Posted by Stephen Woicik on April 29, 2020

We wanted to share another round of updates from the Technology Department about Distance Learning. We are making some changes to our policies and technologies to help with this.

Distance Learning PD

Distance Learning is here for the remainder of the school year. We are working to provide additional PD and training opportunities to help. We have created a short form for people to fill out. This will help prioritize where the most need is for PD.

We plan to offer PD through Google Classroom, Google Meet drop in sessions, and web resources.

Resources

There are a few resources already created and links we can share.

• Inside the Distance Learning Shared Drive is a list of technology resources that have been updated over the past months.
• The Technology Website is being regularly updated with tutorials and help.
• Google has created a website with dedicated resources for teaching remotely with G-Suite.

YouTube Restrictions

We have begun easing the restrictions on YouTube. Students now have more access to videos. This also applies to EdPuzzle restrictions and issues.

Teachers have the ability to approve certain videos that are blocked from being viewed by students. This allows a temporary whitelist of the video for students.

Google Meet Tip

One potential “problem” that has been discovered with Google Meet is that students have discovered ways to meet without the teacher present even though they cannot create their own Meets. By default, Google Meet leaves the meeting open even after you’ve left, much like a physical meeting room is available to use again and again when it is free - but there is a simple trick to prevent this - creating a unique nickname for your Meet.

This short YouTube Tutorial illustrates how to do this. The creator, Eric Curts of CTRL-ALT-ACHIEVE demonstrates proof that this trick works and the APS Technology Department has tested and verified this to be true with our teacher and student accounts.

This method will only allow agawamed.org accounts to join the Meet - no outside accounts or personal gmail accounts can join. Should you require outside addresses to be able to access the Meet, do not use this trick.

If you have any questions or concerns about anything in this announcement, please submit a support ticket.