WWPS Technology

How to Use the PD Activity Request Workflow in Aspen The West Warwick Public Schools will use the PD Activity Request Workflow in Aspen to assist teachers and administrators to keep track of professional development activities for WWPS employees. Requesting to participate in PD activities is the first step in the RIDE recertification process. The information collected in Aspen will allow certified employees to create the necessary reports for their recertification process with RIDE. You can review this short video to see how to use the Aspen PD Activity Request workflow. Step-by-Step Detailed Directions The following annotated directions explain the detailed step-by-step process.

Using the MTSS Workflow in Aspen Initiate the MTSS Workflow The West Warwick Public Schools uses the MTSS Workflow in Aspen to help district staff keep track of the Multi-Tiered Support System for our struggling students. The process begins with an educator in the district initiating the workflow. You can review the process using the print directions or follow the video clip below. Locating an Initiated MTSS Workflow Aspen has added a great new feature to located an initiated workflow for a student. Simply locate the student, click on the Transactions side tab, and click on the Workflow submenu item. Locate the desired MTSS Workflow link. You can view the annotated image and/or the video clip below. Step-by-Step Detailed Directions The following annotated directions explain the detailed step-by-step process for each phase of the workflow. You can also review the print directions for the workflow phases. ...

Local Assessment Data in Aspen This blog post will explore the various facets of using Aspen to collect and analyze our local assessment data. This blog post will focus on the following concepts: How to access local help files for the assessment entry process. How to use the Local Assessment Names and Dates Google spreadsheet. How to enter local assessment data into Aspen. How to use the assessment history data in the Aspen school view. If you need any additional assistance you can try to jump into a Google Meeting to get just-in-time assistance. How to Enter Local Assessment Data in Aspen The process for entering local assessment data is an easy process as long as you have everything you need to enter the data. You'll need the local assessment name, the locally assigned date for the assessment, and your scores. We use the locally assigned date for filtering purposes during data entry. The locally assigned date will not correspond with the date when yo...

Using the Conduct & Bullying Referral Workflows in Aspen This blog post will focus on the following uses to guide conduct and student safety in Aspen. We'll explore the following: How to submit a conduct referral. How a conduct action is posted. How to fill-out a restraint form. How a bullying workflow is started. How a bullying workflow is processed. As always, if you need any assistance feel free to request a Google Hangout Meeting for just-in-time assistance. How to Submit a Conduct Referral in Aspen The short video clip below explains the process for filling out a conduct referral in the West Warwick Public Schools. The first form available to staff is the WWPS Conduct Referral form. This form should be completed by staff members and should only contain factual, evidenced-based statements.  If the student involved in the conduct referral was involved in a restraint the supervisory assistant, building level administrator or dean must post the conduc...

Using Aspen for Running Record Data The West Warwick Public Schools uses Aspen to store local assessment data. This data is important in helping educators plan for the next steps in a student's educational journey. In this blog post, we'll explore how to enter running record data from a teacher's perspective, a reading specialist's perspective, how to query, and analyze the data collected.  How to Enter Running Record Data From a Teacher's Perspective The short video below explains the process for entering Running Record data from a classroom teacher's perspective. Teachers can use the Assessment Entry option in Aspen from their Staff View in Aspen. This is the most efficient way for teachers to enter this data into Aspen. You can also review the print directions by clicking on the image below. How to Enter Running Record Data From a Reading Specilist's Perspective The short video below explains the process for entering Running Recor...

How to Access WWPS Technology Assistance There are several ways to access WWPS technology assistance. The district houses many help files in Google Drive, Follett Collections as well as many YouTube videos. You can access help files from this blog as well. The short video below explains the process for locating help files. Access the WWPS Technology Help Files Collection The WWPS also uses the Collections tool in Destiny from Follett. You can access the WWPS Technology Help Files Collection by clicking on the picture. Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel You can also subscribe to our Youtube Channel to access and view any of the YouTube videos that we create.  Submit a HelpDesk Ticket Via Aspen If you are a member of the WWPS you can also submit a HelpDesk ticket via Aspen. The video below illustrates the process for submitting a helpdesk ticket.

Using the 504 Plan in Aspen The West Warwick Public Schools uses Aspen for student 504 Ed Plans. The 504 Plan works a little differently than other tools such as the IEP Workflows or the MTSS Workflow. You can review the print directions that we've created for WWPS employees as well as review the additional videos illustrating the process. Getting to the 504 Plan via the Documents Side Tab The first step in getting to the 504 Ed Plan in Aspen is to work in the student details page. Once you've accessed a student's details page you can click on the Documents side tab. The Ed. Plans submenu is embedded within the Documents side tab menu. Review the two-minute video to see how to access and add a new 504 Ed Plan for a student. Create the Meeting Notices & Meeting Notes You can create multiple meeting notices and notes connected to the student's 504 Ed Plan in Aspen. Every time you meet regarding the 504 Plan there should be at the very least a meeting n...

Using the Journal Tool in Aspen The Journal Tool in Aspen is a great way to record interactions with guardians regarding their students. This tool allows us the opportunity to record specific details around the communication we've had with a guardian. We can also decide whether or not we want the interaction to remain as a private note or shared with other educators in our district. Review the video clip below on how to create a Journal record. You can also review the print-out directions.

How to Use Aspen for Staff Attendance & Substitute Replacement The West Warwick Public Schools partnered with Follett many years ago to use the power of Aspen for staff attendance and substitute replacement. We have three different workflows that staff members use for attendance and replacement purposes. Each one of the workflows will be explained below. How to Fill-out the Staff Absence Request Workflow in Aspen If a WWPS employee is going to be out for any reason that doesn't require approval they fill-out the Staff Absence Request Workflow. Sick, personal, bereavement, family illness, district sanctioned professional development, IEP meetings, and religious days are all examples of absences that do not need administrative approval. Staff members simply need to fill-out the Staff Absence Request Workflow. View the directions below for the one-step process. Once a staff member completes the Staff Absence Request Workflow an attendance record is created that al...

Service Delivery Logs in Aspen The West Warwick Public Schools uses Aspen to create our Service Delivery Logs for Medicaid reimbursement.  The WWPS worked with Follett to automate the creation of our service delivery logs in Aspen. I can't go any further without a huge shoutout to Jean Conkey from Follett. She was essential in the process to developing the service delivery log tool. The most elegant aspect of the service delivery log automation is that it is now part of the IEP form. The automation of our service delivery logs has increased the number of service delivery logs processed and improved the efficiency of the process for our service providers. A process that used to take hours has been reduced to a fraction of the time. Not only have we improved the efficiency of the process we have also increased our Medicaid reimbursement revenues by 50%. Review the video clips below to learn how to create and edit service delivery logs. How to Automate the Service Del...

How to Edit a Resource Image in Collections I just stumbled across the image option in Collections this morning. I have to say, "I love it!" I know the teachers in my district have been patiently awaiting the option to add your own image to a resource in a Collection. The functionality that was quietly added is powerful and easy to use. You can view the short video below to see how to edit a resource image within a Collection. Way to go Follett!  Follow these simple steps: Click on the menu option within a resource, and select the edit option. To add your image simply do the following. Take a screenshot of the resource you'd like to use. Click the continue button, select the upload option to locate your image, and finally click the save button. I think you'll find this latest addition to the Collections tool will be a welcomed addition! Happy Collecting!

How I Use Collections as A Central Office Administrator As the Director of Educational Reform, Compliance and IT in my district I get to interact with parents, administrators, educators, support personnel and students in many different fora. On a weekly basis, I am often interacting with educators as we build curricula together. Almost as often I find myself, working with both educators, parents and legal representation on policy matters. As we became more and more comfortable using Collections for curricula purposes I've noticed a million and one ways I could use Collections as an administrator. It's almost become a joke in my district because I don't think a day goes by without me uttering, "Ya know, you can use Collections for that." Since August I've... As the summer months began to wind down the opportunities for collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders increased dramatically. I found myself using Collections to do the following: Respon...

Using Collections for Curriculum Curation Follett's Early Adopter Program We have been using Collections since the spring of 2017 when our district served as an Early Adopter participant in Follett's newest addition to Destiny Discover. Educators started using Collections immediately during our curriculum development process. It was the easiest access point for administrators, teachers and support personnel.  Educators in our district easily saw how Collections fit into our well established Lab Classroom model. Teachers and administrators loved how they could add the "Add to Collections" bookmarklet to their Chrome browser to add resources simply and efficiently to a shared Collection. Collections & Our Curriculum Development Process Our district has a strong process for developing collaborative lessons using synchronous (face-to-face) and asynchronous tools. A Learning Coach will work with a classroom educator during an entire unit of study to develop the...

It's so Much More than Just a Curation Tool Jason See, Follett's Director of Classroom Solutions, gave educators at ISTE 2017 a sneak peek of Collections, a new addition to the Destiny Discover suite of tools. There was a buzz in the air, and I'm sure many educators looked at it as an answer to their curation woes. Collections delivers exactly as advertised. Nader Qaimari, President of Follett School Solutions, June 29, 2017, in a press release said, "Collections is the first step toward making Destiny a content discovery and resource collection tool designed for use in the classroom, the library and at home." In previous blog posts, I've shared how Collections allows educators a singular place to curate Open Educational Resources (OER), web pages, videos, images, educator created resources and documents. In just a few short months of widespread use in our district, we've found it to be so much more! We've used Collections in the following ways:...

Using Collections Like a Pro...Google Drive Permissions Once you've started to use Collections there are some easy tips that will allow you to use Collections like a pro! This blog post will review how to do the following: Set the Appropriate Google Drive Permissions Google Drive Permissions Collections are so visually appealing. You'll want to ensure that your resources take advantage of the screen scraping technologies built into resource curation in Collections. Whenever you add a resource to a Collection using the Add to Collections BookMarklet a screenshot of the resource is included as a visual representation of the resource. Whenever you're using an online drive such as Google Drive or One Drive you'll want to make sure you set your permissions to public. This will allow the resource to be displayed with a screenshot from the resource versus a generic login screenshot. Additionally, the description of the resource will contain information particular t...

You've Built your Collection, Now Let's Edit... Once you've learned how to build a Collection you'll want to edit the details of the Collections as well as, all of the resources curated in the Collection. This blog post will review how to do the following: How to Edit a Collection How to Edit Curated Resources How to Delete Curate Resources Each of these important tasks is very simple to accomplish and quite intuitive to use once you've started to use Collections. I'll be "Captain Obvious" in this blog post just to lay out the directions in a step-by-step process.  How to Edit a Collection Once you've created your Collection you may want to edit the basic settings in the Collection. If you create a Collection form the +Add a Collection icon you'll most likely fill-out each of the steps in the 3-step process (Title/Description, Grade/Subject, Image/Color). However, if you add a new Collection from the BookMarklet app you will hav...

How to Create a New Collections & Basic Settings... Once you've learned how to access Destiny Discover's Collections tool you'll want to start on your own Collections. This blog post will review how to do the following: Create a new Collection & Configure the Collection Details Add Resources to your Collection using the BookMarklet or the Upload a Resource Method Access Lesson 3 - Create a New Collection (prototype companion tool to Collections) Collections is an incredible way to collaborate with your peers on curriculum development. Our district uses GSuite to build collaborative documents for our units of study. Collections fit seamlessly into the process and provide greater flexibility during the creation process. Educators can add and curate resources during the brainstorming process without having to decide where or whether or not the item fits into the unit plan. Before we can get to the rich collaboration tools we need to first learn how to add, e...

How to Access Collections... In a previous blog I spoke about Destiny Discover's newest addition Collections. In this post I'll discuss the various ways to access Collections. As with most applications now a days, there are a variety of ways to access Collections. You can access Collections in the following ways: Via the Destiny Discover Chrome Extension or the Destiny Discover Homepage Via the Bookmarklet App Via the Collections URL Via Rhode Island's RICAT site (Only applicable to RI school districts) Destiny Discover Chrome Extension In our district we have added the Destiny Discover Chrome extension to all of our district's Chromebooks via the Google Management Console. This allows our users to access their school's Destiny Discover catalog once they do a simple Google Search.  Searching for Ecosystems using the Chrome Extension In the image above you can see that you can access resources directly from our school's catalog. End user...

What is Follett's Destiny Discover Collection Tool? Follett School Solutions describes their newest addition to the Destiny Discover suite of tools, Collections, as “A group of carefully selected resources. Think of a Collection like a digital scrapbook with audio, video, slideshows, along with documents and photos .” Simply stated, Collections, allows educators to curate all of their resources for a lesson or a unit of study in one simple place. Click this Link to Learn More About Follett's Collections The Anatomy of a Collection We have already started to use Collections to curate all of the t eacher-created documents, web pages, video clips, Open Educational Resources (OER), and paid content necessary to instruct our students day to day. The "Anatomy of a Collection" image below illustrates how resources within a Collection are displayed. The details of a Collection are located along the top-left panel of the Collection. Owners and editors of...