We Video – The Best Bang for Your Buck

We Video – The Best Bang for Your Buck

If you are planning to record screencasts, want to edit video, or record audio files this year, We Video is by far the best product for the dollar.

Through bulk purchasing, we have the ability to provide licenses (at cost to your school) to We Video for around $8 (USD) per user, and this is a tool that we can use with students, as the videos and other data is stored in the student’s Google Drive. 

So, if you wish to use We Video this year, speak to your administrator, and once the decision has been made, contact our technology department to get set up!

Coming to IMC – Botley!

Div 1 – Botley is for you! We have ordered ten of these coding sets to be signed out via IMC. These screen-free coding robots are a hit with kids, and with no need for a Chromebook or even an iPad, they’re user friendly! They should be ready for sign-out by the middle of September.

Canva in CESD = Not for Student Usage

Canva in CESD = Not for Student Usage

 As we begin a new school year, it’s important that we take a look at FOIP, student data, privacy, and safety. We have applications that are not acceptable for use with students in CESD, and we have support for you in determining if a digital tool is suited for use with students.

Canva is an example of an app with an unacceptable privacy policy for student use.  Right now all teachers have a FULL LICENSE to Canva for the purposes of creating resources for the classroom. We cannot use Canva with students, but we’d like to keep it open for teachers to use, but the only way to achieve this is for teachers who have previously used it with students to adjust that practice.

Class Dojo is another app that we can’t use in CESD. Their reputation with student data does not meet our criteria here.

 

So… now what??

First of all, we have a list of applications that have gone through a vetting process, and we have posted this information for you to consult when you are considering using Ed Tech in your classroom. You might find the application on that list.

If you don’t find the website, app or extension you want to use on that list, here are some steps to take; steps that are part of our official CESD vetting process.

1.  Consult Common Sense Media. When we vet an app, we often start there, as their breakdown of the app and its privacy are well-done. The basics will be the same worldwide. Any ed tech pieces that we grant a “yes” status too have also been favorably vetted by Common Sense Media.

2.  It’s important to bear in mind, that we live in Canada, and while there are similarities, there are also differences in privacy management. COPPA and FERPA don’t apply in Canada. Those are American laws, so seeing those terms doesn’t help us. We don’t look at that when we do our vetting process, as it is meaningless here.

3.  We need to know where the student data is stored. We want it stored in Canada. SeeSaw, an application for younger students can ensure data is stored in Canada on paid accounts. If it is clearly not stored in Canada (the privacy policy may or may not address this), then we aren’t going to be able to approve it for use in CESD. If the privacy policy doesn’t indicate, we have no problem reaching out to the provider to ask where their storage is kept.

4.  When possible, having students use their Google single-sign on is preferred. Applications that store the data in the student’s Google Drive are also preferred. If the data is there (We Video is a great example of an app that can store all things in the student drive… and we can get full licenses to it for about $5 per user, so file that away in your mind for future reference), then we know that the data is stored in Canada and it is secure.

5.  Finally, if none of the above-mentioned steps have ground your idea to a halt, talk to your administrator about the application you want to use, and they will reach out to our Director of Technology, Ted, and our Coordinator of Ed Tech, Michelle, and they will handle the vetting process on your behalf. We have a formal vetting process for apps that our teachers want to use.  The list will never be complete, and we don’t try to make it complete. We try to make it relevant for our teachers in CESD.

And on a final note, if the application you were thinking of using doesn’t meet the requirements, consider reaching out to Michelle. Sometimes technology can be kind of like a house, and if you find yourself locked out of a house, you may have to try to go in through a window. Michelle likes to try to find windows, so even if the app you hoped to use is a “no”, there may be an alternative, or a different way to approach the same pedagogy. All is not lost with a “no” extension or application!!

 

Introducing… Cue!!

Introducing… Cue!!

In January 2020 we added a class set of Dot & Dash coding robots to the IMC.  Since their arrival, they have been booked solid.  These robots are fantastic classroom robots for a few reasons, not the least of which is that they are endearing.  If they are switched on, their eyes blink, they make occasional quiet sounds, and give the coder a sense of “aliveness” to the robot.  

We are now excited to add a new set of robots – the BIG BROTHER of Dash, Cue!!

Cue is designed for middle school and up, building on the coding learned with Dot & Dash!

When you sign Cue out from IMC, you may want access to this folder containing resources to be used with the Cue coding robots.

 

CESD Google Classrooms – Archiving

CESD Google Classrooms – Archiving

Why do some classrooms have small text that says “Leave class, don’t archive?”

Those classrooms are shared classrooms that may have up to 20 teachers in our district added to them as teachers. (20 is the limit that Google Classroom currently has).  When you archive it to get it off your screen, you archive it for the 19 others who may not be done using it.

If it is cluttering your screen, you have a couple choices.

When you are on the screen that has the “cards”, as shown on this screen, you can drag the cards around, meaning you can put ones you don’t use regularly down at the bottom of the screen.

You also have the choice to “leave class”. This will unenrol you from classrooms that have been shared to you that you are no longer using. Doing this does not remove the classroom from any other teachers as archiving does, and it gets rid of it permanently for you.

All CESD owned classrooms are now marked with the message “Leave class, dont archive!” to make it very clear which classrooms are shared classrooms. This should save you having to double check on them to be certain.