Upcoming feature: Messages

Azreen LatiffLeave a comment

One of the requests we receive from time to time is for the ability for teachers to message other teachers (and parents) more easily in QuickSchools.

Up to now, we’ve designed QuickSchools so that messaging is one-way i.e. via the Parent Portal, from the school to the students/parents.

This year, we will introduce a new messaging capability in QuickSchools so that effective communication can take place between teachers, parents and students. Teachers will be able to connect privately with other teachers and with parents as well. You will see a new Messages icon appearing by your profile picture which will indicate if there are messages waiting for you. Clicking on the icon will take you to the Messages screen where you can see all your messages.

QuickSchools Messages will be released in beta in April this year and we hope this will result in better and more effective communication.

UPDATED Feb 20, 2013:

First version of Private Messaging is now available for teachers:

http://blog.quickschools.com/2013/02/20/new-private-messaging-between-teachers/

We’ll include parents and students in a future release. Thanks!

Upcoming feature: Teacher Pages

Azreen Latiff3 Comments

Our next feature that’s coming up real soon is Teacher Pages. Through Teacher Pages, teachers can connect with their classes for each subject that they teach. Teachers will be able to create and share rich content e.g. post a message and introduce a topic to the class, share links to material available on the Internet like a TED Talk video, a wikipedia article or a video from the Khan Academy, etc.

Students (and maybe parents too) of the class will then be able to connect through their respective portals and share their thoughts as well. Hopefully, the Teacher Pages feature will encourage discussions and exchange of ideas that ultimately enhances the classroom learning experience.

We are very excited about this new feature and we’ll share more details once the feature’s released.

UPDATED May 3, 2013:

The Teacher Pages module had been released, but it has been renamed to “Class Discussions”. We will be posting it on our blog in the next few days. You can turn it on via the “Features” page. Let us know what you think about it.

UPDATED May 6, 2013:

Online Class Discussions now LIVE!

http://blog.quickschools.com/2013/05/06/online-class-discussions/

We’re now officially on HTML5

Azroy Kandan10 Comments

Just a quick announcement. It’s been several months now since we first announced the availability of the new HTML5 interface. We’ve had many new improvements that came along with it. Just to name a few:

Under development and soon to be released:

  • Subject-based Discussions (like the Teacher Lounge and Parent Message Board, but for subjects)
  • Portal Messaging (ability to send messages to other users via the portal)

With that said, Read More »

Cost for Online Payments

Azroy KandanLeave a comment

We recently introduced the ability for parents to pay online via the Parent Portal. However, in this first iteration, the transaction fee for credit card payments are born by the school. Now you can set it up, such that the transaction fee is applied to the parent at the moment of payment.

This means, that schools no longer need to adjust their tuition fees, to take into account the cost of the online transactions. Instead, the cost of the online transactions can be passed along to the parent as a convenience fee. Parents can still opt to pay by other means, to avoid the online payment convenience fees, but they’ll always have the option of paying online.

To turn on this option, just go to the “Features” page, and click on the “Configure” link next to the “Fees Tracking” module. A section of the pop-up will look like this:Read More »

New Online Manuals

Azroy Kandan7 Comments

If you haven’t noticed already, there’s a new “Help” link on the top right corner of your QuickSchools screen after logging in, just next to the “Log Off” link. Clicking on this link will take you to our new Online Manuals (currently in Beta). The online manual will appear on a new tab (so you won’t be logged out of QuickSchools):

Online Manual Help Link
Online Manual Help Link

One of the nice things about our new Online Manuals is that not only can you print specific sections, but you can also add/discuss comments. Our copy writers will then incorporate comments into future revisions of the Online Manuals:Read More »

New 2-Semester Transcript (with 4 Quarters)

Azroy KandanLeave a comment

Many schools have asked for a very specific type of transcript, where the quarter grades are averaged into a semester grade. GPA and credit are awarded by semester as well (not by quarter). And the transcript only shows grades for the 2 semesters each academic year (and not for each quarter).

Here’s an example of what the transcript might look like:

Sample Transcript
Sample Transcript

Notice that this template also supports the Weighted GPA discussed in a previous article.

To setup this transcript, you will need to perform/verify the following:Read More »

Setting up the New Academic Term

Azroy KandanLeave a comment

Happy New Year to all!

With the winter break coming to an end, you may want to create a new academic term in your QuickSchools account. Be sure to copy over the subjects from the previous term into the new academic term (for those that need to). You can read more about setting up the new academic term (along with new gradebooks) here:

http://blog.quickschools.com/2011/10/28/creating-new-academic-terms-and-new-gradebooks/

As always, if you need help, come chat with us. Happy holidays!