Google Drive for Mac/PC is going away soon

As I logged into my work computer today, I noticed the pop up stating that Google Drive for Mac/PC is going away soon.  Because I hadn't heard of this before AND because I was being asked to install a new app on my computer, I thought it best to do some investigation.

According to PC World magazine, Google is not making changes to the cloud service called Google Drive but rather to the app that you may have installed on your computer so that your files reside on your computer as well as in the cloud.  This app, called Google Drive for Mac/PC, will cease to exist on March 12, 2018.  However, it is being replaced by Drive File Stream.

Drive File Stream is a new app that allows you to (kind of) share a hard drive between teams and organizations.  All files will be kept in the cloud and will be available from anywhere.  Your computer will appear to have a folder of all of your files in your Drive.  This will allow you to edit non-Google files without having to download them from the cloud.  

An example would be if you had a Adobe Photoshop file (.psd extension) in your drive and wanted to edit it, you don't have to download it - edit it - upload it.  Now you can simply edit while it remains in the cloud.

Drive File Stream is a G-Suite app and thus is only available with your school Google account.  If you have used Google Drive for Mac/PC with your personal Gmail account, you have another option and that is called Backup and Sync.  Backup and Sync is available to all Google users (i.e., you can use this with your winchesterps account, too).  This works more similarly to the app that is disappearing.  With this option, your files will be stored physically on your PC  or Mac hard drive.

As you load Stream Google Drive files right to your computer.
Save disk space by only downloading the files you need.
Mark items "Available offline" to edit without a connection.
Any changes will synch automatically when you're back online.


Want to learn more?
Checkout the PCWorld article

Teacher Course Recommendations in Aspen

Course recommendations are once again being completed in Aspen.
The process for Course Selection starts with teachers recommending students for courses and levels.  Once these recommendations are completed, students and parents will use this information to select courses online for the next school year.  

Set Your Gradebook Preferences to Show Next Year’s Course Recommendations

1. Log in to Aspen.
2. In the upper right corner, click the triangle next to your name.  A dropdown box will appear.
3. Click Set Preferences.
4. Select the Gradebook tab.
5. Check the Show course selection recommendation checkbox. (This may already be set for you as the default.)
6. Click OK.
7. IMPORTANT: Once you have completed your recommendations, you may want to uncheck this box, as the recommendations drop-down menus take up quite a bit of room in the gradebook window.  You can always see the recommendations again by changing your preferences.
   

Recommend Next Year’s Courses for Your Students

1. Log on to the Staff view.
2. Click the Gradebook tab.
3. Select a course, and click the Scores side-tab.
4. The Recommendation column appears next to each student's name in your gradebook.
5. You may recommend one or two courses for each of your students.  (Recommending only 1 course is what we advise.)
   
6. 
   Note that you may only recommend courses that are in the same department as the course you are currently teaching the student.  For example, if you are teaching this student Spanish, you may only recommend this student for another course in the World Language department.
7. To recommend a course for a student, click the down arrow in the Recommendation 1 column.  You will see a list of all courses available (in this case - in World languages).
8. If you cannot see all of the options in the dropdown, click <CTRL> - This will make everything on your screen smaller and allow you to access those courses that are not visible.
9. You can use <CTRL> D if you will be making multiple recommendations for the same course.
   
10. The courses that you recommend for students will be marked as "Recommended."  There is nothing to "post".  Please be sure to let students know to look for that when they log in to select their courses.   (However, student registration does not open for a few weeks.)
    
11. If you want, you can leave a comment about why you are recommending this particular course.  Click on the pencil in the comment column, which will open a dialog box, where you can type your comments.
    IMPORTANT: Students and parents will see these comments and this field can be used to communicate with students and families.
12. You can print a report of the courses you have recommended your students for.  Click on Reports –> Course Recommendation.