CometTe.ch

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

The Chromebooks offer a variety of supports for our students, including the ability to type with our mouths and to have the Chromebook read to them! These features are both built into the student Chromebooks, and in the document linked below, you can learn about how to support your students with these tools.

  GoGuardian has been hard at work to help teachers in the past year. As the company has seen exponential growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, the engineers have been hard at work to give teachers more permissions and abilities!  One such feature is the ability to check a website as a teacher to see if it is blocked. This tool will only check to ensure that a site is blocked by the “Thou Shall Not Pass” block screen, but it can be helpful for teachers to do a self-check to ensure a site that they are planning to use is open to their students.  To begin, on the Classroom dashboard, locate the “Check if a website is blocked” link.  Next, you will enter a website to check to see if it is blocked. For this example, I used Poker.net, an online gambling website. Once I check, I get a report that show whether or not the page is blocked and for what classrooms. It will also check to see if it in a scene.  There are two fantastic uses for this feature in GoGuardian. First, you can check to see

This week, we welcomed 8 new certified staff to our district and they spent some time becoming acclimated with the technology we have in district and some of the best practices associated with technology. While this is specifically geared towards our newest staff members, we wanted to make sure to share it with you as well! There are some helpful tips, refreshers, and ideas in this document to help you kick your year off right!  Download the document here!

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! 

One of the biggest complaints that I have heard from teachers and students is that Google Forms does not save responses if a test or quiz is accidentally exited, refreshed, or otherwise lost. Google and their engineers have been listening to requests and have a new feature available for Google Forms! Now, on by default and requiring no extra steps from teachers or students, Google Forms will now save responses as long as the students or respondents are logged into their Google Accounts. There is nothing else that needs to be done, but this is something that I thought was worth sharing! Check out the GIF of the action below. This is taken from the Google products updates newsletter!

 Google Meet has gone through another series of massive updates. Check out this document for all of the latest on Google Meet .