Learning in the Lou

This post was created to help supplement our weekly Zoom professional learning sessions. Canvas Communications In this post, we will focus on four different ways you can use Canvas to communicate with your students. Inbox Think of Inbox as Gmail but inside Canvas. You can use it to send messages to some/all of your students. Why use Inbox vs Gmail?  How many ways are you communicating with your kids now? Gmail, SIS, Zoom, etc? It is nice to consolidate all of it in one place. Make it easier for you and them. Resources Canvas offers an extensive guide for Inbox on this page . There are maybe six different topics to choose from. Quick Tips Protip - Right-click on Inbox and select Open link in a new tab .  Now you can toggle between your Inbox and your Canvas course. 1. Click All Courses in the upper left. 2. Select the course to enter a specific Inbox. Alternative method - see below You can keep your Inbox on All Courses to see all communicati...

There might come a time when you accidentally delete something from Canvas. Some of what you delete can be recovered! All you need to do is type  /undelete - see the image below. Open your course. 1. Click Home to make sure you are on the homepage. 2. After the address type /undelete 3. Click Restore .

Check back later this week for a tutorial on how to use breakout rooms in Zoom. Until then, try this video tutorial:

We have learned a lot over these past few days. This post is for those just getting started or somewhat new to Zoom. We have created a simple checklist to use before you start your first session. NOTE: It might not be a good idea to post your screenshots of your Zooms on social media unless you have permission to do so. Checklist Why are you doing this Zoom? Do those who are going to Zoom with you know the expectations? (example: share Lego creations they made that day, a reflection on a passage read, math help session, etc) Did you send the Zoom How-To post to the students/parents? Do you understand the recoding protocol required by the district? We have two posts about this - post 1 and post 2 . Is your Zoom studio set up? (Be mindful of what is on camera, do those in the background mind about being shown to the world?) Teacher First Steps We created this post to step you through the process of casting your first meeting.  Please note, there are many, many...

UPDATED - SUNDAY 5 APRIL We have enabled additional security measures for our Zoom meetings. Please take a look at the updated videos below. If you are just getting started with Zoom,  please refer to this post . Creating a more secure Zoom meeting In the Zoom Meeting - New Security Features Students Point of View - In Zoom Meeting Updating Your Zoom Client - Critical! Open the Client. 1. Click your profile picture in the upper right. 2. Click Check for Update . When I ran this on my mac I had only two updates, but my  PC had like 9! Things That Are Nice To Know Recurring Meetings So you have open office hours every day at 10:00. You could individually add each one or just create on meeting and have it automatically show up every day that week. Check out our short post to walk you through the process. Backgrounds I am a realist and understand most of us live in houses that can be slightly askew from time to time. Don't want to show those ...

I was reading Android News today and saw this - Not sure how this will work, all webcams and headsets are nearly sold out everywhere. Interested? Click to apply.

As you're setting up your virtual learning community, try to streamline the techtools you use to make it simple for students.  Here are some versatile tools where students can communicate, collaborate and create.  - Flipgrid  - Flipgrid is a social learning platform.  Teachers crerate a username, then create a grid for their class.  Share the code with students who can then upload videos. - Google Jamboard  - Google Jamboard is in your Google Suite.  It's  digital, collaborative whiteboard. - Padlet - Padlet is a collaborative space for students to collaborate on.  Teachers crerate a username, then create a padlet for their class.  Share the code with students, who can access to the padlet to post. Email mnussbum@lindberghschools.ws if you'd like help with any of these tools (or are looking for something else).

Chat is new to our Canvas course. It works well for a backchannel and during office hours. If you find it not super helpful, you can disable it. To reenable, just reverse these steps. Chat appears in the lower right corner of your course. Here is a sample of what the chat looks like. Note: I played the role of Aidan for this chat. To disable chat, open a course. 1. Click Settings in the lower-left white navigation. 2. Click Navigation at the top. 3. Click and drag Chat to the bottom. See the image for how far you need to drag it. Now you see chat in the lower box. Click Save . Now Chat is no longer in your course.

Are you missing your 3rd quarter grade book in Canvas? In just a few clicks there is an option for you to see it again. Start by opening your grade book in one of your courses. In the upper left... 1. Click View 2. Click Filters 3. Click Grading Periods Now in the upper right, you will see a new drop-down feature, use this to show all semester, year or just a quarter. 

If you are participating in a video call, but don't want your face shown, this post will show you how to turn off your video feed and change your profile picture.  Your screen might look different, depending on your device, hopefully it provides enough guidance. This is an example of what you might see on an ipad screen: This video was filmed on  pc using the zoom app: *This was not made by an expert Zoom user!  Just someone learning on the fly.

 Please make sure your notifications are on. Not sure how? Check this short video. Hint - you can add your cell number to get some notifications faster!

Once you've gotten into Zoom, there are some settings and options you can play with as a participant, including:  muting, stopping video, chat, viewing options, renaming your profile and changing your background. (Here's another post on how to get started on Zoom  if you need help downloading or learning how to particpate ) Here's a virtual tour from a pc - please note that your view may look different depending on the device you're using. Here's another view from an ipad *This was not made by an expert Zoom user!  Just someone learning on the fly.

You will need your full school email address and your password. Make sure you have them before moving to the first step. Open Chrome or Safari. Open Gmail  and log in. Open a new tab and go to classroom.google.com Make sure you see the student email. Then click Continue . Choose Student . Click the plus icon in the upper right. Enter the Class Code your teacher sent. Most everything you need will be found in the center of the screen.

The purpose of this video is to show you how to upload Zoom recordings for documentation, however the process will help you upload any file.  1.  Make sure you know the location  of your file.   (The manilla folder icon on your computer opens files.) 2.  Make sure you know the name of your file - it's helpful to use the date, teacher name, and detail about contents of the file. Here's a video showing how to upload Zoom recordings.  

There is a tiny change to our school YouTube accounts. The best part, the power is in your hands to approve videos! Make sure you are logged in with your Lindbergh Google account. Open the video you want to play. Click the Approve button. Clicking this only needs to happen once. If I click it, it will be approved for ALL kids. Now all your kids can see the video! Warning - there is a slight delay from when you click to when they can see.  How do I know I am logged in with my Lindbergh Google account? 1. I see the blue bar with the Approve button. I can see my picture in the upper right corner.

When you create a Google Doc to share with families, remember to set the share settings so that anyone with the link can view the document.  It's an easily forgotten step that will cause much frustration for families.  Look for the blue "share" setting in the upper right hand corner of your Google apps and watch the video for more help. Bonus!   Want to know how this video was made?  Check out this post on how to Teach with Screencastify .

Take your Zoom calls to the next level by using sharing your screen. Using this feature allows everyone on the call to see the same computer screen - helpful if you're sharing a presentation, showing a website, or watching a video together.  You can also select the whiteboard feature and all participants on the call can annotate the same screen.   The video isn't work, click to listen to the audio while we trouble-shoot...

Please note - you must use a personal Google account to sign up for Google Voice. GSuite, school accounts, are not enabled for this feature.  Start by logging in at voice.google.com Choose a number. We recommend keeping to the same area code as your teach in. Once you have selected the number, click Verify . You will be texted a code on your personal phone. Please note that a Google Voice number does need to associate with an actual cell phone. You are able to dial out on your phone/computer using this new Google Voice number. Click Finish. Click Finish to finalize. Make sure you turn call recording on. Click Calls. Toggle Incoming call options on. Click 4 to start recording when the calls come in. You can't record calls going out. The recordings will show up on the web.

Depending on the purpose of your meeting, you may need to change the view of your speaker.  In the upper right hand corner , select Speaker View if one person is doing the talking, or switch to gallery mode to see a grid of all participants. Speaker View Gallery View

If you haven't already made the switch to 360, start there.  When you log in, click 360 instead of classic. Once you're logged into 360, there's a "mass email' button at the bottom that allows you to email all students.  There are a variety of options on who you would like to include.  Best practice is to 'bcc' all recipients.

Zoom Settings Tired of being in your house?  Want to feel like you're somewhere else?  Add some spice to your Zoom session by changing your background.  Click "Settings" to change your virtual background (and a number of other settings!) Tip:  Adding a virtual background limits the distractions for people watching your screen.  Add a picture of your school, classroom, a place you'd rather be or something that relates with the topic your talking about. Video Tutorial:

So you created a meeting, how do the kids get in? All they need is a link, no need for them to sign up for anything! Once your meeting is set up, just copy this link and send it to the kids. Kids will click and enter the meeting!

Are you having open office hours at the same time every day? Check out how easy it is to do just that. The one HUGE issue, how will you get the link to the meeting to your kids? This is the one thing that worries me. Check out the end of the video, it shows you how to do just that.

While we’re setting up for virtual learning, we’ll be sharing tips and hacks to create resources. A beloved classroom tool is the document camera, used for showing students how to work out math problems, make scientific observations, model experiments, drawing tutorials and so much more. DIY Document Camera To recreate this tool, you’ll need an elevated flat surface with a hole and a device.  After many tests, cooling rack on something high is by far the best setup! (Cooling rack, two cardboard boxes) (Food boxes, cutting board...very shadowy!) *The higher the platform, the wider the shot What next? Once you’ve recorded, upload to whatever platform you are using with students (Canvas, Google Classroom, Google drive, etc) or YouTube (teachers have a YouTube channel associated with your Google account) Video Tips: -Use your device video editing tools to turn off sound, edit lighting or crop. -App-smash to do more with your video (Example: play the video o...

Clever is a tool students can use to access district resources.  It can be accessed from  https://clever.com/  by logging in as a student (allow access to webcam) or by downloading the app. Students select their school and log in with a QR code (provided from teacher). Contact your classroom teacher for help. 

As we take our meetings online, here are a few tips and norms to keep in mind. Zoom can be used on... Laptop/computer (PC/Mac)  Tablet (Apple iOS, Android) Smartphone (Apple iOS, Android) Before you Zoom... Download and install the Zoom launcher or app https://zoom.us/download Lindbergh faculty - be sure your proxy setting is turned off for proper download Test your settings here https://zoom.us/test Check out our "how to connect" blog post if you run into trouble When you're ready to Zoom... Follow the invitation link or enter the meeting number Test your settings by clicking "Test Computer Mic & Speakers" in the pop-up window that appears when first opening a test meeting or beginning your scheduled meeting. If you're having trouble with audio, check the Zoom page for support Test your camera by looking at the Zoom window (and smiling!) Follow any prompts from Zoom for giving permission to access your camera and microphone...

When using the internet from home, check your computer settings and be sure the proxy settings are turned off.  This may fix connection issues, or problem with things downloading.   Here's a video showing how to turn it off.

This post was created to help anyone who is attempting to connect to a Zoom meeting understand how the process works. Click here for a video tutorial on how to get started with Zoom Continue reading for details on how to connect on an iPad/iOS device, Android phone/tablet, Chromebook and a laptop. While this won't solve every issue, it should take care of getting you quickly connected. The post will be longer than normal, just scroll down to the device you are wanting to connect. Most of these steps only need to be done the first time. Joining the second meeting will be much easier, pretty much just click and join. Please note - I made this post super fast. There are bound to be small errors. iPad/iOS We are using an iPad for this demo. I imagine connecting an iPhone will be nearly the same. Start by downloading the Zoom app from the app store. This is the very first thing you need to do if you don't have the app first the process may be more confusing. You...