CometTe.ch

An important part of Coloma Community Schools is the staff directory. We value being able to see and know a little about the people working with the students in our buildings. Thus, one of the requirements of staff is keeping a picture and short bio on our Edlio staff pages.  Here is a document on how to update those Edlio Staff pages . If you run into questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to the helpdesk. As a reminder, you will only be able to log into the webpages of the buildings that you work in. One of the most common fixes is making sure that you are on the proper building page. 

Photo by Ian Taylor on Unsplash When it comes to practicing what we preach, one of the areas where students could call us is citing our sources, especially when pulling pictures off of the internet. I was totally guilty of this in the classroom.  When asking students to be creative, we should be encouraging them to use items that are labeled for reuse or remixing. I wanted to share a list of resources that fit that category.  Photos Unsplash Pexels Pixabay New Old Stock Openverse Videos Pexels Pond5 Pixabay Videvo Audio Openverse YouTube Audio Library Free Music Archive While these are an excellent starter, it is still important to check licenses still. Overall, it is an excellent place to start with helping students find items to build their creative projects from.  I originally posted this, but attended a webinar the next day and we talked about this further. This list was shared during that meeting . 

Adobe Spark was one of my all time favorite EdTech tool. It allowed students to create without having to learn how to use complicated programs. This allowed for students to truly demonstrate their knowledge and not their technological know-how or ability.  The good news is that Adobe Spark is still around, it is now known as Creative Cloud Express . All of the awesome features still exist! You can still create graphics, websites, presentations, infographics, and videos quickly and easily. When we talk about novelty and allowing students to prove their knowledge in a different way and this tool allows content to shine through instead of the technology tool.  Not to mention, they have added a ton more functionality including:  The ability to remove backgrounds from images Convert to GIFs Resize Videos Resize Images Merge Videos Convert from PDF!! Combine Files and more!  The best news is, everyone in our district has a free upgrade to the premium version of the account! No need to apply

  Google Docs recently got an update that allows you to add a quick summary to longer documents that are in Google Docs format. Using Artificial Intelligence to scan and read the document and prepare a short summary of the document. If you are looking at it, and disagree, you can set your own! This is a cool feature. As students are writing an essay or paper, this tool can inform them if they are on topic and have written a comprehensive and understandable paper. If the summary is not their position, they might want to start over. From a staff standpoint, this is great to make sure that items match our intent and purpose as we prepare to share findings, data, and more!  To create, simply like the little icon in the corner and select summary. 

As a former Project Based Learning teacher, I would routinely have students draft proposals, work on driving questions, and push the boundaries of what we were trying to accomplish in our project. Even without a project based learning approach, there is a lot that can be accomplished with the approval feature.  For instance, you could approve and review paragraph by paragraph as students work. You could approve hypothesis statements prior to starting a science experiment. You could approve a logo design for a project. You could approve student dress up days or positive behavior interventions and support awards. There are many things that can be done. In addition, it can be used for a help function as students work through complex activities.  Below is a short video of how the process works. I asked myself to approve something, which adds a little extra, but you can see some of the options and features on how this new tool works!  If you have additional questions about this feature, be

Putting together an engaging and visually appealing slideshow can be a daunting task. While Google (and PowerPoint before it) provided users with templates to help the process, times have changed and the templates have not kept up! Enter some amazing resources to gather up some excellent templates. One great way to help me while I was in the classroom is to use a different template for each unit, so that if my naming structure was clear, I could visually see what was what.  Slides Carnival Slides Carnival was one of the first on the scene. They offer hundreds of slide show templates, including holiday templates, for free with no restrictions or account sign up necessary. (To provide credit to the creators, you have to leave the last slide providing credit to the creator(s) in your slideshow to abide by the license rules). You simply make a copy of the slideshow presented on the website and you are free to design to your hearts content. They offer plenty of options depending on what yo

Google Docs recently just added the ability to add a watermark, or an image behind the text of the document, to their already widely popular online word processor. A watermark can be useful for adding context to a series of documents, marking the specific order students are to work in, helping with branding, or, my personal favorite, creating “highly classified” documents for a social studies class simulation.  Check out how to do this in the video below! 

Google Docs recently launched a new feature that makes collaboration amazingly simple. With this launch, Google Docs now allows users to type the @ sign and it will open up a world of possibilities.  Previously, the @ sign in the comments would allow you to signal and notify a person of a potential action item, but now, if you type @ in the document, you will get a list.  The first thing is a suggestion of people to tag. For instance, if you need someone else or are meeting about someone, you could tag them in this document.  Next, you have the options for Building Blocks. This is currently limited to meeting notes, but it allows for an easily created template for tracking notes in a meeting. The next option is to tag a file. If you have a meeting about a specific test, standard, or are building a newsletter, you can tag that document using an @ sign in the meeting agenda, providing all users with quick access to it.  The @ sign also allows you to save time by replacing a lot of the “i

SchoolMessenger is an awesome tool that allows us, as educators, to quickly and efficiently communicate with our students’ families, guardians, and other stakeholders. It is important that we, as a school district, continue to communicate with our families.  Here is a link to assist you in using SchoolMessenger to connect with student families! 

Google Meet has been getting a series of updates since the start of the Pandemic . In this post, you will find a document that lays out many of the changes that you will likely encounter in Google Meet.

Meet the whole team that drives the technology experience in our schools! 

 The Coloma Techonology Team talks summer projects and upgrades ! 

 Ben, Tonya, and Dan talk about the upcoming testing season !

A recap of the first ever, 100% virtual Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) Annual Conference!

Part 2 of the Student Question Showcase! 

The annual student question show! Part 1!   

 Recapping a successful password change season at Coloma Community Schools! 

The time of the year for the password change ! Check out the tips from the Coloma Technology Department!

The TechConnect Podcast is back to talk about the accomplishments of 2020 ! 

 Updated goals from the technology department for the upcoming year.