PPS Instructional Technology

THE PROBLEM: You open up your Chromebook to get your work done, but when you open the screen nothing happens.  You know you charged the device overnight, so it shouldn't be a low battery issue.  However, if you look closely, you might see a faint blueish-gray light to the screen. WHAT'S HAPPENING? The Chromebook has gone into a "sleep" mode and is having trouble waking up. HOW DO I FIX IT? Thankfully the fix is very simple! Open your Chromebook. Hold down the power key for an extended period of time - 30-60 seconds. You will notice that the screen will go from almost black to completely black. Shut the lid.  Wait 10 seconds. Open the lid and your device should be ready to go. Note: It is always important to make sure that your Chromebook is charged.  If it is not turning on, and you haven't charged it recently, it may simply be out of power.  Plug it in for a couple hours and try powering it on.  If that doesn't work, then try the...

What’s Happening? Your students are working away on their projects and all of a sudden, a kid brings their Chromebook up to you because they have somehow mysteriously flipped the image on the screen so it is now turned 90 or 180 degrees.  And like any good teacher, you are an expert at reading upside down (thanks to all those read alouds), but the kids haven't mastered that skill yet - unless, of course, they are trying to figure out the i-tunes password as their parents type it in.  So the question is... How do I turn the screen image back to the "normal" direction? How do I fix it? To turn the screen image, all you have to do is click three simple keys... ctrl+shift+refresh button Why does it do this? There is a legitimate reason to flip your Chromebook screen.  For example, maybe you want to view something in portrait view so you can see the whole "sheet".  The rotate would be helpful for this, however, most of the time it is just annoying.  ...

Google hangouts has a lot of wonderful educational uses, but it can also be a big distraction.  One way to help minimize that distraction is to have students turn off the "Auto-launch" feature.  By turning this off, Google Hangouts will no longer launch every time a student logs into the chromebook. Now you can choose when you want your students to open hangouts in order to collaborate and share, instead of it being a constant distraction! Enjoy!

Word clouds are a wonderful thing.  They take paragraphs of text and turn them into analytical artwork.  Many of you are familiar with common word cloud creators like Wordle and Tagxedo , but unfortunately for those of us living in the chromebook world, these sites won't work.  This snag led our amazing building tech, Joshua, on a quest to find some word cloud creators that will work well on the chromebooks so our teachers and students can continue to build their beautiful work art.  Below you will find the results of his quest... Tagxedo doesn’t work in Chrome, and Wordle is finicky. What to do? Try another word cloud creator, like  www.wordclouds.com . You’ll be greeted with a generic word cloud. No sign-in necessary. Your first step is to add some text to the word cloud. Click File>Paste/Type text: This opens a window for entering your words. This takes text from anywhere, and the more times a word occurs in the text, the larger it will appea...

The Problem: You or your students have a keyboard showing up on your screen, even though you are not using a touchscreen and have no desire to use your mouse to type. What’s Happening? Chrome OS has numerous accessibility features built into the operating system.  One of those features is an on-screen keyboard. You will see a hand next to the time in the lower right corner if accessibility features - like ChromeVox, on-screen keyboard, high contrast mode, or screen magnifier - are turned on.  If the on-screen keyboard is also enabled, they you will see an icon of a keyboard there as well. How do I fix it? To turn off the on-screen keyboard, click on the area in the bottom right corner where the clock is located.  Select Settings.  Scroll down to the bottom and select “Show advanced settings…”. Scroll down until you see the “Accessibility” section. Uncheck “Enable On-screen keyboard” Close the Settings window. You can also turn it off by clicking on ...

A PRINTABLE VERSION CAN BE FOUND HERE. The Problem: You or your students go to use the chromebook and it is reading everything on the screen to you in it’s fabulous computer voice. What’s Happening? Chrome OS has numerous accessibility features built into the operating system.  One of those features is called ChromeVox which allows everything on the screen to be read aloud for those with vision impairments.  This feature can be turned on/off in the Advanced Settings -> Accessibility area of the Chromebook. You will see a hand next to the time in the lower right corner if accessibility features - like ChromeVox, on-screen keyboard, high contrast mode, or screen magnifier - are turned on. How do I fix it? To turn off ChromeVox, click on the area in the bottom right corner where the clock is located.  Select "Settings" Scroll down to the bottom and select “Show advanced settings…”. Scroll down until you see the “Accessibility” section. Uncheck “Enable ...

A printable version can be found here. The Problem: You or your students are typing away on your Chromebook and all of a sudden you realize when you type the “s” key, it is no longer an “s” but instead a “o”. What’s Happening? Chrome OS has the ability to switch between multiple keyboard layouts and languages.  Usually we all use the US standard keyboard, but some people may use the Dvorak, US International, or even Colemak keyboards.  When the keyboard gets “messed up” it is usually because it was either intentionally or unintentionally changed to a different language or keyboard style. How do I fix it? Switching between keyboard layouts is pretty quick and easy, which is one of the reasons that we sometimes do it by mistake. The first step in fixing the problem is to determine which keyboard you are using.  To do this, look in the bottom right corner of your screen.  If you are using the standard US Keyboard (which is the one we are used to usi...

In the last month, we deployed 640 chromebooks to the elementary schools and community high.  The possibilities these devices bring to the classrooms can be amazing and overwhelming all at the same time.  It is our goal, as technology integration specialists, to help teachers create engaging lessons using these devices that foster unique, customizable learning opportunities for all students.  With this goal in mind, Paul and I set out to create videos to demonstrate how teachers, right here in PPS, are using these devices with their students.  The short video below is our first attempt.  It features Todd Chappa, 3rd grade teacher at Lake Center Elementary.  In the lesson, he discusses how he uses the tools Socrative.com and Sumdog.com to help him differentiate instruction in math and make it possible for him to effectively run small group instruction.  We hope you find it useful and that it sparks a fire of inspiration for you with your own students. ...

It’s that time again for……. The PPS TechnologyTimes! The PPS Technology Department would love for you to check out our winter 2013 newsletter. Featured Articles include: One-to-One Computing: Google Chromebooks  Web Filtering at PPS  Students’ Email Accounts  Google Chrome to Become our Default Browser  Meet the Tech Staff: Our New Building Techs  February/March After School Technology Training Schedule  It is one of our goals to help keep the PPS staff informed on what is going on in the technology department along with sharing wonderful and exciting ways technology is being used right here in PPS. If you have a project/event you would like featured in our next newsletter, or know someone who is doing a great job teaching with technology, we would love to hear about it! Email Jessica Winstanley ( jwinstanley@portageps.org ) or Paul Murray ( pmurray@portageps.org ) to share your ideas. For more information about what is going on in PPS...

It’s that time again for……. The PPS TechnologyTimes!   The PPS Technology Department would love for you to check out our fall 2012 newsletter. Featured Articles include: One-to-One Computing: Google Chromebooks The TEC Experience: Success in Transition iTunes U: Delivering Lessons and Teaching from the Cloud Technology and Training Center is now the New Administration Building Meet the Tech Staff: Alyssa Medd Afterschool Tech Trainings Available It is one of our goals to help keep the PPS staff informed on what is going on in the technology department along with sharing wonderful and exciting ways technology is being used right here in PPS. If you have a project/event you would like featured in our next newsletter, or know someone who is doing a great job teaching with technology, we would love to hear about it! Email Jessica Winstanley ( jwinstanley@portageps.org ) or Paul Murray ( pmurray@portageps.org ) to share your...