BE ON TIME

Wow! This is a learning experience!! First of all, NEVER show up late to a Techie meeting when you are the slow learner. This is a lot of information for the first 5 minutes. BUT in this world of technology, you die if you can't keep growing.  Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming!  It is definitely a way to connect with children who struggle in my class.  I know enough to catch up, but I am never ahead.  Time to put my head down and FOCUS!!! I know I can! :)

ShortenMe Chrome extension

Hey techie team!

Use the Google Chrome extension ShortenMe to create shortened URLs without having to copy and paste to another website.  It will add an ellipses symbol to the left of your address bar that you can click to be provided with a shortened link as well as a QR code.

TECHIE Team minutes folder

This link is only accessible to TECHIE Team members.

Free Powtoon account

From Laurie:

Free Powtoon account for teachers!

EdTech Innovation Symposium on Oct. 27

In case we have any aspiring speakers:

Speak at the @sccoetech EdTech Innovation Symposium on Oct. 27 in San Jose.

Here is some information about the Symposium:

This event is held on October 27, 2014 from 8:00am - 4:00pm in San Jose, CA at the Santa Clara County Office of Education, and is being sponsored by the Educational Technology Services Team, in collaboration with local districts, schools and the San Mateo County Office of Education's STEM Center team.

Our theme this year is:

• EdTech Innovation Symposium: Redefining - Learning - Connecting

• Creating collaborations to develop, support and become leading educators

Our efforts are focused on bringing together the best practices in district leadership, site leadership and classroom methods to develop deeper EdTech collaborations across the Silicon Valley's districts, as we embark into effectively integrating technology in Common Core.

We would love to have you present - to submit a session idea, please complete this form: http://bit.ly/sccoeedtechspeakers 

If you have any questions about the event, or would like more information, feel free to contact me or Elizabeth Calhoon, Educational Technology Manager with SCCOE at

ecalhoon@sccoe.org or 408-453-4276

Illuminate Education update

Hi Team,

Liz asked me to share this with the team and I think this is the best way to share new tools, so feel free to post your own updates from blogger.com.

Take Care,

Robert

************** Illuminate Education Release 7.0 Check out what our developers did this summer! From a launch of Assessment 2.0 and new interactive Prebuilts to upgrades for the Gradebook that are just beginning, you will be amazed by the wave of summer sensations that have hit Illuminate! If you've been on a tropical island all summer or just wished that you were, scroll down to the bottom of this message to get other news you may have missed. Totally Awesome Assessments 2.0 The entire Assessment module has undergone a 2.0 makeover. Users will be given the option to take a tour and then be committed to a brave new world of dynamic assessment analysis!  Watch this 3 minute video of Assessment 2.0 with it's fully-loaded features, new tabs, intuitive navigation links, helpful pop-ups, built-in sub-group achievement reports, and so much more!

Dude, Incredible Itembank! Multi-Rubric Constructed Response The Illuminate Itembank now has Multi-Rubric Support. This item type will be useful for project based learning, writing rubrics, and performance tasks.  Separate the scoring of constructed response into sections, uniquely score each section, and calculate an overall score for the item. Duplicate Items Create a rubric once, duplicate it, and edit for use on multiple assessments (think writing text type rubrics). Add Items to Assessments Improve your workflow by creating items and then add them directly to an assessment POW! Prebuilt Perfection Our Prebuilts Reports just became interactive! We've started with assessment reports. Illuminators can now drill in to Response Frequency, sort tables, and add color coding based on your own criteria.  Radical Report Cards For Teachers - Checkout the NEW Report Card Viewer option to preview the RC and enter student information directly onto the template. For System Admin - There's a new save and copy field feature to speed up report card creation.   Release Notes 7.0 & more... Activate New look and feel Transcripts Transcripts can now be added to automation Import Logo Districts can add their district logo to different areas of the system   OMG! GradeCam Scanning Autosave now applies to assessment scanning so that students answers are saved while teachers scan in either Teacher or Student mode. NEW Print Answer Sheet options are coming soon!  For now, use our BETA options to add a line for student names, ZOOM to print bigger bubbles, or add a comment to your answer sheets. Say What?! - Surveys There's a new assessment option available for Creating Surveys. We are starting with Anonymous Surveys using blank GradeCam answer sheets to give users access to raw data in an easy to download format.  Next up, student and teacher surveys with reports too! No Way! Parent Portal Notifications? Parents using the Home Connection Portal can setup notifications to receive email alerts for: Grades Falling Below %, Zero on Assignment, Scored below % on Assignment, Received Negative Attendance, and Overall Grade Changes (use for standards-based grading grades on 1-4 scale).   Holy Guacamole - Gradebooks Reduced clicks! Teachers can link standards, question groups, or the overall score from an assessment to create assignments directly within their Gradebook. Teachers can directly link an assignment to Report Card fields as they create the assignment. There is a duplicate assignment option that allows linked standards, report card links, and attachments to be duplicated directly from the Spreadsheet view!

Super Cool School Focus Illuminate's "Parent Engagement System" allows teachers to take photos in the classroom, during school activities, etc. that will automatically post to the Student/Parent Portal. In this release, we've added the ability to capture video. If you are interested in getting this option enabled, contact your Implementation Manager.  This feature is free until December 31, 2014. Starting January 1, 2015, pricing options include $1/student, or parent subscription plan available. Want to see how it works? Watch this short video Once enabled in your district, teachers will need to download the School Focus 2 App (iPhone/iPAD only). For more information, view our help guide for School Focus.

Booktrack Classroom

Via Ms. Hayes at the 49er Academy:

http://info.booktrackclassroom.com/teachers

This is pretty cool. It soundtracks books, and allows students to create soundtracks to their own writing.  Seems like it could really bring a narrative to life.