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February Announcements

Posted by Stephen Woicik on February 24, 2020

Hello Agawam Public Schools, here are your technology updates for February 2020.

Technology Survey

Thank you to everyone who participated in our district wide technology survey. For anyone that hasn’t completed the survey yet, you can find it at https://tech.agawamed.org/announcements/technology-survey/. The goal of the survey is to get a baseline of the technology needs and concerns in the district. This data will be used to help make informed decisions and lead discussions in the future.

Network Upgrades

One concern expressed in the survey is network consistency and speed. This is a major priority for the Technology Department. Adding more technology and devices to the classroom won’t do anything if we don’t have the infrastructure to support it.

Since December break, the Technology Department has been going around to each building to get detailed information about the network. We have identified several areas for improvement. We will be putting our E-Rate funding towards fixing these issues over the summer and into the school year. During the month of March, the Technology Department and vendors will be touring classrooms to make plans for summer upgrades and improvements.

Start of Cybersecurity Grant

We started the Cybersecurity Training this month with an assessment survey being sent to staff in the district. Thank you to everyone that participated. If you have not taken the assessment yet, there is still time. Please click the link in the email to take the assessment. The email should read:

  • FROM NAME:  Wombat Training Platform
  • EMAIL ADDRESS:  wombat_training_platform@wombatsecurity.com
  • SUBJECT:   You Have Been Assigned a CyberStrength Assessment

The next stage of the Cybersecurity Training will be starting in March. You will be receiving various emails to help you spot malicious content and provide resources. More information will be sent out when available.

Network Drive Migration

The Technology Department will be migrating away from Network Drives over the next school year. We want to make this transition as easy as possible and provide plenty of time for the migration.

Network Drives are Windows computer drives that store data on a central server, not on the computer. These are typically called F: Drive or H: Drive in the district. We will be migrating from a local server network drive to a cloud based drive on Google Apps.

For the remainder of this school year, we encourage everyone to have Google File Stream installed on their computer and begin moving files over. We also encourage everyone to use Google Drive as we ask students to do the same.

Beginning next school year:

  • New students and staff will not be getting Windows Network Drives. They will be set up with Google File Stream by default.
  • New equipment (desktops and laptops) will not have Windows Network Drives. They will be set up with Google File Stream by default.
  • Network Drive servers will be shut down permanently at the end of the 20-21 school year.

If you need help or further explanation, please submit a support request to the Technology Department. Anyone on the staff will be able to get you set up with Google File Stream and start moving files over. There is also a helpful document on Google File Stream.

New Bookmarks in Chrome

Some of you have noticed a new bookmarks menu in Google Chrome. If you are logged into your @agawamed.org Google Account you will now see an Agawam Bookmarks folder in the top left of the browser. We have added a few useful links and will be adding more in the future. If there is anything you’d like to see added to the bookmark folder, please let us know.

Rediker has released a new feature in link your Google Classroom with the TeacherPlus Gradebook. Many of our teachers are currently using both platforms and have to do double entry. This will streamline much of the work. Ed in the Technology Department has put together this helpful tutorial.

That is all for now. The Technology Department will be sending out more announcements at least once a month. Always be sure to check the website for the latest information.

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