New Release – Sept 28, 2020
The LMS features are coming along nicely. We’ll soon be moving this app out of Beta. Here are the latest improvements in QuickSchools:
LMS: Assignments and Live Stream modules (Beta)
- Teachers can enter grades directly from the Assignments module
- Parents can access the Live Stream and Calendar from the Parent Portal
- Redefine Assignment Types to Online, In Person or No Submission
- Improve Revision History for Student Portal
- Class Discussion threads can be pinned to the top
- General Refinements and bug Fixes to the Assignments listing
Google Classroom Integration Improvements
- Update description for Manual Sync
- Fix bug when running manual sync while sync is already scheduled
- Bug fix when syncing columns from outside the active academic term
- Bug fix when generating Gradebook PDF
Report Creator Improvements
- Ability for users to remove Shared Reports
- Additions to the Data Dictionary
- Online Forms Submitted Email and Reference Number
- Fee Tracking Due Date
- Bug Fix when reporting on deleted Online Form Submissions
Other General Improvements
- Ability to schedule tasks weekly
- Future support to increase the minimum number of students for subscriptions
- Improved Support for deletion of Meal Types in Lunch Orders App
- Support for Conflicts in the Simplified Scheduler via the App Store
- Miscellaneous Bug Fix when viewing Online Form Submissions
- Support long category names in the Gradebook
- Bug fix when generating Missing Grades / Ds and Fs Report
- Improve file name when accessing report cards from student record
- Bug fix with Attachments in Email History
NOTE: We had to two patch releases since our last major release on September 7:
LMS Improvements
The Assignments Submissions page for teachers now includes an area to enter grades, while automatically appear in the Gradebook:
Students now have access to the Revision History when viewing submissions from their portal:
Read more…Quickschools Basics: New User Guide
As with many other systems, there are certain aspects of Quickschools that all users need to be familiar with. Below, we share details useful to all new users, including:
Logging In
Before you begin using Quickschools, you first need to be invited to join the school’s existing account. Only school administrators will be able to send an invite, so you may need to contact the school directly.
The invitation will be sent to the email address the school has on file for you. The email will include the school’s unique URL, your username, and your temporary password. Be sure to save the URL as it will be needed to log in in the future.
After you follow the link provided, simply enter in your username and password to log in.
What makes our Report Cards Special
The Report Cards module within QuickSchools has been a labor of love since we launched over 10 years ago. QuickSchools provides the flexibility for schools to quickly and easily customize their own beautiful report cards from our existing library of templates. And for schools that need a little something extra, we can build new templates that fit your needs exactly.
We wanted to highlight a few key features that makes QuickSchools different from our competitors.
Extensive Library of Templates
We have a library of templates to choose from, each with its own use case:
We have templates that handle various scenarios, including:
- Weekly or Monthly (Snapshot) progress reports
- Semester based report cards
- Report Cards with Narratives
- Provincial Templates (like the Ontario Provincial Template)
- Report Cards with Admin Columns
Don’t see a template you like? Send us a sample of what you’d like your report cards to look like, and we can recommend one to you. We may have a hidden template that we can simply share with you. If you have something completely unique, we can build new templates to specification for a fee.
Different Templates for Different Scenarios
You can use different templates for different scenarios. For example, you could produce a monthly Progress Report, followed by an end of term report card, both with different templates.
Read more…Private Messaging: A Summary
Among the many communication features we offer within Quickschools, Private Messaging is one we expect to be increasingly utilized as schools transition to a virtual setting. If you have not used this feature before, here’s a quick summary on what it offers.
Before you begin using it, you’ll want to make sure that the feature is properly configured. Teachers and Admins can message each other right away, but it needs to be enabled for Students and Parents. These settings can be found while configuring the Parent Portal and Student Portal in the “Turn Features On/Off” page:
New Release (Patch) – Sept 15, 2020
We had an emergency patch deployed this morning to fix a limit that was set to the list of customers that appeared in the QuickBooks Integration app. We took this opportunity to also update the dropdowns to the new Searchable Dropdowns. So when selecting a customer, you can type in part of the name, and the dropdown in QuickSchools will filter the results to match:
We made similar changes to the mapping screen for products too:
Read more…New Release (Patch) – Sept 11, 2020
We’ve had huge interest in the new Online Learning improvements we’ve been working on, so much so that we’ve had to add additional support for Assignments in the Parent Portal. This will come in handy for the lower grade levels where students aren’t old enough to use a Student Portal, and rely on parents to access their assignments. Here’s what’s included in today’s patch release to QuickSchools:
Assignments via Parent Portal
When configuring the Assignments module, there is a new setting to “Enable Assignments for Parents”:
With this setting enabled, parents will be able to access Assignments for students in their care:
Read more…Transaction Fees for International Payments
Credit Cards payments always incur a transaction fee. In most cases, the transaction fee is absorbed by the merchant. So for example, if you went to an online store and purchased some shoes for $100, a portion of that transaction is kept by the payment provider as a transaction fee, typically in the realm of 3% – 5% of the total. The merchant would then only receive between $95 and $97.
When allowing parents and students to pay online in Quickschools, schools actually have the option of adding a Convenience Fee to offset the transaction fees incurred by the payment gateway.
So from our original example above, if you were buying shoes for $100, the system would calculate a Convenience Fee, such that the merchant would receive the original $100 that was charged. So you’d end up paying something like $104, where $4 would go to the payment gateway, and the merchant would receive the original $100 charged.
Read more…Google Classroom Integration Improvements
With the increasing demand for Online Learning features, so has our support for integration to Learning Management Systems like Google Classroom improved. It is our philosophy to make incremental but frequent improvements to the QuickSchools offering. Here we discuss some of the recent improvements to the Google Classroom Integration App. These include:
- Time-Out for Manual Sync (Aug 17 Release)
- Viewing / Excluding Archived Courses (Sept 7 Release)
- Handling Unmarked Assignments (Sept 7 Release)
Time-Out for Manual Sync
Previously, when manually synchronizing the Gradebooks, you would get real-time feedback on the status of the run:
However, this process was limited by the browser time-out of 5 min. What we opted to do in the August 17 Release was to extend the timeout to 30-min. This was done by changing the function to run in the background (no more pop-up on completion of synchronization):
Read more…Online Forms: Electronic Signature
As most of you know, our Online Forms App allows you to add Fillable PDF Forms to your online form packet. To further allow your forms to go paperless, the online forms also allows users to add their electronic signature into the pdf form. This is useful for situations where you need a contract signed by the students as well as by the school.
Setting up Online Forms Signature
If you have not yet installed the Online Forms App in your QuickSchools account, you can do so via our App Store — search for Online Forms and click on Install
Once the app has been installed and configured, we would need to enable SVG for the online forms. This will allow Cross-Browser Compatibility and allow you to add digital signatures to the form. This is currently a hidden feature. To have this enabled please send us an email at support@quickschools.com.
After SVG has been enabled for your account, we can now start setting up our Online Form Packet. Please note that when configuring the Online Form Packet, enable the One Form per Child option. This will allow parents to send a form per child, and allows any mapped information to be automatically filled (i.e. Student Data):
Read more…Style Your Embedded Admissions Form for Your School Website
The QuickSchools embedded admissions form can be customized to match your school website’s style. You can change the fonts, colors, input field or size. You just need to modify the embed code after you add it to your site. Some knowledge of HTML and CSS is required.
Customizing your embedded forms will leave a good impression and sense of security to your visitors, with inquiries and application forms that look just like the rest of your website.
You can style your embedded form in two ways:
Read more…
