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End-of-Year Technology Training

OPTIONAL TRAININGS on 5/31-6/4

Thursday, May 31: Teacher work day in elementary and middle schools, with optional trainings for interested and available teachers on the new email, appointment, and gradebook services.

Friday, June 1: Teacher work day at the high school, with optional trainings for interested and available teachers, from any school, on the new email, appointment, and gradebook services.

Monday, June 4: Optional trainings for ANY staff member on the new email, appointment, and gradebook services. Principals may have already reserved a slot for some of the site office staff members; please check with your principal.
Gmail Training

June 19: Switchover from Outlook/Exchange to Gmail & Google Calendar

Prepare for the end of email and appointments via Outlook and Exchange with a 2-hour training:

Gmail & Google Calendar Trainings (2 hours)


Click an entry below for more information and to reserve yourself a seat; you only need to sign up for one session:
Additional sessions will be offered 6/20, 8/1, 8/2, and on pre-service days 8/14 and 8/15
PowerTeacher Pro Training
PowerTeacher Pro gradebook for 2018-2019

In July the district will begin using the newer online PowerTeacher Pro gradebook, abandoning the existing PowerTeacher Gradebook. Get an hour of hands-on training with the new gradebook:

PowerTeacher Pro Trainings (1 hour)


Click an entry below for more information and to reserve yourself a seat; you only need to sign up for one session:
Additional sessions will be offered 8/1, 8/2, and on pre-service days 8/14 and 8/15

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

  • Will my email address change?
    • NO, it will remain the same, and using username@gmail.com will not work.
  • Will these trainings counts for inclement weather/suspension day professional development?
    • YES, you can earn up to 3 points for such purposes if you attend both trainings. Trainings on 5/31, 6/1, or 6/4 can count. Trainings on 6/20 and afterward will still earn inservice points, but they would NOT count toward the make-ups.
  • I'm a classified employee but cannot make it on 6/4. Can I sign up for 5/31 or 6/1 instead?
    • YES, you may!
  • Will Outlook/Exchange still be available after June 19?
    • NO, the district will no longer support Microsoft Outlook nor Exchange after June 19. All district email and calendaring services will run through Google's Gmail and Google Calendar services. On mobile devices you will need to change from your Exchange account to your new district Gmail account on or after June 19.
  • Will my email address change?
    • NO, your email address will stay the same as it is now, ending in @bps-ok.org. Students have had Gmail accounts for a few years now through the district, and their email addresses are username@stu.bps-ok.org.
  • Is there online help with the new services?
    • YES, the webpages below are already linked off BPSDTECH.ORG:
  • Will my old email, folders, appointments, etc. migrate to Gmail and Google Calendar?
    • YES, most things will transfer, with a few notable exceptions:
      • Outlook distribution lists will NOT transfer. Instead of using distribution lists to contact multiple users, in G Suite you would either create a Google Group, if you want to share that group with others, or attach labels to your own contacts.
        • Google Groups: You can manually add contacts to a Google Group you create. Anyone in the district can then use that Group and you can optionally share management of its user list with others.
        • Google Contacts labels: For groups of users that are not used by others, you can create a label and then attach it to your contacts. This allows you to see at a glance all of the labels attached to a given contact or all of the contacts associated with a given label.
      • Rules you have created in Outlook will not carry over; you will need to recreate this as filters in Gmail.
      • Tasks and notes will not transfer, so you will rebuild those in Google's tools:
    • Click here for the full details on the import of data from Exchange to G Suite.
  • Will we be able to schedule rooms and other shared resources in Google Calendar?
    • YES, but we will have to set up the rooms/resources and any Accept or Decline permissions for each site. Granger Meador is currently testing that functionality for the ESC, and will then move on to the setup for BHS and then each of the other sites.
  • Will feature X be available in Gmail or Google Calendar?
    • Most of the features you are used to are available in the new services, although you will need to learn new habits. Take a look at the district manuals posted on these pages:
  • Will we still use CalendarWiz for site online calendars?
    • NO, sometime this summer we will be switching to Google Calendar for that as well, with our websites recoded to embed site-specific Google Calendars.
  • I've heard that Word, Excel, and Powerpoint are going away. Is that true?
    • NO, the district will continue to install those Office 2010 applications on desktop machines, and you are free to use them. We have a limited number of Office 2016 licenses as well and are using those in student business computing labs and in offices if there is a compelling reason to upgrade.
      • One app that will be going away is Outlook, at least on the new desktop systems. We will instead support the use of Gmail and Google Calendar, although secondary staff have the ability to also use the more limited native Windows Mail and Calendar apps.
      • All district certified personnel have a district-issued Chromebook; next year all 9-12 students will have a district-issued Chromebook; all 6-12 students will have a Chromebook in 2019-20. So there may be significant advantages to switching from Word to Google Docs, from Excel to Google Sheets, and from Powerpoint to Google Slides for at least some of your work. Here is help for making that transition: 
  • Are we also updating to Windows 10?
    • YES, we must do that before Windows 7 support ends in January 2020. We will do it in two waves: 
      • Summer 2018: All teacher and office stations at the middle schools and high school as well as transportation will get new desktops with Windows 10 and all compatible computers at those sites will be updated to Windows 10.
      • Summer 2019: All teacher and office stations at the elementary schools, ESC, and maintenance will get new desktops with Windows 10 and all compatible computers at those sites will be updated to Windows 10.
    • So long as you keep all of your user files in the default Windows 7 Documents, Pictures, Music, and Videos library folders or on your desktop, they should be copied over when you log in to your new Windows 10 system. If you want to create your own backup on a personal flash drive before you leave for the summer, see these backup instructions.
    • We'll have some training later in June, July, and August on Windows 10.
    • In the coming weeks, we'll have more information on end-of-year procedures in the middle schools and high school to prepare for the Windows 10 desktops upgrade.
  • Can the district erase or otherwise manage my personal phone or tablet if I use district Gmail and other G Suite apps? The user agreement grants that permission.
    • NO, the district cannot manage your personal phone or tablet. We only control the data in the G Suite system, which includes your district email, district appointments, and the various files in your district Google Drive. The devices we can actively manage, controlling their settings and even disabling or wiping, are the district-owned Chromebooks, iPads, and Android tablets we enroll in our management systems.
    • So, despite any boilerplate legal language in the agreements, we would not and cannot wipe your personal devices. If you are still feeling a bit paranoid about using the dedicated apps, you can try just accessing Gmail and Google Calendar in the web browser on your device rather than installing their apps. But the user experience is better on the Gmail, Google Calendar, and other Google apps on your personal devices. You can readily switch between your district and any personal Google accounts in each of the Google apps.