CCSD Tech Hawks

We're seeing an increase in questions about typing delays in gmail/google docs. There are a couple of things to think about that will help you resolve the issue. The things below are recommendations if you want to fix this issue. If you are happy with the current performance, then just stop reading!! First, restart your computer. Sometimes things get funky when your computer is on for days at a time... Second, do you have a bunch of tabs open in your browser? If so, each tab is still talking to the internet Check the extensions that you have... If you are using a Grammarly extension, that might seem great to make sure you type sentences that are grammatically correct, but it sends what you are typing off to a server somewhere that checks it then proposes fixes. This takes time to do, so a delay should be expected. There might be other extensions that you have that are similar to Grammarly, so I'd remove those as well. Here's how to remove extensions in Chrome ,...

I thought it would be good to post a bit about Securly, which is our web filter. We often get asked about this and sharing what it does and how it works around this time of year seems appropriate. This tool ensures that staff and students access appropriate content on the web. We filter in two ways. In our elementary buildings, content is filtered based up IP address. This is done to allow our young learners to not have to use a username and password to log into devices. The filtering is consistent with all devices in these buildings, no matter if staff or student. In our 5-12 buildings, staff and student sign into their Google accounts and filtering is done based upon their user group. We use Securly's certificate based dns filtering solution. This requires devices on our network to install a certificate or an extension to access the internet. Information about installing the certificate can be found at  http://www.prairiepride.org/procedures/securly.php .

We get asked quite often, what does the tech team do over the summer. With all the students and staff gone, we get a lot done!!! We collected 1200 High School student MacBooks. 800+ have been re-imaged and organized to redistribute to 11th and 12th graders. We received shipment of our 480 NEW 10th grade devices, Acer 180 spin ChromeBooks. These have been added to inventory and prepared for distribution for when students return in August.  Annually, we refresh 120 staff MacBooks. We got these devices in and prepared them to be distributed in August.  We received 750 HP G6 ChromeBooks, which are our 1:1 devices for our 6th graders and will be used for our classroom sets in 4th grade. These devices were unpackaged, added to inventory and prepared for distribution in August.  We also brought the new Early Childhood Center online. This included new switches, wireless access points, and IP phone system. Also, Prairie View is in process of...

Well, what to publish for a first post on a new blog??? How about a common error we're seeing with YouTube..? We've gotten a few emails asking about this type of message when on Youtube at school: This is happening at times when folks are trying to access YouTube. Here's a more technical reason: We have only a few external IP addresses, the addresses that our computers show to the internet as who we are..  Sometimes, sites don't like all the traffic that comes from our addresses, as there are a lot of computers creating traffic from a few addresses at one time.  Unfortunately, right now we're not seeing a great in the moment solution to resolve the issue. Typically, when you close out of your browser and try again, it's letting you back on. We're continuing to look at solutions and will update you as we know more. 

Welcome to the new home of Tech Hawks! As we are planning for an update of our school website, we'll be creating a new home for the tech department and our communication with you. I'll be posting new content that comes up with new technology and also be posting some older content that is still relevant from the past. I share these posts with all staff via email, but feel free to bookmark this site as you can reference it if questions arise. New post, coming soon!