Happy New Year Unionville-Chadds Ford! Welcome to the first edition of our Technology Newsletter for 2020!  If you're like most folks, you're probably hard at work on your usual list of resolutions: Eat less, hit the gym more, stop buying stuff you don't need. So how about your "tech resolutions"? Simple: They're tech-oriented habits, some that need adopting, some that need breaking. Most of them are pretty easy, too, at least compared with the likes of "no more pizza." Because, come on. Pizza! Here are some tech resolutions worth following in 2020.

Detox your inbox - How much time every day do you spend swiping away junk email? (Answer: Too much.) Let's make this the year you banish the junk altogether. Every day, unsubscribe from five unwanted mailing lists. In any given email, look near the bottom for an "unsubscribe" link. Each one should take all of about 20 seconds, so you should be able to knock them out in under two minutes. After a few weeks of this, the flow of junk mail should have decreased significantly.

Put down your phone - Make no mistake, we think phones are incredible tools. But they're sucking up all our spare time -- they may be reducing the time we spend with our friends and family. They may also be making us sick: There's some evidence that excessive phone use can cause anxiety and depression, as well as increased experience of stress.

Be safer behind the wheel - Sobering fact: US traffic fatalities exceeded 40,000 in 2019. In an ideal world, you put your phone away whenever you're behind the wheel and don't touch it again until you're parked. In the real world, there are two things you can do to reduce your chances of adding to that awful statistic: Mount your phone on your dashboard. That will at least keep it up near eye level, far better than glancing down at your cupholder, passenger seat or wherever you typically keep it. Enable "car mode." Your phone is smart enough to automatically detect when you're driving and automatically respond accordingly to incoming text messages. That leaves you free to focus on the road.

around the district

Patton's Computer Programming course takes flight

The Computer Programming course at Patton takes a wide lens on computer science by covering topics such as problem-solving, programming, physical computing, user-centered design, and data, while inspiring students as they build their own apps and games. The 7th-grade Computer Programming students are applying what they learned about programming virtual drones to see if they can fly real drones through various courses. Some students have moved on to using functions to program button-based remote controls on iPads to fly the drones. Eventually students will use loops and conditionals to create tilt-based controllers and then apply everything they have learned to design drone games with the option of incorporating cannon and grabber attachments. Computer programming allows our students to engage with computer science as a medium for creativity, communication, problem solving, and fun.

Clever Single Sign-on

What is Clever?Clever single sign-on (SSO) is our single-sign-on solution, allowing users to log into applications with a single set of credentials, set-up at the district level. With the ease of only one username and password, Clever can help teachers reclaim valuable class time. Students and teachers can open their devices, sign in to the Clever Portal, and click on their connected applications to automatically access the online learning program! Click here to learn more!

How do I get a Clever Account? Great News - you already have one! All staff and students at UCFSD have clever accounts tied to their UCF google account. Simply navigate to the Clever portal and “Sign-in with Google” to see the applications available to you. Our UCF Clever portal can be found at https://clever.com/in/ucfportal. Or, if you are logged into the Chrome browser, simply click on the blue “C” extension in your toolbar.

Which programs have been activated in Clever? Google Drive and GMail, Star360/Renaissance K-8th, Wayside Publishing - Foreign Language (certain classes 6th-8th), and Naviance 6th-12th (Staff only)....With more applications on the way!

We’re also piloting Clever Badges at Hillendale Elementary School, allowing students to log in to a Chromebook with the swipe of a badge! Click here for information on Clever Badges.

We’re going to continue expanding this program throughout the district, so be on the lookout for more updates!

behind the scenes

phishing and cybersecurity awareness

Hello Staff: I wanted to make you all aware of a new phishing and cybersecurity awareness initiative that we will be implementing here at our district. The initiative will focus on the education and training of protecting your data, system data, your credentials, and emails. We will be delivering this education in multiple ways. Given the recent developments of phishing and cyber attacks, mainly on education and medical industries, we have decided as a district to make a proactive move to educate on the prevention of such attacks. The attackers are focusing on our employees to gain access or information to compromise your data and the district's data. The goal of the attacks is to play off your emotions and lures such as fear, curiosity, greed, and helpfulness. In the past six months, I have conducted a variety of phishing tests in our district. The tests consisted of a few email templates we have been familiar with and one that we are not. These baseline tests helped us establish a program going forward for education and training.

Starting in January 2020, I will conduct phishing tests at least once a month that will be used to educate all of us on the indicators to check when receiving emails that try to play on emotions and lures. The goal is to partner together so we all are well informed on the techniques that are used by these attackers. In addition to these tests, I will send out key information with the latest trends and tips on protecting your data and email. As stated earlier in this message, we as a district have done fairly well with our phishing tests but still have a ways to go. The goal of these tests is to help educate you on what to look for in email messages.

I appreciate everyone's time in reading this message and the upcoming partnership we will have in combating cyber attackers. Thank you! Justin Webb - Director of Technology

As always, if you run into issues you may contact your local technology folks or submit a helpdesk ticket.

powerschool

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tip of the month

Why You Should Use a Password Manager APP

Still using your kid's birthday as your universal password? Nearly every page you visit insists you create a user account and think up a password, from social media apps to hyper-secure banking sites. The human memory can't keep up with dozens and dozens of these passwords. With a password manager app, you can have a unique and strong password for every secure website. A dedicated password manager will store your passwords in an encrypted form, help you generate secure random passwords, offer a more powerful interface, and allow you to easily access your passwords across all the different computers, smartphones, and tablets you use. Below we listed several password manager apps that we feel have the tools to get the job done. Whether free or paid, a password manager is something everybody needs.

Dashlane, LastPass and Keeper are rated as the best overall. Other options are Enpass, 1Password, ZOHO Vault and RoboForm.

helpdesk

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