Earlier in October, Jeffco hosted the Connect Colorado with Schoology conference at the Ed Center. There were participants from all over Colorado and over 17 school districts, including some travelers from Nebraska and Wyoming. Jeremy Friedman, founder and CEO of Schoology, was the keynote speaker and provided a great overview of the many new features Schoology has added, as well as features that are in various plans of development that will make using Schoology even more robust and efficient.

Teachers are increasingly turning to tools to help support digital workflow in their classrooms. Student online work, discussions, assignment tracking, and instant feedback are some features that digital workflow tools can provide.

Two common tools available for teachers within Jeffco which can support these needs are Schoology and Google Classroom. Jeffco Ed Tech has created a comparison chart to help support the discussions which many schools are having regarding these two tools.

Choosing the best tool for the job always begins with the instructional purpose in mind. Teachers may find they need one or both of these tools at various times throughout the year to help meet their needs.

Digital Teacher Librarians and the Jeffco Ed Tech team are great resources as your school enters into these conversations.

Looking for more information about digital workflow? Read our related blog.

Do you use Google Slides with your learners? Do you want to be able to honor your participants questions, without stopping the flow of the presentation? Do you want your participants to be able to communicate with each other and with the presenter to discuss the learning and to answer each others questions? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the new Google Slides Q and A feature might be just what you are looking for!

Google Slides Q and A is available on all slide decks when the user is ready to begin presenting their slides to an audience. When this feature is enabled, a separate browser window will open, in which participants can pose questions or leave comments to both the presenter and other participants. They may do this using their name or in anonymous mode. Additionally, participants may escalate or deescalate a comment or question, raising it to the top of the list, so that it's not missed by the presenter.

View the presentation below to learn how to set up Google Slides Q and A in your next Google Slides presentation and give your learners a new avenue to communicate!

Are you aware that we have a unique partnership with Jefferson County Public Libraries (JCPL)? The public librarians come into our schools for parent nights, registration, back-to-school nights, book talks, and much more! They encourage our students to get signed up for a library card, which enables them to not only check out books, but also gives them full access to hundreds of databases for free! JCPL is an amazing resource for our students, parents, and staff. 

Each summer, JCPL hosts a summer reading program, in which they give out coupons for free food, amusement parks, etc. They also give free books to students in our schools for reading a minimum of 8 hours over their summer break. This past summer, JCPL had a contest in which they gave a $300 reward to every preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, and option school with the largest quantity of minutes read over the summer. The students needed to read and log their minutes-read online. Jeffco had winners in every category. The schools were presented with a check by JCPL at an all-school assembly. 

• Preschool: Warder
• Elementary School: Pleasant View
• Middle School: Oberon
• High School: Jefferson
• Option School: Addenbrooke Classical Academy

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Congratulations to all students, staff, parents, and additional stakeholders at these schools. Your hard work certainly paid off!

We hope you check out JCPL, an invaluable resource for our students: https://jeffcolibrary.org/. Contact your local branch to see what resources they can provide you. Together we can make a huge difference in our students’ lives!

JCPL Rocks!

This past September, teachers, digital teacher librarians, and administrators from across the district came together for a day of technology sharing and learning. Matt Flores, our Chief Academic Officer, kicked off this day of learning with a keynote talk. He spoke about the important role technology plays in the Jeffco 2020 Vision.
Various sessions were held to introduce teachers to ways to effectively integrate technology in the classroom. Various feedback from participants indicated this day was a great success and opportunity.

• "The sessions really met my needs." "I loved that it was very Google Summit-like."
• "There were so many different options."
• "Many great presenters."
• "I enjoyed having the opportunity to learn from other professionals."
• "There was so much to pick from, and it seemed to range from beginning "techies", like myself, to experienced users."