Sublette County School District #1

Sublette County School District #1, which serves around 1,100 K-12 students, faced a crucial moment when it implemented a 1:1 program that gave each student a digital device. While this technological advancement brought many benefits, it also came with significant challenges.

The district grappled with connecting students and faculty to their digital resources, integrating their student information systems, provisioning accounts, and making informed purchasing decisions when investing in students’ applications. It quickly became obvious that there was a serious need for a better way forward.

Challenge

Sublette County School District #1 faced significant challenges when it embarked on its 1:1 program, which provided every student with a personal learning device. The district was enthusiastic about embracing technology to enhance education but encountered several obstacles.

The district struggled to establish effective connections between students and their digital resources. Director of Technology, Chris Rule, observed that the district “saw a big challenge for students in accessing…resources when everyone had a different password, everywhere.” The lack of connectivity hindered the integration of online educational resources into the curriculum as students and staff struggled to access their accounts.

Managing student information systems and managing student accounts were also complex and time-consuming tasks as the district lacked an efficient way to maintain accurate records and a way to streamline account provisioning and management. Rule recalls that previously, the “manual creation process for every student [account]” was unnecessarily lengthy and challenging for administrators.

Lastly, although Sublette County School District #1 was excited to invest in digital resources for their students, they had no way of knowing whether those educational tools were being accessed or if they were under-utilized and obsolete.

Solution

To address these challenges, Sublette County School District #1 turned to ClassLink for a comprehensive solution. Rule notes that when deciding on a software that would meet their needs, his team chose ClassLink for its “capability to easily present the tools that everybody needed,” noting they knew they wanted “a company and a solution that was focused on education.”

ClassLink’s SSO solution transformed the process of accessing online resources. Rule marvels over the ease with which students and staff were now able to connect to their educational needs, noting that with ClassLink’s single sign-on, “students [could] sign in the first time with one password and…pass that identity on to the next application,” saving valuable classroom time.

ClassLink’s account provisioning solution, OneSync, simplified the creation and management of student accounts for their various online resources. ”OneSync allows us to easily create and provision accounts both on Active Directory and in Google,” says Rule. “It automatically creates the account, sets up their password, and provisions it without [the IT team] having to touch it, and [the process] happens within minutes.”

ClassLink’s platform offered more efficient rostering capabilities as well through ClassLink Roster Server. As a PowerSchool district, Rule observes that “Roster Server will integrate with your Student Information System to retrieve data, both student identity and the classes, [in addition to]  the schedules that [students] have.”

Last but not least, ClassLink Analytics provided valuable insights into application usage. Rule says  this was crucial as there was a strong desire “ to encourage kids to use the technology that [the district] invested in… and we use Analytics to know that they’re doing it.”

Results

Sublette County School District #1's new, streamlined login process eliminated the need to remember multiple usernames and passwords and saved time wasted attempting to access resources.“Just getting people access into the LaunchPad where everyone could see their workspace and the icons and the tools…[became] as simple as a single click,” says Rule.

ClassLink’s rostering solution allowed the district to integrate student information systems seamlessly, and the efficiency that automatic account provisioning provided reduced administrative overhead and ensured that students had quick and easy access to the tools they needed. According to Rule, the rostering solution provided the ability to transfer important student information to other applications, enabling access to relevant data. He was impressed with how these systems serve as a "translator" between different platforms. Additionally, he praised the time-saving benefits of using ClassLink OneSync.

With insights into application usage and the efficacy of digital resources, administrators could make data-driven decisions about which tools were most effective for students. Rule mentions that “with one simple report,” the team can observe how each application performs in great detail, including “the amount of time the kids are online or the [number] of times something gets accessed.” Thanks to analytics, Sublette County School District #1 can rest easy knowing students have the most appropriate resources for their curriculum!