MS Kid struggling with so many MCPS platforms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is new this year to MCPS middle school and he’s struggling lately with missed assignments. He says he’s having a hard time compared to his prior school because there are several platforms (Canvas, StudentVue, plus one teacher uses a Google doc with links to presentations/assignments, another teacher uses Google Classroom) and when he goes to the MCPS dashboard it says he has no missing assignments but it’s not always drawing information from the different platforms and sometimes it’s not updated.

Any tips that could help my kid? Would it be too much to ask the guidance counselor for advice to help my kid? I don’t want to be a pain, but my kid is really feeling discouraged.

MCPS teachers are not allowed to use Google Classroom in MCPS anymore.

StudentVue and Google Docs are both accessible from Canvas. He will pick it up quickly, I promise, even the elementary Students use Google docs.

He won't. Just when he picks up how one teacher is adding assignments, the semester will change and he will have to learn another method. And each teacher will have their own special place to put assignments. Some will have a link called Assignments. Others will call it something else. Some will even make you go to their unique home page and then get to a calendar , requiring 3 clicks. Sometimes the calendar will have links to the assignments. Sometimes they won't.

It's a nightmare.

Seems like good practice for college. And life in general.

Ha! Professors would be booted for this bs. And the last time I worked at a company that didn't have a usability review on their systems was about 20 years ago. I never understand the BS apologists. Sorry your expectations are in the dirt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is new this year to MCPS middle school and he’s struggling lately with missed assignments. He says he’s having a hard time compared to his prior school because there are several platforms (Canvas, StudentVue, plus one teacher uses a Google doc with links to presentations/assignments, another teacher uses Google Classroom) and when he goes to the MCPS dashboard it says he has no missing assignments but it’s not always drawing information from the different platforms and sometimes it’s not updated.

Any tips that could help my kid? Would it be too much to ask the guidance counselor for advice to help my kid? I don’t want to be a pain, but my kid is really feeling discouraged.

I have a background in Human Factors. The number of different systems and platforms required to be a student in MCPS is vulgar. Technology has become a hurdle to learning instead of a support- especially for kids with ADHD.

You should ask that he have a central assignment list updated daily by his teachers.

I agree with the Human Factors expert. I have some background in web design market research.

My kid had three problems with Canvas.

1) Teacher comments showed up randomly through the semester when the teachers had time for grading papers. A comment was indicated on the assignment list by presence of a " (quote character) in about 7 point font in the Canvas interface. He missed the teacher's feedback several times because of this and lost points. These " symbols were so small they were barely noticeable.

2) Uploading the wrong document. Kids (my son included) had trouble with the default upload folders from their school Chromebooks. And also made mistakes with file versions. Mainly reuploading original files with blanks rather than completed work. With teachers commonly grading at the end of the grading period a couple times file loading mistakes cost my kid a grade (A- went to B+). This also tied into the 7 point font " symbol issue above.

3) If there are assignment and grading issues with the portal, it's hard to capture and display and describe to the teacher. Miscommunication about the nature and meaning of graded and ungraded items in the portal were common.

TL; DR Canvas creates logistical messes due to poor user interface design.

Are you in MCPS? There are no +/- grades here.

Nope. I am not. But I'm furious about how crappy Canvas is. I just wanted to agree that there are design issues.

It doesn't matter what the grading system is...there's always a border line between lower and higher grades. When a kid can't efficiently monitor their own grades, points get lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is new this year to MCPS middle school and he’s struggling lately with missed assignments. He says he’s having a hard time compared to his prior school because there are several platforms (Canvas, StudentVue, plus one teacher uses a Google doc with links to presentations/assignments, another teacher uses Google Classroom) and when he goes to the MCPS dashboard it says he has no missing assignments but it’s not always drawing information from the different platforms and sometimes it’s not updated.

Any tips that could help my kid? Would it be too much to ask the guidance counselor for advice to help my kid? I don’t want to be a pain, but my kid is really feeling discouraged.

MCPS teachers are not allowed to use Google Classroom in MCPS anymore.

StudentVue and Google Docs are both accessible from Canvas. He will pick it up quickly, I promise, even the elementary Students use Google docs.

He won't. Just when he picks up how one teacher is adding assignments, the semester will change and he will have to learn another method. And each teacher will have their own special place to put assignments. Some will have a link called Assignments. Others will call it something else. Some will even make you go to their unique home page and then get to a calendar , requiring 3 clicks. Sometimes the calendar will have links to the assignments. Sometimes they won't.

It's a nightmare.

PP. Agreed. I find these differences difficult to figure out as a gainfully-employed adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is new this year to MCPS middle school and he’s struggling lately with missed assignments. He says he’s having a hard time compared to his prior school because there are several platforms (Canvas, StudentVue, plus one teacher uses a Google doc with links to presentations/assignments, another teacher uses Google Classroom) and when he goes to the MCPS dashboard it says he has no missing assignments but it’s not always drawing information from the different platforms and sometimes it’s not updated.

Any tips that could help my kid? Would it be too much to ask the guidance counselor for advice to help my kid? I don’t want to be a pain, but my kid is really feeling discouraged.

MCPS teachers are not allowed to use Google Classroom in MCPS anymore.

StudentVue and Google Docs are both accessible from Canvas. He will pick it up quickly, I promise, even the elementary Students use Google docs.

He won't. Just when he picks up how one teacher is adding assignments, the semester will change and he will have to learn another method. And each teacher will have their own special place to put assignments. Some will have a link called Assignments. Others will call it something else. Some will even make you go to their unique home page and then get to a calendar , requiring 3 clicks. Sometimes the calendar will have links to the assignments. Sometimes they won't.

It's a nightmare.

Seems like good practice for college. And life in general.

Ha! Professors would be booted for this bs. And the last time I worked at a company that didn't have a usability review on their systems was about 20 years ago. I never understand the BS apologists. Sorry your expectations are in the dirt.

Not even close. I've worked in higher ed for decades, and faculty sites and syllabi are all over the place. No consistency at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is new this year to MCPS middle school and he’s struggling lately with missed assignments. He says he’s having a hard time compared to his prior school because there are several platforms (Canvas, StudentVue, plus one teacher uses a Google doc with links to presentations/assignments, another teacher uses Google Classroom) and when he goes to the MCPS dashboard it says he has no missing assignments but it’s not always drawing information from the different platforms and sometimes it’s not updated.

Any tips that could help my kid? Would it be too much to ask the guidance counselor for advice to help my kid? I don’t want to be a pain, but my kid is really feeling discouraged.

MCPS teachers are not allowed to use Google Classroom in MCPS anymore.

StudentVue and Google Docs are both accessible from Canvas. He will pick it up quickly, I promise, even the elementary Students use Google docs.

He won't. Just when he picks up how one teacher is adding assignments, the semester will change and he will have to learn another method. And each teacher will have their own special place to put assignments. Some will have a link called Assignments. Others will call it something else. Some will even make you go to their unique home page and then get to a calendar , requiring 3 clicks. Sometimes the calendar will have links to the assignments. Sometimes they won't.

It's a nightmare.

PP. Agreed. I find these differences difficult to figure out as a gainfully-employed adult.

Same..the pp who said the student should rely on parental intervention is being very generous to the parents here. Not only can I not figure it out, I have to stop and wonder how equitable that would be to students who's parents either don't read English or aren't computer savvy or aren't tuned in to their children's Education.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I did spend about four hours this weekend with my kid having him show me all the platforms, and it is (to my kid's defense) messy with 3 platforms plus. It also involves one teacher who is occasionally posting across two platforms for specific topics that he says "look better" in a certain platform, and another teacher who seems to be giving him zeros on all his assignments which are supposedly missing and then regrading them with a normal grade 2 days later. This has been going on for months, and it's impossible that my kid has missed all the assignments so regularly--he swears the teacher says she doesn't know how to use the systems.

I bought him an old-school paper planner, and will try to give him incentives to keep recording things to do there. Maybe that will help.

Next weekend we will tackle how to "view comments," which we could not figure out this weekend, if anyone has tips on this. I keep getting Canvas notifications that comments were made, but get access errors when I try to view them.

FWIW, his old school (not in Maryland) just had PowerSchool integrated with Google Classroom for all his assignments and it was so much clearer. I never had to be involved at all, and there were no missed assignments.

[Anonymous]

ADHD has little to do with it- someone with difficulty sustaining focus may actually be better at navigating multiple platforms because they’re naturally better at having multiple focuses, and likewise, someone without a disability may naturally just not be very good at navigating a platform that isn’t very intuitive.

MCPS is not good at choosing systems that actually work for kids, and easily hoodwinked by a good sales pitch. Monorail… monorail…

[Anonymous]

Any formal executive functioning teaching as part of middle school? This all sounds like a recipe for disaster for any kid with exec functioning issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I did spend about four hours this weekend with my kid having him show me all the platforms, and it is (to my kid's defense) messy with 3 platforms plus. It also involves one teacher who is occasionally posting across two platforms for specific topics that he says "look better" in a certain platform, and another teacher who seems to be giving him zeros on all his assignments which are supposedly missing and then regrading them with a normal grade 2 days later. This has been going on for months, and it's impossible that my kid has missed all the assignments so regularly--he swears the teacher says she doesn't know how to use the systems.

I bought him an old-school paper planner, and will try to give him incentives to keep recording things to do there. Maybe that will help.

Next weekend we will tackle how to "view comments," which we could not figure out this weekend, if anyone has tips on this. I keep getting Canvas notifications that comments were made, but get access errors when I try to view them.

FWIW, his old school (not in Maryland) just had PowerSchool integrated with Google Classroom for all his assignments and it was so much clearer. I never had to be involved at all, and there were no missed assignments.

I think if you are able to log onto synergy on a computer (not the app on your phone), you can route through to Canvas. In Canvas you can adjust your settings so that when you get the emails, they include the grade and comments. You should use the chrome browser to do this, not safari because reasons. I don’t know why the view comments links don’t work but they always have me errors too.

We also have a teacher whose future assignments sync to synergy with 50 percent credit but nothing is missing because the assignment is in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is new this year to MCPS middle school and he’s struggling lately with missed assignments. He says he’s having a hard time compared to his prior school because there are several platforms (Canvas, StudentVue, plus one teacher uses a Google doc with links to presentations/assignments, another teacher uses Google Classroom) and when he goes to the MCPS dashboard it says he has no missing assignments but it’s not always drawing information from the different platforms and sometimes it’s not updated.

Any tips that could help my kid? Would it be too much to ask the guidance counselor for advice to help my kid? I don’t want to be a pain, but my kid is really feeling discouraged.

MCPS teachers are not allowed to use Google Classroom in MCPS anymore.

StudentVue and Google Docs are both accessible from Canvas. He will pick it up quickly, I promise, even the elementary Students use Google docs.

He won't. Just when he picks up how one teacher is adding assignments, the semester will change and he will have to learn another method. And each teacher will have their own special place to put assignments. Some will have a link called Assignments. Others will call it something else. Some will even make you go to their unique home page and then get to a calendar , requiring 3 clicks. Sometimes the calendar will have links to the assignments. Sometimes they won't.

It's a nightmare.

He won't. Just when he picks up how one teacher is adding assignments, the semester will change and he will have to learn another method. And each teacher will have their own special place to put assignments. Some will have a link called Assignments. Others will call it something else. Some will even make you go to their unique home page and then get to a calendar , requiring 3 clicks. Sometimes the calendar will have links to the assignments. Sometimes they won't.

It's a nightmare.

It is frustrating, and not perfect of course. At the same time, there are a finite number of classes. Just have your kid get clear about how each teacher does it during the first week of class. Have your kid read the syllabus and/ or ask the teacher - in class or via a follow up email. Done!

Is it ideal? No. But “nightmare”? That is a bit dramatic. With everything going on in the world- there are real nightmares going on - but perhaps it is all a matter of perspective.

Many school systems have kids write down the assignments and due dates rather than make them available online.

Three clicks is not the end of the world in most cases for most kids.
If three clicks is insurmountable perhaps there are some executive functioning challenges going on- that perhaps could merit some testing for a 504/IEP ? Disability accommodations can help in those cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is new this year to MCPS middle school and he’s struggling lately with missed assignments. He says he’s having a hard time compared to his prior school because there are several platforms (Canvas, StudentVue, plus one teacher uses a Google doc with links to presentations/assignments, another teacher uses Google Classroom) and when he goes to the MCPS dashboard it says he has no missing assignments but it’s not always drawing information from the different platforms and sometimes it’s not updated.

Any tips that could help my kid? Would it be too much to ask the guidance counselor for advice to help my kid? I don’t want to be a pain, but my kid is really feeling discouraged.

Google Classroom has been prohibited for years.

The county provides curriculum to teachers linked in a Google Doc so you aren’t going to win that battle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any formal executive functioning teaching as part of middle school? This all sounds like a recipe for disaster for any kid with exec functioning issues.

Ask the BOE for curriculum and staffing to make that happen. Be prepared for your sixth graders to give up an elective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is new this year to MCPS middle school and he’s struggling lately with missed assignments. He says he’s having a hard time compared to his prior school because there are several platforms (Canvas, StudentVue, plus one teacher uses a Google doc with links to presentations/assignments, another teacher uses Google Classroom) and when he goes to the MCPS dashboard it says he has no missing assignments but it’s not always drawing information from the different platforms and sometimes it’s not updated.

Any tips that could help my kid? Would it be too much to ask the guidance counselor for advice to help my kid? I don’t want to be a pain, but my kid is really feeling discouraged.

MCPS teachers are not allowed to use Google Classroom in MCPS anymore.

StudentVue and Google Docs are both accessible from Canvas. He will pick it up quickly, I promise, even the elementary Students use Google docs.

He won't. Just when he picks up how one teacher is adding assignments, the semester will change and he will have to learn another method. And each teacher will have their own special place to put assignments. Some will have a link called Assignments. Others will call it something else. Some will even make you go to their unique home page and then get to a calendar , requiring 3 clicks. Sometimes the calendar will have links to the assignments. Sometimes they won't.

It's a nightmare.

Seems like good practice for college. And life in general.

Ha! Professors would be booted for this bs. And the last time I worked at a company that didn't have a usability review on their systems was about 20 years ago. I never understand the BS apologists. Sorry your expectations are in the dirt.

You must have been out of college a long time. I have two kids in college right now. One is at MD taking a full load each semester and her professors use many different platforms —sometimes in the same course. For her statistics course, she had to learn a form of coding that she will never use again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember when MCPS emailed everyone and instructed them to stop using Google Classroom. It has been years, now. The teacher should not be using that platform, clearly.

You're being pedantic. It doesn't matter if it's google classroom or not. The number of different systems that kids have to navigate is outrageous- so much so that technology is a barrier to education as it stands now.
It's bad enough for all students but an absolute detriment to students with organization problems

It does matter.
1) OP cited it as part of their complaint. People will spread that rumor without fact checking and it will crop up again and again in criticisms of the system. There are enough problems without including false ones.
2) An adult who can’t tell the difference between Google Classroom and Google Suite is probably mistaken about other aspects of their child’s experience in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is new this year to MCPS middle school and he’s struggling lately with missed assignments. He says he’s having a hard time compared to his prior school because there are several platforms (Canvas, StudentVue, plus one teacher uses a Google doc with links to presentations/assignments, another teacher uses Google Classroom) and when he goes to the MCPS dashboard it says he has no missing assignments but it’s not always drawing information from the different platforms and sometimes it’s not updated.

Any tips that could help my kid? Would it be too much to ask the guidance counselor for advice to help my kid? I don’t want to be a pain, but my kid is really feeling discouraged.

MCPS teachers are not allowed to use Google Classroom in MCPS anymore.

StudentVue and Google Docs are both accessible from Canvas. He will pick it up quickly, I promise, even the elementary Students use Google docs.

He won't. Just when he picks up how one teacher is adding assignments, the semester will change and he will have to learn another method. And each teacher will have their own special place to put assignments. Some will have a link called Assignments. Others will call it something else. Some will even make you go to their unique home page and then get to a calendar , requiring 3 clicks. Sometimes the calendar will have links to the assignments. Sometimes they won't.

It's a nightmare.

PP. Agreed. I find these differences difficult to figure out as a gainfully-employed adult.

Same..the pp who said the student should rely on parental intervention is being very generous to the parents here. Not only can I not figure it out, I have to stop and wonder how equitable that would be to students who's parents either don't read English or aren't computer savvy or aren't tuned in to their children's Education.

Bravo to all this.