DropBox Web Server Resync Site

Recently, I described a way to serve exam view test pages from a DropBox web server. Since then, several teachers have had trouble with pages or tests they have uploaded not being served by the droppages (Drop Box) web server. The server responds with a 404 file or page not found. The issue is easily corrected by going to my.droppages.com and selecting the reset sync button on the page used to manage your web site. Wait a few minutes, then refresh the  troublesome exam view test or page.

MASSCUE 2016 Day Two Keynote

A ten year old fifth grader delivered the keynote this morning. He spoke about the stratification of education with an interesting analogy that went something like this:

A well known sports figure Tom Brady is performing at an extremely high level and he plays on a team that performs at an exceptionally high level. People would freak out if he suddenly started quarterbacking a team like the Detroit Lions. Yet, high performing students are typically grouped with students who are the same age, rather than being challenged or expected by their peers to perform at a higher level.

It was surprising insight from a young man who is probably bored, disengaged, and underserved in a traditional, age appropriate classroom.

Printing PDFs From Your MacBook

Everyday Math and many other education sites let you download printable resources as PDF files. Can you print them at school? Yes, you can easily and quickly print PDFs from your MacBook to the school's printers! The video below demonstrates how.

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Google Drive Update

Google Drive remains an important feature for teachers still invested in older, traditional word, powerpoint, and excel documents, as well as other files like PDFs. Goggle Drive is their virtual flash drive that backs up its contents to the cloud, averting digital disaster if a Macbook bursts into flames one day. Perhaps it serves a similar purpose for you.

Across the district, teacher MacBooks are popping a Google Drive out of date message. Sadly, the Google Drive app that runs on Macbooks is not integrated into Apple's App Store where updates are easily applied. That bugaboo means that users have to manually update Google Drive, a process that is less than pretty. If you use Google Drive to backup and protect your documents (and you also want to stop the incessant, annoying update Google Drive message), you should update Google Drive. The video below (clumsily) provides enough direction to get started.

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Exam View Update Nth

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About a year ago,  Google announced the shuttering of drive's built in web server.  I commented about how that might change to your use of old Exam View implementations.  Fast forward to September 2016. Surprise! The day of reckoning is here. After 8/31/2016, you will, reportedly, no longer be able to serve Exam View or other web pages from your Google Drive.

Happily, there are drag and drop solutions which, unlike the kludgy horror show I proposed last October, are easily and freely implemented.

Before you watch the step by step video below, please consider the following:

• Some versions of exam view are from the mid to late nineties., and they're still in use at EWG! They're nearing 20 years in age!
• The nineties was a completely different epoch in computing's life span.
• It's time to upgrade to something newer.
• Or convert to Socrative, Google Forms (which now has a built in quiz feature), or the formative assessment tool of your choice.
• Dragging the ancient versions of Exam View into the future has been challenging. The latest workaround will probably work for a while, but future miracles are not guaranteed.

UPDATE 9/8/2016:  The district's content filter blocks droppages.com. Before you go live, contact IT to unlock your droppages domain. For example, if your droppages web site is ewgmath.droppages.com, you would request that ewgmath.droppages.com be unblocked for students. Also, as of this update, web pages being served through Google Drive are still available, but that is likely to change soon.

Update 9/28/2016:  And change it did. Google drive web hosting is no more.

Reading Street And Printing; You Can Have Both

Teachers using Reading Street with their students have learned by now that Reading Street contains audio embedded in PDF files. Why embed audio in a proprietary, cumbersome format when html 5 can handle rich media with much more open aplomb? I can't think of any good reason, but parent company Pearson has done just that; embed audio and other rich media in PDF files.

What's the problem? Well, the Chrome browser and Apple MacBooks each have their own built in PDF engines which, unfortunately**, do not support the Reading Street rich media. Each non-Adobe reader can open and view the PDF files, but they can not play the embedded rich media. Hence, no audio in Reading Street.

A simple answer would be to install Adboe's Acrobat Reader on your MacBook, and let it be the default PDF handler. That is a workable solution, except Chrome's default PDF viewer is required to print PDFs to district printers. If you install Acrobat Reader, the installation breaks your ability to print to a district printer. Grr!

You can have both worlds though; a working Reading Street, and your ability to print PDFs to district printers. All you have to do is toggle between which PDF engine you want to handle PDFs. Assuming you have Adobe's Acrobat Reader installed and Chrome on your MacBook, you can quickly switch between printing ability and Reading Street functionality. Here's how:

• With your Chrome browser, go to chrome://plugins. Bookmarking this page will make it easier to find later.
• Look for the Chrome PDF Viewer section.
• Click the disable link. See image below. The link will turn into an 'Enable' link. At this point, you are in Reading Street mode and the rich media embedded in Reading Street's PDFs will play through Adobe Acrobat Reader. 

• To restore your ability to print PDFs to district printers, return to chrome://plugins.
• Look for and click the Enable link underneath the Chrome PDF Viewer section.
• The link will change to a 'Disable' link. At this point, you will be able to print PDFs to district printers.

** Your measure of fortune is dependent on your perspective. Your MacBook's preview feature and Chrome's built in PDF viewer can't deal with the rich media so thoughtlessly jammed into the PDFs, but their inability to deal with the media ultimately makes them faster, more nimble, and certainly more secure.

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Create A Google Drive Folder On Your Desktop

Earlier in EWG's MacBook rollout, I wrote about the need to save important documents to Google Drive or another cloud based storage. Remember, files on the desktop and documents folder of your school issued MacBook are likely to suffer a digital oblivion if the device fails, breaks, frisbees from the roof of your truck, or otherwise lets its smoke out. Despite the data loss risk,  I still see a surprising number of people saving files in folders on local devices, including desktop and documents folders. Speaking with a colleague about why he would risk data loss, I learned that the desktop and its folders offers a level of convenience and comfort that burrowing into Finder just can't match. That ease of use issue got me thinking about ways to make Google Drive easier to use and, more importantly, how you can enjoy the security of Google Drive's sync and backup without changing your work habits.

The answer is to create an alias of a Google Drive folder. An alias is just a pointer to the 'real' file or folder. Windows users would liken a Mac alias to a shortcut. Creating an alias takes mere seconds. The video below demonstrates the process. If you would like to create a Google Drive alias on your desktop or would otherwise like to review file storage strategies that reduce data loss potential, contact me. I would be happy to help.