Outlook mail: Desktop vs. Web App

Today's blog is all about Outlook mail!  Like our old GroupWise email system, there are two ways to access Outlook email: through the web (Outlook Web App) or desktop software (Outlook 2016 or 2019).  Here are guides for using:

1. Outlook Web App (OWA)

2. Desktop client (Outlook 2016/ 2019)

3. Comparison of OWA and Outlook 2016/2019

Personally, I prefer using OWA but there are specific features that are only available or work better in one of the applications.  Starting with OWA, easy access is available by going to the staff email link at the bottom of our school district homepage.

Here are some highly recommended settings to change in your account when using OWA:

1. The Outlook Web App default settings has all email correspondence set to "thread"or "conversation view."  If you're constantly searching for emails that seem lost in a thread, go
to the Settings cog and turn off conversation view 

 

2.  At the bottom of the Settings, go to "View all Outlook settings" and in left tab "Mail" and "Compose and reply", choose "reply" rather than "reply all" as your default response settings.

        3. Finally, meeting RSVPs show up into your inbox with the option to accept or decline the meeting.  The meeting time then gets put into your Outlook calendar (it doesn't disappear as I thought happened the first time I clicked "yes") :

Remote access for SMART Board lessons

Here's an exciting way to share your SMART Notebook, PDF or powerpoint lessons with your students in the event of school closure or absence.  Lumio is the cloud-based solution provided by SMART with hybrid and remote learning in mind.  I would recommend using SMART Notebook software to build the lesson and then import it into Lumio.  Lumio is found by going to: https://suite.smarttech-prod.com/login.  Sign into Lumio with your Google (@sd28.org) account.

Here's an introductory video that I put together on getting started with Lumio, and importing your Notebook content.  Notice the ability to add Notebook, PDF, Powerpoint or Google slides content into your Lumio slidedeck.  Do so by +Adding Activities and selecting the "import resource" option:

Here are the steps to prepare your lesson:

1. Import the resource to your lumio library:

2.  Add new pages (Game-based activity, graphic organizer or manipulative, YouTube content) to the lesson from the + icon while editing the lesson:

You may recall the unfortunate loss of Adobe flash content with SMART Notebook.  Some of this interactive content is coming back!  The PhET Interactive solutions is a very new feature with intereactive STEM content.  Check it out for its content relating to math (e.g., fractions, multiplication, base 10), physics and chemistry!

The Game-based solutions walks you through a step-by-step wizard to create formative assessment activities for students to work on: 

3. Once you've finished editing the lesson, decide which pages will be "individual" or "group" activity pages for students to annotate - click on the "wand" to get these options:

4. Then, adjust the pacing to lock down what pages they can view at a time ("teacher") or give students the flexibility to keep going through all the lesson pages ("student").  The lesson can be shared to students (via Google Classroom) or live by sharing the class code with your students.  The students will go to https://hellosmart.com/, join as "Guest" and type in the code in the same way as joining a "Kahoot" game.

All SD28 educators have "basic" access to SMART Notebook and Lumio (with up to 50 MB cloud storage space) however there is a "premium" license if you wish to have unlimited Lumio storage space.  Here is the survey that needs to be completed to request premium licensing: http://tiny.cc/ljmxtz

PDFs in Google Classroom

This week's explanation features how you can enable your PDF files to automatically open with the OrbitNote PDF viewer.  This will allow you to view student answers.  It gives you the ability to annotate and comment on their work.  Here are the steps to automatically set OrbitNote as the default PDF viewer when in Google Classroom:

1. Click on the grey puzzle extension when signed into Google Chrome and fill in the pin next to OrbitNote:

2. Right mouse click on the OrbitNote icon from the extension toolbar and select options:

3. Scroll down to Extension options

4. Make sure that "Open Classroom PDFs Directly" is checked.  This will allow PDFs to open with OrbitNote when viewing PDF files in Google Classroom:

Refresh the page (Ctrl r) or click on the refresh button to the left of the URL address bar to reload the page:

Remind students to click "Turn in" on the PDF file when finished and "turn in" or "submit" when in Google Classroom so that you know when they are finished.

Here is my video explaining the process: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MDFNMGSdsTW_kNbG1473_kH_VBRMZAPr/view 

Texthelp put together a video outlining Google Classroom workflow: 

Next week, I'll share how SMART Lumio can provide excellent remote and hybrid learning alternatives for your Notebook, PDF and powerpoint files.  This is an especially great approach if you're a fan of using SMART Notebook or if there are students in your class who are not able to use their Google account.  Here's a sneak peak of what Lumio is all about.

Working with digital PDFs

PDF stands for "Portable Document Format."  These files are often interchangeable with images.  However, what can we do when you want you or your students to annotate or provide answers on a PDF file?  Are there options to make a PDF readable?  We used to have Adobe Acrobat Reader.  You may need to first make sure that the PDFs open properly using Google Chrome.  Here's how: 

To have students answer questions, annotate and write on PDF files:

Step 1. Upload the PDF file to Google Drive 

Step 2. "Open with" Read&Write for Google Chrome or OrbitNote (formerly called OrbitDocs) 

In OrbitNote, there are freehand draw tools and text tools to answer questions.

                                        Freehand draw    Eraser        Type text    Pushpin (sticky note)

Here is a video explaining how to annotate PDF files: 

To make PDF files text-readable requires OCR (optical character recognition) conversion.  This can be a tricky process, especially if the file is pixelated or grainy.  ARC-BC does this process for textbooks and access is available for designated students.  Another option is Snapverter or using Kofax Power PDF.  Contact Kevin to learn more!

This is a helpful guide for making the best use of PDF files, summarizing this explanation.  Note that in teacher's marking portal of Google Classroom, the PDF appears to not have any changes made by the student.  Click on "open with" OrbitNote to view their completed work!  This is assuming that the student answered questions or added information and made sure to "turn in" the work!

Editing Read&Write for Google Chrome Toolbar

For some students, the default toolbar for Read&Write for Google Chrome may be too overwhelming.  This is what the standard toolbar looks like:

Here's an example of a toolbar with fewer features:

The toolbar can be fully customizable.  The student can reduce or add tools.  Go to the ... and Options menu. 

Then, go to the "Features" menu on the left and toggle off features that are not used:

Here's a link to the explanation of the various tools that are featured with Read&Write for Google Chrome: https://www.thinglink.com/card/1309648205255802883 and PDF visual.  I also like this quick reference guide explanation.

The highlighters can be used for extracting information from text.  The colours can be used to highlight different features of the text.  Here are some different ways in which text can be extracted (collect highlights method).

More exercises and application ideas for Read&Write for Google Chrome can be found here: https://www.texthelp.com/resources/training/read-write/google-chrome/