How to Set an “out of office” message with the Gmail app

 

So, your bags are packed, you’re in the airport and you’re about to step on a plane heading for someplace warm, and then it hits you: you forgot to activate an “out of office” message for your email account.

Well, if you’re using Gmail, good news: Gmail for Android just added an auto-responder feature that lets you set up an “out of office” message directly from your Android phone, no PC or Mac required.

You can now set an out of office message directly from the (updated) Gmail for Android app.

Here’s how…

• First, you’ll need to install the latest version of the Gmail app. Launch the Play Store app, open the sidebar (tap in the top-left corner of the screen) and navigate to the “My apps” section, then tap the green Update All button to install any pending app updates, including (potentially) Gmail.
• Next, launch Gmail, tap the three-dot menu button in the top-right corner of your screen, tap Settings, then tap the Gmail account for which you’d like to set up an “out of office” message.
• Tap “Vacation responder,” then enter a starting date, and end date, a subject line (“Gone fishing!”), and a message for anyone who tries to email you during your well deserved break. You can also check the box next to “Send only to my Contacts” if you only want your family, friends and colleagues to know you’re away.
• Flip on the switch next to “Vacation responder,” tap the Done button, then sit back and relax. 

Via http://heresthethingblog.com

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With Students Lagging Globally in Science the U S Looks to Inspire an Untapped Resource

The following is a guest post by Westfield Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Paul Pineiro.

Underlying the lagging performance of U.S. students in global assessments in math and science is another troubling statistic: According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, fifteen-year-old girls in 65 countries generally outperformed boys worldwide, but in the United States, boys outperformed girls in quantitative studies. We are left scratching our heads and wondering why it’s only our female students that “can’t do science.”

Image credit: http://www.psmag.com/news/a-new-view-of-why-women-shun-science-careers-19392/

The fact is they can, but culturally, we may be dissuading them from doing so. Consider that even for those female students who do pursue college studies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) they are more likely to change majors than their male counterparts, despite relative success. "Women drop out of engineering programs with higher average grades than the men who stay in engineering programs," reported CEO of the Society of Women Engineers, Betty Shanahan, at last summer at U.S. News STEM Summit 2012. And of the women who do earn STEM degrees, the U.S Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration shows their typical career paths diverge substantially from men. “About 40 percent of men with STEM college degrees work in STEM jobs, whereas only 26 percent of women with STEM degrees work in STEM jobs” (August 2011). 

While girls in most other nations thrive in science-related studies, there is a disconnect for them in the U.S. This drop-off of interest in STEM subjects among young female students is typically attributed to how our culture views women who demonstrate an interest or ability in the STEM fields. In subtle but impactful ways, our culture pushes away young women from STEM fields by often painting aspiring engineers as geeks with thick glasses and curious sense of fashion (see Amy in “The Big Bang Theory”). “One of the things that we can do to help disband that stereotype,” says executive director of technical research at AT&T Labs, Alicia Abella, in an interview with U.S. News and World Report, “is to really expose these young girls and young women to role models who are in the field to make them recognize that, in fact, you dont have to fit that stereotype.” 

For this reason there is an all-call out to U.S. industry and educators at all levels to undo the stereotypes that could be costing the country some of its best and brightest future innovators. Young STEM-inclined females need role models, and to this end, “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” was established in 2009 to promote their connection with accomplished women in the STEM fields.

This year, “Introduce a girl to Engineering Day 2013” is dedicated to the memory and legacy of Sally Ride, physicist and first American woman in space. Here is a list that includes links to the accomplishments of Sally Ride and eleven other women and organizations with whom we should want young, STEM-inclined female students to be introduced.  Introduce a Girl to these STEM Role Models:

• Sally Ride, first American woman to fly in space
• The Girl Scouts of America
• Gigliola Staffilani, MIT Professor of Mathematics
• Molly Hoppe, Aviation Engineer 
• Cora B. Marrett, deputy director of the National Science Foundation 
• Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider, Co-winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, 2009 "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"
• NASA
• Smith College Engineering Students
• The Women Researchers of AT&T Labs
• Anna Park, Executive Director and Board Member at Great Minds in STEM 
• The Connect a Million Minds Initiative

If that was not enough here is a list to 100 more.

# # #

Sources: 

Hopkins, Katy, “How to Encourage Women to Consider STEM Majors,” U.S. World News and Report.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Sheehy, Kelsey, “STEM Disconnect Leaves Women, Minorities Behind;” U.S. World News and Report.

U.S Department of Commerce, Economics ad Statistics Administration

Bio notes: 

Paul Pineiro is the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction in Westfield Public Schools (Union County, NJ) and a “Generation STEM” enthusiast. You can follow Paul on Twitter at @paulpineiro.

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The An Estuary Edscape Scavenger Hunt!

The following post is an Edscape announcement from one of our sponsors.

This year at Edscape, An Estuary will be running the first ever Sanderling Scavenger Hunt! 

Sanderling is a mobile field journal that lets teachers collect badges as they document their professional learning and take part in a lively social community based around education. The Sanderling Edscape Scavenger Hunt will allow us to collaboratively document all of the awesome things going on a Edscape and make new connections in the process.

Those who complete the Edscape Scavenger Hunt will be rewarded with the Sanderling Edscape Badge and the first 50 to complete the hunt will receive additional refreshment tickets for the An Estuary Networking Reception at Jersey Boys Grill.

To get signed up go to www.sanderling.io and use the code "edscape13" to register. (For those of you on Android devices, you can download Sanderling in the Google Play Store.) Once you are registered be sure to find the "Learn to Use Sanderling" Course and the "Edscape 2013" Course and click "Join this Course" on each one. Once you have joined the courses, go to your Field Journal and get started on the "Learn to Use Sanderling" Course so you are ready for tomorrows Edscape Scavenger Hunt!

Looking forward to seeing you Saturday 10/19 at New Milford HS!

The An Estuary Team

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How to Connect to a FTP Server with an Android Device

You’ve probably wondered if there was a way to transfer files between your server and your mobile device on the road, where no computer is available.

Well, this will definitely solve that. You will learn how to transfer files between a FTP server and your Android device with a free app called: AndFTP.

Difficulty level: Easy

1. Download and install the app from the Android Market.


2. Open the app.


3. The first time you launch the app, it will ask you to type in the information of the server you would like to connect to. Type in your server address, user name, password, and port (usually 21).


4. Touch the connect button.


5. It will now attempt a connection to the server. If the connection is successful, you will now see the files in your server, as well as the files on your mobile device.


6. To transfer files, simply touch the file, touch “transfer” and it will move the remote selected fold

Hopefully its useful

Taken from http://blog.arvixe.com/
How to Connect to a FTP Server with an Android Device

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Theres An App For That

New Milford High School’s digital journalism class, which operates The Lance, the school’s online news source, is proud to announce the release of their very own free application.  The application is available for Apple and Android operating systems.

The Lance reports on news in and around New Milford’s community on a weekly basis.  The students of digital journalism partnered with Crescerance to develop an app that is easily accessible and touches on the features of the news site that students and residents of the community use the most.  The application is an easy way for New Milford residents to keep up-to-date on the mumblings of the heart of the community -- it’s students.  

Once users download this free app to a smart device, they can peruse the different features easily, with one-touch access to news, photos, the school calendar, The Lance’s blog and the complete athletics schedule.  Users can also take a picture with their device that is watermarked with the news source’s logo, which can then be sent to The Lance for publication on the site with credits to the photographer.

Additionally, there is easy access to weekly polls, staff biographies, and users can even contact the staff with leads and comments.  Perhaps the best feature of the app is the ability for users to add sports events to their calendars from the app, as well as receive push notifications about updates to the site or meeting/event cancellations.

This is a revolution in high school news reporting.  With readers from as far away as Australia, the staff of The Lance is finding that the application brings them that much closer to their readers and followers, bringing 21st century news reporting to their doorsteps at the touch of a finger.

Please feel free to download our app and let us know what you think so that I can share your thoughts with our students.

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Difference in Perspective An Interdisciplinary Project

Mrs. Westbrook and Mrs. Morel continue their collaboration to address the Common Core literacy standards within our fine arts program, with the goal of increasing the rigor of the writing assignments across the curriculum. Building on the success of their past work with students writing artist statements for exhibition of their work, this semester Explorations in Art students will create photo essays to demonstrate their knowledge of the progression among styles and techniques from ancient to modern art. Students will analyze pieces from the online gallery provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and compare the works in terms of perspective, realism, subject matter, imagery, scale, and the use of space. 

Image credit: http://artfulartsyamy.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-art-of-literacy.html

These teachers have provided students with writing scaffolds and exemplars to help them achieve this goal. You can view the entire project using the links below:

• Difference in Perspective (assignment description)
• Photo Essay Linear Perspective (rubric)
• One Point Linear Perspective (example)

The following Common Core Standards were addressed and assessed:

Reading Standards

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.9 Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Writing Standards

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1a Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1d Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.

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How to completely turn off an app’s notifications

So, you thought you turned off the notifications for an iPhone or iPad app, but it’s still bugging you with unwanted banners, beeps and badges. What gives?
Well, just because you switched an app’s “Alert style” setting to “none” doesn’t mean you’ve turned off all of its alerts.
There are, in fact, a few more notification settings that need tweaking—and if you don’t, expect more messages on your iPhone’s “lock” screen, red badges on your home screen, and blaring alert tones when you least expect them.

Make sure you don’t miss these options when tweaking your iPhone’s notification settings.

Read on for three notification settings that are easy to miss, starting with…

1. Lock-screen notifications

Even if you diligently turn off all the other alerts for a given app, the app may still flash alert banners on your iPhone’s (or iPad’s) “lock” screen from time to time.
Related tip: What’s the difference between an alert, a banner, and a badge?
Want to banish the banners for good?

• Tap Settings, Notifications, then scroll down and tap the name of the offending app.
• Scroll down again until you see the “View in Lock Screen” setting, and make sure it’s switched off.

2. Red app badges

Seeing lots of little red badges stuck to the apps on your iPhone’s home screen?
Those numbered alerts are there to notify you of…well, just about anything, from an unread email message to a nagging reminder that you haven’t played “Words With Friends” for a month.

Had enough of these nagging little red badges? You can turn them off in just a few taps.

If there’s a specific red badge that’s driving you particularly batty, you can turn it off in just a few taps.

• Again, tap Settings, Notifications, and tap the name of the app that’s flashing an unwanted badge.
• Scroll down once more, then switch off the “Badge App Icon” setting.

3. Sound alerts

You set your iPhone to “silent” for an important company meeting, only to hear an embarrassingly loud “beep!” coming from your pocket right in the middle of your boss’s presentation. Ack!
Yep, the alert tones for some iPhone apps may still sound off even when your handset’s ringer switch is off. Annoying, right?
To shush an app’s alert tones, just…

• You guessed it—head back to the iPhone’s Notifications settings (Settings, Notifications) and tap the app you want to silence.
• Scroll down until you get to the “Sound” setting and switch it off—or, if there’s a choice of alert tones, make sure it’s set to “None.”

Bonus tip

You can temporarily silence all iPhone notifications and calls by turning on the “Do Not Disturb” mode.

You can get a temporary break from iPhone notifications thanks to the “Do Not Disturb” setting.

Tap Settings, then flip the switch next to “Do Not Disturb,” or tap Settings, Notifications, Do Not Disturb to schedule a daily quiet period.
Keep in mind, though, that Do Not Disturb will only block notifications while your iPhone is locked—and don’t forget to switch it back off when you’re ready to get calls again.
source http://heresthethingblog.com
How to completely turn off an app’s notifications

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