2016-17
​Beginning of the year information for teachers:

Welcome Back!

It has been a busy summer in the world of ILS technology.  Lots of improvements, upgrades and changes means that glitches will exist.  Below you will find information specific to changes to software/hardware and issues you might run into the first few weeks of school.  Remember technology in an enterprise environment does not function like your devices at home.  Servers, VLANs, SubNets, managed devices, etc are not "push-a-button" simple to maintain or upgrade.  Licensing, usage and disposal of technology must adhere to strict state and federal guidelines that are different than for personal users.  For instance, when we talk about "backing up" any type of digital information, it does not mean the same thing as when you back up a file to a USB drive.  In a school network environment, backups take days to create, terabytes of information, and can only be recognized by a serve operating system.  The district utilizes two new RAID backups, each one is 20 terabytes.  These will be rotated and one will always be kept off-site, as we are required to do by federal law. While 20 terabytes seems like a lot (that is nearly 1.6 billion word documents), the required information that runs our infrastructure must also fit on that drive.  A backup of that size takes days to complete and could take weeks to restore, should a disaster hit our network.    

HelpDesk Ticketing System

In order to hep organize and increase the efficiency of the technology department, all technology related issues must be reported via the K12USA TroubleTrakker help desk system.  Please email me if you do not know your log in credentials (I do not want to post them publicly). emailing Ed, Andy, tech_support, or myself will result in an email response asking you to submit a ticket.  We will not submit tickets for you.  

There is a link to the HelpDesk ticketing system log in page on the "Staff Resources" page of this website.

Shared Drives & Printing


​Since we replaced all of the servers this summer, there is a chance that your account might not be able to print, or connect to your district shared drives.  This is an easy fix, but we need to know it is broken.  CLICK HERE to create a trouble ticket.

You will also notice that the server NEON does not exist anymore.  That connection will now be called Copper.  This change was due to some consolidation we did of our physical and virtual servers to give us a more stable network.

Phones


​We have a new phone & voicemail server in the district.  This new system allows us to slowly upgrade to VOIP phones, from the antiquated digital phones we are used to seeing.  We will still utilize our current digital phones while we cautiously upgrade different areas of the district.
The new system utilizes Solid-State hard drives and we have the ability to backup our system setting and our voicemails.  Voicemail backups will happen three times a year (Winter break, Spring break and Summer break).   

You will need to log into your voicemail and re-record your greeting.  Dial your extension, from your classroom phone and follow the voice prompts. To change personal greeting: Press 4, then 1.  To change/check your name in the system directory: Press 4, then 2.

Online Software & Subscriptions

NoodleTools ​

TurnItIn
As of August 17, 2016 we are still working to set up students in our online accounts and software products.  PLEASE check things like Renaissance, Study Island, ALEXS for errors prior to using them.  the more notice you can give us, the better.  Most of these products do not come online until August.  Further, we cannot roll-over student accounts until schedules are complete and our EMIS/DASL information updates for the new school year.
NoodleTools has integrated with Google Apps for Education.  This means that students NoodleTool accounts will know link to their ILS Google usernames.  CLICK HERE for directions on how to link your existing school account, and directions on how you and students will log into the service.
July 18, 2016 TurnItIn upgraded to the new TurnItIn Feedback Studio.  Resources to learn about the new TurnItIn are linked below.

​24hr Help Center: CLICK HERE
Teacher User Guide: CLICK HERE

Star Reading & Math 

Chrome Bookmarks

Chrome Cast
Renaissance Learning, the company that owns STAR Reading and STAR Math are DISCONTINUING their iPad App.  Students will now have to use a web browser to log into STAR Assessments.  CLICK HERE for the log in website.  

I recommend having students create an iPad bookmark for that log in page the first time they go to it.  For the CHROMEBOOKS, the website bookmark is automatically pushed to all students.  We can push bookmarks to students.  They will show up in a bookmark folder in Chrome called "ILS Student Bookmark".
You will notice, when logged into your Google Account, that their is an addition to your Bookmark Bar.  You have a folder called "ILS Staff" and students have a "ILS Student" folder.  I am able to push bookmarks out to users.  For students, I am going to add bookmarks to log in pages for programs like STAR reading/Math, our building media center homepages, etc.  Staff bookmarks will include a link to the HelpDesk log in and Star teacher portal.  

​I cannot differentiate these bookmarks based on class or building, but students still have the ability to add their own bookmarks.  If you have a link you want me to add, just email me.
Google now allows teachers and students to cast (project, mirror) their Chromebooks to data projectors.  A free extension called "Google Cast for Education" is installed on everyone's Google Account.  By installing the application on a desktop computer connected to a data projector, you can now project from your Chromebook, or invite students to project from their Chromebooks.  

This app works seamlessly with Classroom.  While the resolution is not perfect, it will also mirror over the sound of your Chromebook to your computer speakers.

Teacher Share Folders

 

 
When we upgraded all of our servers this summer, we also consolidated information onto different servers.  This was done to create a more stable network and help with our ability to backup information.  We still have the old servers and all of the files.  Completely copying over teacher shared drives has proven difficult because of the saving practices of several staff members.  This error falls into the "you don't know, what you don't know" category.   Teachers were not shown proper method to backup their desktop computers, and I did not know that teachers needed to be shown how to back things up.  Because of the way servers, and shared files, and Mac, and Windows systems interact, loading the teacher files caused strange errors where not all of your files were successfully copied.  This problem has required over 40hrs of work to correct.  It still isn't perfect.  As soon as all information is copied successfully, I will email the staff.

Neon no longer exists.  All of the teacher share files are on Copper.  If you had desktop shortcuts to Neon, they will no longer function.  You can go into Finder and create new shortcuts, or create a trouble ticket and we will come around and create it for you in the next few weeks.