EdTech Update

I attended a Google Apps for Education Summit October 17th and 18th at Kingsfork High School in Suffolk. You may have seen me tweeting using "#GAFE Summit", if you didn't catch the tweets that weekend, do a twitter search for "#GAFE Summit" and you will find tweets from all of the GAFE Summits ever held. It was at that conference that weekend that someone stated, "If everything is blocked how can we teach proper digital citizenship to our students?" It was one of those light bulb moments for me, the type where something is right in front of your face and you wonder how you never paid it any attention. Over the last two weeks, this idea has come up in conversations I happen to overhear in passing, or in conversations that I am directly involved in. So, I thought now might be a good time to revisit the topic.

What exactly is Digital Citizenship? Digital Citizenship is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately. Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool; it is a way to prepare students/technology users for a society full of technology. Digital citizenship is the norms of appropriate, responsible technology use. Too often we are seeing students as well as adults misusing and abusing technology but are not sure what to do. The issue is more than what the users do not know but what is considered appropriate technology usage.

The topic of digital citizenship is certainly gaining momentum not only in the United States but around the world. Whether it is called digital citizenship, digital wellness or digital ethics, the issues are the same; how should we act when we are online and/or using technology, and what should be taught to the next generation. With the growth of BYOD programs and 1:1 initiatives in schools there is a growing need to talk about responsible use of technology.

You may recall in August I sent an e-mail saying Google Classroom was on it's way, but it likely would not be up and running by the beginning of the school year. My intention at the GAFE Summit was to attend as many of the Google Classroom workshops as possible because we (FCHS) have a ever growing number of teachers who are chomping at the bit to give it a go. Below, you will find a brief overview and video of what Google Classroom is and how it can be utilized.

In addition to several Google Classroom sessions, I also attended sessions on Chrome (sounds boring I know, but it was actually one of the best ones), Google Cultural Institute, Google Maps, Google Sites, Flipping, Google Forms, and You Tube. One of the best parts of the weekend was being able to learn tricks and tips from Google Certified Teachers and Educational Technology Specialists from around the country. The one question I didn't think to ask was why they decided to do this summit in Suffolk!

Classroom is available to anyone with Google Apps for Education, a free suite of productivity tools including Gmail, Docs, and Drive. VBCPS is on the way to becoming a Google School Division - in some capacity. Classroom is designed to help teachers create and collect assignments paperlessly, including time-saving features like the ability to automatically make a copy of a Google document for each student. It also creates Drive folders for each assignment and for each student to help keep everyone organized. Students can keep track of what’s due on the Assignments page and begin working with just a click. Teachers can quickly see who has or hasn't completed the work, and provide direct, real-time feedback right in Classroom.

Chrome Extensions are small programs that add new features to your Chrome browser and personalize your browsing experience. Some examples: Crafty Text, SnagIt by Tech Smith, and adblock. Crafty Text allows you to display any text in a gigantic somewhat transparent overlay. SnagIt by Tech Smith allows you to capture a screenshot of an entire page with out needing three hands to scroll and screenshot at the sametime. And adblock does just what its name implies, blocks ads...even on YouTube and Pandora.

Google Chrome Apps are web applications that run on the Google Chrome web browser. Chrome apps can be obtained from the Chrome Web Store where apps, extensions, and themes can be installed or bought. Biodigital Human is just one Chrome app that I discovered at the GAFE Summit. It is a 3D platform that simplifies the understanding of anatomy, diseases and treatments. It is touted as the most comprehensive set of true 3D anatomy and health condition models ever assembled.

Monica Hines' students are playing interactive vocabulary games through the Holt online book and vocabulary.com to practice vocabulary words for each story read.

Donna Draeger's students have been using using Poll Everywhere. To respond to the questions, the students can go to the website and choose an answer, the poll results display automatically as a bar graph so everyone can see the poll results.

Ashley Marzarella's students have completed IXL sessions to study for their upcoming test. Students are also using Edmodo to access extra credit opportunities.

Kate Elkins' students are using pedometers to track their steps and encourage healthy competition.

Students are using their own devices to access vocabulary.com, taking notes, recording homework, polleverywhere, IXL, and to take tests posted on Edmodo.

Ashley Marzarella had her students take pictures of their completed matching vocab activities. This allowed us to not have to spend time copying down the words once they found them.

VBCPSPR is a new Wi-Fi connection that students and staff can connect personal devices to. Connecting to VBCPSR will require you to enter your network credentials (computer log in username and password). This gives you the same filters that are on school owned computers. VBCPSPR allows more internet browsing freedom than VBCPSChannel. VBCPSChannel is still a working network and can still be used. The only change to VBCPSChannel is that you can no longer access VBCPS.com (the Intranet) or VBSchools websites. You are not required to connect your personal device to either of these Wi-Fi networks. These networks are available if you would like to connect. If you or a student would like help connecting a personal device to VBCPSPR please send Nicole an email with the students name and she will help them connect to the network.

Upon talking with a technician we found out that students were using our network to access VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) and have being doing so for the past few years. These VPNs allowed students to bypass our network filters and potentially allowed students to access inappropriate materials (for example, Instagram, SnapChat, and Twitter). The technician also said that these VPNs took up about 60-70% of the data for this school and that the VBCPSPR Wi-Fi would limit students access to VPNs and help improve our network speed and access.

Email: suzanne.flach@vbschools.com
Website: http://suzanneflach.weebly.com
Location: 1272 Mill Dam Road, Virginia Beach, VA, United States
Phone: 57406
Twitter: @VBFlock

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Email: thomas.smith@vbschools.com
Phone: 57406
Twitter: @ThomasSmithITS