Simplified Scheduling vs. Master Scheduler
For schools looking for a Scheduling module, QuickSchools actually offers 2 such modules. The first, called “Simplified Scheduling” has been included with our Athena Plan since our early years, and can also be added as an app for non-Athena subscribers. The second, called the “Master Scheduler”, is a more recent addition, and caters to more complex situations. Both offer a drag-and-drop interface, conflict tracking and personalized scheduled in PDF format for students and teachers. But their applications vary quite significantly.
Here is a rundown of the key differences between the two modules:
| Simplified Schedule | Master Scheduler |
| Mainly used for Elementary Schools where students know what subjects they’ll be taking. | Mainly for High Schools where students will be requesting the subjects to take. |
| Consists of ONE new screen, where you can easily drag-and-drop subjects (or rather sections) based on existing subject offering. | Consists of SEVERAL new screens, where you can drag-and-drop courses based on future course offerings, as well as assign sections to students based on course requests and available sections. |
| No additional modules needed. | In addition to sections, supports courses, departments, subject areas and rooms. |
| Students cannot request courses. The school admin will simply enroll students directly into subjects. | Supports ability to bulk create / assign Course Requests (Course Packets), as well as the ability for students to submit Course Requests via the Student Portal. |
| Essentially, a single process for assigning subjects to periods (students are assigned subjects by the school admin). | A 6-step process for creating a schedule, with one step dedicated to setting up sections, and an additional step to assign students to sections based on their course requests. |
| Simple algorithm for assigning subjects to available slots. Most schools simply use the drag-and-drop function to build the schedule. | Flexible algorithms for assigning sections based on Singletons, Doubletons, and Block Sections / Courses. Can also use drag-and-drop function to assign courses to teachers and periods, or use the built-in algorithm. |
| 10-step undo capability while schedule is being edited. Undo resets every time you reopen a schedule. | Can create multiple save-points which can be accessed any time. |
| Supports multiple period structures, but each grade level can only have ONE period structure. | Supports multiple alternate bell schedules, as well as calendar-based bell schedules. |
If you’re looking for a scheduling module, please chat in with us. We’d be happy to discuss both options with you, and recommend the better module based on your specific scenario.
Could you help us out?
It’s been a wonderful journey for us at QuickSchools working with educators in over 30 countries, trying to make the lives of teachers and school admins a little easier.
We know we don’t get it right all the time but boy I tell ya, we sure try.
For me personally, to this day, I feel blessed that I get to work with passionate teachers and school leaders doing their best for students and parents. To be honest, most times I feel like I’m the student again and all I’m trying to do is to stay out of trouble until school is out!
Moving on.
In the coming days and weeks, I will be reaching out to you to request your help to give us a (hopefully 5-stars) review so that we can bring QuickSchools into more schools and classrooms. God knows how much all of us at QuickSchools appreciate and value your feedback.
I hope you can spare a few minutes to respond to the campaign and of course, I totally understand if you wish to not participate or just plain swamped with your students.
That said, if you have any feedback about QuickSchools and how we can make your experience a little better, please feel free to reach out to me. I trust you know my email by now. 🙂
And last but certainly not the least, thank you for being our friend.
New Release: Sprint E11
Here’s a list of the latest improvements in QuickSchools:
- Google Classroom Integration (Early Alpha)
- Admissions Improvements
- Enable Medical Fields for Invited Applicants
- Email Confirmation on Inquiry Submissions include new System Fields
- Mobile App Framework Improvements
- Support for Gradebook Updates via API
- Ability to disable Live Chat Support
- Miscellaneous Bug Fixes / Improvements
- Online Form improvements for Group Schools with Shared Form Packets
- Disable “Print (In Order)” for Report Cards
- Bug inviting Students to Student Portal
- Bug editing Period Structure in Simplified Scheduling
- Color Scheme no longer disables Live Chat Support
- Odysseyware App now transfers the Final Grade
- Report Creator fix for Admissions Applications
- SBG fix for Subject-Based Report Cards View
Admissions Improvements
When inviting applicants to fill in the Admissions Application (an improvements we introduced in Sprint E8), there is a new option to include the Medical Section:
This will enable the following section from the Application:
Read more…Color Scheme (E7)
With the recent E7 release, schools can now customize the colors that appear when logged into QuickSchools. You can read about that here:
https://blog.quickschools.com/2019/05/13/new-release-sprint-e7/
But just how much can you really change the colors that appear on your QuickSchools account? Here’s an example of what’s possible with the “Customize Style” feature:
In this example, we only changed a few elements that are available. But you can of course explore changing other elements like pop-up dialog boxes and buttons. The color changes also extend into mouse overs (i.e. when you hover your mouse over buttons, text and other areas). Here’s a screenshot of the changes we applied in order to produce the color scheme above:
Read more…Student Pathways
If you’re using our Master Scheduler, there is now a new add-on called the “Student Pathways” app, that you can install from the QuickSchools App Store:
Once installed, you can:
Read more…Professional Services (Pricing)
Over the years, we’ve provided value-added services to many of our customers. We’ve announced some of these services on our QuickSchools blog. We thought we’d make it official and publish a price list so schools can easily see what sorts of professional services we provide (things like Training, On-Boarding, Data Migration, Customization, etc). Link is below:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SDEDoFCg0_9wyIrOwxVsfZ_k2AWdna5FkmXwfXSY-x4/edit?usp=sharing
Please note that services and prices are subject to change. If you don’t see a service you’re looking for, please ask. We look forward to welcoming many new schools this summer.
Odysseyware Integration App
After several months of work, we now have a working integration app with Odysseyware using their available API. You can check it out in our App Store:
This particular integration app works differently from our other LMS integration implementations (like Schoology and Canvas). For Schoology and Canvas, QuickSchools is treated as the source for all Roster elements, like students, teachers, sections and even section enrollments. Only grades are pulled from the LMS into the QuickSchools Gradebook. However, since Odysseyware is also a Curriculum Management System, we treat Odysseyware as the source for courses and section enrollments too. So after mapping students, teachers and sections from QuickSchools, we will pull both section enrollments as well as grades from Odysseyware into QuickSchools. So what does that all mean?
In summary, once the app is installed and linked, the flow of data is as follows:
Read more…
