Tech Notes 💾
🏖️ July 2023 ☀️
Notes & Reminders
- New devices deployed to students in grades K, 2, 6 and 9 this year.
- Starting a significant refresh of staff iPads this fall.
- Various audiovisual systems have been or will be updated at Sweeney, East, West and the High School this summer.
- Wireless Network Controller hardware upgrade: Swapping out the hardware that manages all wireless access points. There will be scheduled network outage time for this process sometime in August (announced in advance, of course).
- Classlink Launchpad will get its' own newsletter full of updates prior to start of school.
Web Filtering Changes
We have shifted our Internet content filtering over from Lightspeed Relay to Linewize/Qoria.
Why Change?
We regularly re-evaluate our systems to determine if tools we are using are still a good fit for our environment. While Relay provided necessary Internet content filtering (which we are legally required to have) we also found it to be difficult to manage overall and occasionally problematic for specific staff and students when it would choose not to work. After a thorough evaluation of multiple alternatives, as well as field testing across grades and devices, we determined that Linewize offered enough improvements to justify a change.
User Impact
iPad users: System changes are automated. All iPads should be on Linewize now.
MacBook users: Changes are automated.
PC/Windows users: We will work directly with PC users to migrate them over from Relay to Linewize. PC Labs will be updated this summer.
Requests to review a site to unblock or block should be submitted to help desk.
Practice/Policy impact
We will continue to have options for a baseline/default filtering level, a more restrictive "No Social Media" group, and the most restrictive "Aggressive" filtering levels. Current documentation on "Relay Filtering Levels" will be updated, but is still relevant as a general guideline of what each of those filtering levels mean.
Parent Experience
Parents of students in the district currently can receive weekly reports on student device usage. This will continue via a companion product called Qustodio. More details on that will be published to TechTools and communicated out. Briefly, parent reports will still be available, as well as an app that parents can use for device management and additional cyber safety resources.
New Help Desk
In August we will be moving over to a new help ticketing system.
The new system is called Incident IQ. It replaces WebHelpDesk, which has been in use since January 2016 and managed to accrue over 91,000 tickets. Y'all keep us busy...
Key advantages of the new system:
- Better interface and an app that actually works.
- Tighter integration of information and inclusion of class rosters, meaning teachers can select a specific student from their roster when submitting a ticket (when applicable, of course).
- More comprehensive and functional integration of device inventory.
- More options for including content within a ticket response, including screencasts directly within the system.
Current help email addresses will still work, and we will follow up with a specific switch-over date when emails to helpdesk@shakopee.k12.mn.us start routing to the new system. We will also update the Shakopee Bookmarks link at that time. Incident IQ will also have a shortcut in Launchpad in the Self Service folder.
Room Booking System - Gone
Used in K-8 buildings for the past several years for chromebook cart checkouts primarily and for reserving other spaces, this system has been eliminated.
Reservable Rooms should now be handled via Eleyo.
Cart checkouts will be handled via a combination of Eleyo for advance scheduling, and probably Incident IQ (new help desk system) at time of check-out.
Individual loaner device check-out will be handled via Destiny (no change in recent practice).
The use of Eleyo also makes certain room reservation calendars in Outlook redundant or obsolete; a number of calendars have been removed from our systems.
District Website Migration
Over the course of this school year, the district and school webpages will be migrated to an updated version of the entire site. The Communications department will manage the bulk of that effort and share information along the way. There are some impacts that are more immediate, though, which is why they are being shared here.
The "Teacher" menu on school sites will be removed. It will eventually be replaced with an updated directory on the new site. You would most commonly recognize these pages as the space where a teacher bio lives.
Links to specific classroom or grade level pages will also be removed. Staff lists for specific grades or departments will be retained for now.
- If there is content on a classroom or teacher page that you still want to share, our recommendation is to utilize Seesaw (elementary) and Canvas (secondary) for content that would be appropriate in those systems.
- It is also recommended that the school Handbooks be reviewed; those have undergone a number of revisions for this year to consolidate information to be more consistent across the district.
- Another path for communicating classroom information is to leverage the Smore newsletter format, in order to take advantage of built-in tools for translation in particular.
MFA verification
Addressing the common question "did I set up MFA"?
Well, if you haven't received any emails reminding you to set it up, that's one indicator that it is done.
If you want to verify or change anything, though, it is basically the same steps as the initial set-up.
- Start in Classlink Launchpad
- Go to the Self Service Folder
- Go to 365 - MFA Portal
- Complete the log-in steps (it should do an MFA challenge at this time, meaning a text, call, or use of the authenticator app)
- Once logged in, you'll have the option to view Security Info, which lists any and all "factors" used for account authentication.
- Again, if you ever need to change anything (new phone number, for instance) these are also the steps to follow.
Camera Project
We are currently working on East and West for camera system upgrades. Expecting wiring to be completed by mid-September and actual camera installations and configuration to take place through October.
The table below illustrates:
- The locations completed and in progress,
- Planned progression through buildings (completed on top in green, in progress in yellow, remaining in order through bottom of list),
- Revenue being allocated (current total of surplus sales shown; will increase as a result of each surplus device sale),
- Expenditures so far and anticipated,
- Summary totals by category and school as well as running total of expenses and balance.
Tech Tools article updates and new content
To request tech help
The fastest and best way to get help is by opening a ticket using one of these contact methods. Less effective and in some cases inconsiderate: Sticky notes, direct emails, or giving out the direct phone extension of whatever tech person you happen to have known forever.
E-mail: helpdesk@shakopee.k12.mn.us
Web: https://shakopee.incidentiq.com/
Phone: 952-496-5100
If you need a call-back please add a good number and time to contact you in ticket.
Whenever possible and necessary we may also use remote support tools such as Splashtop to assist you.
Details help! For instance, student name and ID number is useful when submitting a ticket in regards to a student issue. Or letting us know if you already tried common troubleshooting steps such as restarting. "Student 123456 had this specific problem on their iPad starting at 9 AM this morning." is a much more useful starting point than "I have student with a problem." We appreciate the detail and it helps speed up the process of resolving an issue.
📢 helpdesk@shakopee.k12.mn.us - The only helpdesk email you need to know.
Shakopee Instructional Technology Services
Email: helpdesk@shakopee.k12.mn.us
Website: https://techtools.shakopeeschools.org/
Location: 1200 Shakopee Town Square, Shakopee, MN, USA
Phone: 5100