A Few Updates (and a little reassurance...)!
Haiku/Friday's Inservice
Exciting times are upon us: Temperatures in the 60's, Spring Training well underway, March Madness starting up (a time when even the most non techy people figure out a way to stream live games on their computers and complete digital brackets), and most importantly we have our Haiku LMS pilot running at the MS/HS!
We have had well over 200 different students log in to haiku in the first 3 days, and 50+ staff members. I think that is a great start, and I hope to see the numbers grow closer to 100% for both staff and students. I get a report of recent log ins, and last night there were multiple BHS and BMS students accessing Haiku well after school hours. Some staff may not see the value in an LMS yet, but students are logging in and are looking for information.....As their teacher, what do you want to tell/show them?
After talking with some staff about Friday's inservice, it seemed to have gone very well. I hope everyone found at least 1 or 2 things that they can use in their classroom. Thanks again to Jamie, Jared, Adam, Ben, and Luke for presenting. I also want to thank Dave W for his help in setting up Haiku and troubleshooting when needed. Finally, thank you to the teachers who came on board to this Haiku thing with an open mind and some enthusiasm. It is a joy to work with teachers who are still learners themselves.
I am always available for anyone who needs help with Haiku. Please don't be intimidated by it or feel overwhelmed. I am here to help and can make Haiku work for you the way you want it to. I will be holding more formal trainings as we go through the Tri. This takes time, and that is why I wanted to 'dip our toes' in now. Please remember to at least update your calendars and add a little something to your class page(s) (contact info, syllabus, expectations, course description, etc). Once more, I can help if you need it. Please just ask.
Here are a few Haiku resources for you if you didn't already know about them:
Another great resource is in Haiku. While in Haiku Click Library at the top, and Open 'Haiku Learning How To (Teachers)'
Finally, there are plenty of Q&A that might help HERE.
Mac Reminders
It is a good idea to update your Mac to El Capitan of you have not done so yet. Many of the teachers that are having issues are using the old operating system and the update takes care if the glitches. To do this:
- open the App Store (blue icon with a compass?)
- Choose updates on the top
- You will see a big banner about El Capitan OS with an "upgrade" button if you haven't done it yet.
- You may have to set up an apple id (use your school email) if you haven't already.
It is also good to restart your computer every day or two. This will make your computer run faster and helps eliminates any glitches as well.
If you are having SMARTboard communication issues, it might be because when your computer falls 'asleep', that it loses communication with the SMARTboard. You can change the settings on your Mac to not fall asleep or fall asleep after a longer amount of time. System Preferences>Energy Saver. (Note: If your computer is not plugged in, staying 'awake' will drain your battery much quicker.)
Thanks for reading and hope your 3rd Tri is off to a great start. The end is near!!
Hey, Tech this out!
I am sort of copping out of this section today, but hope you find this useful.....
I held a training for some MS/HS support staff Friday afternoon and one of the tips they really found useful was some of the Chrome keyboard shortcuts I use. I thought I would share:
Keyboard Shortcuts for Chrome
CMD + shift + T (on a mac) OR ctrl + shift + T (PC/Chromebook) = Opens last tab you closed out of (Can repeat up to 10 times)
- Good for those times when you accidentally close out of a tab.
- Also good for busting students when they quick close out of something when you walk by :) (CMD + T = new tab)
CMD + (+) , CMD + (-) , CMD + 0 (on a mac) or ctrl + (+) , ctrl + (-) , ctrl + 0 (on PC/Chromebook) = Zoom in, Zoom out, Return to Normal Zoom (100%)
CTRL + L (Mac) or cmd + L (PC/Chrome) = Highlight page URL (useful instead of using mouse and dragging or triple clicking to highlight whole thing.
CMD + X, CMD + C, CMD + V (Mac) or ctrl+x, ctrl + c, ctrl + v (PC/Chrome) = Cut, Copy, Paste (respectively)
I am sort of copping out of this section today, but hope you find this useful.....
I held a training for some MS/HS support staff Friday afternoon and one of the tips they really found useful was some of the Chrome keyboard shortcuts I use. I thought I would share:
Keyboard Shortcuts for Chrome
CMD + shift + T (on a mac) OR ctrl + shift + T (PC/Chromebook) = Opens last tab you closed out of (Can repeat up to 10 times)
- Good for those times when you accidentally close out of a tab.
- Also good for busting students when they quick close out of something when you walk by :) (CMD + T = new tab)
CMD + (+) , CMD + (-) , CMD + 0 (on a mac) or ctrl + (+) , ctrl + (-) , ctrl + 0 (on PC/Chromebook) = Zoom in, Zoom out, Return to Normal Zoom (100%)
CTRL + L (Mac) or cmd + L (PC/Chrome) = Highlight page URL (useful instead of using mouse and dragging or triple clicking to highlight whole thing.
CMD + X, CMD + C, CMD + V (Mac) or ctrl+x, ctrl + c, ctrl + v (PC/Chrome) = Cut, Copy, Paste (respectively)
