| State: Minnesota | Number of Students: 1,375 |
| School Type: Independent School | Free and Reduced Lunch: N/A |
| Grade Level: PK-12 | English Language Learners: N/A |
School Context
This is a pre K-12 independent day school in Minnesota that serves around 1370 students. They deliver a college-prep educational curriculum and their educational philosophy supports academic excellence, opportunities for student success outside the classroom, and promotes the arts, athletics, academics, and global competencies to create an inclusive community.
State of Technology
This school is having difficulty maximizing student success and work balance. They find that teachers are assigning major assessments and projects due on the same day, and would like it if there was a way to better visualize students' workflows and plan accordingly without having to meet as groups. Some students may have 5-7 assignments on the same day, and teachers are not aware of the problem this creates.
Currently, the school tracks and communicates using the tool within Canvas, their learning management system, but are not happy with its transparency. Teachers are unable to see students' assignments across their curriculum, nor are they able to see the difference between the severity of assignments. They would like something a little more intuitive. They have considered using Google Calendar, but feel this is a compromise to what they feel they should not resort to until they've investigated all avenues.
Tech Needs & Requirements
The school is looking for a workflow calendar planning tool that will streamline assignments for students and help teachers plan collaboratively. The tool's desired features should include the following items in an ideal tool.
There should be a way for teachers to see students' scheduled assignments so that they can plan their own assignments at an appropriate time. The assignments themselves should be coded in a customizable way so that there is clearly a delineation between a major assessment and small assignment so that students can practice setting priorities. Assignments: all due dates for assignments/assessments/projects that are entered into the tool should be visible to all teachers in a student's schedule to maximize planning efficiency. Likewise, the assignments should have a way to code or tag them so that there is a clear difference between a test and quiz, for example.
The best tool will be able to integrate with Canvas, their newly adopted learning management system. The tool is for teachers primarily and students secondary.
Students will primarily be using Canvas to manage their work.
Teachers would use this tool to plan the due dates for assignments. They would see pressure points in students schedules and be able to adjust as needed. The school does not use content level team planning; all teachers teach individually.
The tool must provide full visibility so teachers can plan and schedule assignments across content areas, be able to code assignments by severity (test, quiz, project, paper, research project, and integrate with Canvas and be LTI compliant (but would consider smart alternatives). The school provides 1:1 MacBook Air. They would like to be able to identify and track places of academic congestion in order to adjust and change work flow. The tool must Integrate with Canvas.