June 2017 - Edsys

Posted on June 28, 2017 by Edsys

Technology has emerged as an essential part of the lives of children. Smart Apps for Preschoolers are useful teaching means for children with special needs. They can be introduced both in the classroom and at home. Parents should kick-start their child’s education with educational apps. These apps are available for children of all ages. But make sure that the app you select for your kid is appropriate!

Smart apps have improved the lives of pre-schoolers with special needs. Most of the teachers, counsellors, and parents of children with special needs are using educational apps to help kids organize their days, improve overall communication and learn a variety of skills.

Give your kids a jump-start to a proper education with smart apps. Also, make sure to monitor the apps and go for the one which is apt for your kid’s classroom curriculum.

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Edsys

Schools are in constant search for new approaches to fulfil the needs to improve student achievement. A data-driven school tries to achieve the same by gathering, evaluating and utilizing all kinds of student-related data.

The various types of data that data-driven smart schools put to use include:

Demographic data

It includes information regarding the ethnicity, gender and socio-economic status of students. This helps the schools to make decisions regarding tuition fees, providing financial aid and other services to deserving students. It also helps to identify the students who are performing well academically and those who require extra help. Demographic data helps to determine enrolment growth in school over the years. This helps to analyse future enrolment and the resources and services that may be required

Assessment data

The data is gathered, evaluated and is used to improve the programs the schools have adopted and to ensure that the quality of instruction is good enough. Test scores of students are interpreted to determine how well the students are performing and to provide additional help to the low-performing students. Also, the test scores of current and previous years are compared to understand the effectiveness of programs adopted by the schools. After the test scores are collected and interpreted, the results are distributed among the directors, teachers, parents and the students. This makes it easy for the schools to get support from the board and the parents. Also, they can use the data to opine about the enhancements that can be made in the programs adopted by the schools

Conduct data

This data is used to determine the behavioural pattern of the students. It involves analysis of student behaviour during specific times of the day and specific classes and to implement new approaches, if needed. The schools can also provide training to the staff so that they not only help to improve academic skills but also the social skills of students. Gathering of conduct data doesn’t end with implementation of new approaches to improve student behaviour. The data has to be continuously collected and analysed to ensure that the new approach works

Attendance data

Students who don’t attend school regularly or those who don’t reach school on time do not tend to perform well academically and this in turn, affects the reputation of the school. Schools can provide the attendance data to the parents, who are the ones to make sure that their children attend the school regularly and on time

However, evaluation of data doesn’t mean that you can take data from any test conducted in school, dissect it and get the needed information. Such results may just give you a general idea about the students who are not good at certain skills. But, you won’t get answers to why they are weak and how you can help them improve. So, the best way is to create provisional assessments apart from the regular exams or tests, particularly to have a better understanding of students’ strengths and weaknesses.

Here are few more steps you can take to be a successful data-driven school:

Allot professional freedom to teachers

If the teachers are allowed to be flexible about their approaches, it helps them to grow in the professional front while helping the students to improve. So, allow the teachers to create their own set of assessments for their class and to decide upon the teaching approaches they plan to implement. Also, provide the teachers with professional development training occasionally

Study the growth of other data-driven schools

Look for schools that have achieved success by implementing data-driven approach. Study the measures they took that led to their success and try to implement similar steps in your school, as well

Analyse the requirements

Before you go forward with the assessments, understand what’s necessary for the students and what’s not. Also, try not to include every measure in the first step itself. Take time to determine the skills that are of top priority and then, train the students accordingly. You can then assess the students to understand if they are good enough and if not, provide additional training to the low-performing students

Create high-quality assessments

High-quality assessments will give you high-quality data. Set certain guidelines that the teachers have to follow while creating assessments, like:

1. Meeting the required standards
2. Focusing on the end-goal of the assessment
3. What the students are provided with during the assessment

Also, train the teachers to create effective assessments that meet the above mentioned criteria

Set a format for creating data reports

After all the hard work, you don’t want the data reports to be of different format and confusing, do you? Therefore, decide how you want the final report to be like, beforehand. Most schools create data reports in the form of Excel spreadsheets with all necessary details filled in. You can also adopt the same, if you want

Hold data-analysis meeting

You need not wait for an academic year to end to analyse the data. Instead hold meetings on the last working day of every week, post class hours for all staff to sit together and evaluate the data. This reduces the workload and also, gives a clear understanding of the measures that work and what should be done next

Evaluate success

See how effective the measures you took have been at the end of the academic year. This analysis keeps the teachers and students motivated to work harder as they get to see how far they have come and how much more they have to go further

A data-driven school ensures that every student receives quality education despite their race, gender and socio-economic status. In short, the data, a school gathers, helps it to understand the requirements of the students and to respond accordingly to bring about positive changes in the students’ lives for good.

Posted on June 10, 2017 by Edsys

If you are a school authority, you can understand what a tedious task school time-table management is. The introduction of software to the education management field has changed this situation completely. A school management system involves everything that is required for the efficient working of a school.

Managing timetables, routing and planning of school buses, allotting classes to teachers, calculating each employee’s leave, preparing pay scale, thus goes the list.

Creating timetables are one of the biggest headaches for teachers. It can be confusing and time-consuming when done manually. Timetable management software is the best solution in such situations.

Apart from generating efficient timetables, timetable management system software can also help you in the overall academic and administrative management of a school. The e-timetable by Edsys is one such software, which can help you in effective timetable and school management.

Here are a few ways time table management software can benefit you:

1. No more Paperwork

The toughest thing about manual school management is the endless list of paperwork. Time table management software, with its simple and user- friendly interface helps users with effective school management. With its introduction, school related operations became paperless and confusion-free.

2. No more Confusion

Creating timetables manually is a headache for teachers. With timetable software, it is possible for you to automatically generate timetables effectively, sticking by the requirements. Timetable management software generates timetables considering the limitations such as availability of teachers, special rooms, classes etc.

3. Automatic Timetable Generation

If you are using timetable management software, you no longer have to spend hours figuring out the timetable for each class. You just need to enter your criteria and within no time, you will get your timetable generated without any hassle.

4. It is Error-Free

When you manually prepare a timetable, you tend to make errors. You may end up with allotting two teachers for a single Shop @ TrackSchoolBusclass at a time or vice versa, or you may miss the allotment of certain periods. Timetable management software helps you to avoid such errors. In case, there is an error in the data you entered, timetable management software detects them and provide alternatives, thus helping you create an accurate timetable possible.

5. Substitution Management made Easy

You come to school and you get to know that a teacher is absent. You will surely panic because you have to revise the day’s timetable as soon as possible. You’ll have to check if the leave has been marked by any other teachers and allot the classes to the teachers already present, within a short period of time. Timetable management software can help you avoid such chaos. Timetable management software looks into leave taken by teachers and allot substitutions accordingly.

6. Generate records easily

Generating records on leave taken and other details of individual employees of a school is another hurdle you may come across while manual school management. With the help of a timetable management software, you can generate reports on a monthly basis, which include:

Substitutions made on a daily basis
Informed and uninformed leaves taken by teachersgivenday or
Working hours of each employee

7. Access to every employee’s details

When you create records on every employee of a school, you can end up making errors, or you may miss out some details. May be, you will have to search the whole school in case you need some details regarding an employee in the future. Timetable management software can come handy in such situations. It stores every employee details and you can easily access them in case you need to refer it in future.

8. Number of working days does not matter

Number of working days of each school differs, so does the effort taken for effective school management. But it does not affect you at all, if you are using a timetable management software. You can easily create efficient timetables for schools with any number of working days.

9. Preparation of pay scales made easy

Preparation of pay scales is another painstaking job in terms of effective school management. You have to go through leave taken by each employee to prepare pay scales. Since, timetable management software generates reports on leave taken by employees, preparation of pay scales is no more a tough task.

10. Timetables for Whole School

Preparing timetable for a class itself is a laborious task, forget whole school. Time table management software is there for your help. It not only creates timetable for the entire school, but also helps you in saving energy, time and money. If you are still depending on manual school management system, it’s time you switch to a timetable management software. Available at an affordable price, it is cost-effective and helps you save plenty of time and it also helps you in preparing the best timetables possible for your school.

11. Increased Security And Confidentiality

No outsider is permitted to change the timetable, which is already stored in the system. There will be restricted access for users. Modifications can be made only by the relevant authorities in the school. Hence, the timetable generated will be secure and confidential.

12. Easy Integration

The timetable of a school can be easily integrated with calendar applications. And, you will be able to receive notifications via email, SMS alerts, and reminders whenever the timetable gets modified or generated.

13. Efficient Resource Allocation

With the help of a time table management software, you can assign teachers and classrooms, and improve the task of resource allocation in other staff in the best possible manner.

Conclusion

By analysing today's scenario, usage of time table management software is advantageous than preparing timetable manually. It helps in reducing risk as well as headache of school authorities, especially the teachers who are responsible for creating timetable. Thus, it is better to take the aid of software for better management of schools.

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Edsys

Technology has not only changed the way of our daily routine, it also changed the way of our traditional method of education. As of now, we can see various technologies getting implemented in classrooms and educators also trying out different types of technologies in their teaching.

One form of these technologies is wearable technologies, which is growing day-by-day, helping every person to fulfill their tasks smoothly in almost every field. This technology is gaining popularity in every sector mainly in education after the arrival of laptops and smartphones.

Here is the list of wearable technologies, which has shown a positive impact in the world and knows how you can make use of it, mainly in educational institutes.