The recent school closures have forced schools to think about how they can deliver effective distance learning. With staff and students scattered, potentially globally, there are all sorts of challenges and complexities to overcome.
With that in mind it has been amazing to see the skill and creativity many schools have shown in adapting to what is an uncertain and challenging time for all.
In the current climate SchoolBase has ready to go tools that can help - no requirement for short term free sign-ups that will cost you down the line or additional modules, just functionality as standard as part of your annual licence - how refreshing! If you are a SchoolBase MIS school you can utilise the below right now.
Homework
Did you know that you can set homework online for pupils using SchoolBase?
Using the ‘MarkBook Lesson Plans’ form, teachers can set homework for each of their classes (with any necessary resources attached) for pupils to view through their SchoolBase portal. Add descriptions and deadlines and where required, your pupils can even upload their own files for online submission and review by your teachers.
For more information on how to use this functionality, please take a look at the following articles here
Online Documents
Did you know that you can share a variety of files with parents online for them to download whenever they want?
Using the ‘Add Common Docs’ function from the Pupil Finder, or the ‘Online Documents’ form itself, you can share all manner of different resources with parents via the portal.
A great resource for making sure your parents have access to the information they need.
For more information on how to use this functionality click here
Parent Portal
Did you know that parents can log into SchoolBase to view their child’s information and communications from the school?
With everyone working from home in the coming weeks, SchoolBase can be accessed from any browser for Staff, Parents and Pupils to keep those communication channels open. From gadgets that can display daily news bulletins, to the ability to embed YouTube videos, there is a great deal of flexibility at your fingertips.
To see what kind of things are available for parents through your portal, please take a look at the following video here.
Push Notifications
Did you know that SchoolBase can send push notifications to Staff, Parent or Pupil mobile devices?
From within the Pupil Finder, you can choose to send Notices to Staff, Parents and Pupils alike. If they are using SchoolBase Online, they can enable notifications for these on their browser. If they are using the SchoolBase App, they can enable these push notifications to appear on their phone like any other message would - all with the added benefit of not incurring the costs associated with text messages.
To find out more about how you can contact people through SchoolBase, please follow this link here.
Microsoft School Data Sync
SchoolBase also offers Microsoft School Data Sync.
What is Microsoft School Data Sync (SDS)?
SDS is a free service for Office 365 for Education that creates:
This will easily set up Single Sign On (SSO) using Microsoft Office 365 for any Pupils exported from SchoolBase, so that they can log into SchoolBase or any other SSO application with their Microsoft accounts.
To find more about the benefits and how to use this functionality you can find an article here
Exporting timetables and calendars
You can give SchoolBase users the ability to export their timetable and calendar. You can read about how to set this up for staff here.
Once this has been enabled teachers can export their timetable in to Outlook/Google, you can find a 'how to' guide for teachers right here
One more thing!
This time of year is also a great time of year to complete some database housekeeping
Database clean up
A helpful guide to performing those much needed clean up tasks can be found here. You can also watch our latest webinar on housekeeping right here