With the COVID-19 (a.k.a. The Coronavirus) affecting so many people everywhere, schools are contemplating temporary closures to help thwart the spread of the virus. Long closures can really be disruptive, and schools are looking for ways to continue providing education for students on the QuickSchools platform while schools are closed. One such way is Online Learning.
Online Learning is typically in the domain of Learning Management Systems (LMS), which has a completely different set of features as compared to a Student Information System (SIS). And we’ve discussed this extensively in previous articles.
Adopting a new LMS can also be challenging, and requires strong commitment for the school. In the long run, adopting an LMS has many benefits, but it also introduces complications to your day-to-day processes. If you do decide on adopting an LMS, we recommend selecting one that readily integrates with QuickSchools. Check out some of of the following systems:
- Canvas: https://blog.quickschools.com/2018/03/02/updated-canvas-integration/
- Schoology: https://blog.quickschools.com/2018/10/04/quickschools-integration-to-schoology/
- Odysseyware: https://blog.quickschools.com/2019/06/27/odysseyware-integration-app/
- Google Classroom: https://blog.quickschools.com/2019/10/28/google-classroom-integration/
However, if you’re looking for a quick-and-easy temporary solution, just to tide you over, you might want to try using our Class Discussions module. QuickSchools is NOT an LMS, but we are slowly developing some basic LMS features for schools that need something simple to use, without necessarily adopting a whole separate program.
For example, you can post homework assignments, links and videos to a particular class/subject, and students can interact with other members of the class via a chat-like interface.
Teachers can select a class that they’re teaching, and review/post comments from all students. Teachers can also send out an email notification when a thread/topic is created:
Students can review/comment on posts from all subjects in glance. All threads and comments are arranged in chronological order. Each thread is labelled to indicate which subject it’s for:
Still missing from our feature set is the ability to upload homework assignments. This is something we’re seriously considering as a future improvement. As an interim solution, you could try using our Private Messaging module and allow students to send/submit homework assignments (i.e file attachments) to their respective subject teachers:
If there are other LMS features that you’d like to see in QuickSchools that you think would be beneficial to your school, please let us know. So far, we’ve received suggestions for live streaming or screen sharing (like a webinar). We’re open to suggestions.
Thank you for using QuickSchools, and we look forward to hearing from you over chat and email.
Stay safe!
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