Sep
2020

Technology Today: Dearborn Public Schools

September 2020

Welcome to Technology Today in Dearborn Public Schools. This is an update to the on-goings of the Technology Department.

Schoology Update

Parents

We are in the final stages of parent access to Schoology. We will be emailing parents their log in information. This information will be emailed to the email address that is on file within MiStar.

We will also be adding support materials on the Home Learning Hub. We will also be asking each school to post information for parents on their web site. 

Primary Buildings

We are still at work connecting a specific primary building to each user within Schoology. One thing that will allow is for us to identify School Administrators within Schoology. School Administrators in Schoology will have the ability to view all courses with the school. In the meantime, many teachers have added School Administrators as an “Admin” in their Schoology course. If teachers are having trouble finding an Administrator to add, it is probably because the Administrator is in a different building in Schoology (Dearborn Magnet is the most popular). 

VLP Course Combination

The combination of the various buildings into one course per subject for VLP teachers in the final steps. This will combine all the same subject courses in Schoology from different schools into one course. 

Specials

All Special Area courses should be updated in MiStar and present in Schoology. 

Support

We have added a “Building” to the Help Desk Site to support Instructional Programs (specifically mentioned are Schoology/Zoom, but this can be used for all Instructional Software). This is to help us address issues faster. We also want to identify trends of necessary support. 

iReady

Middle school math teachers have access to iReady. If you are having issues with a blank screen coming up, please select “Open in a New Window” rather than opening in Schoology. 

(Here is a video on setting iReady to open in a new window). 

The development team of iReady is working with the development team of Schoology to resolve the issue. 

Great Minds Update

Insync is used by the District. We have been working on a regular basis to address some of their issues. We have been escalated to the highest priority to address our concerns.

From Great Minds:

My apologies as I am still waiting on developers. It is escalated into the highest priority and I will continue to advocate for your account to be fixed.

Benchmark Update

Although most users are working within Benchmark, there are still some users who are getting an error message. Benchmark has now requested that if you get an error message, please contact them directly. 

Benchmark Tech Support:

Email: techsupport@benchmark.com

Call: 855-245-9751

Emergency Notification System

We are currently installing a new Emergency Notification System in the schools. The most obvious part of this project will be new digital clocks in the classrooms, hallways, and other spaces.  

The project includes removing the TVs currently hanging around the district. TV’s will be removed and recycled responsibly. 

O.L. Smith and River Oaks Elementary are our pilot schools. This project will take place over the entire school year. 

Substitutes

Substitutes are a part of life. 

A few important points:

  • Most substitutes have an account with us. We create substitute accounts for just about everyone who works as a substitute for Dearborn Public Schools. Substitutes do NOT need to be a long term substitute. 
  • Digital access is included with Substitute accounts (though substitutes are more filtered than hired staff)

If you need an account created for a substitute, a student teacher, an intern, or any other user, please have a building secretary utilize the link on the front page of the Help Desk Site

Teachers can create a Substitute Folder in their Schoology Course which is hidden from students. When a Substitute Teacher is given access to the Schoology course, the Substitute can implement those plans. Naturally, the Tech Coaches have a blog post on Preparing Sub Plans in Schoology to help. 

Tech Coaches

Amy Gwizdz and Robert Harrison are doing a fantastic job of covering the entire district. Teachers can reach out to them for appointments, support, questions, and great advice. 

The Tech Coaches Blog is filled with great support material. I subscribe to the Tech Coaches Blog and hope you will too. 

(*Please note that this document is ADA compliant. Headings are used throughout the document. Alt-text is present where needed.