MS Kid struggling with so many MCPS platforms

[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.

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.

MCPS doesn’t have +/- grades.

Your child and you can turn on Canvas notifications so that you get an email every time there is a comment.

[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.

Op here. Not true. One of my kid’s teachers is using Google Classroom. I get notifications from the teacher and it’s clearly there.

Thanks to all for the great suggestions so far.

Then report the teacher.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry; this sounds like quite a mess. My tips would be:

1. Get the kid a simple paper daily planner with lots of room to write down assignments.

2. Make a list of all of his classes and the platform each teacher uses. Then every day, after he gets home from school, sit down with him and go through the platforms and write down any assignments, quiz dates, test dates, I.e. This is also a good time to check and see if he is understanding all of the instructions/rubrics for assignments. This shouldn’t take too long after it becomes part of his routine.

3. Get him a bright colored plastic folder with pockets on both sides that he. An put his paper assignments in. I assume most of his work is turned in online, but for worksheets and work that he completes on paper, it is great to have a bright sturdy plastic folder that he takes with him to every class to keep all of his homework in.

Good luck to him!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

OP here. I certainly can tell the difference between Google Classroom and Google Suite--so insulting the capacities of parents doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist. One teacher is using Google Classroom and has been doing so since the beginning of the school year, and mentioned at Open House that they prefer Google Classroom and would be using it. I get a daily summary from Google Classroom from that teacher. My kid told me that a second teacher also uses Google Classroom (as opposed to a google form) occasionally for certain topics, and I confirmed that too.

I have no issues with Google Classroom (personally, I find it easier to navigate than Synergy/Parentvue), just with the number of platforms being used more generally, and the inability of the MCPS dashboard my kid consults to synthesize the information from all of these different platforms.

[Anonymous]

Sorry OP, it really is a mess. My ADHD kid still has struggles with this. I don't think. you will have luck getting counselor to do anything with out a 504 but you could certainly give it a try.

[Anonymous]

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.

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.

It's "prohibited"? But it's still right there in the middle of everything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand MCPS is huge, but is it really that difficult to standardize on one platform, given proper planning and a generous schedule?

It's not. But no one person knows ALL the systems they have. And they get lobbied by so many vendors. A SW audit is needed and eliminate all extra crap. I'd rather they hire their own IT pros for $200k a year and develop something useful than buy too many things that don't fit.

You aren't going to get a replacement for all these features for $200k/yr.

What's needed is for the customers to coordinate and demand fixes from benfors, and for teachers to get some sense knocked into them and put together one packet for the whole semester with all the assigned work.

[Anonymous]

Sorry but shouldn't the superintendent of schools have an understanding of what the user experiences is for students and teachers? If not there should be a director of technology within the school system..
Our company has user experience studies on our internal programs not just for productivity but to make sure the system is accessible to everyone including people with handicaps

I find it hard to believe a large school system like mcps doesn't have someone to oversee this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand MCPS is huge, but is it really that difficult to standardize on one platform, given proper planning and a generous schedule?

It's not. But no one person knows ALL the systems they have. And they get lobbied by so many vendors. A SW audit is needed and eliminate all extra crap. I'd rather they hire their own IT pros for $200k a year and develop something useful than buy too many things that don't fit.

You aren't going to get a replacement for all these features for $200k/yr.

What's needed is for the customers to coordinate and demand fixes from benfors, and for teachers to get some sense knocked into them and put together one packet for the whole semester with all the assigned work.

They spent a million dollars on an app to tell you if the bus is on the road or not, a failure that *might* happen once in a students life. They can fork some money over to make the software every single student uses every single day is contributing to kids struggling or supporting/enhancing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand MCPS is huge, but is it really that difficult to standardize on one platform, given proper planning and a generous schedule?

It's not. But no one person knows ALL the systems they have. And they get lobbied by so many vendors. A SW audit is needed and eliminate all extra crap. I'd rather they hire their own IT pros for $200k a year and develop something useful than buy too many things that don't fit.

You aren't going to get a replacement for all these features for $200k/yr.

What's needed is for the customers to coordinate and demand fixes from benfors, and for teachers to get some sense knocked into them and put together one packet for the whole semester with all the assigned work.

They spent a million dollars on an app to tell you if the bus is on the road or not, a failure that *might* happen once in a students life. They can fork some money over to make the software every single student uses every single day is contributing to kids struggling or supporting/enhancing them.

From a technical point, these things are set up terribly. Even a non technical person could have figured that they are.

[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.

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.

It's "prohibited"? But it's still right there in the middle of everything else.

By default since we have Google education accounts but the other posters are correct, it has been years since mcps told teachers we were only to use MyMCPS Classroom, this matters because teachers who are not are making it harder for kids and parents and are not following the rules.

[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.

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.

It's "prohibited"? But it's still right there in the middle of everything else.

By default since we have Google education accounts but the other posters are correct, it has been years since mcps told teachers we were only to use MyMCPS Classroom, this matters because teachers who are not are making it harder for kids and parents and are not following the rules.

Who would make sure teachers are following the rules? Admins?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but shouldn't the superintendent of schools have an understanding of what the user experiences is for students and teachers? If not there should be a director of technology within the school system..
Our company has user experience studies on our internal programs not just for productivity but to make sure the system is accessible to everyone including people with handicaps

I find it hard to believe a large school system like mcps doesn't have someone to oversee this

They have had a vacancy at this position for a few years, but they just hired a chief technology officer who officially starts July 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but shouldn't the superintendent of schools have an understanding of what the user experiences is for students and teachers? If not there should be a director of technology within the school system..
Our company has user experience studies on our internal programs not just for productivity but to make sure the system is accessible to everyone including people with handicaps

I find it hard to believe a large school system like mcps doesn't have someone to oversee this

They have had a vacancy at this position for a few years, but they just hired a chief technology officer who officially starts July 1.

I almost fell out of my chair reading that they allowed this position to be unfilled for years!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but shouldn't the superintendent of schools have an understanding of what the user experiences is for students and teachers? If not there should be a director of technology within the school system..
Our company has user experience studies on our internal programs not just for productivity but to make sure the system is accessible to everyone including people with handicaps

I find it hard to believe a large school system like mcps doesn't have someone to oversee this

They have had a vacancy at this position for a few years, but they just hired a chief technology officer who officially starts July 1.

The MCPS school district with a billion dollar budget has had the chief tech officer position vacant for years? No wonder the MCPS platforms are so bad and it takes 3 weeks to get a response when you email the help desk.