WWPS Technology

How to Edit a Resource Image in Collections I just stumbled across the image option in Collections this morning. I have to say, "I love it!" I know the teachers in my district have been patiently awaiting the option to add your own image to a resource in a Collection. The functionality that was quietly added is powerful and easy to use. You can view the short video below to see how to edit a resource image within a Collection. Way to go Follett!  Follow these simple steps: Click on the menu option within a resource, and select the edit option. To add your image simply do the following. Take a screenshot of the resource you'd like to use. Click the continue button, select the upload option to locate your image, and finally click the save button. I think you'll find this latest addition to the Collections tool will be a welcomed addition! Happy Collecting!

How I Use Collections as A Central Office Administrator As the Director of Educational Reform, Compliance and IT in my district I get to interact with parents, administrators, educators, support personnel and students in many different fora. On a weekly basis, I am often interacting with educators as we build curricula together. Almost as often I find myself, working with both educators, parents and legal representation on policy matters. As we became more and more comfortable using Collections for curricula purposes I've noticed a million and one ways I could use Collections as an administrator. It's almost become a joke in my district because I don't think a day goes by without me uttering, "Ya know, you can use Collections for that." Since August I've... As the summer months began to wind down the opportunities for collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders increased dramatically. I found myself using Collections to do the following: Respon...

Using Collections for Curriculum Curation Follett's Early Adopter Program We have been using Collections since the spring of 2017 when our district served as an Early Adopter participant in Follett's newest addition to Destiny Discover. Educators started using Collections immediately during our curriculum development process. It was the easiest access point for administrators, teachers and support personnel.  Educators in our district easily saw how Collections fit into our well established Lab Classroom model. Teachers and administrators loved how they could add the "Add to Collections" bookmarklet to their Chrome browser to add resources simply and efficiently to a shared Collection. Collections & Our Curriculum Development Process Our district has a strong process for developing collaborative lessons using synchronous (face-to-face) and asynchronous tools. A Learning Coach will work with a classroom educator during an entire unit of study to develop the...

It's so Much More than Just a Curation Tool Jason See, Follett's Director of Classroom Solutions, gave educators at ISTE 2017 a sneak peek of Collections, a new addition to the Destiny Discover suite of tools. There was a buzz in the air, and I'm sure many educators looked at it as an answer to their curation woes. Collections delivers exactly as advertised. Nader Qaimari, President of Follett School Solutions, June 29, 2017, in a press release said, "Collections is the first step toward making Destiny a content discovery and resource collection tool designed for use in the classroom, the library and at home." In previous blog posts, I've shared how Collections allows educators a singular place to curate Open Educational Resources (OER), web pages, videos, images, educator created resources and documents. In just a few short months of widespread use in our district, we've found it to be so much more! We've used Collections in the following ways:...

Using Collections Like a Pro...Google Drive Permissions Once you've started to use Collections there are some easy tips that will allow you to use Collections like a pro! This blog post will review how to do the following: Set the Appropriate Google Drive Permissions Google Drive Permissions Collections are so visually appealing. You'll want to ensure that your resources take advantage of the screen scraping technologies built into resource curation in Collections. Whenever you add a resource to a Collection using the Add to Collections BookMarklet a screenshot of the resource is included as a visual representation of the resource. Whenever you're using an online drive such as Google Drive or One Drive you'll want to make sure you set your permissions to public. This will allow the resource to be displayed with a screenshot from the resource versus a generic login screenshot. Additionally, the description of the resource will contain information particular t...

You've Built your Collection, Now Let's Edit... Once you've learned how to build a Collection you'll want to edit the details of the Collections as well as, all of the resources curated in the Collection. This blog post will review how to do the following: How to Edit a Collection How to Edit Curated Resources How to Delete Curate Resources Each of these important tasks is very simple to accomplish and quite intuitive to use once you've started to use Collections. I'll be "Captain Obvious" in this blog post just to lay out the directions in a step-by-step process.  How to Edit a Collection Once you've created your Collection you may want to edit the basic settings in the Collection. If you create a Collection form the +Add a Collection icon you'll most likely fill-out each of the steps in the 3-step process (Title/Description, Grade/Subject, Image/Color). However, if you add a new Collection from the BookMarklet app you will hav...

How to Create a New Collections & Basic Settings... Once you've learned how to access Destiny Discover's Collections tool you'll want to start on your own Collections. This blog post will review how to do the following: Create a new Collection & Configure the Collection Details Add Resources to your Collection using the BookMarklet or the Upload a Resource Method Access Lesson 3 - Create a New Collection (prototype companion tool to Collections) Collections is an incredible way to collaborate with your peers on curriculum development. Our district uses GSuite to build collaborative documents for our units of study. Collections fit seamlessly into the process and provide greater flexibility during the creation process. Educators can add and curate resources during the brainstorming process without having to decide where or whether or not the item fits into the unit plan. Before we can get to the rich collaboration tools we need to first learn how to add, e...