Congratulations to Jake Saylor and Hoover High School who have been named as the grand prize winner in the recent Acer Mobile Technology Platform Challenge.  As the grand prize school, they will receive twenty Acer Aspire Netbooks.

To take part in the competition Jake and his students created and submitted a video explaining why they needed new mobile technology for their classes.  Dusty Dannemiller and Jerome Nist also created a video for North Canton Middle School, and became one of the ten finalists for the contest.

To view the videos and see more information, go to the Acer contest website.

Congratulations and thanks to Jake, Dusty, and Jerome for all their hard work and creativity!

North Canton City Schools is investigating the idea of Bring Your Own Technology for students.  This means allowing students to bring in their own laptops, tablets, e-readers, and smart phones, and use them for school related activities.  School related activities could include taking notes, doing research, creating projects, communicating with students and teachers, taking pictures, and such.

There is no guarantee that we may be able to roll out a Bring Your Own Technology program, but we have created a survey that will be very helpful as we investigate this possibility.  We are asking that all NCCS Middle School and High School students complete the survey (linked below and sent to your school Gmail account) to tell us your opinions on this topic.  Please complete the survey only one time.  Duplicate submissions from the same user will be deleted.  Thanks!

Note: You will need to log in with your student ID and password to access the survey.

Click here for the survey.

We are offering another round of Google Apps PD classes starting next week and running through March.  Each session is held from 4pm to 5pm in the High School in the AA1 computer lab (above the commons).

If you have access to My Learning Plan, you can sign up for the sessions now at www.mylearningplan.com.  If you do not have access to My Learning Plan or if you have trouble with the site, simply send Eric Curts an email listing the sessions you want to attend and you will be added to the roster.

Even if you attended similar sessions earlier this year, feel free to attend these classes as we will be customizing them to your specific questions and needs.

T11-08 - Gmail - This session covers topics in Gmail including basic usage, address book, signatures, labels (folders), mailing lists, attachments, customizations, and more.
Monday, February 28, 2011

T11-09 - Google Calendar - This session covers topics in Google Calendar including adding events, adding calendars, sharing calendars, and inviting people to events.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011

T11-10 - Google Spreadsheets - This session covers making spreadsheets (like Excel) with Google Docs including all the basic features of the program, charts and graphs, as well as how to share spreadsheets with others.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011

T11-11 - Google Forms - This session covers making, sharing, and analyzing Forms with Google Docs.  This tool can be used for surveys or online quizzes.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011

T11-12 - Google Documents - This session covers many topics in Google Documents (like Microsoft Word) including basic features, formatting, images, revisions, sharing documents with others, and more.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011

T11-13 - Google Presentations - This session covers topics in Google Presentations (like PowerPoint) including basic features, animations, images, videos, sharing presentations with others, and more.
Monday, March 21, 2011

T11-14 - Managing and Sharing Google Docs - This session covers how to managing Google Docs including organizing files in folders, importing existing documents, sharing files and folders, and more.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Over the last year North Canton City Schools has rolled out Google Apps for Education for all of our staff members.  We are pleased to announce that we are now extending these services to our students as well.

So what is Google Apps for Education?

• Google Apps for Education is a free, but powerful, suite of online programs provided by Google for schools.
• It is used by hundreds of school districts and universities around Ohio, the country, and the world.
• It includes such programs as:
  • Gmail - to communicate with teachers and collaborate with classmates
  • Google Calendar - to organize daily activities
  • Google Documents - a word processing program similar to Microsoft Word
  • Google Spreadsheets - a spreadsheet program similar to Microsoft Excel
  • Google Presentations - a multimedia presentation program similar to Microsoft PowerPoint
• It allows users to share documents, so students can electronically turn in assignments to teachers and can collaborate with classmates on group projects.

To further explain these new services we have created both printed and video information.  We encourage all students and parents to view the information below:

• Introduction to Google Apps for Students: Watch Video or Read Handout
• Student Email Guidelines: Watch Video or Read Handout
• Student Gmail Safety Measures: Watch Video or Read Handout
• How to Share Google Docs with Teachers and Classmates: Watch Video or Read Handout

We have also put together help guides and instructions on how to use each of the programs in Google Apps for Education.  This information can be found on out technology website at:

http://www.northcantonschools.org/tech/