Waffle Bytes

Here are the steps to connect Meraki to the Apple Deployment site. (Prerequisites for this activity: Your district already enrolled in Apple Deployment Your Meraki server initially setup) Start in Meraki -  Go to the side - click on MDM setting under Organization Scroll down the area headed Apple Device Enrollment Program Click to download the Public Key  Go to the Apple Deployment website ( http://deploy.apple.com ) Click on Manage Servers under Device Enrollment Program  Click on the server you added for Meraki. (You will need to Add MDM Server if you have not previously added the server.) Under Server Details, click on Add Key  Find and select the key you downloaded A server token will show up - click to download & save that Click Done Go back to Meraki -  Click on Choose File to upload your server token Make sure to Save Changes at the bottom of the page Here is a video if you prefer that format: 

Here is a graphical overview of setting up for iOS device management with Meraki - Some lessons learned- This process is not linear! You have to touch every iOS device You must log into an Apple ID on every device Some settings conflict - figuring out what can be time consuming BETA is...well...BETA - expect some glitches Note - this is just all the setup!  It doesn't get you into the management of apps at all, just through the steps of getting your devices listed and managed in Meraki. Over the next couple weeks I'll be adding video support for each of the steps via YouTube.  They will also be added to iTunesU under Michigan's MI Learning, with a few companion documents.

Finally!  As the newest Google Drive features are rolling out, one of the ones is the addition of a couple menu items for tables - you will be able to merge and unmerge table cells. Here is the old menu - The new menu -  As you can see - the menu is just extended with two more menu choices of "merge cells" and "unmerge cells." When will this appear in your own Google?  I'm not sure.  However,  I know it has already been implemented into 2 of my 4 Google accounts.  

I just received this via email about an event tonight - looks like a great opportunity if you can register and attend at 7 pm ET! "Good afternoon, I just received late-breaking information that Discovery Education’s Karen Beerer is hosting a special webinar presentation this evening at  7pm ET  “Redefining Literacy for Today's Learners.”  This is open to all users of Discovery Education, and anyone else who may benefit.  Please share the registration link below.  Registration is free.  More details can be found here . Here’s the registration link with more info https://discoveryed.webex.com/ discoveryed/onstage/g.php?t=a& d=639481917 Description of Webinar : Visual literacy, digital literacy, 21st century literacy, media literacy, whatever you call it, we know that for students to be literate in today’s world, they need a variety of skills that equate to much more than reading and writing.   In fact, even reading and writing skills look differe

Read Around the Planet 2015: A Project Matching Event TWICE invites you to participate in a collaborative reading event using videoconference technology in celebration of with Read Across America! WHAT : a CAPspace Matching Event - you sign up and we provide you a partner class. REGISTRATION:  December 1st to  January 16, 2015 ! RAP DATES : February  23 - Wednesday, March 6, 2015 **Please check your calendars for vacation, conference days, testing, etc. BEFORE registering to know which days work for your class.** Classes share skits, raps, original poetry/writing, songs, game shows, and more.  Classes can participate in English, or a variety of other languages, or special education. CHECK OUT: RAP website: http://www.twice.cc/RAP -  Flyer -  Verification and Registration dates -  Teacher and Coordinator Packets -  Additional Information Collaborations vs. Projects There are two kinds of connections between classes in CAPspace:     1. Collaborations:         Teacher cr

Registration is open for the MI Moodle Moot 2015, hosted at Mid Michigan Community College in Mount Pleasant on Thursday, January 8 (preconference workshops) and Friday, January 9 (Moot).  Sessions are available for Moodle users of all levels - those new to teaching online and blending instruction with Moodle, veteran Moodle using instructors, and Moodle administrators.  Registration is $40 per day. On-site registration will be an additional $10.  SCECHs are available for additional cost.  Go to  http://mimoodlemoot.org  for more information.  Follow MI Moodle Moot 2015 on Twitter @ #mimoodlemoot ! Registration can be found here       Highlights Sessions for both K-12 and higher education 8 different half day hands-on preconference workshops including workshops for new Moodle users, experienced Moodle users and Moodle administrators 28 different hour long breakout sessions at the Moot, with many sessions providing time for hands-on practice; bring a laptop or C

Do you ever go to search through your Google Drive, and get frustrated because it returns too much?  Do you know the type of file you need, yet using search terms returns a bunch of other file types so you can't find the one you want? If you experience these frustrations, you probably need to learn how to refine your Google Drive searches.  This feature used to be located in the More area of your Drive - but no more!  It has moved!! Now, to refine your search click on the arrow found in the search bar You will then get a window of advanced search options These options will let you view by file type - when you know the type of file it is, visibility - when you know the level it is shared to, ownership - when you know if you created it or someone else did, opened by me - if you know you opened it, and created with... - if you know how it was created. You can even use these in combination with each other - Or in combination with key words - A useful skill to kn

Yesterday morning I had to take an approximately 100 page PDF document and divide it into 56 individual documents.  I had a way to do this previously, but it involved selecting the to print and saving as PDF - more steps than I wanted to do for as many as I was dividing into this morning.  So, in the search and trial to changing my process to being more efficient, I discovered a neat trick with Apple's Preview. Make sure your Sidebar tray is showing thumbnails (here's the icon to turn it on if it is not): Select (highlight) your selection in the Sidebar tray (tricks for multiple pages - 1. if they are consecutive you can click the first, hold down shift & click the last to select the range; 2. if they are NOT consecutive you can hold the command key while selecting the pages you want) Copy (here's the menu selection, you can also command+C) You will note in the File Menu that the choice for New has changed to New From Clipboard - select that to create

From Discovery Education:   We are pleased to announce Discovery Education’s cyber safety certification program, the  Intel ®  Security Digital Safety Program: Think Before You Link . Intel Security and Discovery Education have partnered to present a series of  free, interactive tools  that educators, students, and parents can use to gain critical information on  cyber safety, cybersecurity and cyber ethics . Each self-paced, interactive student module is about 10-15 minutes long and concludes with a  certificate of completion , endorsed by Intel Security, Discovery Education and the  National Cyber Security Alliance.   The accompanying  educator guides  prompt in-class activities to extend learning beyond the online interaction. To facilitate parental engagement, the program also provides  parent-facing modules  that give caretakers tips on how to promote positive online behavior in the home. PROGRAM OVERVIEW: Intel Security Digital Safety Program: Think Before You

This year Calhoun ISD and  Jackson County ISD, will be offering 3 distinct Technology in Learning courses designed to help educators learn ways to implement technology in their classroom right away.   Registration for the second session is open! Discovery with Technology for Learning January - February 2015 Discovery with Technology for Learning is a course designed to help educators explore and begin applying web tools that enable them to develop their ability to communicate with students and parents with a web presence.  This is a blended course - a majority of the work will be completed online, along with a mandatory face-to-face session that occurs after the course has started.  Important Course Dates - Course Start Date: January 8 Face-to-Face: 4:15-6:45 January 14 Course End Date: February 19 30 SCECHs Available - Optional ($15 fee) Face-to-face location options: Calhoun ISD -  Registration Coldwater High School -  Registration   Jackson Area ISD

 From Discovery Education & Toyota: Learning to drive is one of the coolest times for a teen. But facts have shown it can also be extremely dangerous. In fact, the first year after a teen gets their license will be one of the most dangerous years of their life. (Source: National Safety Council). Actions such as talking on the phone or just talking to your friends in the car, not wearing a seatbelt, driving at night, texting, and just plain inexperience all result in car crashes being the leading cause ofteenage death in the U.S. But we believe that you have the power to inspire your fellow teens, maybe better than a teacher or a parent can, because you know what messages will be the most powerful. That’s why the TeenDrive365 Video Challenge empowers teens to put that vision on camera and save teen lives! Approach your video submission as your chance to find a message that would resonate with you and your peers. If your friends—and teens throughout the United States—were going t

(for teachers in southern to mid-Michigan - easy driving distance to Ypsilanti) How would you like to become involved in a professional development project involving engaging students in Cyber Discovery? We are looking for teams of two teachers from eight different schools in southern to mid-Michigan (easy driving distance to Ypsilanti, Michigan) who are interested in making up a diverse group of dynamic team-oriented people! Requirements: Both teachers teaching ninth grade.  One teacher will come from math, computer science, or technology,  One teacher will come from an area in history, art, theater, English or other humanities class  (If this doesn't fit you, then do pass the opportunity along to someone else who would be interested in this program!) William Sverdlik & Zenia Bahorski of Eastern Michigan University have been awarded a grant from the national organization National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center (NICERC). NICERC is funded by the

Teachers have all kinds of tools in their tool belt - when these are online tools, it can become confusing and time consuming for students to get to where they need to be!  The Gather Your Tools pd opportunity is a hands-on session over two days where teachers will set up a Moodle 2.7 course as a launching pad for all their online tools, providing a one stop location for their students to go to whenever online activities are involved.  When:  December 11 (4:00 - 8:30) and December 12 (8:30 - 3:00) Where: Calhoun Area Career Center; 475 E Roosevelt Ave; Battle Creek, MI Cost: $50* *FREE for educators located in REMC 12E (Calhoun and Branch Counties) - provided as a REMC 12E service   Register here ! General Agenda:   https://docs.google.com/document/d/17ZMvrAUVx-_2QSPlP_NLhorNIkVHd0g4m0pbiLuq1PE/edit?usp=sharing Program Goal : Participants will have a course ready to use with students the next day.   Objectives : build familiarity with what Moodle has to offer practi

The vast majority of my morning has been spent "playing" with iPads on Meraki.  This is only my fifth time I have blocked out some hours to work with it, and finally I am feeling like I've made some headway! It's been quite an involved process, and if you are wondering if you should go this route for your MDM solution for iPads there are some pointers I think worth sharing that may help you decide. Items to keep in mind when troubleshooting: It is a multi-faceted process - you have to deal with Apple's DEP and Apple's VPP, in addition to the tools within Meraki;  There are many ways to do similar functions - for instance, you can create & add profiles from within Meraki, or you can create them in iPhone Configuration Utility Tool and upload them, or you can create them in Configurator... you get the picture. Meraki has a definite delay in the data that displays - sometimes you just have to sit and be patient, or even walk away These all contribut

The following is from Pynya Mishra of Michigan State University's School of Education.  His team created the T-Pack tech integration model. From him - We need your help in completing a relatively short research survey about 21st century skills. We ( Punya  Mishra, Rohit Mehta, and Danah Henriksen) have been gathering data to help us better understand what education professionals such as current/future educators, faculty, and education graduate students, think about 21st century skills.  This short survey will take approximately 10 minutes of your time to complete. It will provide essential information regarding the challenges faced by educators in the 21st century and the knowledge/skills needed to face these challenges. If you start, please do take the time to finish, as your responses are extremely valuable to us. The survey should not take more than 8-12 minutes. Your responses will be confidential and fully anonymous. Click on the link below to access the su

  November 10, 2014 | 9:30 AM EST (Archive available at 1:00 PM EST) Discovery Education is proud to support Veterans Day with a unique, global perspective on honoring veterans. Join us on Monday, November 10 at 9:30 AM EST for our first ever live global virtual field trip from the historic Tower of London, United Kingdom. An archive of the event will be available for viewing from 1:00 PM EST. Remembrance Day is a national day of tribute in the United Kingdom that is observed on November 11. It serves to honor members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty. Transport your students across the globe to participate in this 30-minute virtual tour. Our British guides will bring us into the Tower of London and the moat to teach students about the history of Remembrance Day, the significance of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance, and the historical importance of the war that started 100 years ago. Remember World War I and pay tribute to vetera

MiFlip 2015 3rd Annual MI Flipped Learning Conference We would like to welcome Steelcase Education as a new sponsor of the conference, along with TechSmith! When : Saturday January 10, 2015 Where :  Steelcase University Learning Center Cost : FREE This year’s theme is Blended Learning. The Keynote will be given by Mr. David Tebo Superintendent of Hamilton Community Schools.  Get a chance to talk with Flipped Classroom Published Authors: Brian Bennett, Karl Lindgren-Streicher, Dave Prindle & Delia Bush. Reservations and tickets can be made at Eventbrite . Watch the miflipteaching site and Twitter feed for more information.

One calendar feature that can be useful for some situation is the ability to set up time slots.  If you are a Google Apps for Education district, you have this feature. (It is not available with a general Google account...) To set up time slots, first make sure your calendar is in the Week view - Drag over the times you want to block out for your time slots on a single day (you can set up for additional days later) - A pop-up will appear to enter a new event - there is a second choice at the top called Appointment slots, click on that - Put in an event name, set which calendar it should appear on, and select whether it is one slot OR divided into a series of slots - When you are set, click on Create slots - The slots have been set up.  Now, to fill the slots click on the event name in the slot area to see the details page - You can edit the event here, including adding a location and description. The important piece is the hyperlink that is shown.  Copy an

Many people don't know that there is a quick add option in the calendar.  This allows you to add an event on any date - with more detail than you might expect! To use the quick add, you click on the arrow next to the create button - You will get a pop-up with a text box to fill in the information about your event - Enter in the date, time and location about the event.  As you add information, the text box will expand so you can see all the information you are putting in - Click on Add when you are done - The event will be added, with the information in the correct fields - There are a few limitation to this feature.  Some limitations include - you can only add events to your primary (first) calendar you cannot invite additional people to the event this way you are limited to putting in the event name, date, times & location For a majority of calendar events, though, this is a great feature - especially if you are adding an event outside your viewab

Join the largest learning event in history Dec 8-14, 2014 Last year, 40,000 teachers led a grassroots effort called the Hour of Code – to introduce ten million students to one hour of computer science. Kids of all ages tried one hour of writing code and making apps in classrooms, and they loved it.  This year, supported by over 100 organizations, they want to reach 100 million students, across every country in the world, during Computer Science Education Week ( Dec 8 – 14 ). http://hourofcode.com/us From the site -  What is Hour of Code?   The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. Check out the tutorials , and look out for new ones coming for the Hour of Code 2014. Anybody can host an Hour of Code anytime, but the grassroots campaign goal is for tens of millions of students to try an Hour of Code during December 8-14, 2014, in celebration of Computer Science Educ

I use a lot of forms to collect data.  What interesting, is that there comes a point where I stop checking to see if there are new entries in the form.  I would like to know if there are new entries, yet have too many things to do in my job to constantly check for new form entries.  Enter an add-on for forms called Form Notifications.  You can use this to get notified when a new entry is submitted.  Now, I use this cautiously - I don't want to bury myself in email, I get enough without additional spamming of myself!  I only enable it when I feel I already have a vast majority of the entries for the form. To use this, when on the form, go to the Add-ons menu and select Get add-ons.  Find Form Notifications (you can search for it if you don't see it).  When you mouse over it, it gives some information about it, then you click on the + FREE button to add it. You will get the Request for Permission window listing all that you are allowing this third-party piece access t

You might consider this if you are a mentor teacher, online teacher, or want to educate yourself on Section 21f. Details from MVU: Exploring key trends in online and blended learning The 10 th MVU Online Learning Symposium on November 17 will explore key trends in online and blended learning and examine real-world orientation and support strategies for online learners. Keynote Speaker The keynote speaker will be John Watson, founder of Evergreen Education Group of Durango, Colorado. Watson and Evergreen help schools choose and implement the right online and blended learning strat egies that help schools meet education goals. Micourses.org Showcase Through an inaugural statewide catalog showcase, participants can network with representatives from local and intermediate school districts that collectively offer more than 2,000 online course titles in the statewide c

There is an email add-on that has a bunch of useful features that is worth knowing about, if you don't already.  It is the Canned Responses. To use this feature, you first have to enable it.  Go to your email settings: Click on the Labs in the top right.  Then enter Canned Response in the "search for a lab" box.   When you see it, click on Enable to the right side Save the changes.  Now you will have this feature when you are in the compose mode of an email.  To create your first canned response, set up what you want to be "canned" in the email exactly as you wish it to appear.  (Remember, this is NOT a merge - so be cautious if it is something that would change each email!)  Once the information you want is set up, click on the arrow in the lower right corner and look for Canned responses.  Choose New canned response... Type in the name for the canned response Now it will appear on the list.  You will also note that you can do one of t