We are five weeks into school (four with students). We are face-to-face (with MASKS 😷) but still in a pandemic. Almost daily the principal sends a letter home saying that a student or staff member has a positive test and you should get tested and you should quarantine only if you haven’t been vaccinated.

This year’s student supply checklist should look a little different than say two years ago. Instead of focusing on paper products or the perfect notebook, let’s focus on the technology basics we need to make sure every student has.

Student Technology Checklist:

• I can send and receive Outlook (district email server) emails to teachers.
• I check my district email every day.
• I can access Infinite Campus grades and messages.
• I can access Google Classrooms and itsLearning and Microsoft Teams.
• I can find assignments in each of my online classrooms.
• I can turn in assignments in each of my online classrooms.
• I am comfortable using Word and/or Google docs online.
• I am comfortable using PowerPoint and/or Slides online.
• I know how to use Google Meets, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom for class meetings.
• I have a working computer, camera, & microphone at home in case of illness, quarantine, or virtual learning.
• I understand that it is illegal to plagiarize or copy from the internet. I verify that all of my work is mine and not copied.

I’m tempted to add a few more items to this checklist, but we do not have a formal way of teaching them. Nonetheless, we should NOT assume that students (or teachers!) can just figure it out on their own. They may be floundering with no understanding of basic e-file organization.

Teacher & Student Additional Technology Checklist:

1. I know how to organize OneDrive and/or Google Drive for each subject, each year. I know how to name every doc without leaving it as “Documentxx”.
2. I know how to share a file or form in OneDrive and/or Google Drive with my teacher (or my students) with all of the permissions set correctly.
3. I know how to copy a file from my computer/ flash drive to OneDrive and/or Google Drive and also copy from the cloud to the flash drive.
4. I know how to create an email rule within Outlook (the district email server) to manage different emails I receive.

Many organizations offer badges to encourage teachers (and students!) to complete a checklist. What incentive do we need to make sure we can handle our basic functions online this year? What would you add to the lists?