Letclips

Are you a clicker? This is a simple yes/no question, but in our context it may be the difference between just another day at school and something far worse. KnowBe4 is a security company that specializes in "Security Awareness Training." They report that 91% of successful data breaches start with a Spear Phishing attack. KnowBe4 refers to �Clickers� as those who are most likely to click on a link within a bogus email message, subjecting themselves and their employers to a malicious phishing or virus attack. So what is Spear Phishing? Spear Phishing is an email message sent by cyber criminals that appears to be from a trusted source, but is not. The email message is designed to steal confidential information through deception. There are untold number of ways to deceive via email. A popular method in Illinois school districts is this one: �Subject: A document has been shared with you.� The message goes on to say that someone you know is trying to share a document with you and...

How do we combat the onslaught of news these days?  In addition to filtering the news items, how do we evaluate the news to know if it's true before we hit the share button? Information analysis is an integral part of the District 220 Library/Information Literacy Curriculum. Students are taught the basic elements of evaluation: Authority: Who is the author of the information? What are their qualifications? Purpose: What is the purpose of the information? What's the message? Objectivity: Is the information biased? Is there conflict of interest? Accuracy: Is the information accurate? Has it appeared elsewhere? Can it be triangulated, found in 3 different unrelated sources? Current: Is this information current? Or, is this old information being recirculated? Have you looked at the data embedded in the document, image, or video to find the author, date of origin? This critical skill is developed throughout our students' education beginning in elementary and carrying through h...

In an effort to consolidate and communicate the apps and subscriptions our staff and students can access, we created lists for each. These lists can be accessed easily using these websites: Barrington 220 Approved Apps: bit.ly/220apps Barrington 220 Subscriptions: bit.ly/220subscriptions Each website is designed so staff and students can easily: Find explanations of each app or subscription. Sort by tool function or content area. Sort by grade level access. This video by Shawndra Shelton ( @SSheltonBSD220 ) demonstrates how to access, sort, and navigate the list of Barrington 220 Approved Apps.  The list of Barrington 220 Subscriptions can be accessed, sorted, and navigated in the same way. We continue to update the resources available on both these sites. If you find any errors or any resources we can access that did not make the list, please contact me: jjrobinson@barrington220.org .

Every so often, I share the best of what I've curated from the web. I usually come across these links on Twitter and in those cases, I've included the source so you can follow along. Booksnaps-Snapping for Learning By: Tara Martin @TaraMMartin on Twitter Snapchat! The forbidden fruit of social media, referenced as a learning tool?!?! That's right, Snapchat, for all it's tumultuous press, especially in education, can function as an engaging, productive tool for many classroom activities. Caroline Milne ( @MrsMilneBiology ), a Barrington 220 teacher, uses Snapchat for her students to demonstrate learning during labs and more. In this article,  @TaraMMartin  describes several ways she uses Snapchat in her classroom. Classroom Environment Ideas (Padlet) By: Laura Meehan @laurameehan04 on Twitter Our very own Barrington 220 iDAL coach, Laura Meehan, in conjunction with a few other iDAL coaches, began curating some great ideas for teachers to maximize their classrooms as le...

The development of online classrooms in Barrington 220 has followed a winding path. Many veteran teachers may remember building their first websites and online classrooms using tools like COMPLIMENT and Moodle. The adoption of Schoology signifies a new era of organized and functional use of a unified Learning Management System (LMS) in Barrington 220. In the time before Barrington 220 adopted Schoology as our official, district-wide LMS, many teachers explored the use of other online classrooms and LMSs. Canvas, Haiku Learning, Google Sites, Google Classroom, Edmodo, and Schoology were used throughout the district. Teachers choose tools with a wide range of specific functions and user interfaces. In an effort to streamline communication and organization among students, teachers, and parents, the District Technology Committee recommended that we choose a single LMS to use throughout the district and ultimately recommended Schoology. Where an online classroom provides a place fo...

On Tuesday, January 24, 2017, Barrington 220 hosted a showcase event for regional education leaders featuring our One to World program. The event was well-received by participants and had far-reaching coverage on social media. The purpose of our One to World Showcase was to provide an in-depth view of our district�s one-to-one learning initiative to educational leaders in our region, spotlight several of our classrooms using effective technology integration, and further expand our district�s network of professional learning contacts. Apple provided online registration services and identified the Showcase as an official Apple Education Event. The event accepted over 90 online registrations from over 40 school districts, and more than 20 additional attendees visited who were not pre-registered. Attendees visited from as far north as West Salem, Wisconsin (near La Crosse), to as far south as Arcola, Illinois (south of Champaign). Attendees included technology support staff, teachers, inst...