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 We Use Aspen to Help Us Reissue Our Student Chromebooks Each September & Collect Them In June Each September the technology department in our district is responsible to reissue approximately 3,800 Chromebooks to our students across 6 schools. Our district uses Aspen to assist us with our management of over 4,200 Chromebooks for students, and every staff member. This blog post will explain how we use Aspen's Assessment tool to manage communication between classroom teachers, and the help desk.  As you can well imagine it is a tremendous task to move each student's Chromebook from their previous year's classroom to their new classroom in time for the new school year. What makes it even more difficult is that in the last weeks of August it's not uncommon for student to be shuffled from classroom to classroom, and sometimes moved to another school within the district. Why Use the Assessment Definition All of this movement demands that we have an easy way for...

Taking a Deeper Look at Pando  A Help Desk Technician's Perspective Pando provides a lot of power to our help desk technicians in performing their duties. Our district has two, full-time employees servicing almost 4,200 devices. Every student, and WWPS employee has a Chromebook device. These devices are taken home by our students, and all of our employees; one can imagine the amount of wear and tear inflicted on the devices. Our district is considered a self-maintainer shop, and we do all of the hardware repairs. The process for submitting a help desk ticket is a little different for our students and our employees. Our employees submit a help desk ticket via Aspen, and our students drop off their Chromebook in their school's main office. The secretary submits the help desk ticket in Aspen on behalf of the student. The illustration below is the simple help desk form that we use to begin the process. Submission Form in Aspen Once the ticket is submitted in Aspen it...

Using Pando & Aspen to Manage Our 1:1 Chromebook Program Aspen is our district's Student Information System, and we use it for almost every aspect of our business as a school district. We use Aspen and Pando together to run our helpdesk. Pando is one of the built in tools in Aspen that helps us manage our 1:1 Chromebook environment.  Everyone in our district uses Aspen, and can submit a helpdesk ticket within the application. How to Submit a Helpdesk Ticket: The video clip below illustrates the simple process of submitting a Helpdesk ticket. Using Pando: A Quick Overview Using Pando for our district means that a relatively small work group can organize, evaluate, and attack our Helpdesk needs for approximately 4,500 end users.  All of our tickets are concentrated in one area, and our end users receive automated updates as their ticket is processed. Our district has been using Aspen/Pando as our helpdesk solution since August of 2010. This short video expla...

Using Aspen to Run a 1:1 Chromebook Initiative: How We Saved Ourselves and Possibly the World! Post One: What's the Big Deal? The West Warwick Public Schools started our 1:1 Chromebook initiative in the spring of 2012-2013 school year. We outfitted a single kindergarten classroom with 25 Chromebooks that they brought back and forth to school each day. In the next school year we outfitted an entire K-4 elementary school with over 400 units, and our district was off and running. In addition to the one school we added close to 800 units across the district in individual classrooms. We called our initiative, "One to One, One Classroom at a Time". The plan was to use the next couple of years to ramp-up the rest of our students using the one classroom at a time model. Early on the school committee, building level administrators, and central office staff felt a lot of pressure to really get things moving. In September of 2014, the West Warwick School Committee, decided to g...

Creating the September Re-Issue Assessment Definition in Aspen: Supporting a 1:1 Chromebook Initiative The West Warwick Public Schools has been a K-12, 1:1 Chromebook district since the spring of 2012-2013. Our district uses Aspen to assist us with our management of over 4,200 Chromebooks for students, and every staff member. This blog post will explain how we use Aspen's Assessment tool to manage the process of re-issuing Chromebooks in September. As you can well imagine it is a tremendous task to move each student's Chromebook from their previous year's classroom to their new classroom in time for the new school year. What makes it even more difficult is that in the last weeks of August it's not uncommon for student to be shuffled from classroom to classroom, and sometimes moved to another school within the district. Why Use the Assessment Definition All of this movement demands that we have an easy way for teachers to communicate with the helpdesk in an easy a...