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Stay updated with the latest TCEA announcements. Find news, event updates, and important information for educators and tech enthusiasts.

Educator Awards and Scholarships
Announcements/Important Dates

Do You Know a Rockstar Educator or Scholar?

by Joe Vasquez
written by Joe Vasquez

If you’ve worked in education for any length of time, chances are you know many educators who exemplify excellence. These are the men and women who go above and beyond every day to connect with students, spin amazement out of limited resources, find creative solutions, and make their school or district a better place for children, fellow educators, and the community.

As unsung heroes striving to teach excellence and reach high levels of student achievement, educators rarely get the recognition they deserve for the critical role they play in transforming the next generation of learners. To celebrate their hard work, TCEA wants to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of amazing educators, leaders, and  pre-service college students through our Educator Awards and Scholarships program.

The 2018 Educator Awards

With each year’s awards, TCEA seeks to showcase exceptional educators and leaders who have made incredible contributions in the integration of technology in schools. Award recipients receive a $1,000 prize, and two finalists in each category will receive $500 awards.

For the 2018 Educator Awards, the categories are:

  • High Impact Teacher of the Year
  • Librarian/Media Specialist of the Year
  • Technical Support Person of the Year
  • Instructional Technology Specialist of the Year
  • District or Campus Administrator of the Year
  • Technology Administrator of the Year
  • School Board of the Year
  • Lifetime Achievement for the Advancement of Technology in Education

Scholarships for Teacher and Student Success

In addition to recognizing educators already doing great things in the field, TCEA Scholarships are awarded each year to encourage the next generation of deserving teachers and students who are still mastering all that technology in education can do. Scholarships are available for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professionals seeking continuing education. Scholarship recipients are awarded between $500 – $1,000 in prizes, based on the criteria of each scholarship.

The scholarships offered are:

  • Robert E. Knight Professional Scholarship (for full-time, current educators)
  • Richard A. Brown Student Scholarship (for full-time undergraduate students pursuing a career in education)
  • Jeri Hodges Leadership Scholarship (for full-time educators to take advantage of professional development opportunities)

Don’t Wait – Apply or Nominate a Deserving Teacher or Student Today!

Applications are accepted this year from September 11 to October 27. Nominate the deserving educators and college students in your life, and don’t be shy about applying yourself!

The Educator Awards and Scholarships are presented at a formal ceremony and reception during the 2018 TCEA Convention & Exposition in February. So what are you waiting for? Apply for our awards and scholarships today!

 

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2018 TASA Teacher of the Year
Announcements/Important DatesGood Teaching

Spotlight on TCEA Member and TASA 2018 Teacher of the Year Tara Bordeaux

by Susan Meyer
written by Susan Meyer

At TCEA, it’s fair to say all our members are innovators. We are thrilled that we get to support so many passionate educators on their journey to transforming teaching and learning with technology. And we love hearing the incredible things our members our accomplishing in their schools, districts, and communities. It’s particularly nice to see this hard work recognized as the Texas Association of School Administrators does with their Teacher of the Year awards. This year, not one but two TCEA members were nominated as finalists: Gary Strickland, a science teacher at Coleman High School in Coleman ISD and Tara Bordeaux, who teachers media arts at Lanier High School in Austin ISD.

We’re very excited to spread the exciting news that Tara Bordeaux was announced today as the 2018 Teacher of the Year! She will also represent the state as Texas Teacher of the Year in the National Teacher of the Year competition. I had a chance last week to ask Tara a few questions to learn a little about her background and her teaching philosophy, so I can share with you why she is such an exceptional educator.

A Less Traveled Path to Education

Teacher of the YearTara didn’t immediately start her career in education. Prior to beginning to teach media arts at Lanier in 2013, she spent 10 years working in television and film production in Los Angeles. When I asked Tara how she found the transition, she said it was definitely a change that “took a while to get used to.” In fact, five years later, Tara is still happily getting her bearings and enjoying the fact that teaching is a profession in which the learning never stops. As Tara describes: “Teaching is completely different. I had a lot more freedom in media production, and there are way more restrictions in teaching. Both fields are extremely rewarding, and require hard work, but they are very different environments.”

One asset of her previous work experience is that she can still use her industry know-how and connections to help her students. She has continued to work in the industry and stay up to date on current trends and changes. As she said, this “enables me to give my students real-world industry experiences.” Providing knowledge and connections outside of the book is just another way Tara is able to break down the walls of her classroom and create new opportunities for students.

Using Technology in the Classroom

Like most TCEA members, Tara embraces the use of technology every day in the classroom. As Tara describes: “From computers to cameras, phones, iPads, software, apps, you name it. I value the importance of technology, and I try to instill a love and respect for tech in my students as well. The most challenging aspect of teaching a technology-based class is trying to choose what type of tech to use with all of the amazing options out there.” And she doesn’t just use technology that is focused on media production and the content she teaches in class. She wants to help create a well-rounded digital literacy in her students. As she explains, in her classroom she is always looking for “new ways to present tech resources and material to students so they can continue to use them successfully in life after they leave my program.”

As for the tools she is most excited about? Tara is thrilled by options available in mobile filmmaking and “DIY affordable ways for students to make broadcast-quality content right in the palm of their hands.” She enjoys seeing students get invested in the tools and projects that they can create on their own. “There are so many innovative ways to create content, and what excites me is the power of the camera on the latest smartphones and iPads. Students become really excited as well when they learn just how many things they can do on their own devices.”

A Lifetime of Learning

Tara doesn’t just teach her students, but she is continually amazed at all that she can learn from them. “I also love learning from my students. Sometimes, I think I learn way more from them then they learn from me. They keep me on my feet, and I love that they aren’t afraid to call me out on my mistakes.” She goes on to say: “My favorite thing about teaching is having fun with my students. I love being able to teach a class that is not only innovative, but creative, and one that allows me to let students run with technology.”

In her interview with TASA, Tara spoke about her own past and how it inspires her teaching philosophy today: “I know first hand how hard life can be on a young heart, and I know how easy it is to give up. I know, because I did, and I dropped out of high school,” she said. “My hope is that as a teacher, I can inspire my students to persevere, and succeed in ways I never could. I believe that every student deserves the opportunity to learn from teachers who truly care about the impact they are making in a child’s life. I chose to become a teacher because I wanted to give students the chance to chase their dreams and learn how to believe in themselves, even if the world gives them reasons to stop believing.”

We want to congratulate Tara Bordeaux on the incredible honor of being TASA’s 2018 Secondary Teacher of the Year! We know this is only the beginning, and she has many other honors and accomplishments still to come. You can follow her on Twitter to see what other amazing things she is doing.

 

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Hurricane Harvey matching
Announcements/Important Dates

Adopt a Classroom Hit Hard by Hurricane Harvey

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Update: Thank you for the incredible outpouring of support! We had almost 600 responses on our online form, and were able to match 200 classrooms to donors. We have now closed the form, but we sincerely appreciate all of those who offered their help. 

It warms my heart to see all of the assistance that people are willing to provide to those hit hardest by Hurricane Harvey. That shows true Texas spirit — neighbor helping neighbor in times of need. TCEA also wants to help by providing a way for those in need and for those who want to give to come together.

If you are an educator in need of supplies for your classroom that was damaged by the storm, all you have to do is complete this short form outlining what you are lacking. Be as specific as possible, even including photos or brands of the items that you need. We will then match you with a generous donor who will purchase the items and ship them to you, all at no cost to you. (You can learn of other assistance that is available to you in this blog and in this one.)

If you were fortunate enough not to receive damage from Hurricane Harvey and would like to help out a fellow educator, simply complete the form and we will match you with a classroom to assist. Please keep in mind that, if you apply to adopt, you are committing to making a good faith effort to try to meet at least some of the school supply needs of the classroom you are matched with.

Together, we can make a huge difference for students and teachers who need our help to continue learning.

 

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educator award winner
Announcements/Important DatesLeadership

Spotlight on Educator Award Winner Brianna Hodges

by Susan Meyer
written by Susan Meyer

Each year, TCEA honors exemplary teachers with the Educator Awards. The recipients of these awards represent the best and brightest in implementing technology in education. One of the awards we present each year is for the best Instructional Technology Specialist recognizing outstanding personnel working on one or more campuses in curriculum integration and technology planning.

In 2017, this particular honor was bestowed on Brianna Hodges, the incredible Director of Digital Learning at Stephenville ISD. I talked to Brianna to learn a little more about her experience as our Instructional Technology Specialist of the Year, what the award has meant to her, and what’s next for her district.

How have you worked with TCEA in the past?

I was first introduced to TCEA by attending the conference. From there, I attended the Google Trainer Bootcamp to prepare for my Google Trainer Certification tests, and now attend webinars to see how others are leveraging tools in their classrooms and on their campuses. I also have become involved with advocacy, working with TEC-SIG [Technology Coordinators Special Interest Group] to appeal to legislators to help better the learning environment and experience for our students.

How has winning the Instructional Technology Specialist of the Year Award impacted you?

The finalist field for this award is so strong; seriously, the level of depth and innovative work in digital learning across Texas is truly unparalleled. Learning from and alongside these rock stars, we are able to change the educational experience for our kiddos in so many ways. There is such strength in our professional learning networks, and winning this award provides an opportunity to represent our students, teachers, and peers by giving a voice to iterative innovation.

What’s next for you and for Stephenville ISD?

These are definitely exciting times! Our iCHAMPION initiative is in full swing at SISD. This initiative is shifting the learning environment to a more personalized, student-centric experience. We are seeing maker-learning influence, creativity, and problem-solving. We are seeing breakout and challenge-based learning affect student agency and engagement. We are seeing global publishing create authentic audiences to advance the demonstration of understanding. And it’s just the beginning!

Stephenville ISD is proud to be one of the 78 school districts across the nation recognized as a part of the League of Innovative School. Through this organization, I’m working on a few initiatives, namely micro-credentialing for professional learning, challenge-based learning, and alternative assessments via demonstrations. I’ve also been named a national advisor for Future Ready Schools (FRS), an initiative of the Alliance for Excellent Education. In this role, I’ll be supporting instructional coaches through social media, webinars, and the FRS Institutes as we seek to encourage coaches and teacher leaders to support instruction through best practices and personalized experiences.

Do you know our next Instructional Technology Specialist of the Year?

The Educator Award nominations open this year on September 11. We encourage you to nominate those in your schools or districts who, like Brianna Hodges, are doing incredible things to innovate teaching and learning. The recipients of the awards in each category receive a $1,000 prize and two finalists each receive $500. To learn more about the various awards and how to nominate someone, go here.

 

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Hurricane Harvey
Announcements/Important DatesTechnical Support

Assistance to School Districts Hit by Hurricane Harvey

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Hurricane Harvey has devastated many parts of Texas, causing untold billions in property damage and too many lost lives. School districts were not spared the destruction. Once the storm has passed, many schools will be searching for help to get students back in the classroom as quickly as possible. Each of us can help with this noble and important purpose.

If You’re in Need

TCEA encourages each educator, librarian, CTO, and administrator hit hard by the hurricane to work together to create projects in Donors Choose to replace critical learning resources. Add the hashtag #TCEA to each project and we will help to promote the need using our vast array of members, exhibitors, sponsors, partners, and contacts. (For hints on getting your project funded, check out this blog.)

By the way, for individuals who had storm damage, you need to file your claim by September 1. As this article shows, a new law (House Bill 1774) takes effect then that impacts the rights and remedies available to property owners under the Texas Insurance Code. So be sure you notify your insurance agent by the end of August so that your claim falls under the current law.

If You Were Not Hurt by Hurricane Harvey

Now is the time for those of us fortunate enough to sustain little or no damage from the storm to help those in need. Find a project with the #TCEA hashtag and contribute what you can to help that educator. Whether it’s a little or a lot, each donation will tell those in pain that they are cared for and that tomorrow will be a better day.

Assistance to Districts from Microsoft

In an email sent to TCEA today from Doug Thompson, Microsoft Account Technology Strategist for US Education, we once again see that humanity is inherently good and willing to help each other. Microsoft is offering assistance to school districts hit hard by Hurricane Harvey, as you can see in the email below.

Microsoft and your Microsoft Account Team are at the ready to assist your district and institution with the failover and/or recovery of mission critical applications and data into Microsoft Azure due to outages or anticipated outages caused by Hurricane Harvey. Microsoft Azure is Microsoft’s IaaS and PaaS cloud offering support for both Windows- and Linux-based workloads running on physical servers, and in both Hyper-V and VMWare virtual environments.  Whether you own Azure today or not, if you need assistance with failing over mission critical systems and data into Azure, please respond to Doug Thompson with the following information to allow Microsoft timely follow-up with the right resources:

  1. District / Institution Name
  2. Primary contact for IT systems disaster recovery
    1. Name
    2. E-mail
    3. Phone
  3. Current status of data center(s) – up, down, flooded, no power, accessible or not
  4. Current status of applications – up, down
  5. Backup software and backup medium (tape, disks, 3rd-party off-site)
  6. Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery software in place today
  7. Timeline for availability of applications – now, end of week, etc.
  8. Availability for a call with Microsoft to triage need and go-forward plan

If you are a current user of Azure or new to Azure and would like to understand how mission critical workloads can be replicated to Azure for failover using Azure Site Recovery, documentation on the service is available here including capacity and configuration planning tools to help with expediting the build out of the failover environment in Azure:

Free Digital Books from myON

myON, a long-time supporter of TCEA, is offering their entire collection of more than 10,000 digital books free to anyone in Texas for a limited time. You can read more about this amazing opportunity here.

Assistance to Districts from Amazon Web Services

Besides donating funds to the relief efforts, Amazon is also offering help for the technical side of school districts. They have authorized to build  individual relief plans with schools and give credits to aid in the recovery. These credits are available for all Amazon Web Services products based on your unique need. They will work across their Professional Services, Solutions Architects, and other technical teams to provide needed assistance at the appropriate time.

If you are or know a school IT department that is in need of any support, please email K12HarveyRelief@amazon.com with your school or district’s name, a primary contact name, and contact information (mobile and email). You can also forward this message to other impacted schools. If you are in the position to initiate your disaster recovery plans or need to migrate data currently, you may find this website of value.

Assistance to Districts from Digital Wish with Wireless Internet Hotspots

Digital Wish has donations of wireless internet hotspots for educators, which can be used to get internet access in their classroom, on the road, at home, or anywhere they are working.

The donated hotspots are paired with Mobile Beacon’s 4G LTE Internet service at the discounted education rate of $10/month.  Educators get unlimited, high-speed 4G LTE mobile broadband service on the donated high quality, 10-hour battery life hotspot. With over 1,000 already donated, the cost savings to schools and educators is substantial.

The internet service provider, Mobile Beacon, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission of bringing affordable internet service to schools, libraries, and other non-profits.  They are also the second largest Educational Broadband Service (EBS) provider in the United States.

This program is ideal for rural counties that have limited internet service or for those hit hard by the hurricane. Educators can get the hotspots and internet service using their own credit card, if employed by a school district and have an official school email address. A one-time $18 admin fee applies for a single modem donation and $120 full-year subscriptions must be paid in advance. Bulk discounts are available. Learn more and get your hotspots here.

Free Refurbished Equipment for Districts

If your district needs hardware to replace equipment damaged by Harvey, you can contact the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. They have a very successful program where they refurbish computers, monitors, servers, keyboards, mice, speakers, and switches and provide the like-new units to school districts at no charge. Inmates are taught vital job skills while they repair and rework the technology and school children can benefit.

Rebuilding Your Library After Hurricane Harvey

Shannon Miller has put together an excellent collection of resources to help schools rebuild their libraries after the disaster. You can find them here.

Remarks from Commissioner Morath Update

On September 13, Commissioner of Education Morath gave an update on the disaster to the State Board of Education. He made the following points:

  • The state has worked with FEMA so that all costs to recover from Harvey (for schools) will be paid at a 90/10 split. FEMA will pay 90% of the costs and the local district will pay 10%. (This is typically a 75/25 split.) The costs will cover technical infrastructure and devices.
  • The FEMA procurement process can be tricky, so the district must fill out the paperwork carefully. TEA can help with this, along the the ESC in your area.
  • TEA’s Harvey Resources Website

E-rate Deadline Relief for Hurricane-Affected Areas

For those areas affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and covered by federal disaster declarations, the following changes are already in place for E-rate applicants. Applicants in the affected areas will have an additional 30 days to respond to the following:

  • Pending Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) questions about their FCC Forms 471 that are in the review process.
  • New Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) questions about their FCC Forms 471 that are in the review process.
  • Any other pending USAC requests for information and/or documentation, for example, for invoice review or FCC Form 486 review.
  • Any other new USAC requests for information and/or documentation, for example, for invoice review or FCC Form 486 review.

Skills Software for Harvey-Affected Schools

SKILLS Global is offering free Skills BIP (Behavior Intervention Planning) Builder software to schools that were impacted by hurricanes. Find out more information here.

In difficult times like these, we are all better as we work together. Our members are some of the best people in the world, and together, we can make a difference for educators and students who are in need.

This blog was updated with additional resources on October 30, 2017.

 

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Innovative Learning Strategies Conference banner
Announcements/Important DatesProfessional Learning

Find the Right Tools for Your School at the Innovative Learning Strategies Conference

by Susan Meyer
written by Susan Meyer

As a reader of the TCEA TechNotes blog, chances are you are an ed tech news maven. That means you likely hear about at least five new trends that are going to “transform education” every day. But therein lies the problem. We live in a world where new technologies and resources are coming out at lightning speed. Some tools and strategies really will provide incredible opportunities for learning and engagement while others will be style over substance and will disappear as soon as the next shiny robot, app, or software comes along.

They all promise the world. Students will be the most engaged they’ve ever been. Critical thinking skills will abound. Classroom management will become a breeze. It’s as if your curriculum was written just to be correlated to this new product. But how do you separate the true innovations from the flash-in-the-pan fads?

Enter: The Innovative Learning Strategies Conference

TCEA is here to help you figure out what technologies and strategies will best benefit your schools, classrooms, and libraries. We designed our new Innovative Learning Strategies Conference to provide the research-backed answers you need to select the best technologies and resources for your students.

The conference will tell you more about a number of hot topics from adapted teaching and blended learning to augmented reality and Future Ready Schools. Informative, interactive sessions will answer questions about the topics you want to know more about, such as:

  • What’s the real value of edcamps, Open Education Resources, and PBL?
  • What does leading research tell us about the effectiveness of Minecraft, makerspaces, and gamification?
  • How are Skechnoting and 3D printing best utilized in the classroom?
  • What barriers to implementation might you face with authentic assessment and globalized learning environments and how might you overcome them?

You’ll get the answers to these questions and more for all the tools and strategies at the forefront of education. Overall, you’ll leave with a concrete road map for what will work best for your school and environment and how to effectively implement those technologies and ideas.

Are You Ready to Spread Innovative Ideas?

The Innovative Learning Strategies Conference is intended for campus and district administrators, curriculum specialists, department heads, and other educators in leadership positions. We want to provide valuable information for thought leaders and influencers to share with their schools and departments. Because of your participants in this learning event, you will be able to gather great information and resources and spread it far and wide to have a huge impact.

The learning experience will take place in the TCEA Conference Center in Austin, Texas on September 13 – 14. For full details on how to register, hotel offerings, and a detailed schedule, visit the Innovative Learning Strategies website.

We hope to see you in Austin this fall so you can get the information you need to find the right technologies and learning strategies to transform your school!

 

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preservice teacher
Announcements/Important Dates

Preservice Teachers, We Have A Gift for You!

by Carrie McFarland
written by Carrie McFarland

You’ve spent many semesters as a student preparing to become a teacher. Now it’s time to take your first steps into the classroom as a preservice teacher. Are you filled with enthusiasm or nervous energy? Either way, you’ll do great!

To show our support, we want to give you a FREE membership to TCEA to help you continue to grow your ed tech skills and knowledge as you begin your teaching career.

 

 

Stay a Step Ahead!

With your TCEA membership, we’ll keep you one step ahead of the rest! TCEA is the only association in Texas that is dedicated to technology in education. With your membership, you’ll be joining more than 16,000 educators who are already successfully using the available tools and resources to bring technology into the classroom for greater student learning.  And, because our professional development staff are all former educators, we know exactly what you’ll be experiencing as a teacher.

Let Us Help You!

As a member, you’ll receive:

  • Lesson ideas to bring technology into your classroom through weekly online webinars
  • Recommended apps to enhance your lesson plans
  • Continuous, up-to-date ed tech information and tools to use in your classroom through our newsletter blog
  • Access to a community of educators to collaborate and share ideas with

As an extra gift, we’ve created four online webinars with information especially for you. The webinars are recorded. So if you can’t join during the live show, you can watch them later at your leisure. And they all count toward those CPE hours needed to keep your teaching certificate.

  • I’m Officially a Teacher – Now What? – August 1 at 4pm – Register here
  • Free Resources for Teachers – August 15 at 4pm – Register here
  • Tips for Planning the New School Year – September 19 at 4pm – Register here
  • Principal Perspectives for New Teachers – October 3 at 4pm – Register here

Our Focus Is Powerful Teaching and Learning

TCEA is focused on using technology to learn at all grade levels and for all students. Throughout the year, we will be bringing you new ideas, resources, and tips to add value to your lessons and teaching, helping you make the most of your time with the students.

TCEA is by far the easiest way to stay up-to-date in educational technology.  To sign up for your free membership, simply click on Join now.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me and I’ll be happy to help.  We’re here to support you every step of your career!

 

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system admin
Announcements/Important DatesLeadershipTechnical Support

Five Ways to Thank Your System Administrator

by Susan Meyer
written by Susan Meyer

The system administrator who serves your school or district keeps the hardware, software, network, and infrastructure running so you don’t have to. These tech wizards sometimes have a thankless job because when everything goes well, it’s easy to forget how much hard work they’re doing behind the scenes. When there are no fires to put out, everyone’s computer is running at top speed, and the printers are free of jams, they don’t always get the pat on the back that they richly deserve. Luckily, there’s a day each year when you can take the time to thank your system admin for all the hard work they do to keep your school not just functioning, but thriving!

The 18th annual System Administrator Appreciation falls this year on July 28. That gives you plenty of time to come up with the perfect way to thank the tech savvy admins in your life and show them you appreciate them 365 days a year. If you’re stuck coming up with the perfect token of appreciation, here are a few ideas to consider.

A Thoughtful Card

Showing your appreciation doesn’t have to be a big to-do. Even a simple card signed by as many educators as possible can go a long way. Hearing nice notes from so many of the people they serve will bring a smile to your system admin’s face. Any thoughtful, gracious card will do, or you can find one designed just for system administrators here. If you’re reading this on July 28, and there’s no time to buy a card and organize its signing, you can still send a funny e-card.

Tech Gifts

If a card just isn’t enough to recognize your system admin’s true rock star status, consider a larger token of your appreciation. How about a funny t-shirt? If they like tech gadgets both on and off the clock, ThinkGeek has a great selection of toys for techies. And, of course, when you’re not sure what to get, a gift card always gets the job done.

Delicious Baked Goods

It’s hard not to feel appreciated when someone bakes you cookies or brownies. Or if there aren’t any bakers in your school, there’s no shame in store-bought. If someone in your school is incredibly ambitious, here are some pretty spectacular cakes to attempt. And, of course, there’s my personal favorite: the Rubik’s cube cake.

Party It Up!

Cards and gifts are nice, but if you’ve got the time and resources, bringing everyone together for a little in-person appreciation time can’t be beat. (Plus, it gives you the opportunity to give that Rubik’s cube cake you spent the last eight hours constructing a proper audience!). Break out the balloons and maybe bring in lunch. The size and scale of the party isn’t so important as giving people the opportunity to express their words of gratitude in person.

Make Their Job a Little Easier

Remember, appreciating your sys admin really shouldn’t happen one day a year. You can help them appreciate you as much as you appreciate them by listening to their advice and being patient. You can also give them a “survival kit” with things like coffee, candy, a stress ball, and an ergonomic keyboard or mouse.

I hope you’ll consider one of these ideas for July 28th. If you have another great idea for how you plan to shower your system admin with appreciation next week, let us know in the comments below. And don’t forget to tell the admins in your life about TCEA’s System Administrator and Technical Support Conference happening this October. It will provide them everything they need to keep current on the latest trends and solutions in the IT world.

 

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Microsoft updates
Announcements/Important DatesMicrosoft

Farewell Docs.com, Hello Enhanced OneNote, Forms, and Flow

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Did you catch the news updates about an enhanced OneNote, Microsoft Forms, and Microsoft Flow? Just as Microsoft works hard to enhance its classroom offerings, it is also shuttering existing services like Docs.com. This morning, I woke to the news that Docs.com, which Tom Grissom highlighted in this TCEA Podcast, would disappear and be replaced by Slideshare.com as the preferred sharing platform. Some other updates in this blog entry include changes to OneNote 2016 and OneNote. We will also take a look at Microsoft Flow and Microsoft Forms (Microsoft’s IFTTT.com type service).

Farewell, Docs.com

If you’re not familiar with Docs.com, it offered a simple way for Microsoft users to share their resources online. It described itself as a way to “showcase and discover Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Sway, and PDF documents for free.” Docs.com community members shared quite a bit of incredible content online, including Marjolein Hoekstra’s OneNote and Minecraft resources. The service proved invaluable as I began learning about how others were using Microsoft products like OneNote and Sway, giving me access to fantastic creations from the K-12 space and more. Here’s an excerpt from the email I received this morning about the update:

Thank you for using Docs.com. We would like to let you know that we are retiring the Docs.com service on December 15, 2017, and need you to take action to save your files. Please make sure to migrate all your content to other storage and/or sharing services on or before the retirement date to avoid losing any of your data.

As I look forward to Slideshare becoming the new sharing space, I hope that the migration process will be as smooth as suggested above. Find out about the migration process online. Some important dates to keep in mind include June 9 as the time when new Docs.com accounts will no longer be allowed; August 1 when publishing and editing of Docs.com content will stop; and December 15 when Docs.com will be completely inaccessible.

OneNote Turbo-Charged

enhancedJust a few weeks ago, I recorded two video walk throughs of OneNote 2016 (now sporting a new name, OneNote Desktop) and the OneNote app on Windows 10. In that time, Microsoft has rolled out incredible changes to the OneNote app, making it my preferred OneNote tool.

That means, yes, I’m no longer using OneNote 2016 and instead, prefer the free OneNote app. The latter has a more nimble interface and responds faster to commands.

Some of the major features now available in the OneNote app include:

Be sure to update your OneNote app to get these revised or new features. Unless you are using some esoteric feature (e.g. copy text from picture, Onetastic macros, high-end table customization, insert Excel spreadsheets), the improved OneNote app may meet your needs.

Microsoft Forms Improved and Flow Sports New Integrations

If you’ve been using Microsoft Forms, you’ll be delighted to note that it now has a new interface featuring Form thumbnails, as shown below. MS Forms also now supports a total of 68 languages.

enhanced

If that wasn’t enough, Microsoft just made this announcement about Forms integration with MS Flow.

Microsoft Forms is a new part of Office 365 Education that allows teachers and students to quickly and easily create custom quizzes, surveys, questionnaires, registrations, and more. Currently in preview, the connector enables you to act whenever a new form response is submitted.

If you are accustomed to using If This Then That (IFTTT.com), Microsoft Flow offers another tool that interacts specifically with Office 365 tools (e.g. OneDrive). IFTTT is one of my favorite tools to automate the flow of information from one location to another. Introducing these connectors will make it much easier for MS Forms to get work done.

Some examples of the work that can get done include (source):

  • Using Forms and Flow, you can receive email, push, or text notifications when new survey responses are submitted. You can also notify your team by posting the response to your channel on Teams, Yammer, or Slack.
  • You can route the response to your favorite database service or create a new record in Google Sheet or Excel.
  • You can create workflows to automate tasks based on the information received from a user (the responder).

Wait, There’s More!

If you are like many Office 365 educators, you are waiting for the biggest announcement of them all. That is, the availability of MS Classroom components into the more robust MS Teams. Having seen some of the integrations possible with MS Teams, I can only wait with anticipation to see what’s coming next. Stay tuned to the TCEA TechNotes blog for the latest updates.

 

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OneNote
Announcements/Important DatesMicrosoft

Enhancing Parental Access with OneNote Class Notebook

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

On April 19, 2017, Microsoft made an announcement that a lot of classroom teachers had been eagerly awaiting. Microsoft announced that teachers can now get read-only links to various aspects of the OneNote Class Notebook Content Library, as well as individual student notebooks. This is a much anticipated feature since it facilitates parent/guardian access to student work. If this were the only new feature add-on for Class Notebook, that would be enough. However, Microsoft also released three additional enhancements to a product teachers and students use every day.

OneNote Class Notebooks have a personal workspace for every student, a content library for handouts, and a collaboration space for lessons and creative activities (source). Get the OneNote Class Notebook add-in for OneNote desktop (2013 or 2016). It is designed to help teachers save time and be even more efficient with their Class Notebooks. The add-in includes page and section distribution, quick review of student work, and assignment and grading integration with many Learning Management Systems LMSs). No integration with Microsoft Teams, which takes the place of Microsoft Classroom, is available yet.

About Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a digital hub that brings conversations, content, and apps together in one place. Educators can create collaborative classrooms, connect in professional learning communities, and communicate with school staff all from a single experience in Office 365 for Education. Find out more

Feature #1: Delete Student Content from OneNote

Teachers sometimes need to remove a student and that student’s content. Using the Manage Notebook web interface, teachers can now remove a student and then select a check box to also delete that student’s content. Here is a screenshot illustrating the feature:
OneNote

Feature #2: Permissions in the Collaboration Space

As mentioned earlier, the OneNote Class Notebook Collaboration Space serves as a common area for students to work together online. The teacher can divide students up into various groups, facilitating project-based learning (PBL) and collaboration. The new Class Notebook enhancement makes it easier for teachers to allocate student permissions for each section. The benefit is that the teacher can decide whether or not students in one group can see or interact with content in another group’s section. This makes it easy for a group of students to co-create projects and then. when appropriate, that content can be viewed by other students.

Feature #3: Extending Learning Management System Support

Microsoft has continued to expand support for third-party learning management systems, student information systems (SISs), and parent portals. This expanded support comes after an announcement earlier in the year . That announcement focused on richer grade scales, including custom points, letter grades, and pass/fail percentages supported by Canvas and Skooler, two learning management systems. Connecting your LMS/SIS has never been easier.

Kudos to Microsoft’s Commitment

I applaud Microsoft for adding these critical enhancements for educators using OneNote Class Notebook in Office 365 districts. These enhancements affirm Microsoft’s commitment to listening and implementing changes teachers that recommend.

One desired enhancement, relevant to Microsoft Classroom (now, Microsoft Teams since Classroom will be sunset July 31, 2017), I have heard from teachers is the inclusion of a “lite” gradebook. Another is easy embedding of straight MP3 audio files into OneNote pages that results in an embedded player. What enhancements would you request from Microsoft to make teaching and learning easier?

 

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