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Showing posts from April, 2018

Tech Tips from Tech Pros

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Barrington 220's own Technology Support Team is always at your service during the school day at x. 1500. We occasionally ask our Techs to pass along Tech Tips based upon the issues they are seeing most often across the district. Take a look below at these great tech tips! From Kim Martinez iPad not charging? Are you using the iPad charger that was assigned to you? An iPhone charger will not charge your iPad correctly.  Is it plugged into a power strip? Plug it directly into the wall outlet.  If the wall outlet is controlled by a light switch, make sure the switch is turned on. If the issue still continues, bring the iPad charger in so that we can troubleshoot the issue. From Adam Fajnor Not a Fan of the Fan When using your MacBook Air and your fan starts to run loud, search Activity Monitor on your Mac and see if an application is overusing computing power (CPU usage). If it is, you can quit or force quit the application in the top left corner with the X. Having many, many browser

Volunteers Needed for Pilot of Paperless Field Trip Requests

Reflecting over the past few years as to how we work and function reminds us that it was not long ago, we were a very paper-centered district. This is not the case today. First, the district transitioned to electronic teacher grade books, then online student IEPs, followed by online registration, electronic purchase orders, and more. There is more to be done, and you can be part of a new pilot program. Next year the district will be piloting paperless field trip requests from teachers and sponsors. We are seeking a small group of individuals willing to serve as the "early adopters" of a new online process for requesting and approving field trips. Participants will be provided training and a login to a website to enter the information currently entered on paper when requesting approval for a field trip. The initial entry is created by the teacher or sponsor, the request will be reviewed for approval by administration and then sent electronically to the transportation office fo

Updates to Pages, Keynote, and Numbers

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Last week, Apple announced updates to their iWork apps, Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. The updates provide teachers and students with new ways to create and collaborate. Pages The Pages app offers beautiful layouts, media integration, and styling options. With the update, Pages added the ability to collaborate in real-time, create and use new shapes and icons, annotate within the document, and create digital books. Keynote Keynote, the app of choice for creating presentations on iPad and MacBook Air devices, offers stunning animations and creative editing features, The update to Keynote added real-time collaboration, new shapes, and the ability to present a Keynote live to any number of devices (similar to the way Nearpod functions). Numbers Once thought of as just a spreadsheet application, Numbers offers much more. Numbers can be used to plan presentations, collect data for a lab report, organize thoughts and ideas like a workbook, and more. The update to Numbers added real-time collab

#bsd220TwitterAwards for March 2018

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Twitter continues to be used as a great tool for teachers and administrators to share exciting events happening in classrooms and to connect with other educators around the world. This month we continue our series honoring those who use Twitter to share the ideals of our  One to World Vision and Mission . Each month, we honor four Twitter users: One Staff Member, Grades PK�5 One Staff Member, Grades 6�8 One Staff Member, Grades 9�12 One Administrator Grades PK�12 March 2018: Staff Member, Grades PK�5, Twitter Award Congratulations, Lori Anderson,  @MrsAGrove ! March 2018: Staff Member, Grades 6�8, Twitter Award Congratulations, Jim Bartlett,  @MrBartlettBSD ! March 2018: Staff Member, Grades 9�12, Twitter Award Congratulations, Janet Anderson,  @Mrs_JAnderson ! February 2018: Administrator, Grades PK�12, Twitter Award Congratulations, Brigid Tileston,  @220Arts ! As always, you can find all of the Barrington 220 accounts by searching the hashtag  #bsd220  or searching my Twitter handle

Learning NOW in Barrington 220 Premiere

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This week marks the premiere episode of Learning NOW in Barrington 220, an online video series highlighting learning in Barrington 220 from the student perspective. Each episode of Learning NOW in Barrington 220 focuses on one topic through the lens of students in different grade levels�elementary, middle, and high school. Watch and subscribe at bit.ly/learningnow220 . The Learning NOW in Barrington 220 web series was created by the District Technology Committee (DTC). The DTC is comprised primarily of Barrington 220 teachers and also includes administration and support staff. Beginning in November 2017, the DTC began planning a survey for parents and community and quickly identified that some of our community members may not fully realize how technology is being used in school. From this realization, the idea of creating a video series about learning for the parent and community audience was born. The DTC created the topics, designed the questions, and worked with principals to ident

Explain Everything 5.0

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New Logo, New Theme, New Features  The developers at Explain Everything recently unveiled an updated app including a new logo, an upbeat purple theme, and exciting new features to go along with it! Explain Everything 5.0 combines all of the tried-and-true features you love, with new and exciting updates. The dashboard improvements include easy access to the most important elements of the program...creating, collaborating, joining, and sharing. The Learn tab offers access to quick tips and ideas, the help center, support contacts, the Explain Everything Website, and blog. The Library tab is an access container for all of the projects you own or have been shared with you. Projects can be stored on the device itself, in Explain Everything cloud storage, or on Google Drive. Add Media:

Big News for MyOn Users

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Big News from MyOn! Our MyOn subscription has a new component for teachers and students to pilot for the remainder of this school year. In addition to the traditional library, the "news" tab will be available through June 2, 2018. The news element holds a valuable mix of current events articles, news stories, sports, weather, and entertainment. The MyOn News feature is available now, click here to watch a short highlight video.