ECSD Technology Newsletter

Technology Info and Tips from the Elbert Co. Tech Department

August by the numbers

We are SO proud of the students and teachers in the Elbert County School District for taking off and running with technology this year. During these uncertain times our teachers and students are rolling with incorporating technology into teaching and learning it and here are the numbers to prove it:

Our Google analytics report shows that from August 12th to August 30th our district has 413 active Google Classrooms

According to our GoGuardian Admin report during the month of August classroom.google.com was our #1 site for students with 226,751 hits.

Clever analytics reported that we have had 928 unique users log in with their Clever badges and that overall we have had over 119,00 logins with Clever

As I am typing this sentence there are 799 students logged into their chromebooks.

32 teachers in our district are currently registered in classes to either receive Google Educator or online teaching endorsements

PL Opportunities

Clint will be offering the following Virtual PL classes after school during the next two weeks in September. These are offered for any staff in the district You can sign up HERE

September 10th - Using GoGuardian in the classroom

September 15th - Google Earth

September 17th - Interactive features in Google Classroom

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September 10th 3:30 - 4:30

Meet Link - meet.google.com/ycw-oath-waq

During this session we will discuss how to effectively use GoGuardian Teacher in your classroom.

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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

Updates from the Technology Department

The Technology Department is working on a new HelpDesk software similar to Fresh Desk

SMART software is installed on the teacher computers at ECMS ECCHS

Big Shout out to our newest IT Specialist JOE DAWSON for running a fiber link from ECCHS to the field house for more reliable network connectivity

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.

Discovery Education in the Elbert County School District

Happy Friday,

Our school district has access to Discovery for Education. Discovery Education is a wonderful platform for teachers to find resources across grade levels and content areas. Teachers can find content by subject and standard. Resources can easily be shared with students through Google Classroom. Discovery Education offers a whole source of both video and interactive content. Personally, I am looking forward to the virtual field trip opportunities that it has to offer. To login to Discovery Education you just go to discoveryeducation.com and choose login with Google and use your ECSD E-mail account. It is the same process for our students. Our new Literacy Coordinator Thesa Beatenbouh and I are working with school level administrators to offer professional development on this resource. More information will be forthcoming but for the meantime if you would like to get your feet wet check out the teacher resource link HERE.

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