Android (A7-40) Y5 Classrooms: User Guide

Android (A7-40) Y5 Classrooms: User Guide Provided by the SDUSD Ed Tech Team i21 2015 Teachers - Version 1.20.2015

Table of Contents Basic Functionality... Navigation Tips... Taking a Screenshot... Finding a Screenshot... Status Bar... Recent Applications Closing Apps... Entering Text Using the Virtual Keyboard... Changing the Google Keyboard Settings... Internet Browser... Opening the Android Browser... Opening New Browser Tabs... Closing Browser Tabs... Closing All Open Tabs in the Browser... Browser Home Screen... Resetting the Browser Home Screen to ActivEngage 2... Creating a Shortcut to the Home Screen... Removing a Shortcut from the Home Screen... Creating a Bookmark... Entering Guest Session Flash Based Website not Loading... Camera Video/Camcorder Screenshots... Taking a Picture / Video... Viewing Images / Video... Storing Images... Closing the Camera... Uploading... Sound Recorder App... 1

Troubleshooting... Restoring the District Settings... Android System Recovery Black Screen with Writing on Start Up... Cleaning Recommendations... Shortcut Work Around... URL Bar Not Visible in the Browser... Buttons/Locations: 2

Basic Functionality (return to TOC) Sleep/Wake Mode Shut Down Start Up When storing the Android devices in the cart. It is not necessary to shut them down. They can be left in sleep mode. When plugged in, they may briefly wake up, however, they will resume sleep mode within a few minutes. The device will initiate sleep after 5 minutes of inactivity. This saves the battery life. The batteries should last about 6 to 8 hours with normal use. Sleep/Wake Mode: The Android device can be put into sleep mode by quickly pushing the power button. To wake the device quickly push the power button. Shut Down/Start Up: To shut down push the power button until prompted to Power off. Choose Power off. To start up the Android device, push and hold the power button count approximately 3 seconds and then let go. Navigation Tips (return to TOC) 1. Back : Return to the previous screen. 2. Home : Return to the Home screen. 3. Recent Apps : Display recently used apps. 4. Advanced Menu : Display shortcuts such as Preferences, System settings. Taking a Screenshot (return to TOC) You can take a picture of whatever is displayed on the Android device. We use screenshots to turn in student work by uploading the screenshot to My Big Campus. (See uploading to My Big Campus) 1. Push the Volume Down button at the exact same time as the Power Button. 2. The device will make a camera clicking sound if you are successful and the image will jump to a snapshot size and disappear. 3. If the device goes blank, you have hit the power button before the volume down button. 4. If the device vibrates or you see the volume control displayed on the screen, then you have hit the volume down button before the power button. 5. Getting both buttons pressed at the same time may take practice. 3

Finding a Screenshot: (return to TOC) Screenshots are accessible in several areas. 1. Screenshots are viewable via the Gallery application located in the Utilities folder on the home screen. 2. Screenshots are also saved in the ES File Explorer app also located in the Utilities folder. From the app, choose the folder labeled pictures Status Bar (return to TOC) Messages, if any, will be displayed in the status bar. There are two distinct sides to the status bar, the notification panel and the status bar drop down panel. Notification Panel Status Bar Drop Down Panel 1. Touch the black status bar at the top left of the home screen and swipe down to display the notification panel. 2. Touch the right side of the status bar and swipe down to display the status panel. 3. Information about Wi-Fi connections and reception, power levels, charging status, and other status icons are displayed in the status bar and drop down screen. Three important functions in the drop down panel for teachers to be aware of are: Airplane mode: will be disabled. When the airplane mode is enabled, all wireless connections on your Android device Bumping the Wireless: If your wireless reception should drop out, tap once to turn off the wireless, wait a few seconds, and tap it again to restore the connection. This may take a few seconds to reconnect. 4

Swipe Swipe Lock/Unlock Screen Rotation: At the top of the status bar, next to the date, is the Lock/Unlock Screen icon. An unlocked screen displays a rectangle with rounded arrows. A locked screen shows a lock inside rounded arrows. Recent Applications Closing Apps (return to TOC) Your Android device remembers apps you have used recently and keeps them open until you close them. Tap to display a list of your recent applications. Tap an app to reopen it. Swipe to close an app. Swipe Swipe 5

Entering Text Using the Virtual Keyboard (return to TOC) 1. Tap to enter a capital letter. Tap / to toggle letters and numbers. 2. In number input mode tap to input numbers and special characters. Tap to return to numbers input mode. 3. Tap on the bottom left to hide the virtual keyboard. 4. Tap to use the speech to text function. 5. Tap and hold a letter to identify special characters for language differentiation. Changing the Google Keyboard Settings (return to TOC) To modify/personalize settings of your virtual keyboard: 1. Tap and hold the comma button until a settings icon pops up. 2. Let go the comma and in the pop up window choose Google Keyboard Settings. 3. We recommend leaving auto-correction turned off (unchecked), Vibrate on keypress turned on. 4. Sound on keypress can be disabled by unchecking the box. 6

Internet Browsers (return to TOC) Your android device has two browsers for your convenience, the Android Browser and Firefox. The Android Browser is set up to be used as the student response system (ActivEngage2). However, you can open additional tabs and browse other internet sites. There are some websites that do not optimally perform in the Android Browser, in these cases you could try using Firefox instead. Please note, when you create bookmarks they will exist in which ever browser to create them in, however, if you create shortcuts to the home screen from bookmarks they will default to Firefox. Opening the Android Browser (return to TOC) 1. From the home screen choose the browser button. 2. The homepage of the browser is the ActivEngage2 website which acts as your student response system. 3. To avoid confusion, please consider creating a shortcut to AE2 to the home screen and then reset the homepage so that AE2 is no longer the default homepage. 4. See job-aid hosted in Safari Montage. Opening the Firefox Browser (return to TOC) 1. From the home screen choose the Firefox button. 2. The homepage for Firefox has been set to a blank page. 3. Note: as of 1/20/2015 the Firefox browser is not supporting streaming video. Please use the Android Browser. 7

Opening New Brower Tabs (return to TOC) Teaching your students to manage open tabs will help the Android work more efficiently. Your students may open several ActivEngage2, or have other tabs open while searching online leading to confusion about where they are and where they need to be. Having multiple tabs open with ActivEngage2 on them can cause the responder program to appear to not work correctly. 1. To open a new tab, tap the + symbol next to the AE2 tab. 2. Another browser tab will open. You may need to tap on the middle of the Site Navigation tab to show the address bar. 3. Tap on the address bar to activate the virtual keyboard and then type in the new web address. 8

Closing Browser Tabs (return to TOC) 1. Tap the X on the tab you want to close. Closing all Open Tabs in the Browser (return to TOC) Your students may open several tabs while searching online, quitting the program will close them all at once. This makes using ActivEngage2 more effective for your students. 1. Tap the more options button on the right side of the browser address bar to display an options list. 2. Select Close from the list of options. 3. Select Quit. You have quit the browser program, closed the multiple open tabs, and were routed to the home screen. Browser Home Screen (return to TOC) When you click on the browser the home screen is set to the ActivEngage2 (AE2) website. If students accidentally close this page or from any open tab you can go back to the home screen. 1. Tap the more options button on the right side of the browser address bar to display an options list. 2. Select Home from the list of options. 9

Resetting the Browser Home Screen to ActivEngage2 (return to TOC) When you click on the browser the home screen should be set to the ActivEngage2 (AE2) website. You can reset the home screen by following these directions: Tap the more options button on the right side of the browser address bar to display an options list. 1. Select Settings from the list of options 2. Select General 3. Select Set homepage 4. Select Other 5. Use the virtual keyboard to type: http://ae2.sandi.net 6. Tap OK 7. Tap the main home screen button to leave internet browsing. Or tap the back button until you return to internet browsing. Creating a Shortcut to the Home Screen: Android Browser (return to TOC) A shortcut is basically a quick link to a bookmarked website. These shortcut links appear as an icon on the home screen. Students can tap the icon and be taken to a specific website that you use frequently. To keep the android performing at optimum levels we recommend keeping shortcuts on the home screen to a maximum of five. Please be aware that shortcuts on the Year 5 android will automatically open in Firefox not the android browser. You will start by making a bookmark: 1. From the home screen choose the browser icon of your choice. 2. Tap the address bar. Input a web address using the pop-up virtual keyboard. 3. Tap Go on the virtual keyboard to open the web page. 10

4. To make a bookmark, look to the right of the address bar. Tap the star icon. 5. Tap OK. 6. View the bookmark by tapping on the bookmark icon on the right side of the address bar. 7. Tap on the thumbnail image of the website you just bookmarked and hold it down. 8. At the pop up menu, choose the fourth option Add shortcut to home. (You may get a message saying there is no more room on the home screen, please disregard.) 9. Your shortcut will appear on the home screen. 11

Creating a Shortcut to the Home Screen: Firefox Browser (return to TOC) A shortcut is basically a quick link to a bookmarked website. These shortcut links appear as an icon on the home screen. Students can tap the icon and be taken to a specific website that you use frequently. To keep the android performing at optimum levels we recommend keeping shortcuts on the home screen to a maximum of five. Please be aware that shortcuts on the Year 5 android will automatically open in Firefox not the android browser. You will start by making a bookmark you can make this in Firefox or the Android Browser: 1. From the home screen choose the browser icon of your choice. 2. Tap the address bar. Input a web address using the pop-up virtual keyboard. Tap Go on the virtual keyboard to open the web page. 3. To make a bookmark, look to the right of the address bar. Tap the more options icon. 4. Tap the star icon. You will see a message indicating that the webpage was bookmarked. To the right of this message, tap options. You will be given the option to Add to Home Screen. A shortcut will be added to the home screen. 5. To view the bookmarks, look to the left of the url bar. Tap on the bookmark icon to reveal the bookmark menu. 6. To remove the bookmark, use the bookmark to bring up the bookmarked page. Tap the more options icon. Tap the star icon. You will see a message that says the bookmark was removed. 12

Removing a Shortcut from the Home Screen (return to TOC) 1. Use the home button to get back to the home screen. 2. Tap the more options button on the bottom of the home screen to display an options list. 3. When the icons pop up from the bottom of the screen, touch and slide your finger to the left to scroll through the icon list. 4. Tap the Unlock Edit icon. 5. On the home screen tap and hold the bookmark for 1-2 seconds, you may feel it pulse. 6. When you remove your finger you should see the options to replace, rename, or delete. Choose delete. 7. Choose the more options button. 8. Scroll to find the Lock Edit icon. 9. Click OK. Entering Guest Session Flash Based Website not Loading (return to TOC) The android Browser does not support Flash based websites, so you will need to access this website using the Firefox browser. If you experience troubles with Flash based websites not loading, you may see a gray square. Entering a guest session can help. 1. In Firefox, click on the more options icon in the upper right corner. 2. Select Tools. 3. Select New Guest Session. To exit a guest session: 1. Click on the more options icon. 2. Select Exit Guest Session. 13

Camera Video Camcorder (return to TOC) Switch Cameras 1. Your tablet provides you with a dual, front/back camera. 2. In the photo/video interface, tap to switch between the front and rear cameras. Taking a Picture / Video (return to TOC) 1. On the home screen, choose Utilities. 2. Choose camera. 3. Your Android device provides you with two camera modes located in the camera interface, tap and to switch between photo taking and video recording. 4. Line up the image in the frame. You can have one student hold the camera and act as a tripod while the other student lines up the image and takes the picture. 5. In the photo interface of the camera, tap to take a picture. 6. Tap to begin or stop video recording. Viewing a Picture / Video (return to TOC) 1. To view the photo, look for the small square image created, a thumbnail image of your photo, in the photo interface. 2. Tap the small thumbnail image. 3. Then, to delete the image tap the additional items icon. Choose delete. 4. Choose OK. 14

Storing Pictures (return to TOC) Any photos you have taken will be saved in the Gallery application in the Utilities folder on the home screen. They are also stored in the camera. Deleting photos from the Gallery or the camera, deletes them in both locations permanently. Closing the Camera (return to TOC) 1. To close the camera, look for the camera and video icons. They may be at the top or bottom depending on your screen orientation. Near those icons look for three faint dots. Tap the middle dot. This is the home button. 2. Then to quit the camera, select the recent applications icon, and slide the camera image to quit. 15

Uploading (return to TOC) Uploading Resources to My Big Campus via Discussions (return to TOC) It is assumed that the user has completed i21 Introduction to My Big Campus, has created a classroom group that students are enrolled to, and is familiar with how to create a discussion topic. 1. Go to the MBC website and open a Discussion that you have previously created. 2. Type your name in the text box. Where it says Write a response 3. Click on share image media icon 4. Click on the link to upload files 5. Select the application you wish to use. 16

6. You can click on the Documents option to have access to other resources. 7. If using the camera or camcorder, after you take the image you will be prompted to accept it by tapping on a check mark. Tap the check mark to initiate the upload to My Big Campus. 8. After your resource finishes uploading, and/or videos finish rendering (uploading/spinning), tap Add Post. 9. You can also upload screenshots, at the Choose File for Upload window, go to documents and browse the file structure in ES File Explorer, Screenshots can be found in a folder located within the Pictures folder. When you select the actual file the upload to My Big Campus will initiate automatically. 10. Again, after the screenshot uploads, tap Add Post. 11. As of 3/24/2014 My Big Campus does not accept the Sound Recorder file format. We are working with MBC to allow/accept the amr format. 17

Sound Recorder App (return to TOC) 1. Press to begin recording. 2. Press to pause. 3. Or to stop recording. 4. Then, press to play. to record again. 5. When you are finished, you will be prompted to Discard or Save your recording. 6. If you save your recording you can access it by pressing the additional options list. icon which opens a recording file To delete a recording, press and hold on the recording until a blue check is placed next to it. Then, tap the trash can icon at the bottom of the screen and click OK. 18

Troubleshooting (return to TOC) Restoring the District Settings (return to TOC) 1. From the home screen, choose the more options button at the bottom of the screen to display an options menu. 2. Tap Preferences. 3. Choose Advanced Settings. 4. Choose Backup & restore. 5. Choose Restore Settings. 6. Choose OK. 7. Call the Help Desk if this does not restore your settings. a. Help Desk. (619) 209-4357 Or Submit a Remedy Ticket yourself by going to the online version of the Help Desk. http://remedy.sandi.net/remedy. b. For directions on how to submit tickets via remedy visit http://www.sandi.net/helpdesk. Android System Recovery Black Screen with Writing on Start Up (return to TOC) Students may inadvertently begin a hard restart or factory restart of the device by holding down the power button and the volume up button for several seconds when trying to start up the device from a full shut down. This is rare, because usually we do not recommend powering off the devices. This initiates a factory reset, which we do not want to do. If you are unable to see the start-up screen when you turn it on the screen is black and may have writing displayed on it you can reset the tablet to the district settings to make it work again. Method 1: 1. Push the power button and restart the device. 2. If this does not restore the settings try the next method. Method 2: 1. Look at the writing displayed on the screen. 19

2. Select Reboot System Now 3. If this does not restore the settings try the next method. Screen flashing different colors or big red X Or says something about test failed : Call the Help Desk Help Desk. (619) 209-4357 Or Submit a Remedy Ticket yourself by going to the online version of the Help Desk. http://remedy.sandi.net/remedy. a. For directions on how to submit tickets via remedy visit http://www.sandi.net/helpdesk. Restoring the District Wallpaper 1. Click on the Android browser icon (this does not work the same way in Firefox). 2. Type sandi.net/i21 into the URL 3. Click Go on the keyboard. 4. Hold the android in landscape mode (long way) so you will see the left hand menu. 5. Scroll down, on the left hand column menu under Support select District Image for Androids and ipads. 6. Tap and hold on the image. Choose Set as wallpaper from the pop-up menu. 7. Exit the browser. Cleaning Recommendations (return to TOC) Dry, soft, lint-free cloths such as microfiber cloths are recommended for cleaning the student devices. 1. Turn off the device before cleaning. 2. Gently rub the device in small circles being careful not to push too hard on the screen. 3. In the rare case where something more is needed, apply a small amount of water (distilled is best) or isopropyl alcohol, to the cloth (never directly on the Android device). With a slightly damp cloth make small circular motions. 4. Keep the cleaning cloth in good, clean condition. 5. Do not use products containing ammonia, anything abrasive, paper towels or tissues (overtime these will scratch the screen). 6. Never spray liquid or water directly on the device. URL Bar Not Visible on Android Browser (return to TOC) If the URL bar is not showing at the top of the browser. You might have quick controls enabled. 20

1. Place your thumb on the side of the screen and slowly swipe to the middle. (See below) Look for a semicircular, blue control panel. 2. Select the wrench icon to enter settings mode. 3. Select Labs. 4. Uncheck the box for the Quick controls. 5. To exit, select the home button and then choose the browser. The URL bar should be viewable again. Call the Help Desk if these self-help measures do not restore your settings. a. Help Desk. (619) 209-4357 Or Submit a Remedy Ticket yourself by going to the online version of the Help Desk. http://remedy.sandi.net/remedy. b. For directions on how to submit tickets via remedy visit http://www.sandi.net/helpdesk. 21