#EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter | Dec 5

It's that time again ... time for the #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter!

Check out this week's Trending Topics, EMS Shout-Outs, and info about an exciting Holiday Skype with Capital Grill's Executive Chef, Keith Harris. 

#EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter | Nov 17

It's that time again ... time for the #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter!

Check out this week's Trending Topics (including a FREE offer) and several schools represented in our EMS Shout-Outs.  




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#EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter | Nov 3

It's that time again ... time for the #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter!

Check out this week's Trending Topics, EMS Shout-Outs, and a new feature called "Canvas Tips." 



If you do not see the Smore newsletter above, click here to view it.

#EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter | Oct 10

It's that time again ... time for the #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter!

Check out the Trending Topics, EMS Shout-Outs (LOTS of teachers and campuses represented!), Tips & Tricks, and more.



If you do not see the Smore newsletter above, click here to view it.

#EMSISDITS Tech Talk | Sept 28

We are pleased to present this year's first #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter.

Don't miss this week's Trending Topics, EMS Shout-Outs, Tips & Tricks, and more.

EMS Compliance Trainings

EMS ISD has developed a series of annual updates that meet district, state, or federal guidelines for ALL employees. Compliance trainings are bundled together in an online format through Eduphoria and have been released to all employees. This model allows the flexibility for employees to complete required training at their convenience while maintaining the integrity of the expectations.  This video demonstrates how to access and complete Compliance trainings: The completion date is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 15, 2017.  Please print your certificate of completion to give to your supervisor for their records. Professional Compliance Bundle: Teachers, counselors, principals, directors, superintendents, coordinators, diagnosticians, and all other instructional staff must complete the Professional Compliance Bundle. Basic Compliance Bundle: Para-professional staff will complete the Basic Compliance Bundle.   Click here for Compliance Bundle Access Instructions This information was originally shared in an EMS ISD Campus Connection newsletter.

End of Year Back Up Procedures

The end of the year is quickly approaching (like we have to tell you, right???) One of the most important things on everyone's to-do list is to back up computer files. It is up to YOU to be sure your digital files are saved in a format where you can access them next year.

Please review the following information to help you close out the 2017-18 school year.

If you do not see the Smore newsletter, click here.

#EMSISDITS Tech Talk | April 20

Guess what ... it's time for the new #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter!

In this edition ...

• Summer Training Opportunities are filling up quickly - sign up today!
• Digital Spring Cleaning Tip #2: Canvas Courses.
• Shout-Outs from the following campuses:
• Bryson Elementary
• Wayside Middle School
• Chisholm Trail High School
• And a couple of neat things from our very own Technology Department.
• Hear from Willow Creek Elementary Principal, Christal Hollinger, about how she is using OneNote Staff Notebook with her teachers and staff. 
• This week's Tips & Tricks include Stupeflix, Pictochart, and Lino.

Canvas Course Clean Up This Summer

This summer, all Canvas courses that were auto generated from teacher grade books will be removed. This will allow us to start the 2017-18 school year with a more organized Canvas environment, which will make it much easier for teachers and students to manage course content.

Although the courses will be deleted, there are two simple options for teachers to save course content for future use. It is the teacher's responsibility to create back-up copies of any desired courses prior to July 1.

Click here to learn more about the two types of Canvas Courses that can be found in our Canvas instance.

OPTION 1: CANVAS COMMONS

Commons is a cloud-based, digital library that allows educators to find, import, and share resources. When you share resources in Commons, you can choose to share with other Canvas users, with educators in our district or campus, or with only you.

NOTE: Courses shared to Commons do not include backups of student interactions or grades.

From the Home page of a course,

• Settings > Share to Commons (right column)
• Select and complete appropriate settings for this course
• Sharing and License - You determine if you want the course (or course content) to be available to only you, anyone in your school (sub-accounts), anyone in your district, or any public Canvas user.
• Title, Description, Tags, and Image are required fields
• You can also include Grade levels and Outcomes.
• Click Share.

Repeat this process for each course.


OPTION 2: EXPORTING CANVAS COURSE TO A FILE

You can export a Canvas Course to a file that can be shared with another Canvas user or saved for your own current/future use. This file will need to be saved to a secure location (OneDrive) in order to be imported into any future courses.


NOTE: Canvas exports do not include backups of student interactions or grades.

From the Home page of a course,

• Settings > Export Course Content
• Select Course or Quiz
• Create Export
• After your content has been exported, click Download Link

Repeat this process for each course.

This video demonstrates both options. 

#EMSISDITS Tech Talk | March 30

Greetings! This week’s #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter is hot off the presses! (Digital presses, of course!)

 In this edition ...

• Check out some of our upcoming Summer Training opportunities.
• Protect yourself from Phishing Scams
• Digital Spring Cleaning Tip #1: Teacher Laptops
• Bryson 1^st Graders Land a Starring Role in WFAA Weather Commercial
• Principal Connection: Whitney Wheeler (Bryson) talks about Technology Integration on her campus
• Special Shout-Outs to some TECHtastic things happening around EMS ISD (We highlight Eagle Mountain Elementary, Parkview Elementary, and ELAR PLC meetings)
• This week's Tips & Tricks include Animoto, PlayPosIt, and Seesaw.

If you do not see the newsletter, click here.

Our website is currently hosted by ESC 11. They are experiencing a network outage at this time, which means our district website is unavailable. We hope that most employees will already have these commonly used links saved on their computer (and not need to access them directly from the website), but please share them just in case.

Office 365 – https://portal.office.com

Eduphoria - https://eduphoria.ems-isd.net/authdistrict/login

Skyward Educator – https://web.ems-isd.net/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=wsEAplus/skyport.w

Skyward Employee – https://web1.ems-isd.net/scripts/wsisa.dll/WService=wsFin/seplog01.w

Canvas – http://emsisd.instructure.com

Kronos – http://kronos-web/wfc/logon/

Aesop Online - https://www.aesoponline.com/login2.asp

We will update website status or provide additional employee links on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to like or follow us for updates!

Thank you for your patience.

#EMSISDITS Tech Talk | March 3

Guess what ... it's time for the new #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter!

In this edition ...

• PHISHING Emails - get all the details on how to protect yourself and the district!
• Real Video Library Contest - teachers can submit a video of real teaching in a real classroom and win some cool stuff for the campus.
• Shout-Outs from the following campuses:
• Northbrook Elementary
• Saginaw High School
• Bryson Elementary
• Parkview Elementary
• Hear from Jennifer Anders (NES), Sara Mullins (SHS), and Tamara Williams (EWMS) about how their students are using Office 365 tools and Docs.com in the classoom!
• Don't miss a very special weather forecast from the Bobcat Brothers from Bryson Elementary. 
• This week's Tips & Tricks include Quizlet, TouchCast, and Learning Tools for OneNote.

We want to highlight the great things happening on YOUR campus and in YOUR classroom. If you have requests for upcoming newsletter articles or would like to nominate someone to be included in the Shout-Outs section, please contact the Instructional Technologist for your campus!

If you do not see the newsletter, click here to access it.

LiveSlides: PowerPoint Add-In

Looking for a way to seamlessly embed live websites into your PowerPoint Presentations? Check out the LiveSlides add-in.

Here are a few of the great benefits we have seen from this download:

*Offers live content to be inserted into your PowerPoint
*No embed codes
*Any link will do
*re-sizable and movable on the PowerPoint slide


Ideas for use in the classroom:

*Live Twitter Feed - Insert your live twitter feed.  While you are teaching, the students can see what is happening with your hashtag!  Have them ask questions or make comments during the presentation.

*Padlet - Have students ask questions or leave comments on the padlet while you are teaching the content.

*Skype call - Want to have a skype call and information on a powerpoint? Try using LiveSlides

*Blog link - Have the participants comment on a blog, while you are teaching the content.

*Poll Everywhere - Students can answer poll with their cell phones or iPads during the presentation.

*AnswerGarden - Students can ask questions and leave comments



Here is a quick video tutorial on how to download and use LiveSlides.

Want to download the add-in so that you can use it today?
Click Here for a quick tutorial video!     Click Here to download!

Are you using Liveslides?
Let us know how you use this nifty add-in in your classroom!

#EMSISDITs Tech Talk | Feb 16

Greetings! This week’s #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter is hot off the presses! (Digital presses, of course!)

 In this edition ...

• We used one of our favorite new tools, Flipgrid, to share some of our favorite tech finds from last week's TCEA conference.
• Special Shout-Outs to some TECHtastic things happening around EMS ISD (We highlight Lake Pointe ES, Bryson ES, Northbrook ES, Wayside MS, and Ed Willkie MS.)
• This week's Tips & Tricks include Blendspace, Links in OneDrive and Office Lens.

We want to highlight the great things happening on YOUR campus and in YOUR classroom. If you have requests for upcoming newsletter articles or would like to nominate someone to be included in the Shout-Outs section, please contact the Instructional Technologist for your campus!

If you do not see the newsletter, click here to access it.

#EMSISDITs Tech Talk | Feb 2

Greetings! This week’s #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter is hot off the presses! (Digital presses, of course!)

 In this edition ...

• Bryson teacher, Diana Foster, shares one of the Paper Slide Videos her students created about Civil War
• Special Shout-Outs to some TECHtastic things happening around EMS ISD (We highlight Willow Creek ES, Eagle Mountain ES, and Greenfield ES)
• This week's Tips & Tricks include Airserver, Skyward Tutorials, and Quizizz

We want to highlight the great things happening on YOUR campus and in YOUR classroom. If you have requests for upcoming newsletter articles or would like to nominate someone to be included in the Shout-Outs section, please contact the Instructional Technologist for your campus!

If you do not see the newsletter, click here to access it.

#EMSISDITS Tech Talk | Jan 19

Greetings! This week’s #EMSISDITSTech Talk Newsletter is hot off the presses! (Digital presses, of course!)

 In this edition ...

• Special Shout-Outs to some TECHtastic things happening around EMS ISD (We highlight Wayside MS, Willow Creek ES, Bryson ES, and Hafley Development Center)
• Bryson teacher, David Prince, shares how his 5^th grade students use iPads and MovieMaker to create Stop Motion Animation videos. Be sure to watch “The Melting Snowman.” 
• Tips & Tricks: EMSISD ITs YouTube Channel, Microsoft Forms, & Chatterpix
• The Flipped Classroom: Flipping Tip #6: Consider Collaboration 

If you don't see the newsletter, click here to view it.

#EMSISDITS Tech Talk | January 5

Happy New Year! This week’s #EMSISDITS Tech Talk Newsletter is hot off the presses! (Digital presses, of course!)

 In this edition ...

• Special Shout-Outs to some TECHtastic things happening around EMS ISD (Eagle Mountain Elementary, Saginaw Elementary, and Wayside Middle School. See pics of the EMS crew with teachers in Belize, and Skyping with Texas students, plus the Rubin Pingk Author Skype)
• Bryson teacher, Marie McDougall, shares how her students are using Weebly to publish writing in a blog format. 
• The Flipped Classroom: Flipping Tip #5: Start with Lesson Goals, then Build Out    

If you don't see the newsletter, please click here to access it.