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Issue 45 - 2019 │T1 │W3

 

Link - access past issues in the archive

Make 2019 your Year of Tech! News item

Welcome to 2019! Is this going to be the Year of Tech for your school? One of our goals this year is to help you create the most innovative school environment possible and to grow and support your own professional development. The T4L team has been hard at work over the holidays, planning more professional learning events, developing more resources, exploring classroom rollouts, as well as keeping up with the latest news and views on technology. There are plenty of great events to add to your calendar to help you learn more, enhance your networks and get information straight from our experts and your peers in other schools! Finally, if something really exciting is happening in your classrooms, keep an eye out for our second annual T4L awards (entries open early March) or check out the other upcoming opportunities listed in your first issue of news.T4L for the year!

Innovative educational technologies

We're listening to you Feedback item

We ended 2018 with a request to hear from you, and several hundred school staff shared how they navigate educational technologies and stay up to date. While our aim is to keep you all in-the-know with T4L news, resources and learning events around the state, we know ultimately that each of you have your preferred channels and communities. 2019 will be another year of change and growth in the use of technologies in the classroom. If you didn't get a chance to respond in December, we’d love to hear from you on where, why and how you access education and technology information online. With your input, we can better engage every teacher and help them to find the motivation and resources they need to thrive in a changing tech world. Please share your thoughts in this short survey and encourage your fellow teachers and other school staff to do so as well. We look forward to working with you this year, and look forward to building on our NSW public schools ed-tech community throughout 2019.

Click to take the T4L short survey

Apple supporting DoE schools PL item

Under the agreement between the NSW Department of Education and Apple, your local Apple Store is the main point of contact for all things Apple! But exactly what kind of support can your local store offer? The Today at Apple initiative delivers new resources for teachers and students of all ages, who are interested in using their devices for photography, coding, art and design, video and music. With learning labs like Fun Family Portraits, the Sphero Robot Obstacle Challenge and Make Your Own Emoji, your teachers will be inspired and creativity sparked in younger visitors. Today at Apple includes sessions designed specifically for educators, so teachers can learn new ways of bringing technology into their classroom. Labs like App Design and Prototyping and Class Projects with Clips are based on the Everyone Can Code and Everyone Can Create curriculums. Talk to your local Apple Store business team about booking into free Today at Apple sessions for your staff or your students. They can also provide information from both Apple and NSW DoE about other professional learning opportunities, updates on devices, technical support pathways, and more! If your school is using Apple devices, get to know your local Apple Store Business Team today!

Today at Apple sessions

Minecraft EE in 2019 News item

To start fresh in 2019, all Minecraft Education Edition (MEE) licences that were assigned last year, were revoked on 25 January. Any staff or students who had access in 2018 will no longer have access. 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. As of last Friday, the first 10,000 MEE licences have already been claimed! More licences will be added to the pool shortly. Keep an eye on the request form linked above. We look forward to hearing all the exciting stories of how MEE is making a difference at schools across New South Wales!

Minecraft Education Edition is back for 2019!

STEMShare VR @Greystanes HS Peer item

Watch this excellent case study video of how students at Greystanes High School applied the STEMShare Community VR kit - Secondary to review their SketchUp designs and improve their work!

Click to watch this case study

Booked a kit for term 2 or 3 yet? Info item

Bookings for STEMShare Community are open, so why not jump over to the STEMShare Kit Booking System to apply for Term 2 or 3? Each school has the opportunity to participate in the STEMShare Community project by booking one of the following kits for one term (except for Virtual Reality – Secondary which is bookable for one semester). Bookings for Term 2 close in Week 6!

  • Tablet Robotics
  • PC Robotics
  • 3D Printing
  • Filming
  • Virtual Reality – Primary
  • Virtual Reality – Secondary

Using Prowise Presenter yet? Tip item

As we advised in our previous issue, Prowise Presenter is now completely free for schools to use! As a replacement for SMART Notebook 11.4, this excellent software can be used with any brand of IWB or LED touch panel. The great thing about this software is it can open your old SMART Notebook files directly and if you licence your copies for your school site (also free of charge!), all teachers can then share their created resources with each other. Finally, Prowise Presenter is now packaged and available on the DoE Software Catalogue, (accessible from school only), ready to be requested and pushed out to Windows devices at your school via UDM.

Prowise Presenter is now free!

HP devices - stock update News item

In week 6 last term, we advised about the "Worldwide Intel chip shortage" which was affecting supply of HP devices to schools. HP are pleased to report that as of now, the following products are available for purchase with regular lead times:

  • Desktop: ProDesk 600 G4 SFF (5GC20PC)
  • Desktop: EliteDesk 800 G4 SFF (5FP50PC)
  • Notebook: EliteBook 840 G5 (4YZ59PC) - Limited supply
  • Tablet: Elite x2 1012 G2 (4BN38PC)
  • Chromebook: CB 11 G6 (4CF03PA) - Limited supply

These products are still affected by the shortage and have a lead time of approximately 4-6 weeks:

  • Notebook: ProBook x360 11EE G1 (4BN85PC)
  • Notebook: ProBook 430 G5 (4BN86PC)
  • Desktop: EliteDesk 800 Mini G4 for MoCoWs (6DR88PC)

ICT Thought of the day Fun item

ICT Thought - Future Nursing Homes won't do knitting and bowls. Retro Rocket League

Citrix Receiver on Windows v1709 Tip item

With many schools now choosing to upgrade their staff computers to Windows 10 v1709, please be aware that Citrix Receiver client is not included in the default build. Any Windows 10 computers introduced to your school that need access to ebs: Central or SAP GUI will need to install the approved and supported Citrix client. Citrix Receiver v14.9 is available for eT4L schools for easy deployment to eT4L desktops, laptops and tablets using the Universal Desktop Manager (UDM) tool - listed under Enterprise Software. For the small number of schools not yet migrated to eT4L services, the installation of Citrix Receiver must be performed manually. Installations on Apple MacOS devices must also be completed manually. Full instructions are available at the Citrix Receiver Installation site.

Are you an innovative teacher? Info item

We know there are amazing teachers out there who like to engage their students by integrating the latest ed-tech tools in their teaching. We're on the look out for those teachers who are keen to trial new technology. We're also after people who are prepared to develop a lesson plan as well as written and video reviews about these new technologies. Does this sound like you or another teacher you know? Pitch your idea to us – right now, we’re looking for innovators to pilot the following:

  • Voice Assistants - eg. Amazon Alexa / Google Home
  • Drones

Please seek approval from your principal before completing the form. Expressions of interest close on February 28.

Innovative Teachers are Learners, Developers and Creators

Get Google Certified! PL item

So many of our teachers are very effectively using Google services in the classroom. The Google for Education Certified Innovator Program recognises and supports top educators around the globe who are using technology to solve meaningful challenges in education. Become a Certified Innovator and join a community of more than 1,700 passionate educators in over 50 countries who are excited to grow professionally, advocate for innovative technologies and drive school transformation. The program kicks off with an in-person, three day Innovation Academy in Sydney at the start of May. It will focus on helping new participants define, design and eventually launch a transformative project. But if you are interested, you have to get in quick because applications close on March 1.

The Google Innovators at last year's academy in Los Angeles

Google+ is closing down? Info item

Many staff would have received an email recently with the subject "Your personal Google+ account is going away on April 2, 2019". This email could be confusing, but it is legitimate. Google+ is a service similar to Facebook. It is also included in the department's G Suite and is available for staff only. While Google is closing down their Google+ for consumers service, the product will still be available as part of DoE's G Suite and will be developed further as a business communication tool. More announcements from Google on the future of Google+ are expected during 2019.

Turbocharge studying in OneNote RIP item

Megan Townes from Microsoft has shared an excellent Study Skills OneNote resource for NSW DoE Teachers and students. This read-only OneNote notebook resource, and associated PowerPoint presentations, are designed to help teachers facilitate student workshops that will help them to effectively use technologies for study and school. It contains teacher guides, an Activities Matrix and comprehensive student sections you can share with your students. Using this scaffold will help to upskill students in using OneNote for the organisation of their study notes. It's ideal for schools that have a BYOD program or where students all have access to a 1:1 device.

Study Skills template using MS OneNote

For rural and remote teachers! PL item

In order to provide our teachers in rural and remote locations with more PL opportunities, the T4L Innovations and Utilisation team have joined forces with Microsoft and Megan Townes. We've arranged access for up to 15 hours of NESA-registered professional learning, with targeted learning in three amazing educational tools, that you may not yet have discovered.

  • OneNote Teacher Academy - March 12
  • My Minecraft Journey - March 25
  • Microsoft Class Teams Academy - April 8

These full-day courses are delivered live, online and for FREE! Register today to ensure your place in one or all of these fantastic PL opportunities, and pass this onto all staff at your rural/remote school.

Click for larger image

School Website Service update News item

Updating your school website on the School Website Service (SWS) just got faster and easier. Reducing school newsletter upload time was at the top of most wish-lists according to the results of the recent SWS Survey and the issue was fixed in the latest SWS release rolled out in January. Play the video below for a side-by-side view of the new process versus the old one. The SWS has wiped out 29 clicks and shaved 54 seconds from the task. Among other improvements in the release are:

  • upload your newsletter PDFs or DOCs directly to your page
  • automatic saving of newsletter files to Assets in a year and month folder
  • visual preview of an image or file, instead of just the file name when choosing Assets within a component.

The latest SWS newsletter includes useful tips and tricks, NSW Election caretaker rules that could apply to your site, plus ways to give your content a big lift.

Click play to watch this video comparison

T4L PowerUp! events in term 1 PL item

Why not kick-off 2019 with a T4L Power Up! session? It's a unique day with a deep-dive into one of three vendor-driven streams: Apple, Google or Microsoft. It's also unique because we're using some cool new technology to deliver focused-learning virtually anywhere! Check the quick video below (click for a larger view). There are four events on offer this term:

  • Parramatta - 6 March
  • Goulburn - 18 March
  • Ulladulla - 20 March
  • Queanbeyan - 11 April

Details and registration form are on the T4L PowerUp! site

Click to watch this video

More news.T4L in Week 6!

Information Technology Directorate publishes news.T4L three times each term. Remember to share each issue with your staff!

Share your story in news.T4L - just email us at T4Lnews@det.nsw.edu.au

NSW DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE