Tech Newsletter 10/21/2016

Due Date and Time Best Practice: (All)

It is better for technology if you don't make the due date of an assignment at midnight. That leaves it open for 'my computer wasn't working'. If it's due at the beginning of class or 7:15, then the student could come to tech. We could fix the problem, or at least confirm that there was a problem.  This is especially true of email as the send time on the email may not match with the received time on your end. If a students computer doesn't connect with the internet, then their outlook might show it was sent at 11:30, but it won't actually send until they connect to the internet. Students can reduce this email problem by using the webmail.parkviewbaptist.com portal instead of outlook. 

This especially true for the student who has found themselves outside of their home due to flooding. They may or may not have internet and it may not be that reliable. 

Email Attachments: (all)

There is some confusion about attaching files via email. The problem comes about because outlook is defaulting to sending links to onedrive files instead of attaching a copy of the file. See the kb here to make sure you always send a copy of the file, not a link to the file. 

Always attach OneDrive "files" not "links" 

Nuvotera:   (All)

We are aware of this warning. Our email filtering program is ceasing operation. We are in the process of checking out replacements for it and should be fine by the time it turns off in January. You can just ignore this warning and continue to use Nuvotera as you have in the past. 

Bandwidth: (All)

We are fine under normal circumstances, but sometimes we get too much going on at one time. 

• • • "Blocked due to Bandwidth":
      If you see this error, we are not blocking that website. Instead, it means that we've reached our capacity at the moment. Try the site again in a moment or two, it should come up fine. 
    • Please don't Stream:  
      Since we've doubled our one-to-one program we are running closer to capacity on our internet speed. Feel free to use videos and music for instructional purposes, but PLEASE don't stream music from sites like pandora, you-tube, and spotify during school hours. I love to listen to music, so i subscribe to itunes so that i can download my music before or after school and then play it back. 
    • Working to Resolve:
      We are working on several steps to alleviate this problem. Through better settings on our filter and installing a cache server for ipad apps we are taking steps now to get these problems cleared up. Long-term we are also looking at increasing our total bandwidth available to the campus. However, this is not as easy as it may seem since we have special pricing on our internet and its almost an act of congress to adjust the contract. 

Tickets: What's the best way to get help? (all)

• • • Please give information. (is it at home? ipad? phone? school pc? personal pc? at schoo? time of day?) all of these things change what could be wrong. 
    • We use a ticket system which allows us to track and team work on your problem. To create a ticket just send an email to helpdesk@parkviewbaptist.com
    • Try to make the subject clear. Instead of 'i have issue', try 'Wilmot E202 can't connect to projector'
    • Try to keep it 'one problem per ticket'.   We categorize and split them up. So try to put 'activpen won't work' and 'i can't hear announcements' in two different tickets. To you they are both problems in your room. But they are very different to us and they will require different people to fix them 

Activboards and New computers: (EC, EL, MS)

For some reason, activInspire may not have installed when we setup your laptops. Many of you have figured out how to install it from the software center. If you need help there's a kb for that (click here). Or ask your neighbor. Several of you already figured out how to set those up. 

New iPads: (EC)

We've been able to use grant money to get more ipads for you to share in the Early Childhood. These have been ordered and configured. As soon as we get the cases in they will be delivered to you. Should be soon. 

A note about Star App. (EC,EL,MS)

 The Star Testing app is no longer available in the app store. The company that makes the app, Renaissance Learning, removed it from the app store because they want us to use their website now. I've pushed a link to the ipads home screen that should work to get you and students in.

Clever: (MS,HS)

Clever portal is a way we are working on to reduce the number of logins that students and teachers have to do. In addition clever syncs with renweb to automatically keep classes up to date. As a student adds or drops a class in renweb they will be automatically added or dropped in clever compatible apps. To use clever you have to start at the clever portal. https://clever.com/in/parkviewbaptistschool Once you do you'll see apps that we are integrating with clever. Gradecam and lightspeed are two of the most exciting. (BTW: Your clever pass

x2's and projectors (EL,MS)

We are aware that some of you can't connect your new shiny X2 Elite with your projector. It has taken some time, sleuthing, and education on our part, but we are confident that we have finally found the problem. The short version is that we will have to start replacing projector cables. I've ordered them and they are on the way. We'll get to you asap. 

The long version: Older computers always send a signal. However, modern graphics cards don't turn on the output until they sense a projector. In this way they can use more processing power to make higher resolution images faster. However, our older cables weren't getting the signal to the computer to let them know they were there so the computer was never turning on the output. This was very difficult to solve because although it seemed we had identical setups in two rooms, one was working while the other would not. We finally figured out that one cable was older than the other. 

Gradecam (HS)

I've been playing around with gradecam for some time now. I love it! We are now moving to piloting it in the high school. What is it?  Well quit buying scantrons!  Now you can print your own scantrons and grade them with the camera on your computer or by scanning them in. Even better this program will let you see statistics on the students answers. Now you can know how many students missed each question and what they put. The program will put the grade by the students name!  And, because of our work with clever, your account is ready to login using your school credentials and your classes are already there with your students enrolled. Try it out now by going to our clever portal, then come to our lunch-and-learn Thursday where i'll be showing you how to use it. (https://clever.com/in/parkviewbaptistschool )

Printing From iPads (EC,EL,MS, etc)

I am very excited that we've been able to get printing from ipads working! See the KB below for instructions. Don't forget that MS students will be able to print too. But, please remind them that they are limited in the number of pages they can print and that color pages cost them more than black and white.

  http://kb.parkviewbaptist.com/display/WIKI/Printing+From+PBS+iPad

Sharing Videos with Students (EL,MS,HS)

We've been working on a way to let you share youtube videos for students to watch on their personal devices. We can't just open all of youtube for obvious reasons. However, we do have http://library.parkviewbaptist.com  This site has a collection of videos That have already been cleared for students to watch. These videos can actually be viewed even on campus. And YES you can add videos yourself. To do that go to the clever portal https://clever.com/in/parkviewbaptistschool and login with activdirectory. Then click on "lightspeed systems" From there follow this kb from step 6 Add a Youtube Video to the Filter 

If you're still reading this, or maybe you've just skimmed this far, thank you! There's always a lot going on in the tech office, but we are excited about the future. Speaking of the future the Foval baby is coming soon! Things are gonna get even busier soon.

God Bless,
Shawn Liner