I have heard over and over about people wanting to build a website but they do not know where to start. I created a Google Doc with a link to a great YouTube video that walks you through the steps of setting up and creating a website. I also added written directions accompanied by screenshots that will help you with the basics. What KIND of website? CMS currently supports Wiki, Weebly, and Google Sites. To me, Wiki is out. It does not translate to mobile devices and in this day and age that is not good. Google Sites are very full featured and can easily be incorporated into your teaching. However, unlike most Google products, they are not user friendly and they take a while to set up. So for the purpose of this blog, I chose Weebly. Weebly is not hard to set up or edit and due to the large number of available themes they look very professional without a lot of work. If you are interested, click HERE for the doc. It contains the instructions, screenshots, and a link to the how to video. You are reading this blog post on a Weebly right now!
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I am not sure if I am the only one singing "I feel pretty, oh so pretty" but I probably am! Well, it is back to school time and I know many of you guys have also been working hard to make your room the best it can be for this year. I may or may not have printed and laminated 175 pages of cool stuff the other day myself ;-) Well I came across this blog and wanted to share it. I have been color coding my Google Drive folders for a while but adding numbers and even icons to the titles????? GAME-CHANGER! Well, at least for me I think it looks awesome and it will help keep things at the top that you really want to access more regularly. I have not tried it yet myself but I will be working on it soon. If you try it out let me know how it goes! To read the blog, that includes great step by step instructions, click here.
Today I read a blog about a new feature in Google forms that will allow teachers to have quizzes auto graded without using an add=on such a flubaroo! That is awesome news and a huge help. To read the blog click here.
CMS recently restricted all YouTube access for students and anyone not logged in as a teacher. When you go to YouTube look in the upper right hand corner and make sure you are logged in with your CMS address. If no one is logged in, there will be a blue button that says login. If you are not logged in, or are logged in with a Google account that is not associated with a CMS teacher, you will be filtered at the student level. Once you are logged in as a teacher you have the ability to approve or block videos from CMS. This approves or blocks them for ALL STUDENTS grades K-12 so please be careful when approving or blocking a video. Teachers will be able to see unapproved videos as long as they are logged with their teacher accounts.
We are now in full swing with testing so I thought I would take a couple of minutes to discuss testing using Chromebooks and iPads.
First when testing with a Chromebook CMS has enabled most tests to use kiosk mode. Kiosk mode keeps a student locked in to a test and prevents mis-administration. It also cuts way down on user error ;-) Currently we use kiosk mode on the Chromebook for both ACCESS testing and MAP testing. To get to a kiosk mode test click on "apps" on the bottom left corner of the Chromebook screen. You do this BEFORE logging on to the Chromebook. Students do not log on to the actual Chromebook during kiosk mode testing. You then look for the test you are doing and click on it. Super easy!! MAP testing on the iPad is now easier. Look for the MAP test icon and you can now MAP test through the actual app instead of using the online bookmark. This should be an easier way to access MAP tests. Look for the icon below to access the MAP test app. When a student finishes you should be able to log on and off the same way you do in the web version. If you are having an issue, double click the round "home button" which will open up rectangle with all of the open apps. Swipe up on the MAP testing app to completely close the app (this will also log the student off so only do this when you are finished testing). When you open the app again you should be good to go. In my next blog I will talk about using guided access to lock a student into an app and block them from accessing part of an app that you do not want them to access. This is a good way to make sure they stay in the MAP testing app on the iPad. I did a presentation on IPads which included this feature. I need to update it for the current iOS but the basics are the same. You can click here to see that presentation. Guided access is presented on the 2nd page. Email me if you have questions! To change the password for your CMS email you must be on a CMS desktop computer. After you login, click ctrl+alt+del and choose the option that says password reset. This will allow you to reset your email password which automatically becomes the password you will use to log on to CMS computers. This can only be completed on a CMS desktop computer.
To change the password for your CMS Google account please email me. I can change this for you and it only takes a minute. Email me at [email protected] To change your NCEdCloud password I have to submit a ticket and CMS will complete the request. Again, please email me for that type of reset. It will take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days to complete. Feel free to post questions in the comment section. |
Jennifer MooreI am a teacher who has a passion for technology. Archives
September 2016
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