Progress...
Custom Logo for Sign-ins
I created a simple logo for Valley View to use in place of the Google logo. In the dashboard, I went to "Domain Settings" and "Appearance", and uploaded my logo. I hope to have our art teacher create something a bit more fanciful, but this will be a fun way to start.
Domain Updates
Our district admin changed the log-in screens using the CNAME process at the domain provider, so that these are the following sign-ins:
1. mail.vvms.org
2. docs.vvms.org
3. calendar.vvms.org
4. sites.vvms.org
Forms
I decided that forms were going to be the most fun way to get my colleagues interested in Google Apps. I created a "quiz" for them with four or five questions, which I e-mailed out and many have already answered. At our staff meeting, I will show them how the form results come out on the spreadsheet, and how easy grading from one piece of paper can suddenly be. I have also been looking for information on creating forms/quizzes that are self-grading, so that's my next step.
Challenges
As our school staff has become more tech savvy, we are having a greater draw on our one computer lab (my tech classroom is the second lab). I had a colleague get really excited about a project with her seventh grade science classes. However, when she went to sign up for the lab in a month, other teachers were already signed up. I will be tweeting for information to find out how many labs other schools have. We will need at least one more, but I could also see the benefit to one lab dedicated for CORE (English/SS), one for Science, and one for other subjects.
