On June 17, 2011, Pearson officially released PowerSchool 7, a major revision of the PowerSchool student information system. After testing the beta for the last few weeks, I am excited about the enhancements that this major upgrade will bring. The district will be migrating to PowerSchool 7 over the summer and it will be ready for teachers when the 2011-2012 school year begins. Below you will find the announcement for PowerSchool 7 and a video about the new version of PowerTeacher.
Power School 7
PowerTeacher 2.3
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Summer 2011
Now that the school year is winding to a close, it is once again time for the IT Department to change gears and start working on the major projects for next school year. We have worked hard during this school year to plan our summer projects, and it is finally time to start implementing them. I wanted to share some of the projects that we have slated for the summer of 2011.
1. Exchange 2010
We will be implementing the newest Microsoft e-mail system. Exchange 2010 will improve all facets of access for teachers and staff. Webmail has been redesigned to work with browsers like FireFox and Safari (even on MacBooks!) E-mail access with a Droid or iPhone will include mail, contacts, and calendar. Active Sync will provide automatic setup of your e-mail client (including Droid and iPhone).
2. PowerSchool 7.0
We will be implementing PowerSchool 7.0, the newest version of our Student Information System. The most compelling feature of PowerSchool 7 is that the Parent Portal will be available in 18 languages to parents. Providing information to our community in their preferred language will help keep parents informed about their child's education. Also look for an updated version of the teacher grade book in PowerSchool 7.
3. Staff and Student Wireless
During Semester 2 of 2011-2012, the IT Department worked with Maintenance and Operations to install a new, state of the art wireless system on our secondary school campuses. The goal was to provide wireless access to all secondary school staff in the classroom. This summer we will be taking that idea and implementing it in our K-5 schools. The next step will be a limited pilot of student wireless access at our secondary schools. We understand how critical access to information is, and would like to test the "Bring your own Device" model. Students would be allowed to bring in their own laptops or other devices for use in class. The pilot will be to ensure that our network is not overwhelmed and that we can ensure responsible use of networked devices by students.
4. Multimedia Carts
During Semester 2 of 2011-2012, a select group of tech coaches and teachers were chosen to pilot a new Multimedia Cart for deployment into the district. The cart that was piloted was a multimedia cart from Bretford that included powered speakers. The cart came loaded with an Epson LCD projector and an Elmo document camera. The feedback from the pilot group was positive and we will be deploying the carts on a larger scale. Over the summer we will be preparing 100 - 150 carts for deployment when teachers return to the district. Tech coaches will be providing the training when carts arrive.
5. Lab and COW Maintenance
Our goal over the summer will be to update every lab and COW in the district. For some sites, this just means installing operating system updates. For others, we will be installing an updated version of the operating system, more ram, and/or a new version of Microsoft Office. We estimate that about 1/3 of our summer will be dedicated to maintenance of student computers.
6. IT Help Desk
Next year we will be providing a help desk to teachers and staff. The help desk will give you access to IT Staff and will be the primary point of contact for your technology issues. A technician will be available to help you via phone or e-mail with technology problems that you are experiencing. We hope this single point of contact for phone and e-mail requests will help streamline the process and alleviate any confusion about who to contact with tech issues.
These are just some of the projects we have planned over the summer. I hope you are as excited as we are about technology for the upcoming school year.
1. Exchange 2010
We will be implementing the newest Microsoft e-mail system. Exchange 2010 will improve all facets of access for teachers and staff. Webmail has been redesigned to work with browsers like FireFox and Safari (even on MacBooks!) E-mail access with a Droid or iPhone will include mail, contacts, and calendar. Active Sync will provide automatic setup of your e-mail client (including Droid and iPhone).
2. PowerSchool 7.0
We will be implementing PowerSchool 7.0, the newest version of our Student Information System. The most compelling feature of PowerSchool 7 is that the Parent Portal will be available in 18 languages to parents. Providing information to our community in their preferred language will help keep parents informed about their child's education. Also look for an updated version of the teacher grade book in PowerSchool 7.
3. Staff and Student Wireless
During Semester 2 of 2011-2012, the IT Department worked with Maintenance and Operations to install a new, state of the art wireless system on our secondary school campuses. The goal was to provide wireless access to all secondary school staff in the classroom. This summer we will be taking that idea and implementing it in our K-5 schools. The next step will be a limited pilot of student wireless access at our secondary schools. We understand how critical access to information is, and would like to test the "Bring your own Device" model. Students would be allowed to bring in their own laptops or other devices for use in class. The pilot will be to ensure that our network is not overwhelmed and that we can ensure responsible use of networked devices by students.
4. Multimedia Carts
During Semester 2 of 2011-2012, a select group of tech coaches and teachers were chosen to pilot a new Multimedia Cart for deployment into the district. The cart that was piloted was a multimedia cart from Bretford that included powered speakers. The cart came loaded with an Epson LCD projector and an Elmo document camera. The feedback from the pilot group was positive and we will be deploying the carts on a larger scale. Over the summer we will be preparing 100 - 150 carts for deployment when teachers return to the district. Tech coaches will be providing the training when carts arrive.
5. Lab and COW Maintenance
Our goal over the summer will be to update every lab and COW in the district. For some sites, this just means installing operating system updates. For others, we will be installing an updated version of the operating system, more ram, and/or a new version of Microsoft Office. We estimate that about 1/3 of our summer will be dedicated to maintenance of student computers.
6. IT Help Desk
Next year we will be providing a help desk to teachers and staff. The help desk will give you access to IT Staff and will be the primary point of contact for your technology issues. A technician will be available to help you via phone or e-mail with technology problems that you are experiencing. We hope this single point of contact for phone and e-mail requests will help streamline the process and alleviate any confusion about who to contact with tech issues.
These are just some of the projects we have planned over the summer. I hope you are as excited as we are about technology for the upcoming school year.
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