Error message on your computer? Use the snipping tool!

Today's tech trick is coming to you via video! It will explain how to enhance your web help desk ticket to get your issue resolved more quickly/easily.

Click Here to Watch!

(Will only work from a district computer)

If the error message happens to occur on a student's computer have the student (if they are capable) use the snipping tool to capture an image of their screen and email you the image. If they aren't, best case scenario is to write down the message, program, etc. they are using, and include that information in the ticket.

Thanks!

Practice Blue Ribbon Test

Happy Thursday! This post goes out to our elementary school teachers regarding the upcoming Blue Ribbon district assessments. 

I wanted to make staff aware that Blue Ribbon offers a practice test module for students to get a feel for the program prior to testing on it! The student training module, showme, is designed to familiarize students with the navigation of the program and the content is NOT grade specific. Therefore it is important than students focus on the navigational buttons, tools, login and logout, scrolling, etc. and should not be spending time answering questions correctly or reading the reading passages. 

The goal of the practice test is to acquaint and equip students with a comfortable and effective knowledge of how to use the program features. 

To access:

1. Have students logon to a district computer/laptop.
2. Have students open an internet browser (ie. Explorer or Chrome) and navigate to their individual school's websites. 
3. Direct students to find the blue ribbon icon/link on the right-hand side of their school's homepage and click on it.
4. Once inside, students will use the username: showme with no password to access the practice test.

In addition if teacher's would like to have another pair of hands to assist them during the practice or even real Blue Ribbon test please submit a web help desk ticket with the time/date you would like assistance and either Doug or I will do our best to come. Please also attempt to schedule us with as much advance notice of your testing date as possible.

Thanks!

~Katie

Tech Trick Tuesday: Website Blocked? Here's what to do...

Tech Problem:  Staff go to utilize a website for a lesson they are going to teach only to find it is being blocked by our filter (iBoss)...

Tech Trick: - How to request a website be unblocked 

Nurse Convocation Videos

As a follow-up to this mornings AuviQ and Blood Borne Pathogen information please be aware that both videos (as well as additional information) can be found via our district's internal website. 

To access:

1. Go to www.rockyhillps.com and sign-in to the website in the top right corner of the site (network username/password - no @rockyhillps.com needed at the end of your username).

2. At the top of the website in the same right hand corner tabs will appear. Make sure you are on the Private Site tab.

3. Once there, scroll down to the "Nurse Convocation Information" where you will find links to access the videos. 

The videos are presently being housed on our internal video system (DEVOS) which can be accessed by typing in your network username and password. You will only be able to see these videos while on a district computer, and will receive an error message if you attempt to access them outside of the district (ie. home PC/mobile phone). 

Welcome Back to the start of the 2014-2015 school year!

Here are five Tech Tips to help you start the new school year off right!

Be Aware of @rockyhillps.com Addresses in your Quarantine Summary Report!

Recently a staff member in the district e-mailed the TechTeam regarding an e-mail address that appeared in their daily quarantine summary report with the ending @rockyhillps.com on it (see below).

More and more staff members are receiving @rockyhillps.com e-mail address in their quarantine summary's however these messages are not legitimate. Please do not attempt to open them. Be very wary of any messages claiming to be from @rockyhillps.com that end up in your quarantine. Feel free to ask about any questionable e-mails like this in the future. Thanks!

U:/ Drive, My Documents, Google Drive...What's the difference?

When attempting to save content to a district computer many staff members ask themselves, "Where's best? I've heard through the grapevine to save to my U:/ drive, my documents, and then sometimes I hear to save to Google Drive." I'm here to explain what the differences are between these options!

Google Docs - *New* Add Ons

Back in the beginning of March, Google announced an upgrade to its Docs and Sheets features. The new improvement is called "Add-ons," which provides its users with apps that will work within Docs and Sheets.

An example app in the Add-ons menu that staff in our district may be interested in is Easy Bib. See below...

Don’t forget to cite your sources with the Bibliography Creator from EasyBib

Students (and teachers, for that matter) finally have a much easier way to cite their sources directly inside of Google Docs with the Bibliography Creator from EasyBib. EasyBib has always been a great tool for creating a bibliography via their website, but this brand-new Add-on means you don’t even have to leave your Doc when finishing up a paper!

To check out the new features in Docs go to the Add-ons button in the top menu bar of your screen (see below).

Other Add-on apps include...

• Track Changes (video demo- click here): Allows users to manage the editing process while collaborating on a document.

• Kaizena: Makes it easy for teachers to give high quality feedback on student work by simply highlighting and speaking or attaching a reusable resource for common problems.

• Charts: Inserting charts from Google Spreadsheets just got a whole lot easier with this app!

• Letter Feed (video demo- click here) - Group Messaging for Documents! 

• Etc!

PowerTeacher App - Did You Know?

Did you know that when a teacher in our district is attempting to sign into the PowerTeacher app they need to use an upper case letter for both first initials of their last and first names (ie. DeLoureiroK)? In the past teachers didn't have to worry about the case sensitivity of their username when logging into PowerSchool from a desktop/laptop computer, so this practice (for the app) seemed odd.

If anyone is attempting to gain access to the app and has difficulty please email me for assistance!

Saving Files to the Desktop - Just Don't Do It!

I know, I know. Your desktop is the easiest place on your computer to save pictures, text documents, recent downloads, whatever. It’s so convenient to just stick that file there where you know you can find it again...

Don’t do it! Here’s why:  Most importantly, the files on your desktop at this minute are probably not backed up (saved anywhere else). If your computer were to crash you would lose all those files...permanently. 

Solution: Save to either your Documents, U:/ Drive, or Google Drive. 

Your Documents and U:/ Drive are the exact same storage space, which are backed up on a district server. You can only access your files from a district computer when saving to one of these locations.

Google Drive is cloud based storage, meaning your files will be saved in a password protected storage space on the Internet. This is convenient if you would also like to access your files from home, as you can sign into Drive from any computer/device and get to your files.

Tech Trick Tuesday: Windows Updates - Why They're Important

Tech Problem:  Does the above look familiar to you? Many staff members in our district see this message regularly and "Postpone" over and over again.

Tech Trick: - Log-off, don't shut down at the end of a lesson/school day.

When is the Internet truly down?

Tech Trick Tuesday: Quiet YouTube Videos (A Blank Page With Only The Video)

Tech Problem:  A common frustration for staff who utilize YouTube videos is the content, comments, ads, etc. that come along with these videos...

Tech Trick - Quiet YouTube

Tech Trick Tuesday: Accessing Content Without Logging Off/On To A Computer When Another Staff Member Is Logged On

A new feature of our blog will be Technology Tuesdays!

In this series of posts a useful tip/trick for technology use will be posted often on Tuesdays for staff. Our first Tech Trick is geared towards all staff, however it may be most helpful to our transient staff who share computers with others to teach/access their content.

Tech Problem:  A common frustration for staff who are required to share a computer with a colleague is the instructional time that is lost when a staff member has to log off and log back onto a computer...

Tech Trick - Google Chrome's "New Incognito Window"

District Website- External vs. Internal (What's the difference?)

As of November 2012, Rocky Hill Public Schools has a new website. The web address for this site is www.rockyhillps.com (rhps.com was already taken). This tutorial will show you how to use the new website and how to access the private site.

Inform Link

With the need to input data into Pearson's Inform recently I have been getting a few questions regarding our link on the internal website. Unfortunately this click can appear more confusing than it actually is :)