Web Site Creation Tools

Now Registering: Adobe Spark (Ed Tech Tuesdays Pick Five Series)

February 2020Josh Whiting

The next sessions of our GSD Ed Tech Tuesdays professional development series happen this evening and in two weeks. Join us in the library at Granite Connection High School on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 or at the TLC on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 to learn the basics of Adobe Spark, an easy creation tool which is available to all students and staff members in Granite School District.

Adobe Spark is an easy and fun way for you and your students to create graphics, webpages, and videos. We’ll explore the ins and outs of using these tools and several ideas for getting started with them in your classroom.

Click here to sign up to attend this or other future GSD Ed Tech Tuesday ‘Pick Five’ Sessions.

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Featured Resource: Creating Student Portfolios Using Google Sites

May 2019Josh Whiting

Post by Teresa Bruin, originally published in our monthly Ed Tech Newsletter for teachers.

We often get asked to recommend a way for students to create digital portfolios. There are several online tools for creating portfolios, but Google Sites is free and easily started straight from their granitesd.org Google Drive.

To start a new Google Site in Google Drive, click the **+ New** button, click **More >**, and choose **Google Sites**.

The new Google Sites has been completely made over. You can create a new Google Site in a short time with its intuitive design.

Creating and Editing in Google Sites – Screenshot

Students will enjoy creating a place to showcase their best work and have an easy way to share it with family and their teacher(s).

Additional Resources

Student Portfolios (Granite Ed Tech TIP Resource Page)

Getting Started with Sites (G Suite Learning Center)

Student E-Portfolios in Google Sites – A Tutorial (Boulder Valley School District)

How to Create Powerful Student ePortfolios with Google Sites (Shake Up Learning)

Take Portfolios with You When You Leave the District (Technology Tip: Backing Up Your @granitesd.org Data with Google Takeout)

Featured Resource: W3Schools Online Web Development Tutorials

January 2019Josh Whiting

Post Author: Teresa Bruin, Educational Technology Specialist and Team Leader. Originally appeared in our Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter for Teachers.

Learn Coding and Web Development

If you or your students are looking for more advanced opportunities for learning coding, w3schools.com is an excellent website. W3Schools is the world’s largest web developer reference site. It features an extensive library of tutorials, references, and reusable code examples. It has something for everyone from beginners to experts in the world of coding and web development!

Topics covered include

HTML
CSS
JavaScript
PHP
SQL
Python
XML

and much more.

In addition to references, the site features numerous “Try It Yourself” editors in which a user can modify and experiment with actual code to immediately see how it affects the design and function of a web page. The code could then be copied and pasted directly into the user’s project.

#GSDEdTech Blog Editor’s Note: By coincidence I’m currently using W3Schools and their W3.CSS framework as a key learning and building reference for a personal web project. It is an incredibly useful resource whether you are a student, a professional, or just a hobbyist/lifelong-learner.

OverDrive Monthly Circulation Competition Update for December 2017

January 2018Josh Whiting

In December 2017, students and staff in Granite School District checked out nearly 12,000 ebooks and audiobooks from our OverDrive Digital Library. The infographic below reveals the top five schools for the month. [Read more…] about OverDrive Monthly Circulation Competition Update for December 2017

OverDrive Monthly Circulation Competition Update for November 2017

December 2017Josh Whiting

In November 2017, students and staff in Granite School District checked out over 14,700 ebooks and audiobooks from our OverDrive Digital Library. This is up 2,000 from last month. The infographic below reveals the top five schools for the month.

OverDrive Top November 2017 Circulation Infographic

November 2017 Top Circulations

In November 2017, Beehive Elementary and West Lake STEM Jr. High held their spots at the top and therefore keep the trophies which they were awarded for winning the September 2017 competition. Members of the Educational Technology Department still visited them with treats.

West Lake Jr. - Top Secondary Circulation November 2017 — West Lake STEM Jr. High maintains their status as the top circulating secondary school, and 2nd place overall. Pictured: Connielyn Perkins, Media Clerk; Craig Edwards, Library Media Educational Technology Specialist.

Beehive Elementary - Top Circulation November 2017 — Beehive Elementary is the top circulating school in district for the third month straight. Pictured: Misty Butterfield, School Technology Specialist; Susan Wilkerson, Media Clerk; Classroom of enthusiastic digital readers.

November 2017 Most Improved

We are excited to announce two new winners in the “Most Improved” category: congratulations to Pleasant Green Elementary and Kearns Senior High! Pleasant Green’s improvement was the most dramatic, moving from zero checkouts in October to 4th place overall in November.

Pleasant Green Elementary Most Improved November 2017 — Pleasant Green Elementary showed the most dramatic single month improvement of any school in November, going from zero checkouts to 4th place overall in one month. Pictured: Sharon Prescott, Principal; Jayanne Unander, School Technology Specialist.

Kearns High - Most Improved November 2017 — Kearns Sr. High had the largest growth in circulations of any secondary school in November 2017. Pictured: Jennifer Peirce, Educational Technology Team Leader and former LMETS at Kearns Sr.; Nancy Heckenliable, Media Secretary at Kearns Sr.; Cindy Moyle, District Library Supervisor for Secondary Schools; Aimee Duran, Library Media Educational Technology Specialist at Kearns Sr. High.

Granite OverDrive Circulation Site

Alyssa Carraway, secretary in the Educational Technology department, tracks these checkout numbers and has used Google Sites to create a simple but beautiful website to share this data with our district throughout the year. She uses Canva to convey the data in infographics, such as the year-to-date information shared below. You can check out the full site for more details on Granite OverDrive usage per school, as well as monthly updates on our OverDrive checkouts competition winners.

(Granite’s OverDrive provides free access to ebooks and digital audiobooks for all students and staff in Granite School District. Granite’s OverDrive can be accessed on the web at http://granite.lib.overdrive.com or via OverDrive apps designed for various mobile devices. For more information or help getting started with OverDrive, visit https://www.graniteschools.org/edtech/overdrive.)

Infographics and Granite OverDrive Circulation Site created by Alyssa Carraway, Administrative Secretary, Educational Technology Dept. OverDrive posters designed by Cindy Moyle,
Secondary Library Media Supervisor, Educational Technology Dept.

OverDrive: What’s New for November 2017 + Monthly Competition Update

November 2017Josh Whiting

What’s New in OverDrive, November 2017

The posters below highlight a few of the titles that have been added to Granite’s OverDrive Digital Library this month. Click on them to download a high quality PDF that you can print out and display in your library or classroom, or right click and save the images to post them on a school or class website.

OverDrive Circulation Competition Update, October 2017

In October 2017, students and staff in Granite School District checked out nearly 13,000 ebooks and audiobooks from our OverDrive Digital Library. This is up nearly 3,000 from last month. The infographic below reveals the top five schools for the month.

For 2017-18 the Granite Educational Technology department is sponsoring a monthly checkout competition between schools, with four traveling trophies awarded to the highest circulating elementary and secondary schools, as well as the “most increased” elementary and secondary schools. In October 2017, Beehive Elementary and West Lake STEM Jr. High held their spots at the top and therefore keep the trophies which they were awarded for winning the September 2017 competition. However, we have two new winners in the “Most Improved” category: congratulations to Cyprus Senior High and David Gourley Elementary!

Most Improved OverDrive Award October 2017 - Cyprus High School — Cyprus High School had the largest increase in OverDrive checkouts of any school in October 2017. Pictured: Katie Hardman, Media Clerk; Warren Child, Library Media Educational Technology Specialist; Lori Yates, Media Clerk.

Gourley Elementary had the largest increase in OverDrive checkouts of any elementary school in October 2017. Pictured: Samantha Mitchell, School Technology Specialist.

Granite OverDrive Circulation Site

OverDrive Digital Library School Checkouts Competition

October 2017Josh Whiting

In September 2017, students and staff in Granite School District checked out nearly 10,000 ebooks and audiobooks from our OverDrive Digital Library. The infographic below reveals the top five schools for the month.

For 2017-18 we are sponsoring a monthly checkout competition between schools, with four traveling trophies that will be awarded to the highest circulating elementary and secondary schools, as well as the “most increased” elementary and secondary schools. Members of the Ed. Tech. team recently delivered these trophies to the winning schools of our September competition.