Weekly Lessons Learned Archive

From this page, you can search the various topics covered and follow a link to the original update.
Use your browser’s search feature (ctrl+f on Windows, command+f on Mac) to find a topic of interest.

Weekly Lessons Learned 9/17/21

How can students use text-to-speech on their district Chromebooks?
How can my students easily submit an Adobe Spark product in BLEND?
Can the Website URL submission be used for Google documents, as well?
What digital tools are available for academic assessment, progress monitoring, and intervention?
When can we access ST Math?
Why can’t my students see YouTube videos that have been approved?
What is a BLEND To Do list, and why are so many assignments showing on student To Do lists and calendar?
Tell me more about the BLEND Calendar and To Do Lists! What student resources can I share for using the BLEND calendar and To Do List?

Weekly Lessons Learned 9/3/21

What do I need to do in order for my students to access the Immersive Reader function in BLEND?
How can Immersive Reader support my emergent language learners?
What resources are available to support Chromebooks?
How can I create a new course in BLEND?
If a student is showing up in a BLEND course they are no longer rostered in, how can I conclude them from the course?
Depending on my role, how can I create an AISD login QR code for a PK-5th grade student?
What are the different ways that students can submit a BLEND assignment that uses Google docs, and what are some advantages and disadvantages of each?
How can I create special characters, such as those used in other languages, on my device?
Where can I begin to explore what digital resources are available to me as an AISD instructor?
How can I access ST Math if I am a frontline rostered math teacher?

Weekly Lessons Learned 8/27/21

Where can I find out more about the teacher-facing resource associated with my BLEND blueprints?
How can students add Chrome extensions and apps to their Chromebook profiles?
I created a Playposit bulb and assigned it. Why can’t I see my students?
I created a Google Assignment in BLEND, or am using the blueprint with a Google Assignment. Why can’t my students see the assignment?
How can I use Google Assignments to share Jamboard templates?
How do I set a page as Homepage in BLEND?
How can I create a clickable link for a phone number?
I copied content from another course and it is not showing up in my course. Should I import again?
What are some useful student-facing videos to support the blueprints?
Where can I find the Tech Design Team BLEND videos?
How can I rename my Seesaw class?

Weekly Lessons Learned 8/20/21

My campus registrar made changes in TEAMS/Frontline. When will I see these roster changes made in BLEND, Seesaw, and other district-rostered systems?
My students can’t see my BLEND content! Can you help?
How can I use my BLEND (Canvas) content I previously created in a course that has ended?
How do I access blueprint content if my course is not blueprinted?
I have stacked class rosters and they come in as multiple course tiles in BLEND. How can I combine them into 1 course per prep?
What are some different ways that students can submit Google assignments in BLEND, and how does that impact the teacher and student experience?
How can I find another user’s place in a Google document?
BrainPop now has a help desk for teachers and other staff.

Weekly Lessons Learned 8/13/21

How can I preview content (such as blueprints) in Canvas Commons?
Useful links for the start of the 21-22 school year

Weekly Lessons Learned 5/28/21

What Summer Professional Learning opportunities are the Technology Design Team offering?
How can students export their Minecraft: Education Edition world and share it with another student or import it on a personal device.
I want to view ALL of the Tech Design Team YouTube videos!
How may I support families and students who want to download an archive of student work in Seesaw?
The end of the school year is almost here, and with it comes the conclusion and archiving of Frontline SIS-pushed BLEND courses!

Weekly Lessons Learned 5/21/21

What Summer Professional Learning opportunities are the Technology Design Team offering?
How might my students annotate on a PDF in BLEND?
I am leaving the District and want to transfer ownership of some contents in Google Drive. How can I do that?
How may I support families and students who want to download an archive of student work in Seesaw?
I am graduating/retiring from Austin ISD. How can I efficiently download my Google Drive contents to take with me?
Important Seesaw Reminder

Weekly Lessons Learned 5/14/21

What Summer Professional Learning opportunities are the Technology Design Team offering?
Is there a way to print a hard copy of a NewQuiz?
How can my students and caregivers translate text on a web page?
I am leaving the District and want to transfer ownership of some contents in Google Drive. How can I do that?
I am graduating/retiring from Austin ISD. How can I efficiently download my Google Drive contents to take with me?
How may I support families and students who want to download an archive of student work in Seesaw?

Weekly Lessons Learned 5/7/21

Assignments that are not part of this grading cycle are showing up in my BLEND gradebook!
How do I set and/or change due dates in BLEND, and why is this important?
Help! I edited a BLEND (Canvas) page and I want the old one back! Can I do that?
Old assignments with no due date are appearing on my students’ to do list! How can I clear them?
How do I create a Zoom poll and share the data with students?
My manually created Seesaw class has been archived! What can I do?

Weekly Lessons Learned 4/30/21

I noticed a new Save and Build Buttons in New Quizzes, how does this change the workflow?
How can I prevent the email “ding” and other notifications during meetings or teaching?
I don’t have time to go through the whole Minecraft Training Course. How can I get up to speed quickly so I can use this in lessons in May?
Are you looking for more Zoom reactions? Have you updated your Zoom?
My gradebook is showing “Select Student Group- Due to the size of your course you must select a student group before launching SpeedGrader.”
How can I check student progress in Seesaw?
How may I support families and students who want to download an archive of student work in Seesaw?

Weekly Lessons Learned 4/23/21

My students are loving Minecraft! How might they demonstrate their learning with video?
How can my students record a video of their Chromebook screen?
I’ve signed up for the Minecraft: Education Edition BLEND course and still need ideas for lessons. Where can I find age-appropriate and content-specific Minecraft lessons for my students?
How can I customize the message and icon on my Zoom waiting room for participants?

Weekly Lessons Learned 4/16/21

How can I support students monitoring their grades in Frontline/TEAMS?
How can I locate submissions in BLEND for a student who has left my class?
When looking at specific students in BLEND Analytics, what constitutes an “interaction” vs. “page view”?
My student has the wrong Blend tiles on their iPad. What can I do?
Student iPads are showing Offline when teacher accesses Apple Classroom from a class tile. What should you do?
I have a student who is not showing up in Apple Classroom. What can I do?

Weekly Lessons Learned 4/9/21

How can I support caregivers as they check their children’s grades online?
During the second week of April, all students K-12 will be able to use Minecraft: Education Edition on an AISD Chromebook.
Don’t know how to use Minecraft: Education Edition or how it can be used for engaging lessons?
What resources do I have to support district-issued Chromebook management for my 3rd-12th graders?
A student submitted a video for an assignment. When I try to open it, BLEND (Canvas) returns “Media is currently being converted, please try again in a little bit.” What should I do?
Want an opportunity to influence New Quizzes workflow changes?
What resources do I have to support iPad management for my PK-2 students?

Weekly Lessons Learned 4/2/21

What measures can I take to protect my class against Zoom bombing?
I’ve received a Google Assignment as part of the blueprints: Is there a way for me to edit the Google Assignment attachments?
I want to show my students a portion of a longer YouTube video in Google Slides. How can I adjust a YouTube video in Google slides?
What important feature updates are new to BLEND/Canvas?
Is there a way to transfer grades from the BLEND gradebook to my TEAMS gradebook?
I’m trying to use the Teacher Tools extension as described above, but my Mac is giving me errors. How do I troubleshoot these Mac errors so that I can use Teacher Tools?
How should my students access BrainPop on iPad?

Weekly Lessons Learned 3/26/21

How do I submit a software approval request? Why do I need to do this with apps/software that are not on the approved list?
Why assignments that are not part of this grading cycle are showing up in my BLEND gradebook?
How do I set and/or change due dates in BLEND, and why is this important?
What are some considerations or tips for using the EduDisplay with Zoom as I set up learning spaces for my virtual and in-person students?
How do I select or unselect a default Quiz type in a BLEND course or select a new quiz engine in BLEND?
Why are there download symbols (↓) next to links on my BLEND items?
How do I enter the designer in a New Quiz so that I can edit questions that are already in the New Quiz?

Weekly Lessons Learned 3/12/21

During the second week of April, all students K-12 will be able to use Minecraft: Education Edition on an AISD Chromebook.
Don’t know how to use the Minecraft app or why it might make an engaging lesson?
The Adobe Spark for Education training and resources course has been updated to include new resources and the webinar from the Blended Learning Summit.
My students are getting an SSO Error when they try to join Zoom class.
Why are the wrong student names appearing on post/assignments in Seesaw?
Several students can’t connect to Education on their iPads. What should I do?

Weekly Lessons Learned 3/5/21

How can I get captioning and a transcript of my zoom meeting?
How can I invite a non-AISD guest speaker to my Zoom meeting?
How can I tell if I have upgraded to the AISD licensed Zoom account?
When I migrate my Zoom account, is there anything I should consider?
Are you back on campus and having issues connecting to a printer?
Curious about the status of a system that Austin ISD uses?
My students’ iPads just updated and now images are gone in BLEND or Seesaw!
Why am I only able to see some students when using the newly populated Apple Classroom app on my teacher iPad?
Additional resources on Classroom and Jamf.
My students are not able to load HMH resources on the iPad!

Weekly Lessons Learned 2/26/21

Why does the HTML Editor in BLEND look different?
GoGuardian Teacher continues to provide teachers with a tool for developing strong online productivity and digital citizenship skills with students.
Looking for an opportunity to connect with and learn from colleagues across the district that also counts for PLED credit?
When I type directly into a BLEND page, quiz, assignment, etc., why doesn’t spell check work?
How might I help students who need another hotspot?
Did you know that you can use Jamf Teacher on your district-issued iPad to help manage apps on students’ iPads?

Weekly Lessons Learned 2/5/21

The Newsela/BLEND integration is now available to all teachers/students in grades 3-12!
What is the easiest way for a teacher to save a photo as a pdf?
Can I get more information about Google Assignments in BLEND?
I’m not sure if I have the latest version of Zoom. Is there a way to tell?
I am looking for ways to structure collaboration in breakout rooms. What collaboration structures do you recommend, and what examples of classroom application can you share?
My registrar made changes in TEAMS/Frontline. When will I see these roster changes made in BLEND, Seesaw, and other district-rostered systems?
My students had a schedule change. How do I help them rearrange the BLEND Dashboard?
I accidentally saved a change I don’t want on my BLEND page. How can I find and restore previous versions of my page?

Weekly Lessons Learned 1/29/21

When I use the “Copy to function” in BLEND, why is it producing such a long list of courses for me to choose from, and what can I do to easily find my course?
Will the Discovery Education BLEND integration improve? So glad you asked!
Is there a way for my students to annotate a PDF in BLEND without additional software or licenses?
How can I request a website unblocked?
An updated BrainPOP resource for teachers has been added to the BLEND Commons!
Is there a way to subtitle a presentation in another language as I present?
Are there any resources for using the New Rich Content Editor in BLEND?
I am trying to load my BLEND grades and I can’t see any grades for this grading period. The grades show when I have ALL Grading Periods selected.
Why is my PlayPosit video STILL giving students the error “Video Streams Fail to Load”?
How do I assign a Seesaw activity to only a select few students for differentiation?
How do I (re)connect my student’s iPad to BLEND, Seesaw, and other apps?

Weekly Lessons Learned 1/22/21

Why is my PlayPosit video giving me the error “Video Streams Fail to Load”?
Is there a way for a teacher to manually submit a BLEND quiz for a student if they accidentally forgot to submit?
How can I help students who are having issues accessing content embedded from Google Drive in BLEND?
Where did my concluded BLEND courses go? How do I access them?
My student teacher for this semester has finished orientation and has their A number now. How do I add them to my BLEND course?
How can I log into Google on an iPad? Is there a video I can share with parents?
What next steps might I take to help a student whose sound/audio recordings are not getting captured on their Seesaw assignments?
My student teacher for this semester has finished orientation and has their A number now. How do I add them as a co-teacher to my Seesaw course?

Weekly Lessons Learned 1/15/21

How do I set a grading policy for late work?
Why are student assignments not showing up in Speedgrader, even when it says they have been turned in?
How do I filter by grading period in my BLEND gradebook?
What other filters are available in the BLEND gradebook?
In what ways can I support my students who need to rename themselves in Zoom?
What are my options for copying in BLEND?
My students have several old courses cluttering their BLEND dashboard. Is there something they can do?
My Course navigation changed! What might have happened?
Is there a way to forward my BLEND inbox emails to my Outlook email?
Did you know BrainPop has a new feature – co-teachers?

Weekly Lessons Learned 1/8/21

How do I add a long-term or short-term substitute to my BLEND course?
What resources are available to help me get acclimated to the New Rich Content Editor (RCE) in BLEND?
How do I help students authenticate through Zoom to make my meetings safer?
How do teacher changes in Frontline/TEAMS affect gradebooks and BLEND?
The Teacher Checklists for Blueprint Courses have been updated.
What does the new background look like for the district-issued iPads?
Families on district-issued iPads are experiencing Zoom login issues. What can I do to help?

Weekly Lessons Learned 12/18/20

I have heard Zoom will do auto-captioning. How do I set that up?
I had a course number change during the semester or a student transferred, how can I see the grades for students who have been concluded?
How can I provide feedback on the blueprints?
My students’ iPads just updated and now images are gone in BLEND or Seesaw!
How can I close all the tabs that are in my Safari browser?

Weekly Lessons Learned 12/11/20

Changes are coming to elementary blueprints!
My students can’t hear the audio from a Playposit! How can I help troubleshoot audio issues for Playposit bulbs?
How does a student retake a PlayPosit bulb?
My students’ iPads just updated and now images are gone in BLEND or Seesaw!
Do you have any short iPad tutorials?
How do I install Adobe Spark on an iPad?

Weekly Lessons Learned 12/04/20

The New Rich Content Editor will be automatically enabled in ALL BLEND courses by January 2, 2021.
How do I access Adobe Spark? All staff and students can locate Adobe Spark in their AISD Portal Applications.
Did something happen to the custom edits that I made to my blueprint?
Want help finding an approved YouTube channel?
Want to peruse previous Weekly Lessons Learned?
Is something not showing correctly on your screen?
How do I upgrade my Zoom account? What Zoom learnings have happened this week?
How can I get Zoom help?
How do I set up my new teacher iPad for JAMF School?

Weekly Lessons Learned 11/20/20

Students and Staff can now access Adobe Spark through the new tile in the AISD Portal!
My student can’t see Google content in BLEND.
What information is most useful to get my ServiceNow ticket properly routed and quickly addressed?
Should I set starting and ending dates for my courses in BLEND?
My students’ iPads just updated and now images are gone in BLEND!
How can I tell if my student’s iPad is registered and getting updates?

Weekly Lessons Learned 11/13/20

How do I set and/or change due dates in BLEND, and why is this important?
What new Playposit learnings have arisen this week?
How do I set BLEND notifications at the course level?
A site I need to use with students is showing up as “BLOCKED.” Is there a way to unblock websites for students?
My 3rd-5th-grade blueprint has content linking out to MackinVIA and/or Ebsco that my students cannot access. How can I help them?
Students are doing a lot of scrolling within one BLEND page. How can I create a link to something within a BLEND page (like a “Return to Top” link)?
Where are some of the district-pushed apps on the district-issued iPads?
How do I know if a student’s district iPad is not syncing with district settings?

Weekly Lessons Learned 11/06/20

3-5 Blueprint Update
How do I create custom sections in BLEND (Canvas) so that I can differentiate and assign things only to specific sections?
How can I use GoGuardian to support student engagement?
How do I create an announcement for my individual BLEND course?
How do I find past/archived Global Announcements that I closed from my BLEND Dashboard?
Why is my PlayPosit video giving me the error “Video Streams Fail to Load”?
How do you save videos you’ve created using PlayPosit’s built-in recorder?
How does ownership of PlayPosit bulbs work?
How do I change how my grades post in BLEND (Canvas)?
How do I put a BLEND (Canvas) page on students’ To Do lists?
How do I reduce the amount of past activities my students see in Seesaw?
Why can’t my students see the HMH leveled readers when they access HMH through the Portal from their iPads?
How do I download a student’s Seesaw journal?
What are some guidelines or best practices with Seesaw?

Weekly Lessons Learned 10/30/20

As rosters change in TEAMS, how does this impact systems that use TEAMS to auto-roster students? If a student transfers to my class, what if I need access to students’ previous work from a different BLEND course?
Need an easy way to copy a module or individual BLEND item from one course to another? If you are a Teacher or Co-Teacher in a course you can use the Copy To function.
Do you need help modifying or setting the “Due date” for a BLEND item (such as a BLEND assignment, graded discussion board, or quiz)?
UPDATED: To help make it easier for students to message me via the BLEND inbox, is there a way for me to create a link that I can embed on my BLEND homepage that will allow students to message me via the BLEND inbox?
I like New Quizzes because of their functionality in putting stimuli side-by-side with the questions attached to that stimulus. But I can’t add read-aloud support…can I?
Are you experiencing issues when duplicating a New Quiz or copying it from one course to another?
I need a link refresher! How do I link things in BLEND? How do I relink a button?
Need some resources on concurrent teaching?
Are you looking for resources to support MAP Growth testing with remote learners?
As rosters change in TEAMS, how does this impact Seesaw?

Weekly Lessons Learned 10/23/20

Remember all those links we’ve shared in past Weekly Lessons Learned Updates for the status of apps and websites? They’re now all consolidated into a new page on the AISD website!
GoGuardian – “Student offline” is sometimes seen by teachers when in an active session.
Grade filtering
What are some suggestions on how to provide continuity of instruction to the kids of a teacher who may be taking leave?
Any new Zoom learnings this week?
My students are turning in work via BLEND, and when I look in SpeedGrader, a student’s submission gives me this error:
Students on iPads are reporting issues with the visibility of images when using the Canvas Student App. What can I do to help?
Some students are getting an error message on their iPads that they “do not have enough storage” to turn in work via Seesaw. How can I help?
How do I know if a student’s district iPad is not syncing with district settings?

Weekly Lessons Learned 10/16/20

As the end of the grading period approaches, what are some timesavers for grading and tips for communicating missing work to students?
What are some best practices for adding grades and assignments in SIS Frontline TEAMS?
Zoom Odds’n’Ends
How can I get Zoom help?
BLEND (Canvas) Odds’n’Ends
What new learning has happened around Playposit bulbs and ownership?
Curious about the status of a system that AISD uses?

Weekly Lessons Learned 10/9/20

How do I upgrade my Zoom account? What Zoom learnings have happened this week?
How do I connect to the EduDisplay and manage the sound?
Want to reduce the number of clicks to our core academic resources?
How do I organize my side navigation menu in a BLEND course?
A student is getting an error message like the one below on a district Chromebook. How do I connect to the Education network?
My registrar made changes in TEAMS/Frontline. When will I see these rostering changes made in BLEND, Seesaw, etc.?
As the end of the grading period approaches, what are some timesavers for grading?
How can students and caregivers get an overview of assignments and due dates within BLEND?
How can I submit and “upvote” BLEND (Canvas) request features, such as giving observers in BLEND a list view option on the Dashboard?
My gradebook is showing “Select Student Group- Due to the size of your course you must select a student group before launching SpeedGrader.”
How do I create an IXL or Dreambox link for BLEND?

Weekly Lessons Learned 10/02/20

What are some ways I can get real-time tech support as we return to the physical classroom?
What are some considerations or tips for using the EduDisplay with Zoom as I set up learning spaces for my virtual and in-person students next week?
- Could I still use the DocCam as part of my Zoom, EduDisplay, laptop setup?
- You can plug directly into the EduDisplay or use MiraCast if you prefer to be mobile/untethered to the EduDisplay.
Need some EduDisplay reminders?
Why is a student getting a proxy authentication or connection error on their iPad or Chromebook?
What are ways to manage course notifications for an individual BLEND course?
I’m having trouble integrating HMH in BLEND.
How can I easily message students who have not turned in work in BLEND?
Tips for Google Docs and Slides Submissions for BLEND Assignments
What are some tips to help students be safe online, especially with YouTube?
My Zoom links don’t work sometimes. Any tips on troubleshooting?
How can I and my students help prevent eye strain from all this screen time?
Students are getting iPad enrollment errors and/or their iPad apps are not loading properly.
Why are students’ iPad scenes changing at different times of the day?

Weekly Lessons Learned 9/25/20

My gradebook in BLEND isn’t showing my course assignments, quizzes, etc.!
Google Drive will not authorize.
What are the best ways for parents to see a global view of what their child needs to do and feedback/grades they have received?
How can I connect BLEND and Google in different ways?
How can I help my students with Portal login issues?
How can I ensure my students have the latest version of Chrome on their Chromebooks?
Are students experiencing issues trying to login to different AISD digital resources?
How do I troubleshoot accessing AISD digital resources such as Seesaw, Dreambox, Imagine Learning?
Is your button not automatically authenticating students to an AISD digital resource?
What can I do if my students on an iPad using the Canvas Student App can’t see my BLEND items?

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