What's Google Guardian?
Google Classroom is one of the simplest ways that teachers can streamline their educational workflow. It allows teachers to create classes, post assignments, organise folders, and view work in real-time. It's one of the most widely used aspects of G Suite in schools across NSW.
There's a new feature in the department's G Suite service! Google Guardian is an opt-in service for individual teachers which allows you to help parents or guardians to keep informed of their child's work in Classroom. When a guardian accepts an invitation from a teacher, they get regular emails about their student’s work and classes. These emails, known as guardian email summaries, include information about missing work, upcoming work, and class activity.
Inviting a guardian does not allow them access into the Google Classroom. It provides them a summary of their child's work only. However, it is important that any teacher that opts-in to Google Guardian regularly maintains their list of invited parents and guardians for each of their students to ensure it is accurate and appropriate.
Which interactED suits you?
It's back bigger and better with one event in Term 1 (Wagga) and THREE in Term 2! ITD and our partners are presenting a tech roadshow in various centres across New South Wales.
Supporting school-wide change in the effective utilisation of technologies, interactED is guiding leaders, empowering teachers and assisting administrators while providing valuable networking opportunities.
Book a place for yourself and your staff at your nearest interactED event!
Tinkercad at Tighes Hill Public School
Tighes Hill Public School is situated in inner city Newcastle and believes that each student has the right to learn in an environment that encourages fulfilment of personal potential. In December, stage 3 students were tasked to design a ‘Christmas themed’ three-dimensional model by using the free, 3D Computer-Assisted-Design (CAD) tool, Tinkercad. This process promoted an array of critical and creative thinking skills while embedding ICT capabilities into their work.
As seen in the video above, during the design process, the students at Tighes Hill had to gather and process information from a variety of sources and identify new paths for inquiry. Tinkercad is a web-based design tool that has been developed especially for staff and students. With its ability to setup class groups, moderate student designs and collaborate on various projects, it’s easy to see why it’s already attracted over seven million tinkerers worldwide. It's also a key component of the STEMShare Community's 3D Printing kit, with learning resources that have been developed specifically to support teachers in NSW public schools. The next video is a quick getting started guide, which will help any teacher with setting up their own class and see how 3D modelling could be introduced into their lessons.
Tinkercad is a fantastic tool to provide contextualised learning experiences across all stages of learning. For more information, visit the Tinkercad website and see the 3D Printing resources at the STEMShare Community's Interim Learning Library.
The Future of Transport challenge!
The NRMA Future of Transport challenge for years 7-10 is here! And with it comes an afternoon of professional learning to introduce year 7-10 teachers of all subjects. Transport is the next major disruptor and Australia is looking for new technologies to keep people moving while delivering social, environmental and financial benefits.
As a trusted industry leader, NRMA is challenging year 7-10 students to create an innovative product or service which addresses a real-world need through the application of design thinking. The Challenge is all about collaboration and entrepreneurship, with four finalist teams pitching their ideas live - in front of a panel of transport industry experts, at a youth event in September.
Keen to learn more about this competition, as well as delve into some design thinking? The NRMA team have organised an exciting event on 7 March at 4pm here at Lvl 8, 8 Central Ave, Eveleigh. You can talk directly to the learning designers and ask questions of two teachers whose students completed the NRMA Challenge last year.
HP ProBook 11 power connector repair
Effective immediately: All Out-of-Warranty G1 & G2 Probook 11 laptops with the “Power Port” fault will be repaired at no cost by HP until 31 May. This is a great outcome for schools, but is time limited. The standard Vendor Incident logging process via EDConnect applies.
The Incident notes field must include the following message - “Faulty POWER PORT” to ensure the incident isn’t rejected. The extended warranty only applies to power port faults - no other faults will be considered. It's a good idea to take a photo of the affected power port to supply when logging a ticket. It is recommended that these extended warranty requests be logged via EDConnect's online query form. The online form allows for the uploading of a JPG photo file as an attachment. The serial number of each device should also be included. Finally, remember to include the statement “Faulty POWER PORT” in the description of the incident.
INVITATION: T4L Sandpit
Ever wanted to see or even have a play with the latest ed-tech gear that's available to NSW public schools? Or what about seeing the latest gadgets from ed-tech vendors? We're getting teachers and vendors together with our own techies from ITD, so why not join us at a great after-school session at ITD's T4L Technology Sandpit!
Come and check out Makerspace kits, LED touch panels, new T4L devices and chat with a variety of people who can help your school implement your future ICT plans! If you're in Sydney on Wed. 13 March in the afternoon, why not drop in?
More Minecraft EE licences!
As announced in week 3's news.T4L,with the relaunch of Minecraft Education Edition for 2019, 10,000 licences were snapped up extremely quickly! We've now replenished the pool of licences. Each school wishing to use MEE this year will need one teacher to request licences for themselves, for other teachers and targeted students at their school. Because the available pool of licences is limited, please only request licences for students that will be using MEE at school. Let's get your students building!
Google Classroom updates!
With the exciting launch of Google Guardian for Classroom in NSW public schools, it's worth also taking a look at some of the great features that Google has included in Classroom for the start of 2019! So many teachers are effectively using this free tool, but there are still so many who haven't yet discovered how they could be using it with their students. Accessed from just about any device and very simple to set up and use, Google Classroom could be the difference-maker you've needed to kick start your ICT in teaching adventure!
