Enrol your Chromebooks today!

Following the successful pilot involving several schools and the subsequent evaluation of feedback responses, we worked closely with Google to further apply configuration changes in the department's new Chromebook Admin console. This provides centralised management for all enrolled Chromebooks in schools. As a result, we can deliver a more streamlined user experience for all school-owned Chromebooks when enrolled into our Google domain. Users of DoE-enrolled Chromebooks will see significant improvements to their current unmanaged experience. The benefits include:

A quick, self-service 10-minute Chromebook setup process out of the box

The standard DoE portal sign on screen for logging on when the device is first started

Seamless access to users of the department's G Suite services

Easily share your Chromebooks with multiple students/staff

A prominent Sign Out button at the bottom right for fast user switching.

New Chromebook Enrolment instructions and FAQ advice is now available. Enrol your Chromebooks today!

Broken Hill High using Sway

Another school is now using Microsoft Sway as the publishing platform for their school newsletters. After years of producing inaccessible PDF newsletters, Broken Hill High School have moved to the dynamic and versatile cloud-based Sway service. Using Sway allows the school to easily deliver their latest information for parents and the community by incorporating vibrant photos and engaging content like video in their newsletter. Sway also automatically resizes itself to handle all the different devices that parents might use to access the school's news - from desktop PC to tablet to smartphone. Sway is also WCAG 2.0 compliant for accessibility. Is your school still producing PDF newsletters?

NAPLAN browser now in UDM

In preparation for NAPLAN Online commencing in 2018, all NSW schools will participate in a school readiness test. This will help students and teachers to become familiar with the online testing environment and ensure our technical readiness. The readiness test period is from 14 August to 22 September with all schools expected to participate. Schools will need to identify five days within this timeframe to road test how they will administer NAPLAN Online with their year 3/5/7/9 cohorts. Wherever possible, the department recommends that schools use eT4L managed Windows desktops or laptops for the test. To simplify the installation of the NAPLAN locked down browser to these devices, remote installation is now available via UDM. If the school wishes to use alternative devices, advice has been published at the department's NAPLAN Online website.

Image - NAPLAN Online

Lenovo x13Xe Win 10 Wi-Fi issue

When Windows 10 was launched in eT4L, schools with Lenovo ThinkPad x130e or x131e laptops may have discovered on some devices that Wi-Fi was disabled after the build completed and there was no easy way to re-enable it. The normal keyboard function (Fn-F5) to toggle Wi-Fi does not work in Windows 10. ITD worked with Lenovo to develop a solution for these older devices, deploying a new utility that can toggle Wi-Fi on or off as required. Any affected devices will need to be rebuilt for Windows 10 to have the new utility deployed. A fact sheet has been produced for this fix.

DER-built laptops on DETNSW

There are multiple secondary schools in NSW that are still actively using old DER-built laptops and have not yet rebuilt them via their eT4L server. Because the old DER infrastructure has been removed, DER-built laptops have vulnerabilities and service limitations. As advised several times previously, schools still using these laptops will need to take steps to rebuild them via their eT4L server as soon as possible. ALL remaining DER-built laptops still on the DETNSW domain at the end of term 3 2017, will be removed, making them unusable. Schools with significant numbers of DER-built laptops still active will be emailed separately with further details.

Get involved in Moonhack!

With Science Week coming up in a couple of weeks, why not get your class Moonhacking? Code Club's free world record setting event for children aged 8-18, will take place on 15 August. Students around the world will be Moonhacking in many languages and from all time zones, starting in New Zealand, before we get our turn. For this year's event, the theme is ‘Gravity’. There are three prepared projects in Scratch Jnr, Scratch or Python for schools to do, or if your students are more advanced, submit any coding project involving the moon and gravity. A short, online facilitator's guide for teachers is available to prepare them with leading the projects running at their school. Last year 10,207 Australian kids were involved in solving a moon-based problem using their coding skills. This year the Moonhack is going global with a target of 100,000! #getkidscoding

Image - Moonhack flyer

FUTURE.tech - LittleBits

LittleBits are colour coded electronic building blocks that snap together to provide students with the opportunity to safely explore the world of circuits and electronic prototyping and connect this learning across the curriculum. The T4L team have produced a great new FUTURE.tech fact sheet on LittleBits and Bald Face Public School have shared their journey with LittleBits with the latest issue of FUTURE.stories. Make sure you check out all of the published issues of tech and stories at the T4Lengage site.

ICT Thought of the day

Image: ICT Thought of the day

Lynda.com for all DoE staff!

The workplace is constantly changing. New digital tools are regularly added to the DoE staff portal and appear online. All staff have access to comprehensive software suites like Office 365, G Suite and Creative Cloud - but how do staff learn how these tools can be used if formal training is not readily available? The dynamic nature of cloud-based services means changes occur more rapidly as new features are added and old functions are revised. Face-to-face training is far less effective and viable as course material struggles to keep up with system changes. More and more, individuals have been taking control of their required professional development, with just-in-time, self-paced learning via educational YouTube channels. But from Tuesday, 1 August, all DoE staff have a work-funded subscription to Lynda.com.

Watch a brief video explaining what Lynda.com is

How to access Lynda.com

All department employees in both school and non-school locations now have access to the entire range of Lynda.com courses via the DoE staff portal. Open the My Training tab in your browser then click the link to Lynda.com. You can also add the link to My Essentials for quicker access. In addition, staff can access Lynda.com on their preferred mobile devices, with dedicated apps available for both Apple iOS and Android. Just sign in with your department email address and you'll be directed to the DoE portal for authentication. This is a great professional resource for the department's workforce to cater for the same lifelong learning that we strive daily to instill in our students. With Lynda.com, staff will be able to take better control of their professional development plans through easy access to relevant and quality courseware. To further promote this, each future issue of news.T4L will highlight a practical Lynda course and ongoing discussions of Lynda courses will be in the Online Learning in DOE Yammer group.

EDConnect Service Catalogue

The new EDConnect service catalogue provides you with a complete list of EDConnect services. It includes a description of each service offered to our customers and the agreed service level. To ensure we are providing a great customer experience, service levels will be used to measure our service delivery and performance. Access the service catalogue from the EDConnect website.

Film by the Sea Festival - 2017

The aim of the Film by the Sea Festival is to promote the teaching of visual literacy and film making through the creation of high quality, entertaining, informative short films that use the NSW English Syllabus and Creative Arts Syllabus as the foundation for collaborative and creative work. The focus is on student learning and engagement to produce films of a high quality that show technical knowledge and understanding of film making. To support schools wishing to enter the festival, the Arts Unit is currently offering a 15 hour registered and accredited course at multiple regional centres, on Teaching Visual Literacy and Film Making through MyPL (RG01164).

Digital literacy grants available

An initiative under the Inspiring all Australians in Digital Literacy and STEM measure of the National Innovation and Science Agenda is Digital Literacy School Grants (DLSG). Grants of between $10,000 and $50,000 are available for schools to encourage and facilitate implementation of the new Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies. Grants will be awarded for project proposals that demonstrate innovative methods for driving enhanced digital literacy in schools. The second round of Digital DLSG is now open. Applicants can only apply by completing the online Application Form. Applications close at 12 noon on 11 August 2017. Please submit your application well before the closing time as late/failed applications will not be assessed. For more information, including eligibility requirements, please see the DLSG Grant Guidelines. At Artarmon Public School, a $50,000 grant from the DLSG will help to train and develop a digital technologies teaching team, as well as develop an exciting new robotics program.

Create with computers in Coffs

Whole-day, hands-on teacher professional learning in Coffs Harbour for just $20! NSW DoE has partnered with Coder Academy to host multiple days during August to provide teachers on the north coast with quality PD in coding and makerspaces.

School Servers (RDS) update

The hotfix for the RDS service via the DoE Portal, referred to in our previous issue, was deployed on 22 June as advised. Unfortunately, it caused other issues in the portal, unrelated to RDS and was promptly rolled back. The previously advised workaround for schools with RDS servers still applies. RDS users will need to ensure they are using a compatible version of Java SE Runtime Environment on their device to use the service. Work continues with the vendor - F5 Networks, to deliver a solution for newer versions of Java.

Students can add email contacts

Many teachers wonder why it's difficult for some of their students to send them email messages. This is typically because teachers all have an email address in the @det.nsw.edu.au domain (Outlook), while students are in the @education.nsw.gov.au domain (GMail). But there's a simple trick that you can ask your students to do to make it really easy for them to email you in the future. Just send them all an email from your Outlook webmail with instructions to add you to their GMail Contacts. When they get the email, they simply hover over the plain avatar next to your (the sender's) name and then click Add to Contacts. Then they can just type your surname into the To box when composing an email to instantly find your email address.