Technical Support / Video Tutorials for Students and Parents (scroll down for videos)
Important notes to remote learners with Walden Green supplied laptops: Remember that the desktop is automatically cleaned-up each time you login to the WG User account. Items are tossed into the Trash, but are not deleted (unless you empty the Trash.) However, if you store any work created in the Documents folder rather than on the Desktop, you will find all your saved work exactly where you left it. For that reason, as you work at home, be sure to save any files you wish to keep permanently in your Documents folder, NOT on your Desktop.
Important notes to remote learners with Walden Green supplied iPads: Remember that whenever an app is provided for a service (Freckle, Wikipedia) it is better or even necessary to use that app rather than to attempting to use the similar website directly in Safari. The iPads we are able to supply you are older, but still provide valuable functions such as supporting the current version of ZOOM. However, due to their age it is possible that some functions or websites may not function in an ideal manner. For this time we have enabled/added the GMAIL and Apple's MAIL apps to the iPads so that you may easily receive email communications directly on the iPads if you wish. However, as these are older version of the applications your mileage may vary as to whether or not they will work with any given email provider. You will find them under the "Miscellaneous" folder. For the most part our iPads are still holding their charge very well, so we suggest making sure they are full charged each night. You will likely find that doing so will allow you to use them as long as needed each day without plugging them in during use.
Try a different browser if you are having problems with a website: On the laptops you have a choice of Safari or Firefox, so if you find that something isn't working properly in one browser just try the other one. Unfortunately, while websites are suppose to be built around standards that will work in any properly designed modern browser, this has never been completely true. We've had some questions regarding website functionality; for example a website not displaying properly or a failure during the uploading of homework via. the form on our website, and so far switching from one browser to the other one has resolved these issues. So if you are using Firefox and encounter and issue try Safari, or vice versa.
Restarting an iPad: Remember, these iPads really are quite old (they prefer to be called experienced). If yours is malfunctioning try turning it all the way off and back on (golden rule of technology): Hold down the power button (on side) until the Slide to Power Off option becomes available. Wait until it is powered all the way off, then hold down the power button again for about 1 second to start it powering back on. If you iPad is completely unresponsive or has a black screen, you can try a Hard Reset: Hold down both the Power Button (side) and the Home Button (front) for about 10 seconds. That should restart the iPad no matter what.
Restarting a Laptop: It's extremely rare for the MacOS to "hard crash" to the point where it will become completely unresponsive (and thus prevent you from shutting down or restarting normally). If this does occur, it's OK to hold down the power button until the computer turns completely off (about 10 seconds). This powers the laptop off no matter what state it is in. Then just turn it back on again. You can "cancel" the request to reopen all the apps that were running when it crashed. Note, one thing that will reliably cause issues is if the laptop is closed in the middle of the shut-down process. In other words, if someone chooses the "Shut Down" command and then closes the laptop in the middle of this process, before the laptop has actually completed shutting off, it may end up in a state where it appears dead: Open it back up and the screen is black and it is totally unresponsive to any input, including turning it "on." This is because it's already "on" but stuck part way through the shut down process with the screen off. We always teach our learners to wait for the shut down process to complete, so hopefully this doesn't happen to you, but if it does the solution is simple: Just do the hard power-down (hold down power button for 10 or so seconds), wait a few seconds, and then power the laptop back on.
Stream to Me: Your students will be familiar with our Stream to Me collection we use in-school. On a trial-basis only we have enabled this to work for remote-learners in most modern web-browsers (see the links page). However, this is not the primary function of the software package we use, and while it is an available option is not officially supported by the software developer. In other words, you mileage may vary. If you are having trouble (empty folder listings for example), you can try quitting the browser and reloading, as well as coming back at a later time as it's possible that our internet connection is currently overwhelmed with requests. Please understand that we are trying this as a test at this point and are unsure how it will work out or even if we will be able to leave the service active at all.
Setting up your Email accounts on Laptops or iPads: You can setup most types of email accounts if you wish to do so on the Laptops just by using the Webmail interface for the service in questions (i.e. Use Safari or Firefox to login to Gmail or Hotmail, etc.) You can also use the Mail application (in the Applications folder) if you prefer. On the iPads you will find both the Mail and the Gmail apps for you to use. Trying to login via Safari on the iPads will likely not work, so try the apps instead.
Important notes to remote learners with Walden Green supplied iPads: Remember that whenever an app is provided for a service (Freckle, Wikipedia) it is better or even necessary to use that app rather than to attempting to use the similar website directly in Safari. The iPads we are able to supply you are older, but still provide valuable functions such as supporting the current version of ZOOM. However, due to their age it is possible that some functions or websites may not function in an ideal manner. For this time we have enabled/added the GMAIL and Apple's MAIL apps to the iPads so that you may easily receive email communications directly on the iPads if you wish. However, as these are older version of the applications your mileage may vary as to whether or not they will work with any given email provider. You will find them under the "Miscellaneous" folder. For the most part our iPads are still holding their charge very well, so we suggest making sure they are full charged each night. You will likely find that doing so will allow you to use them as long as needed each day without plugging them in during use.
Try a different browser if you are having problems with a website: On the laptops you have a choice of Safari or Firefox, so if you find that something isn't working properly in one browser just try the other one. Unfortunately, while websites are suppose to be built around standards that will work in any properly designed modern browser, this has never been completely true. We've had some questions regarding website functionality; for example a website not displaying properly or a failure during the uploading of homework via. the form on our website, and so far switching from one browser to the other one has resolved these issues. So if you are using Firefox and encounter and issue try Safari, or vice versa.
Restarting an iPad: Remember, these iPads really are quite old (they prefer to be called experienced). If yours is malfunctioning try turning it all the way off and back on (golden rule of technology): Hold down the power button (on side) until the Slide to Power Off option becomes available. Wait until it is powered all the way off, then hold down the power button again for about 1 second to start it powering back on. If you iPad is completely unresponsive or has a black screen, you can try a Hard Reset: Hold down both the Power Button (side) and the Home Button (front) for about 10 seconds. That should restart the iPad no matter what.
Restarting a Laptop: It's extremely rare for the MacOS to "hard crash" to the point where it will become completely unresponsive (and thus prevent you from shutting down or restarting normally). If this does occur, it's OK to hold down the power button until the computer turns completely off (about 10 seconds). This powers the laptop off no matter what state it is in. Then just turn it back on again. You can "cancel" the request to reopen all the apps that were running when it crashed. Note, one thing that will reliably cause issues is if the laptop is closed in the middle of the shut-down process. In other words, if someone chooses the "Shut Down" command and then closes the laptop in the middle of this process, before the laptop has actually completed shutting off, it may end up in a state where it appears dead: Open it back up and the screen is black and it is totally unresponsive to any input, including turning it "on." This is because it's already "on" but stuck part way through the shut down process with the screen off. We always teach our learners to wait for the shut down process to complete, so hopefully this doesn't happen to you, but if it does the solution is simple: Just do the hard power-down (hold down power button for 10 or so seconds), wait a few seconds, and then power the laptop back on.
Stream to Me: Your students will be familiar with our Stream to Me collection we use in-school. On a trial-basis only we have enabled this to work for remote-learners in most modern web-browsers (see the links page). However, this is not the primary function of the software package we use, and while it is an available option is not officially supported by the software developer. In other words, you mileage may vary. If you are having trouble (empty folder listings for example), you can try quitting the browser and reloading, as well as coming back at a later time as it's possible that our internet connection is currently overwhelmed with requests. Please understand that we are trying this as a test at this point and are unsure how it will work out or even if we will be able to leave the service active at all.
Setting up your Email accounts on Laptops or iPads: You can setup most types of email accounts if you wish to do so on the Laptops just by using the Webmail interface for the service in questions (i.e. Use Safari or Firefox to login to Gmail or Hotmail, etc.) You can also use the Mail application (in the Applications folder) if you prefer. On the iPads you will find both the Mail and the Gmail apps for you to use. Trying to login via Safari on the iPads will likely not work, so try the apps instead.
Joining a ZOOM Classroom Session
A Brief tutorial covering how to join a class session using the link sent to you by your teacher. |
Saving Your Homework as a PDF
How to save work as a PDF no matter what app you use for Mac or Windows, plus how to export work as a PDF using an iPad. |
Submitting Your Homework
How submit your homework using a computer or mobile device. |
Disabling Pop-Up Blockers
How to disable pop-up blockers in Safari, Firefox and Chrome on a site-by-site basis. Please watch prior to NWEA testing. |
Managing Screen Resolutions
How to change your screen resolution on Mac and Windows computers. Please watch prior to NWEA testing. |
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Thanks for checking this page for help working from home. I have been putting these video tutorials together at a relatively brisk pace with little editing, so bear with me through the "ums" and "ohs" you will find here and there. If there is a topic you think needs to be covered pass the word on to me and I'll see if it is something I can take care of!
You may use the contact form at the right to contact me at a new email address I've setup specifically for helping students and parents during this time! - David |
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