At the June 25th school board meeting, action was taken on the following software items…
- Securly contract renewed
Securly is the web filtering software that is used on our student chromebooks that enables parents to set filtering options and review student usage.
. - Canvas contract extended
Our contract with Canvas was extended thru the summer of 2021. Starting this fall, PBL (Project Based Learning) classrooms will begin using Canvas for their online coursework instead of Echo. In addition, PBL courses will be using Canvas for their grade book instead of Infinite Campus. Also, starting this fall, parents who have children involved in PBL courses will get access to Canvas – and we’ll be moving towards all parents getting access to Canvas this fall as well (but PBL access will be launched first).
. - Google Classroom
The district will be turning off access to Google Classroom in Jan 2019 at the end of the first semester. The district is moving towards all coursework being stored in one system – Canvas.
. - Go Guardian Teacher
It’s a classroom monitoring system that is specific to chromebooks, it enables teachers to monitor student screens and push out web site addresses to students, etc. We have purchased a district-wide license that will be available to any staff who would like to use for their classroom. More information on how to obtain the software/how to use it will be available closer to the start of the school year. Watch the demo at: https://www.goguardian.com/teacher.html
. - Respondus
It’s a lockdown browser that integrates with Canvas and it will be available district-wide. It enables teachers to lock the web browser so that students cannot open another window or another tab to browse the internet. For example, if you set up a quiz within Canvas, you can use Respondus to ensure that students only see the quiz and can’t open up other tabs or browser windows. More information on how to obtain the software/how to use it will be available closer to the start of the school year. Watch the demo at: https://www.respondus.com/products/lockdown-browser/demos.shtml - WeVideo
It’s a website service that allows students to create and edit videos. WeVideo doesn’t sell a district-wide license – however, we are buying a number of licenses for each school. The licenses can be made available to specific students as needed – and we’ll have more information on how to obtain the software/how to use it will be available closer to the start of the school year. Watch the demo at: https://www.wevideo.com/education