How to add a printer to your school computer

Barracuda, or how to navigate the Orwellian cyberspace

Coding for a humanist - A Humanist for coding

Straddling Silicon Valley's Techie-Fuzzie Divide
By Marisa Messina

Three great tutorials about Google Classroom

In preparation for,  reinforcement of,  or even in lieu of (if you can't attend)  Josh's upcoming presentation on Google Classroom Friday Sept 18th, PLC:

1.Getting started: Set up your class

2. Teacher and Student view: What's happening

3. All the possibilities, by an expert: The sky is the limit

Clarification on the New Hampshire Student Privacy Law (HB 520)

From the NH DEO ET News blog:

In a nutshell: Google Drive is in compliance with NH legislation (JJL)

In many of your school communities, there may be some chatter about the use of cloud based services like Google Apps for Education in our schools. There may be some misconceptions that schools will no longer be able to use Google Apps for Education, or other such collaborative, cloud based services. The following information may help you clarify this law when concerns arise in your communities.

On January 1, 2016 a new law in New Hampshire (NH-HB520) will take affect concerning student online personal information. This is great news for all of us concerned about the distribution and sale of student information.   Unfortunately, there may be some confusion among schools, parents, community members, or school administrators about this legislation with regard to using Google Apps for Education in our New Hampshire schools.

To be clear, HB 520 only “establishes guidelines for the protection of student online personal information”. It does not prohibit schools from using online or cloud based services, it merely protects those service providers from harvesting student data and using or selling it.

Chapter 128, HB 520 – Final Versionhttp://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2015/HB0520.html

Consider the following points:

1. NH-HB520 does not directly reference Google Apps for Education, so the bill is not targeted at Google Apps for Ed in any way. Previous versions of this bill used Google Aps as an example of a service provider. But the language is gone in the final version, most likely to avoid confusion.
2. NH-HB520 prohibits the ‘operator’ (aka provider of services) to use, sell, or disclose student information and generating targeted advertisements. Google Apps for Education is the poster child for privacy and security. Google Apps for Education has very strict policies governing the use of student information.

“We don’t sell your Google Apps for Education data to third parties and we do not share personal information placed in our systems with third parties, except in the few exceptional circumstances described in your Google Apps agreement and our Privacy Policy, such as when you ask us to share it or when we are required to do so by law.

For full details, please refer to your Google Apps agreement and the “Information Sharing” section of our Privacy Policy” or visit https://www.google.com/edu/trust/ for complete information.  “There are no ads in Google Apps for Education services…” In fact, K12 Google Apps for Education users do not see ads when they use Google Search and are signed into their Apps for Education accounts.”

3. Google has signed the Student Privacy Pledge which is endorsed by President Obama. The company understands the importance of data privacy and has always maintained that they do not own or want ownership of any information or content stored in any of the Google Applications.  See http://studentprivacypledge.org/.

It is important to note that collaborative online tools, like Google Apps for Education and others, have a tremendous impact on how students learn, communicate, collaborate and engage in their learning journey.   Districts who use these online tools understand the positive affect such collaborative tools have on student and teacher engagement, productivity, communication and information and communication technologies literacy.   There are literally hundreds of thousands of teachers online every day sharing and helping each other be innovative in their approaches to teaching and learning through online professional learning communities of practice.

Support the Funding of School Libraries through ESEA

Here is some news from ALA/AASL we can ALL get behind!

This Thursday, the American Library Association is joining a social media push in support of dedicated funding for school libraries through Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act, which would expand federal investment in school libraries so they can continue to offer students the tools they need to develop the critical thinking, digital, and research skills necessary for success in the twenty-first century.

We need to tell legislators how important school libraries and librarians are to our students and we need your voice to take up the rallying cry.

Here’s how you can help:

On Thursday, April 9, 2015, between 7-8pm, post one or all of the tweets below, or create your own:

·         School libraries receive over 1.3 billion student visits a year! #getESEAright – include funding for school libraries with the SKILLS Act.

·         Studies show test scores trend higher in schools with full-time, certified school librarians. #getESEAright with the SKILLS Act.

·         Strong school libraries drive student achievement! http://ow.ly/LaDHo #getESEAright – include the SKILLS Act!

·         .@PattyMurray Help us #getESEAright – include the SKILLS Act! Listen to teens speak out about the importance of #libraries http://ow.ly/LaCAo

·         .@SenAlexander #getESEAright – include the SKILLS Act and support dedicated funding for school libraries.

For more information about ESEA and the SKILLS Act, check out our earlier post on the topic.

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) are the keys to unlocking more sustainable funding for our school libraries. Join us Thursday on the #getESEAright hashtag and let them know why they should include the SKILLS Act in ESEA.

Jessica Gilcreast,  @BHSGilcreast on Twitter

AS  TWITTER IS  NOT ACCESSIBLE  AT  PROFILE  SCHOOL, PLEASE PUT ON YOUR AGENDA TO DO THIS FROM HOME THURSDAY APRIL 9, BY 8:00PM 

Thank you

Libraries and Librarians: Essential to Thriving Schools

The WebGlobe: Geography, Social Studies, Digital Art and more

Brilliant people invents new manners to see the world and make us understand more easily abstracts concepts.

Credits go to Jac Londe ( Jac LOnde (@Onde )  Go Quebec!

Teachers: ScreenChomp, the free recording and sharing app for your ipad

From TechSmith,  the makers of Camtasia

This recordable whiteboard is just the canvas you need to jot your ideas down and share them – with the world, or just a friend or two. Helpful to anyone, but developed with teachers and students in mind, ScreenChomp records your touchscreen interactions and audio so you can…

Download from the App Store

New, more user-friendly and elegant EBSCO Explora for Students

Databases are powerful research tools. They are also a bit intimidating for students. Should you or your class need a tutorial tailored to their grade level, contact Dr. Jude Lepine.

The First Encyclopedia of Apps

Many educational apps here:

Appapedia