R14 TechBytes

As more and more schools are navigating AI with their teachers, students, and staff, we are there to help in providing not just the what and the how but also the guidance to safely, ethically, and effectively utilize Artificial Intelligence that align with your district mission, vision, and values.

Recently this month, Clyde CISD asked Hilary and Ashley to provide training on the approved models their district has vetted and integrated into their digital workspaces. Clyde CISD's tech director Mike Neal emphasized that high school graduates will struggle to stay competitive without AI literacy.

"They need to use them ethically. They need to use them responsibly. They need to use them for productivity," Neal said. "And if we don't teach our students how to use those tools when they leave high school, we're cheating them." - Mike Neal, Clyde CISD Tech Director

To balance innovation with security, the district established a specialized oversight body to evaluate emerging technologies before they reach classrooms.

"We've developed an AI committee, and the AI committee goes over different tools. As we see the value and the safety, we roll those out to the staff," Neal said, noting that safety remains the primary criteria. "We've been using AI for about four years, and we picked the solutions that we did because they had guardrails."

If you are wanting to get started in this process of aligning your district in cohesive professional development in the AI era we are happy to assist and will be proud to partner with you!

Managing papers and projects across multiple classes often means opening dozens of tabs, creating digital clutter that can derail your focus. Whether you prefer to display your tabs vertically or horizontally, with tab groups you can bring order to the chaos by organizing them based on your courses or projects.

But even with your tabs nicely organized, jumping back and forth between pages can break your concentration. That’s where split view comes in, letting you keep reference materials on one side of your screen while you’re drafting a paper on the other. Because paired tabs stay linked together, you can step away or switch tasks and jump right back into your side-by-side workspace when you’re ready.

And if you want to listen to your study materials while you’re on the go or resting your eyes after a long day, Chrome’s read aloud tool will narrate the page. On Android, read aloud’s AI playback capability can even generate a podcast-like conversation based on the page you're viewing.

Give students hands-on ways to navigate decisions they're already making online: what's actually "theirs" when AI helps create something, how chatbots are designed to feel human, and how to catch AI-generated misinformation. Built for Digital Citizenship Week and ready to assign any time this fall.

It’s Digital Citizenship Week (Oct 19–23)! Today’s classrooms don’t just teach reading and math—they prepare students to navigate a fast-moving online world with safety, empathy, and integrity.

Explore 3 quick ways to celebrate #DigCitWeek with your students today!

1️⃣ Think Before You Click: Practice evaluating online information and media.

2️⃣ Protect Your Privacy: Teach password safety and data protection.

3️⃣ Spread Positive Vibes: Encourage kind comments and uplifting interactions.

Generation Beyond: Space Week (9–12)

Space Week is October 4–10! Generation Beyond is a free, hands-on curriculum that builds students' skills in engineering, computational science, and cyber—right in the classroom.

Explore Now

Sustainable Style with Levi's (9–12)

As Fall Fashion Week celebrates style, help students discover the power of repair, reuse, and sustainability.

Explore Now

We are burning up the road delivering equipment to all the districts that are eager to incorporate our Service Station resources in their classroom. We have several field trips booked between now and December. Be sure to get on the books asap to secure your date!

Perfect for parent engagement nights that incorporate STEM stations!

Book a STEM Cruise Night and you will get:

• Resources to run multiple STEM stations using our checkout equipment
• Pre-designed activities
• Staff training that will empower them to run the STEM stations
• Delivery and pick up included

• Manage external sharing for Gemini Notebook in the Admin console

• Introducing comprehensive audit logs for Gemini Notebook in the Workspace Admin console

• Make a copy of a notebook in Gemini Notebook

• Turn Google Docs, PDFs, and Word files into video summaries in Google Vids

• Record presentations in Google Slides with Google Vids

• Create more natural, expressive AI voiceovers in Google Vids with upgraded Gemini 3.8 Flash Lite TTS

• Gemini in Google Classroom is expanding to users of all ages, with contextualized Gemini starter prompts for students

If we had a nickel for every time we said "Gems" this month... we’d probably buy more coffee or in Hilary's case, sweet tea from Chick-Fil-A ☕🧋🥤🍗🐔 .

Plot twist! Google Gemini renamed Gems to Skills.

Don't worry—nothing broke! They still work the exact same way to simplify your lesson planning, design visual communications, and streamline daily tasks. Think of them as your personal AI assistants trained to handle the heavy lifting so you can focus on inspiring your students.

*This session is strictly for advanced Canva users; introductory tools, basic drag-and-drop mechanics, and simple font selections will not be covered.*

Designed as a fast-paced creative agency simulation, this workshop empowers K-12 educators to utilize Canva’s most sophisticated, trend-forward features—including multi-track video orchestration, native responsive web publishing, dynamic live-data integrations, and collaborative version control. Over the course of this intensive session, participants will actively develop, iterate, and build a portfolio of up to 6 advanced projects that shift gifted learners from passive digital consumers to elite producers capable of building authentic, professional-grade artifacts for real-world audiences.

We are gearing up for our 4th annual R14 InnovateEDU Tech Conference. InnovateEDU showcases the intersection of technology and pedagogy, emphasizing practical implementation to drive student success. This conference is a hub for collaboration from Region 14 educators, enabling all to share ideas and develop solutions for modern educational challenges in rural schools.

This presentation is intended solely to provide general information and guidance to participants and reflects the Region 14 ESC current understanding of the presentation topics and applicable state and federal guidance. The content of this presentation is subject to change as a result of additional information and guidance provided by state and federal agencies with regulatory oversight. These presentation materials are subject to change and may be republished by Region 14 ESC with revisions.