Digital Teaching and Learning

For the week of September 28, office hours will be 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. For the week of October 5, office hours will be 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Access the full schedule on this calendar.

Groups and Permissions

Many teachers have multiple class groups in one course and want to manage the visibility of specific resources because of daily deadlines and/or differentiation.

Permissions by Group or Class Section video: https://youtu.be/wJ-2D5K_DIk

Highlighted in the video:

• With this strategy, teachers permission folders to only certain class groups—anything initially saved in each folder will ONLY be visible by students in those groups.
• From there, teachers still add individual folder items to a single lesson Plan for both classes, adding Resource folder items to Plan.
• From Plan and Tasks the Teacher will still see all resources, like Period 1 & 2 Assignment AND Period 3 & 4 Assignment, but if I’m a student in Period 1—I only see the Period 1 & 2 Assignment.
• Resources for all—like a YouTube video all watch—do not need to be put in a permissioned folder. Teachers can continue to place “general” resources like that directly into a Plan resource column.
• Naming conventions in titles (like Period 1 & 2 Assignment) will be helpful for the teacher in keeping track of permissioned resources.

Teams and itslearning Events and Calendar

Directions for creating a Teams meeting for virtual instruction were provided in the Digital Teaching and Learning PD, Module 3, Topic 6. Some teachers have opted to place Meeting links for groups in the sticky text area of the Overview page, or as Notes that are part of daily Plan playlists.

• It is NOT a recommended practice to create Teams Meeting links using the itslearning Calendar or Events.
• If students are accessing Teams meetings through the itslearning Calendar/Events, this data is NOT captured in 360 reports.
• Teachers SHOULD admit students as guests to a Teams meeting when students are having technical difficulties signing in and the teacher can be certain of the student’s identity.
• Teams meeting links are recurring by default. The lobby set up keeps your meetings secure.

Support videos have been created for the Chromebooks. Videos are intended to support student use, and are also available for teachers to view. View the playlist of videos.

Teams Virtual Instruction: Preparation and Management

Based on district recommendations, the Office of Student Services published a Teams What if document for schools. This document explains strategies teachers can take when preparing and managing Teams Virtual Instruction.

NEW Breakout Room Preview in Teams

Staff may use the Breakout room feature. For guidance, consult the How to use Teams new breakout room feature (PDF). Microsoft gave HCPS an early release of this feature, so users may experience inconsistencies, wait-time, or other glitches. Please send error reports to Microsoft Education Support: http://aka.ms/BreakoutRoomIssue (When prompted, login with your organization 365 account, which is username@hcps.org).

Teams Troubleshooting Tips

If you notice irregularities with your Teams meetings (green screen, frozen video/audio), these problems could be caused by poor Wi-Fi connection. A suggested solution is to turn off outgoing video (integrated web-cam), or incoming video. Sometimes moving closer to a Wi-Fi router helps.

The Instructional Technology Team has developed a resource of updates and answers to frequently asked questions. The 2020-2021 Instructional Technology Updates and FAQ document will continue to be updated throughout the 2020-2021 school year.

Any questions related to the information in this newsletter may be directed to instructionaltech@hcps.org.