Hello Unionville-Chadds Ford! Welcome to another edition of our Technology Newsletter. This month's issue highlights Clever Badges at Hillendale, our challenges to recognize phishing attempts, updates on Canvas, tips on utilizing Google Email and more. We're here to help with any of your technology needs. Don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns!

Tech Wellness Tip

Modern technology has put a world of information at our fingertips. While technology makes our lives easier in many ways, it has also created brand new kinds of stress. The trick is to take active steps to manage your technology use so the cons don’t override the pros. Together, let's take control of our tech habits! Here is our February strategy to help you use technology in healthy ways.

Defend your sleep! Many studies have shown that using our cell phones, tablets or computers at night can interfere with the quality of our sleep. Researchers believe that’s partly due to the fact that phones and other tech devices emit “blue light,” which affects the production of melatonin, the hormone that controls your sleep/wake cycle or circadian rhythm. But another problem is that the content itself is often stimulating. It may seem harmless to knock out a few emails before bed or unwind with a favorite movie, but by keeping your mind engaged, technology can trick your brain into thinking that it needs to stay awake. And if you’re surfing the web, seeing something exciting, or reading a negative email, those experiences can make it hard to relax and settle into slumber. After spending an entire day surrounded by technology, your mind needs time to unwind. Try to avoid late night use of devices. Also resist using your phone as an alarm clock — for many people, it can be too tempting to have it on the bedside table.

around the district

Hillendale promotes fun learning in the Classroom using Clever badges

UCFSD recently implemented Clever, a single sign-on (SSO) solution, allowing users to log into applications with a single set of credentials. Clever is an easy way for our students to access all of the learning portals they use at school with a single username and password. Hillendale's Tech Teacher, Todd Picard, has taken the ease of Clever one step further by piloting Clever Badges, allowing students to log in to a Chromebook with the swipe of a badge! Clever Badges are perfect for students who have trouble typing or remembering complex passwords - especially younger learners. Badges allow students to hold up a physical badge to their device's webcam to get logged in. Teachers get more time to teach, and students get more time to learn! Todd created lanyards for each student and made class sets that he has hanging around the lab. When the kids come in, they get their lanyard along with their Chromebook. They simply open their Chromebook and access the camera which reads the unique QR code on their lanyard. Once they "badge" in they are all set to explore the various lessons he created in a variety of applications within the Chromebook. Soon Todd will be adding websites and other links to the Clever portal which will make navigating to the various sites they use even easier.

Look out for more updates as we continue expanding this program throughout the district.

behind the scenes

What's really unique about Airtame?

Did you know that the conference rooms throughout the district are equipped with an Airtame? Airtame is a small wireless HDMI device that plugs into the HDMI port of any screen or projector. ... What's really unique about Airtame, unlike other wireless HDMI devices, is the fact that nothing has to be plugged into your computer or smartphone....and it streams your content to the screen from a computer or mobile device. You can use it for mirroring the screen of your computer or mobile device to a larger display. The Airtame app that you use to present is available for Windows, MacOS, Chromebook, Linux, iOS, and Android devices. Airtame works best when connected to a local network.

How do you connect? ** Turn TV on and connect to the WiFi. ** Download the Airtame app at airtame.com/start. ** Follow the prompts. **Start Presenting. EASY! For more tips on using Airtame visit - https://airtame.com/learn/

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

powerschool

CHECK OUT WHAT'S NEW IN POWERSCHOOL

CANVAS

CHECK OUT THE LATEST features in canvas lms

Help is always available on the Canvas Community https://community.canvaslms.com/

tip of the month

How do I avoid accidentally opening a phishing attempt email?

When you delete or archive an email does your account automatically open the next email? This can inadvertently cause you to open a SPAM attempt. You can avoid this with a simple change to your email settings.

Here's how. ** Click the Settings gear from your Gmail Inbox located in the upper right corner. ** Click Settings in the menu that appears. ** Under General Settings scroll down to Auto-advance. ** Choose the option to Go back to the thread list or Go to the previous (older) conversation.

Making this change will automatically take you back to your email thread list preventing a phishing attempt to open.

Remember - When you get an email that looks suspicious, here are a few things to check for: ** Check that the email address and the sender name match. ** Check if the email is authenticated. ** Hover over any links before you click on them. If the URL of the link doesn't match the description of the link, it might be leading you to a phishing site. ** Check the message headers to make sure the "from" header isn't showing an incorrect name.

Gmail Now Lets You Forward Emails as Attachments

Google has added a new feature to Gmail that allows you to forward an existing email, or multiple emails, as attachments. This lets the recipient open the attached email and see it in its original form with full mail headers. When attaching emails as attachments, you can do it in two ways.

The first way is to select multiple emails and then drag them into an open email message that you are composing. The second method is to select the emails you wish to forward, click on the 3 dot menu at the top of Gmail, and select "Forward as attachment".

When attaching an email and sending it, the email will be sent as an EML file, which is supported by most mail clients, and you can forward as many emails as you want. When receiving EML attachments, if you click on the attachment it will be opened in a new window.

This feature is currently rolling out and is not available to all Gmail accounts as of yet. Google states you will know when it is available once you see a ""Forward as attachment" option in the three-dot More menu."

helpdesk

App requests are now in Help Desk!

App Requests have MOVED! Previously, if a teacher wanted a new app installed on a device, he or she would have to enter a request in My Learning Plan where it would sit in an approval queue. We are happy to report that going forward App Requests can now be made directly in the Technology Help Desk for a much speedier process! Once your request is entered, it will go directly to your building tech and principal for approval. Just log in to the technology helpdesk at helpdesk.ucfsd.org and click on "Request New Service" to get started. Full instructions are linked here.

what else can you request in helpdesk?

Click on "Request New Service", then click on

Google Team Drive - Make this request to have a Google Team Drive created for you. Google Team Drives are shared spaces that belong to a team, instead of an individual person. Members are added and removed as needed. Team Drives allow you to collaborate on documents with your colleagues in one central spot, making the files easier to find and use later on.

Website Unblock Request - Tired of seeing a blocked message on a site you use all the time? Create a "Website Unblock Request" to have a member of our team review the site to see if it can be allowed through our web filter.

Have a suggestion or topic? Email technewsletter@ucfsd.net

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