ECSD Technology Newsletter

Technology Info and Tips from the Elbert Co. Tech Department

Google Earth

One of my favorite tech tools is Google Earth. There is so much that you can do with Google Earth from Kindergarten to Seniors in high school. When I used to teach students with disabilities and we were studying continents and landforms the students were always engaged when I used Google Earth zoom over our school or their neighborhood. We we then "fly" all over the world and look at the landforms that we were learning about in our social studies class. Since then, Google Earth, has really grown and changed. Now students can access Google Earth on their own chromebooks. For example, there is now a "voyager" button that students can click. When they click on that it will bring up galleries in Google earth that students can explore. These galleries can lead students to inquire and think globally about issues ranging from pollution to population. Another button students can click on is the Dice or "I"m feeling lucky" this zooms into a random place on the globe. This could make a great writing prompt. There are great resources for using Google Earth if you follow this link : https://www.google.com/earth/education/resources/. I will be offering Professional Learning about Google Earth September 15th, from 3:30 - 4:30 if you would like to learn more about Google Earth.

PL Opportunities

Clint will be offering the following Virtual PL classes after school during September. All courses will be virtual and will last from 3:30 - 4:30. These are offered for any staff in the district You can sign up HERE

September 15th - Google Earth

September 17th - Interactive features in Google Classroom

September 21st Read and Write for Google.

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September 15th - 3:30 - 4:30

Meet Link - meet.google.com/jgj-zume-ipi

This session will discuss how Google Earth can be incorporated into any classroom from K-12. Google Earth offers many ways to enrich the curriculum.

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September 17th 3:30 - 4:30

Meet link - meet.google.com/afr-adsp-hbn

This class will focus on how to utilize the interactive features of Google classroom such as polls, formative assessments, originality checker, and Google meets

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September 21st 3:30 - 4:30

Meet link - meet.google.com/vda-njyj-okc

This class will discuss how read & write can be used for our students with disabilities. We will discuss and practice using all of the functions within Google Read and Write

Updates from the Technology Department

Hello All;

We have implemented a new help desk system. You may access it by going to http://osticket/ or using the shortcut on your desktop. If your desktop shortcut still points to freshdesk, just logout of your computer and login, or restart.

The new ticketing system is simple and easy to navigate as you may have seen in the short video I sent earlier. If you have any questions contact Sherri Rampey or Bruce Stewart.

Tech Tool Kit for Families and Guardians

Google has recently published resources for teachers to share with families to learn more about the Google Suite for Education. I think that this is a great way for us to be able to better familiarize our families with Google for Education. Below is the link to the document

TECH Toolkit for Families and Guardians

Google Classroom Updates

Google Meets are now part of Google Classroom! - If you need to have a Google Meet with your class you can generate the Google Meet right within Google Classroom. This can be the same meet link for the semester or for the school year! The great thing about using the Google Meet within Google classroom is added security. Students can only enter and exit the meet once the host (aka teacher) starts and ends the google meet. More information HERE

Originality Reports - Teachers can now run originality reports to check work for authenticity. The report compares a student's Google Doc vs webpages and books on the internet. Click on the originality report for more information

To-Do lists - The To-do list is great because it helps teachers and students see their "To Do" list for all Google classrooms they use. Google CLassroom is rolling the "To-DO' from the classes page.

You can keep up with everything that is going with Google Classroom on the What's new in Google Classroom page. I am excited to hear from you what you are doing with your Google Classroom.

Google Doc Templates

Did you know that there are lots of pre-made templates already located within Google Documents? There are a few ways that you can access these. You can browse templates by going to docs.google.com, slides.google.com, sheets.google.com, or forms.google.com. These will be templates for each core service. Another way is to go to Google Drive - Click Create - and then hover over the arrow and choose from template.

Pear Deck Support

We are fortunate to be able to have the new tool "Pear Deck" in Elbert County. This is a tool to make google slides interactive for all students. Teachers who attended the 1:1 bootcamp before school started were able to hear about these features. Below are a couple of resources about Pear Deck. If you would like to learn more I will be leading a virtual training at 3:30 on August 24th. You can sign up HERE

Getting Started with Pear Deck

Cool Things you Can Do

Pear Deck Knowledge Base