Out sick, but still working

We are in the time of year when the veritable petri dish a school environment can become revs to full blast. Yesterday afternoon, I learned that a colleague would be out of school today during the critical juncture when students in two of his classes would be delivering their final project oral presentations. You can imagine the disruption his absence would cause for students and for the teacher himself. Obviously, the teacher was extremely concerned about the impact his absence would have on student final project presentations.

We were able to solve the problem by using Google Hangouts. A Chromebook running Google Hangouts was positioned so that it showed the student presenter to the absentee teacher. And, the Chromebook was also positioned so that the student could see and hear the teacher. The tech worked flawlessly, and the teacher was able to evaluate all oral presentations in real time. In case the Internet broke or other connection issues arose, another colleague setup a camcorder on a tripod to record all the students' presentations.  In the event that Google Hangouts crashed or the connection between school and the teacher's home broke down, the video file(s) from the camcorder could be uploaded to Google Drive and shared with the teacher. The camcorder was really just a backup, and we were happy not to have had to rely on it. The prime tool used was a Google Hangout, and it was an excellent solution.

Principal's Video Demo

A few years ago, creating a short video, even a sixty second PSA, took a lot of time and work. Cameras used tape, and digitizing the content meant capturing through a slow, linear playback process, often with clunky equipment and add-ons that either didn't work or were missing drivers. Rendering took hours on slow processors. And, varied video formats confused most software. Today, teachers have new Macbook Airs. The Macbook Airs are a veritable content creation powerhouse. They have powerful media editing tools like iMovie, Quicktime, and Garage Band built in, and can use older stalwarts like Audacity. Web based tools like wevideo and twisted wave further augment the content creation toolset. And, capturing and working with video has never been easier. Phones, iPads, and screencasting tools have made even the best digital camcorders seem clunky.

This Tuesday, I'll be running a workshop for administrators on creating short, PSA type videos on their Macbooks. We'll be using iMovie in conjunction with screencasting tools as a starting point. Here's a sample video that I'll be using as part of the demo.

Why video? You can get a lot more millennial traction out of a one or two minute video than you might out of a five paragraph blog post. When Youtube ascends to the second largest search engine on the planet, it supports the notion that we have become a 'video' generation. Quick hitting, powerful video can help you get your message out to a wider audience, and do so more effectively than you might have imagined.

Remove Popups, Redirects, Spam, and Junk on Chromebooks

Chromebooks are pretty darn robust. For the vast majority of users, they just work, and never hiccup. Still, on rare occasions you might find your Chromebook being affected by unwanted popups, adds or other strange behaviors. If your Chromebook is not behaving like brand new, you can fix it in a matter of seconds. Here's how:

• Click the button in the lower right hand corner of your screen
• Click Settings
• Scroll to the bottom of the page, then click Show Advanced Settings
• Scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings page and click the Reset Settings button

Resetting Chrome will erase all cookies, saved passwords, and other detritus, and extensions will be disabled. You might be required to restart the Chromebook. At any rate, your Chrome browser should be restored to brand new condition.

The video below shows the steps to perform the reset, though I don't actually click the reset button...

Printing Images From Your iPad

Recently, several teachers asked how to print images to EWG printers from an iPad. The video below should help you get started -- and finished.

If you discover an easier way to print to an EWG printer from your iPad, please tell us about it in the comments.

Comments in Google Classroom - Google Docs

A number of teachers using Google Classroom have observed that students cannot see the comments left in their Google Docs by their teachers. Here is why, and here is what to do about it.

It is important to understand that when a student submits an assignment via Google Classroom, you (the teacher) become the owner of the document, and the student is demoted to a viewer of the document. Document viewers cannot see comments, and can only see the finished, printable document. In order for students to see comments you leave in the document, you must elevate their privileges above viewer. There are two easy ways to elevate their privileges.

When you are leaving comments, simply click the blue share button, click advanced, and change the student's rights from view to comment, or edit. Or, from within Google Classroom, you can accomplish the same thing for the entire class with just a couple of clicks. From the assignment select the students you want to see your comments. The check box at the top of the page will select all students. Then, click the return button. All students will become owners of the document, and will be able to see your comments and make improvements to the document.

The video below demonstrates how to make this happen.

Macbook Wireless Issue

Some Macbook Air laptops are failing miserably trying to connect to EWG_Staff. The connectivity issues are hitting users who upgraded their Macbooks to OSX Yosemite. Colleague Marc Hamlin researched a fix that improves WiFi connection issues for all the users who have tried it. The fix, which brought my own Macbook back from brick land, is easy to implement, takes just 60 seconds to apply, and will help affected Macbooks connect more quickly and reliably. Note well: This fix is for Macbooks having WiFi connectivity issues and running Yosemite. If your Macbook is working well or not running the latest OSX updates (Yosemite), stop here.

Here are the steps to implement 'the fix'.

• Open terminal (Terminal can be opened by clicking the search icon called spotlight in the top right menu of your mac and typing terminal, or by using finder to locate Applications / Utilities / Terminal.
• Enter the following command into the terminal:  sudo ifconfig awdl0 down (that is sudo ifconfig awd ell zero down) and press enter.
• Enter your Macbook user password and press enter. No characters will display when you type in your password.
• Press the up arrow on the keyboard to reenter the command (just to make sure it sticks...).
• No message should display. If the command is successful, no error message (or any message at all) will display.
• Close the terminal.
• Done!

The video below demonstrates the steps to implement the fix.

9282+ Google Documents In One Week

Recently, I was able to view a couple of statistics from EWG's Google Apps management console. I was surprised by the statistic showing the number of Google Documents created by EWG users in the last seven days; well over 9,000. Apparently, the system works and a lot of users are creating content.