WWPS Technology

Reflections on the Aspen Institute 2015 It's been a little over a week since the conclusion of the Aspen Institute that brought Aspen users to Providence, Rhode Island. The theme of this year's conference was "Unlock the Superhero Within: Saving the World One Student at a Time". I love the theme, and the important message that it conveys. The message that we're all superheroes, and it really is our job to ensure that we protect our students and staff "one person at a time". I think that's what attracted our district to using Aspen over five years ago. Of course it came down to the capabilities of the student information system, but it was more than it being a robust SIS. Aspen allowed us to customize the system so we could collect the data that we valued, and could tell our own story as a school district. Ultimately that meant that we could tell the individual stories of our students, and our staff. In today's education reform environmen

The Aspen Institute It's the weekend before the Aspen Institute in Providence, Rhode Island, and I'm looking forward to one of the best SIS/IMS two day conventions around. Each year the conference grows, and participants travel from districts nearby and far away.  I'm excited about this year's theme, "Unlock the Super Hero Within". It really is the perfect metaphor for everyone connected with implementing Aspen in their district. Our district chose Aspen a little more than 5 years ago, because of its out of the box power as well as its ability to be customized. My department consists of both curriculum and traditional IT staff. We are involved in professional development, curriculum development, educator evaluation, and traditional IT functions. I know the people in my department understand the incredible responsibility we have in protecting our students and the adults that serve them.  When I talk with my staff about protection they know that  I&#

Add Shared Documents to My Drive Since Google has made the switch to the "New Drive" users have struggled with shared documents. It is difficult to search for documents in the "Shared with Me" portion of Google Drive. Don't fret because there are some easy solutions to getting documents that are shared with you into your Drive so they can be easily searched. In our district people usually share a document or folder using the email notification option in Drive. Often a shared document or folder will look like the screenshot below. Once you've opened the folder it allows you access to documents, but sometimes the documents behave as if they are in view mode.  Recently when I open a shared folder the documents were displayed in the following manner. Clicking on the document allowed me to access the information from items that are shared with me, but I often struggled to locate the document in the future.  We have over 3/4 of a millio

Use Your Chomebook to Make Phone Calls Since the district has moved over to a new phone system many of our classrooms no longer have the ability to dial an outside line. One way to get around this problem is to use your Chromebook to make a phone call. You can access Google Voice through your gmail account, or use Google Hangouts to make a call. There are several ways to initiate a phone call. Follow these simple directions to place your call. Click on Google Hangouts or Google Voice Simply click on either the Google Hangouts icon, or the Google Voice icon once you've accessed your gmail account. If you haven't setup your Google+ account you will have less features when using the Google Hangouts option. If you click on the Google Voice option you can simply type in the phone number that you want to call, or search for a number in your contacts. Phone calls made in the United States are free, and you can add money to your Google Voice account for international cal

Is Your Chromebook a Managed Machine? Enrolled Devices: As we get closer to PARCC testing it is important insure that your Chromebook is enrolled in our domain. Enrolling the device in the domain insures that you will have the  appropriate Test Nav application on your device.  It is possible that some of the devices in your classroom didn't get properly enrolled. Review this blog to learn how to check whether or not your students' machine is enrolled properly. Check Your Device Settings: Check your settings by clicking on the Settings Taskbar on your Chromebook. Once you click on the settings tool bar you will be able to discover whether or not the Chromebook is managed. The picture below shows an unmanaged machine. The video below shows you how to check the tool bar settings. The picture below shows a managed machine. The video below shows you what the settings look like on a managed machine. Is Chrome OS Up to Date? It is al

How to Get Around the Loss of Shift-Ctrl-P in Google Cloud Printing I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but Google has eliminated the Shift-Ctrl-P option with their latest update in Chrome  Version 40.0.2214.114 (64-bit). This isn't a big deal for 90% of what our teachers print for their students. However our teachers use PDF versions of Reading AtoZ books with their students. There are times when teachers for good purpose want to be able to print out a book, and give it to their students in a hard copy format. In the past they would use the Shift-Ctrl-P option to change the preferences of the printer. The picture below illustrates some of the preferences that can be changed using the Google Cloud Print beta options. These options are not available when you use the Ctrl-P process in Google Chrome or with your Chromebook. With the upgrade to ChromeOS 40 this functionality was lost. However there is a way to work around the problem with little or no fuss. You ca

Just-in-Time Support: We often try to provide teachers, and staff members an opportunity for structured professional development. Although this serves a very important purpose in our district it also means that there are times in which someone doesn't get the help they need when they need it. We often talk about "just-in-time support" as being the most effective form of learning and engagement. We see this play out in the classroom when a teacher provides their student with the very next thing they need to support their learning. Sometimes we describe this phenomena as when the light bulb goes off. We have the tools to provide our educators, administrators and support staff with the same opportunity to provide the just-in-time resources to support their efforts. We can use Google Hangouts to support our "just-in-time" professional development opportunities.  Below you will find a series of short video clips explaining how to initiate a call, or answer a cal