: 268 Baldwin Street, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Phone: 8407
Twitter: @NBPStech