Friday, February 19, 2021

Google Workspace for Education

 


Check out this week's Learning with Google event to learn about news and updates about the rebranding of Google Workspace for Education.

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

New Features in Google Meet

So many new features rolling out in Google Meet right now. Read this post for all the details.



Thursday, April 9, 2020

Using Google Meet in Google Classroom

Google is currently making fixes to address the glitches in Google Meet: students joining a Meet before the teacher starts it, students being able to mute or remove the teacher and others, and students rejoining a Meet. Google Meet is also now integrated with Google Classroom. These changes are slowly rolling out. Continue to create nicknamed Meets, which will eventually enable the student restrictions. Check out the videos below from @ericcurts and @rangathetrainer for sneak peeks and to learn about the new features.



Monday, February 10, 2020

PPS is transitioning from O365/Outlook to Gmail

March 2 - BESC Staff & Early Adopters
This group will have Gmail and Google Calendar running alongside their Outlook email. Staff have the option of working in either platform but it is recommended to use one in order to minimize confusion.

March 23 - All Staff & 9-12 Grade Students
All users with existing PPS Email and Calendar services including students in grades 9-12 will be transitioned to Gmail and Google Calendar. After April 6, 2020, access to Outlook email and calendar will no longer be supported.

More info and FAQs available at pps.net/gmail-faq.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Monthly G Suite Tips


You can find all our monthly G Suite for Education #CopierPD tips here on the PPS G Suite for Education resource page. So far this year, tips have included multiple Chrome users and Google document URL tricks.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Leanring Technologies Updates

crossposted on the Learning Technologies blog

How to Manage Multiple Google Accounts
Check out this G Suite for Education tip, our first in a monthly series.
For a full tutorial and video from Shake Up Learning, visit this link. For your staff, download and print this poster and put it up next to your copier! #CopierPD
Google Classroom
Lots of confusion around Google Classroom as the failed Edupoint/Synergy Gradebook sync led us to opt-in all class sections for the Google Classroom/Synergy sync. Several teacher teachers are seeing duplicate sections and students are being kicked out of classrooms. Please know that our team is working hard to resolve these issues and strange one-off situations. Some good news: in October, any classes that have no activity and have not been accessed will automatically be archived. We have gotten reports of students accessing these empty Google Classrooms and posting comments and replies on the stream.
Netop Vision
We’ve received several reports about how kids are already getting around the screen sharing in Vision. Teacher and student devices must be on the same network. Students may choose another wireless access point after they’ve signed in to the Chromebook to sidestep screen sharing. There was also another report of students turning off notifications to bypass the screen sharing dialog box, but we haven’t been able to replicate that error. Check your teacher settings and the settings we’ve turned on here:

Monday, August 5, 2019

Fall 2019 Updates

Teacher Chromebook Refresh
All teachers will receive a new HP 14" touchscreen Chromebook as their mobile device. The devices will be assigned to the teacher and not the classroom/school as it has been in previous years.

Staff Login on Existing Chromebooks
Since PPS has changed its Google domain to pps.net from apps4pps.net, staff login on existing Chromebooks is a little different. You may have noticed that the login window is auto-populated with @student.pps.net. To login, if you start typing your email address, the @student.pps.net will disappear once you type the @ symbol. Watch this quick video if you need help. New staff Chromebooks will not have this issue.

G Suite Learning Center
Get the most out of G Suite with training guides, tips, examples, and other resources in the newly updated Learning Center.

Google for Education: Teacher Center
Free, online training for the classroom that provides educators with guided training paths to learn one new thing or start the path to Google mastery. The teacher center has content to meet you where you are and get you where you want to be.

Google Certified Educator Exams
Google offers two educator certifications so that you can show mastery at the level that's right for you. Use the content in the teacher center and your own teaching experience to best prepare you for the performance-based exams. Once you feel adequately prepared, exams are available online and the educator certifications can be achieved at any time.

For educators who have learned the fundamentals of using Google tools in the classroom, the Level 1 certification validates standard technology implementation skills.
For educators who are super users and enthusiasts of Google tools in the classroom, the Level 2 certification validates advanced technology integration skills.

*If you are interested in the Level 1 certification, IT can pay the $10 certification fee! Contact Melissa Lim, mlim@pps.net, for more information.*