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Showing posts from February, 2016

Have Your Device Type What You Speak

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Speech Recognition Options for You and Your Students  Using our Everyday Technology Here's how to access Speech Recognition with the technology devices you already have in Barrington 220. MacBook Air Laptop (or Other Mac) Launch  System Preferences (in the Dock or under the Apple menu) and select Dictation and Speech. Turn on & check Use Enhanced Dictation. Once activated, open your writing application document, e-mail, etc.   Press the fn key twice (lower-left corner of the keyboard) to bring up the Mic to begin dictation (this key can be changed in System Preferences).  Google Docs Voice Typing Pull down the Tools menu and select Voice Typing .  Add it as an add-on: Click here to learn how to add the SR add on in Google Docs T ap the mic to begin. Google Add-On Google Docs Speech Recognition iPad (or iPhone) Speech Recognition Use the microphone built into the keyboard to speak sentences, punctuation, and simple commands. Make sue Siri is turned on in Settings to acc

I Need More iPad Storage!

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YES! It's Thursday afternoon�which everyone knows as the day each week when Apple refreshes the apps featured in the App Store�and you've just discovered an app that will completely transform your instructional practices and, therefore, change your life forever. Copyright: http://www.gifriffic.com You quickly begin downloading the app. And everything begins to go horribly wrong... Copyright: http://www.macworld.com Copyright: http://www.macworld.com Ah! Even joking about this makes me sad. Copyright: http://www.reactiongifs.us If you're like me, you could use a few strategies to balance the storage space available on your Apple iOS devices and the Apple devices the students use in your class. Two TSAs, Connie Martindale from Hough and Shawndra Shelton from Grove designed the following video to give you options for handling storage space on your iPad devices: On iPad devices (and iPhone devices), most storage solutions involve deleting apps, removing songs, and/or uploading

No Phishing in Barrington 220

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Phishing (pronounced �fishing�) is when an email spammer �fishes� for information by sending an email that appears to come from a trustworthy source and attempts to get you, the email recipient, to provide your username and password. If you provide your username and password, someone else can use your account for illicit activity (such as sending out more spam to other recipients or using your username and password to access more of your accounts). Here are some signs that you are being phished. The best way to deal with a phishing email is to delete it. Contact x.1500 if you need help identifying a potential phishing email.

Bits and Bytes: Looking Toward Next Year

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With the second semester in full-tilt, we are already looking at backend Barrington 220 network and system revamps for the next school year. Wow, this is going to be fun! A minimum of 151 new wireless access points are needed for our elementary school One to World program. Scott Moore and his trusty team of two college students will be up and down many a ladder this summer, installing this equipment. We currently have 457 wireless access points throughout the district and 138 of these are due for replacement, they are EOL or "End of Life." More work for Scott and his team! With so many wireless access points deployed at Barrington 220, the current wireless access point controllers are no longer capable of full redundancy�if one controller fails, they all fail and wireless goes down. This would make a lot of unhappy campers here. Do we bite the bullet and upgrade the controllers (offering 20 Gbps connectivity to our all-powerful data center Nexus core switch)? Now this is an u

Next Steps for Our One to World Program

On Tuesday, February 2, 2016, we had the opportunity to present to our Barrington 220 School Board on the topic of our One to World program. This presentation allowed us to update the Board on the progress of the program, provide information about technology integration, and showcase four examples of classroom use of technology across the district. The Barrington 220 One to World program is in its third implementation year. Year 1 (2013�14) included the BHS MacBook Air pilot. Year 2 (2014�15) was the first full implementation year for MacBook Air laptops at BHS and a large-scale iPad pilot with all of Grade 6. This year, BHS continues to use MacBook Air laptops, all our middle school program is fully implemented with iPads, and we have pre-launched iPads in select classrooms across Grades PK�5 in all elementary buildings. Our District Technology Committee (DTC), comprised primarily of teacher representatives in all buildings and grade levels, meets monthly to discuss technology integra