Technology Update #9

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In this Issue

Welcome to Issue #9. In this issue we discuss the Apple Teacher certification program, customizing iWork, using iPads for assessment, freeing up space on your mac and using online tools to schedule meetings. If you have any topics that YOU would like to see covered, please let me (Matt) know. Your questions and ideas may be featured in a future issue!

Thought of the Week

Apple Teacher
Badges? We DO need those stinkin’ badges! Nearly 30 Westside teachers from all grade levels have completed their Apple Teacher certification so far. You can choose between Macintosh, iPad and Swift certification, or you complete all 3! The Apple Teacher website will walk you through learning about these tools and then present you with quizzes to complete to earn your badge. Once you become Apple Teacher certified, be sure to complete the Westside Apple Teacher form and we will add you to the Westside leader board!
http://area66.westside66.org/apple-certified-teachers-at-westside/

Tips and Tricks

Customizing iWork Toolbars
I spend a lot of time in Apple’s iWork apps – Pages, Keynote and Numbers. From making presentations to creating posters, Apple’s apps are both easy to use and extremely powerful. One of my favorite features is the ability to customize the tool bar! This lets me make the tools I use most often available with one click. Here are the steps described with Keynote, but it will be similar in every iWork app.

  1. Create a new Keynote document.
  2. Go to the ‘View’ menu and select ‘Customize Toolbar’
  3. You can now add or remove items, rearrange items and reset the tool bar back to the default.

Happy customizing!

Emerge Monthly Feature

Using iPads for Assessment: Show What you Know Bingo

By April Bridwell and Terri Kleinschmit
It’s evident, technology offers the opportunity to utilize assessment in a more personalized manner. iPads are now a path for elementary students to demonstrate learning goals, standards-based content, and skills such as critical thinking/problem solving, collaboration, and self-management

There are numerous apps or websites out there that allow students to display their thinking and make presentations both within and far beyond the classroom walls. Whether it’s in the case of project based learning, a collaborative project, or a long term summative assessment. Students have endless options that will allow them to display their thinking and present their learning experiences.

But where to start? Click here to find out!

The Doctor Is In

Question: My computer is running out of space. Where can I look for files to get rid of?

  • Angela Bergman, WHS

Answer:

It’s amazing how quickly we can run out of space! Just like our homes, our Mac’s can benefit from some spring cleaning! Here’s 5 quick tips to clean up your mac.
1. Locate Large Files You can create a search for files that are larger than a particular size. This can help you find files that are candidates to either delete or move onto an external drive. To do so, follow Apple’s directions:

  1. In the Finder, choose Go > Home, or press Shift-Command-H.
  2. Choose File > Find, or press Command-F.
  3. Click the Kind pop-up menu, then choose Other.
  4. Below “Select a search attribute,” select the File Size checkbox. Make sure no other checkboxes are selected, then click OK.
  5. Click the “equals” pop-up menu, then choose “is greater than.” Click the “KB” pop-up menu, then choose “MB.”
  6. Enter a minimum file size. A good starting point is 100 MB. You can change the value to see more or fewer results.
  7. Searching begins as soon as you type a file size. It may take a moment for all the search results to appear.
    2. Check your download’s folder. The download’s folder is where you computer stores all of the files that have been downloaded from the internet. Oftentimes, you have files there that are no longer needed.
    3. Delete applications you no longer need With the limited hard drive space on our MacBook Air’s, you may not have enough space to download every application available in self service. To free up space, you can delete apps you no longer use. Did you install the new version of Microsoft Office? You can save space by deleting the old version of Office from your Applications folder. When in doubt about deleting an app, please talk with your building’s tech support first.
    4. Use a File Duplicate Finding App There are application’s available to help you locate and delete duplicate files on your Mac. However, great care should be taken to make sure that you don’t accidentally delete something that you need! If you want to go explore this option, please talk with your building’s tech support. They will have recommendations on the best apps to use.
    5. Empty the Trash It sounds silly, but it’s easy to forget to empty the trash after you have deleted files. Select ‘Empty Trash’ from the Finder menu and click ok.

Showcase

Scheduling Meetings

Meetings are a necessary part of an educators life. From scheduling meetings with your department/grade level, finding time to meet with students and parents to working on curriculum with our peers, meetings are a facet of life. Fortunately, we have tools available to help with the scheduling of all those meetings!

Doodle Doodle.com is a service designed to help you schedule meetings more efficiently. After you sign in with your Westside Google account, you can create a poll with potential meeting times. Doodle then gives you a link that you can email to all meeting participants where they then indicate their availability. Doodle even sorts the results and lets you know when the best time to meet is! Does it save you time? Oh Yeah! Check it out at Doodle.com

Calendar invites Calendar invites have become a way of life since our district’s move to Google. As an unnamed individual once said, “If it isn’t on my calendar, then it isn’t happening!” Calendar invites allow you to get your event on the calendar of all of your meeting’s participants. It also let’s you get an accurate RSVP list. To invite a guest to a meeting, create an event in Google Calendar. On the right side of the window, there is a ‘Guests’ section. Enter their names and then click save. An invite will be emailed to them letting them RSVP to the event and automatically adding it to their calendar. Read more at Google’s support page.

Calendar Appointment Slots Did you know you can set up appointment slots on your calendar that people can reserve? You can! This is a great way to schedule open mods for students to meet with you! Read more about how to create appointment slots here.

Interesting Links

  • Upcoming Technology Trainings at Area 66 are listed here. Be sure to check them out and sign up with Deanna Laux!
  • Podcast! Yes we have one! Watch Dr. Lindgren, Dr. Betts and Dr. Lee talk about a variety of instructional technology topics, along with a few ‘bird walks’ into interesting items and announcements.
  • Interested in learning more about using an iPad for productivity? You should take a look at one of my favorite websites, Macstories.net. Frederico Viticci is one of the masters of using an iPad full time. Specifically, check out his new feature, iPad Diaries. This week’s post was all about taking hand written notes on the iPad. Elementary teachers – you might recognize his favorite note taking app 🙂

Closing

As always, if you ever have any technology integration related questions, please let us know. We are happy to work with you to design lessons, develop workflows and even come into your classes and work with you and your students.

Thanks!

Published by Matt Lee