We hear it again and again. Our Lunch and Learn discussions are the perfect opportunity to explore resources recommended by the Learning Counsel. In the case of ClassLink, Director of Technology Lyle Dadian explains how ClassLink helps solve three of a school district’s primary challenges: Rostering, Access and the ability to measure and understand student engagement – particularly during remote and hybrid learning. “I think the pandemic really brought to light these three different areas,” said Dadian. “What type of digital plan do you have in place? Is it solid? Is it robust? How can it grow? We'll talk about measuring student engagement with those resources. That's really become important. Everybody always talks about education. And it's funny that for such a numbers-based business, if you will, we really don't know what the impact is or the digital usage is. What's our impact? Is this tool being used? How effective is it? Are we getting the most bang for our buck? We certainly know our reading scores. We know the math scores. We knew the SAT in college-bound, and all these other numbers. We don't really know numbers related to the tools that we're using and how effective they are. If we know these, you're going to be able to analyze that and then redirect your plan, or maybe it really solidifies the fact that, ‘Hey, what we're doing is working,’ or maybe it needs to be tweaked a bit.

“And then thirdly,” said Dadian, “We'll talk about rostering student data. And if you're a technology person, this is really the creation and automation of those accounts. When new students come in, when new teachers come into the district, how are those accounts created? Are they being created by hand? Do you have a home-written script that you're relying on? And if that person leaves the district, you're kind of out of luck because they always handle that. Now you're going to have to figure out a new way to create those accounts.”

The wonderful thing about ClassLink is its ease of use. With the blink of an eye, access is taken care of – for students and their parents. There’s simply no easier and more efficient way to gain access to all the programs, apps and digital pieces that learners need throughout the school day (or night).  The challenges that were brought front and center during remote learning – access, rostering and monitoring engagement – have been solved not only for remote learning, but for whatever learning model your district chooses for the future.