ETHS EdTech Blog

Conferences are just around the corner and this year, we’re online. Conference online sign-up has closed and you can  refer to PowerPTC for your final schedule . Here are some things to consider before, during, and after your virtual conference.  Before the Conference There are a few steps you can take prior to conferences to ensure they run smoothly. First, think about your setup. Locate an area with good lighting , sitting with the light toward your face instead of behind you. Try to find an area with natural light, or use a lamp to slightly illuminate your face. Take your surroundings and background into consideration to eliminate distraction, and consider using a pair of headphones and a mic if your space tends to be noisy. Lastly, take advantage of extensions to improve your conference workflow. Two extensions that we suggest are Dualless  to easily split your screen, and Ultra Timer to keep track of the 5 minute conference limit.  After 3:00 on Sept 30th, you ...

Let me start by saying today is Thursday, September 17, 2020. This is the kind of post that will be outdated almost immediately because Google Meet is coming out with new features as we speak.  In the meantime, here are five Meet extensions that are useful for teachers (and their students) at this very specific moment in time where many teachers are looking to switch from Zoom to Meet in an attempt to avoid Zoombombing or for ease of integration with Google Classroom. 1. Google Meet Grid View (fix) If you're coming to Meet from Zoom, you're likely used to seeing many students on screen at one time. The most you can do in Meet right now is 16, but 49 is just on the horizon (actually it came out for our rapid release schools while I was writing this post). In the meantime, if you can't access the 49 tile view just yet, use this extension to help you see all the students at once. Likewise, if students want to see all their classmates, recommend that they add it as well (and th...

This week, all FASH students completed an activity where they went through a series of five videos guiding through using Google Classroom. Feel free to watch these videos to get a sense of the information communicated to students or share these videos with students as needed! Topics include a Google Classroom overview, viewing assignments, work submission, to do list and calendar, and communication and customizing notifications. For your convenience, these videos have been added to the ETHS Student and Guardian Tech Tutorials Site , and are also included below.  If you don't feel like going through the videos (about one minute each), then take a brief look at the following Google Classroom tips communicated to students. Students are encouraged to view assignments via the Classwork page to view the class's organization and flow.  Students should click "Mark as Done" if the assignment does not have materials to submit via classroom and "Turn in" if it does req...

Right now, several ETHS teachers are choosing to use Meet over Zoom due to its ease of use and connectivity with Google Classroom; however, it's still missing many of the features we've come to love about Zoom. Thankfully there is hope on the horizon. On August 11, Google announced the timeline for new changes coming to Meet this fall. While we all wish they were here already, we are confident that the new features will address many of the challenges that teachers experience during video lessons. One advantage to Meet at this time is that students can only join when signed into their eths202.org accounts which reduces the chances of having unwanted, anonymous visitors join your sessions. They also are linked directly in Google Classroom, so links are easily accessible to students without the need to create and post by teachers. Planned Meet updates include more control for moderators such as disabling chat (see more on this below), controlling who can share their screen, and m...