Issue 90 - Term 4 Week 3

Want to pre-fill your Microsoft Outlook calendar, or your Google Calendar with all the school weeks for 2023?  It's so handy to know what week of the school term we are in when looking at your online calendar. Here's a quick and easy way to add all of the 42 school weeks, all the school holidays and all the public holidays and important dates for 2023 to either your Outlook or Google calendar. Once added, they'll be shown in your calendar across all your devices - desktops, notebooks, tablets and smartphones! So how do you do this? There are quick video guides and full instructions posted on Yammer right now. All you need to do is decide which calendar platform you want it imported to - or maybe you want both?

• 2023 calendar for Microsoft Outlook 
• 2023 calendar for Google Calendar

The latest stem.T4L research report is a case study on Guise Public School. They implemented the stem.T4L inventor robotics and tablet robotics kits with Year 2 and Year 6 students. The case study specifically explored two classroom teachers’ teaching strategies and their innovative ideas for the adoption of the stem.T4L technology. The report documents student engagement and learning gains, facilitated by the robotics tech. Collecting extensive data through pre- and post-surveys, student and teacher reflective journals, and classroom observations, the report presents valuable insights for how these two teachers applied the stem.T4L technology in a primary school setting. It also captures the outcomes that were achieved. Please have a read of the report here and make sure you check out all the other amazing stem.T4L research reports as well!

Google released a popular Android app called Read Along in 2020 to help younger students to practise their reading. Last week, ITD enabled the brand new Read Along web service
that works in the browser. All you need is a microphone (a headset/mic is best to avoid background noise), and students can logon with their school Google account and start reading aloud! By presenting short children's stories and listening as the students read them aloud, Google's voice recognition assistant called Diya, automatically identifies misspoken words and provides rewards and encouragement for great reading. Read Along helps kids learn to read independently, because as they read stories aloud, the real-time feedback motivates them to read more. And with the web version, students can start their reading at school, then parents can help them to logon at home to use Read Along in the browser on any Windows, Mac or Chromebook device with a mic. Google advises that all speech recognition happens in the browser, so children’s voice data remains private and is not sent to any servers.  Watch the quick video below to find out more.

Why should you sign up to be a part of the Adobe Champions program?

• Boost your novice skills in design, video and audio production and more, using Adobe software 
• Prepare your students for an exciting future in creative industries by embedding high-end Adobe tools in your courses

Adobe Champions have on-demand access to exclusive PL with key Adobe tools. They get invited to special Adobe events and opportunities to present their skills (optional). There's also an amazing collaborative community to share and build knowledge. To register your interest in becoming a Champion, complete this EOI form - only successful applicants will be contacted. But what if you're keen to build your skills and learn more, but don’t have the time to become a Champion? That’s OK, simply fill in this form to gain access to the exclusive Adobe Learning platform - but get in quick - licences are limited!

T4L Kids Issue 11 looks at the world of amazing animals! Meet our cover star, Matilda the therapy dog, and go behind the scenes for a day in her busy working life at a Sydney school. Catch up with Microlight Milly, a zoologist flying around Australia, following migratory shorebirds at a bird’s-eye level. There are three exciting challenges for students keen to explore animals, raise awareness of animal issues, or boost their next animal project! Design a 3D animal habitat, create a campaign for animals, or design and produce an animal infographic! Students have everything they need to tackle these challenges using tech. T4L Kids is a great independent cross-curricular learning resource for Stages 2-4. Use it as part of a guided learning program in your classroom!

Are staff at your school still using the legacy F5 (RDS) service to access school devices and resources remotely? In Term 3 last year, ITD launched a new Remote access service from home for all staff, the Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD). Please advise staff to visit the Azure Virtual Desktop page for instructions on setting up the department's preferred remote access service. For cyber security reasons, ITD is now planning to decommission the legacy F5 (RDS) service during Term 1 of 2023, with a tentative date set for 28 February. Any school that is still using that service, should start preparing their users NOW for this change and transition them to AVD for their remote access needs. Further advice will be provided in the week 9 edition of news.T4L.

iPads managed by Jamf Pro, and Chromebooks enrolled in the department's Google domain require licences to allow them to be visible in their respective management consoles. These licences are not free and are bundled in the price of new iPads and Chromebooks purchased through EdBuy, or supplied through the T4L Rollout. But did you know that once these licences are attached to a device, they remain with that device until you arrange to detach them in the management console? So why would you want to detach a management licence from a device? The most common reason is when an iPad or Chromebook fails and is swapped out as a warranty replacement. The replacement device is not supplied with a management licence and the school shouldn't have to buy a new one. Another common situation is if devices are lost or stolen. So what should you do?

• Advice for managed iPads
• Advice to deprovision Chromebooks

All NSW DoE staff have easy access to Canva for Education! Canva is an online design and publishing tool with templates that make it easy to create presentations, posters, videos, documents and other visual content. It makes it easy to create, collaborate, and communicate visually in the classroom and beyond. Set up your classroom space, then invite your students, and manage lessons, activities, or projects, all in one place. You'll get access to premium educational templates for every subject, grade, and ability. Discover Teacher Resources and cheat sheets that will provide you with customisable worksheets, lesson plans and more - to quickly jumpstart both your students' and your own creating! The T4L Team has a Canva information page with all the information you need to get started right away.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: Single Sign-On to Canva with your department account is coming in 2023!

Chrome browser on Windows has been a tier 1 application on all managed devices for several years. As a result, updates to Chrome were included in our monthly tier 1 updates deployments across all schools and corporate offices. Earlier this year, Chrome was made the default browser on all  managed devices, replacing Internet Explorer. With increased global cyber security threats targeting popular software and services, Google now more rapidly releases security updates for Chrome. To ensure the security of the department's fleet of Windows devices, updates to Chrome now happen automatically. Your browser will check in with Google during each session of use and if there are new updates available, they will be downloaded immediately. The update will then apply on the next restart of the browser, to keep Chrome up to date.

Many schools have acquired a mobile phone for use in the playground, or for allocation to certain staff. If your school is considering getting a mobile phone, with or without a SIM and plan, please refer to the advice on the Purchasing a new device or data service information page. A specific form must be used to order new mobile services or replacement SIM cards for the school.  If your school uses pre-paid mobile services (any provider), or services with other suppliers, it is recommended to arrange to transfer the services to Telstra, to access the department's current contract arrangements. To transfer services, a separate Mobile Authority form at the above web page must be used. In addition, if you are just looking for iPhone handsets, these are now available through EdBuy. There are two models listed with contract pricing direct from Apple.

Information Technology Directorate publishes three issues of news.T4L each term. Remember - share each issue with your staff! And if you aren't receiving an email notification as soon as a new issue of news.T4L drops, then you're missing out! So why not subscribe?