Gradebooks for Secondary Teachers

Attention all secondary teachers. Are your categories and percentages set up for each of your gradebooks? All secondary-level gradebooks need to have categories and percentages set up prior to the end of the first progress report period. Once the first progress report period ends you will no longer be able to set up your categories and percentages. If categories and percentages are not set, your students' progress report grades will show as a zero.

If you need help setting up your categories follow the steps below.

1. Open one of your gradebooks and click the Categories tab.



2. On the next screen, click the Add/Edit Categories button.



3. Click the Unselect All button to remove the checks from all the categories.



4. Place a check next to each category that will be used in your gradebook.



5. Enter the percent (weight) for each category that will be used in your gradebook. Be sure that the total percent adds up to exactly 100.



6. Click Save.



7. Do this for each one of your gradebooks! Do this before the end of the first progress report period. Once the first progress report period ends you will no longer be able to set up your categories and percentages.

ActivBoard Troubleshooting Tip

If you suspect something is wrong with your ActivBoard, check to see if the "flame" on the top left corner of the board is white. If so, verify that all cables, including the power cable, are connected properly. If the "flame" on the top left corner of the board is red, blue, green or completely off, then there is a problem with the ActivBoard. You should then contact the Help Desk at x8324 or submit a ticket through our easy to use Help Desk system.

Don't Risk Losing Your Files! Save to Your SAN Folder!

Every SBISD employee has a SAN Folder, also known as an H-Drive. It is a storage folder on our network where you can store files such as Word documents, Excel sheets, PowerPoint presentations, etc. It is strongly urged that everyone save their files to their SAN Folder. Why? Because your SAN Folder is backed up and files stored here can always be restored if accidentally deleted.

If you store files directly on your laptop i.e. My Documents, Desktop, C-Drive etc, you risk losing them if you delete them or if your laptop crashes or is stolen.

If you need help saving to or accessing your SAN Folder, please see the steps below. 

Saving to Your SAN Folder

1. When saving a file to your SAN Folder for the first time, choose "Save As."

2. Click on your SAN Folder in the folder list. Your SAN Folder name begins with your network user name.

3. Name the file and click "Save."

4. The file is now saved to your SAN Folder.

Accessing Your SAN Folder 

1. Click the My Computer icon located on your computer desktop.

2. Locate your SAN Folder icon. The name will begin with your network username.

3. You will then be in your SAN Folder.

New and Noteworthy from EdTech

Eduphoria and Internet Explorer

Over the past several weeks Eduphoria released a series of updates that do not work correctly when Internet Explorer is in Compatibility View which is what our IE is running in. The district has made adjustment, but you may still experience issue in IE. Therefore we are suggesting that you log into Eduphoria using a different browser.

Below are a few reasons why we no longer work in Compatibility View. Notes from Eduphoria are below explaining why they made this change:

1. New features will not function under Compatibility View. The Lead4ward Heat Maps, new curriculum views, portal start page, and enhanced test question editor are more HTML standard compliant and do not work correctly in Compatibility View. Changes made to the look of SchoolObjects to support IE 10 and 11 also break under Compatibility View.
2. Compatibility View forces Internet Explorer to report to us that it is IE 7. IE 7 is no longer allowed access due to the fact that it is not supported by Microsoft. We will not support browsers that do not receive regular security updates.
3. As we prepare for our next wave of major updates, we need modern standards compliant browsers. The next major update to Workshop and the PDAS replacement will not function under Compatibility View at all for the 2014-2015 school year.
4. Compatibility View locks us into HTML features from 2006 (7 years ago). In order to speed up all applications and reduce the complexity in developing for all web browsers we must be able to use current standards.

If you are experiencing weird issues in any browser, please clear your Temporary Internet Files as well as your Browser Cache. Some of the changes  made to support IE 10 without using Compatibility View require this.

In summary, we recommend the following browsers for SchoolObjects:

• Internet Explorer 9 or 10 - not using Compatibility View
• Chrome - most current version
• Safari - most current version
• Firefox - most current version

BrainPOP News - 24/7 Access AND MyBrainPOP  

This year for the 1st time, students will have after hours access to BrainPOP. In addition, teachers can register as BrainPOP Educators and utilize MyBrainPOP to track student progress. Watch this brief video to learn how to set up classes for MyBrainPOP. Want to learn more about BrainPOP? Take a look at the BrainPOP Educators Blog!

Grade Anywhere with Turnitin for iPad
Everything you love about grading with Turnitin is now available on iPad. Grading student writing has never been better. For those teachers using Canvas, SpeedGrader will do the same thing.

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Feedback at Your Fingertips

Originality Report, QuickMark comments, voice comments, custom text comments, and highlights—everything you need to provide effective feedback on student writing.

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Interactive Rubric Grading

Convey clear expectations and grade faster with interactive rubrics. Simply tap the rubric criteria, and the grade is automatically calculated. No calculators, no spreadsheets.

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No Wifi, No Problem

Sync assignments to your iPad so you can grade them on- or off-line. And easily switch between using Turnitin on your computer to using Turnitin for iPad.

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Forgotten SBISD Network Passwords

Technology Services has a service which empowers users to reset their forgotten network passwords. By now, you have been prompted to set up questions and answers that will be asked should you forget your password.

Should you ever forget your network password, click on the Forgot Password button located on your computer's login screen (see screenshot below).

You will then be prompted to provide the answers to the questions you chose when setting up the password reset tool. Once you answer the questions correctly, you will be allowed to reset your network password.

If you have questions or need further assistance, please contact the Technology Help Desk at x8324 (TECH)