With over 20,000 students, 2,300 faculty members and a plan to implement BYOD, Olentangy Local School District needed to make sign-on capabilities as simple as possible.
As a result, the district invested in ClassLink‘s OneClick, a solution that enables teachers and students to access their apps and other teaching/learning features with one username and password.
Rob Sexton, Director of Technology in the Olentangy Local School District, says OneClick’s features made the BYOD implementation quick and simple.
Its features include:
- The ability for students and teachers to access the internet from any device, whether or not the device is individually owned or owned by the school.
- Access to thousands of single sign-on apps and the ability to add customized apps.
- The option to sign into ClassLink with the school network login or an existing login from another account without having to worry about remembering multiple usernames and passwords.
“It’s a single sign-on portal,” Sexton says. “It’s nice in the sense that it’s universal, it doesn’t matter what device the kids bring in. The kids have access to all our resources and files in a one-stop-shop.”
Sexton says implementing OneClick was quick and easy, too.
With the data storage occurring on the Cloud, only one server (which provides the login, directory, etc.) needed to be installed.
“It took us 15 to 20 minutes [to implement],” he says. “Then we just collected all sorts of resources from the buildings [in the district] on a spread sheet and applied them.”
Jim McVety, VP Marketing & Business Development for ClassLink, also says there were minimal problems on the company’s end of the implementation.
“Our implementation requires a phone call and about an hour to get up and running,” he says. “From there, we roll out with their apps, and the users are up and running very quickly. We also include training and support as part of our licenses – no upsell is required, which is something schools really appreciate.”
The only challenge Sexton foresees with the new solution is teaching students, faculty and staff how to develop internet safety tactics, and how to maintain safe digital citizenships.
Regarding the district’s acceptable use policy, “[we] don’t use anyone else’s username and password,” Sexton says. “But, it still happens. It’s not as bad as it would be, but we take it on a case by case basis.”
Since implementing and first utilizing OneClick, Olentangy Local School District has been able to save on instruction time that could be lost in managing students’, faculty’s and staff’s usernames and passwords.
“They’re very happy with it,” Sexton says. “They like having everything in a one-stop-shop.”
McVety says OneClick also enables the school district to enjoy a smoother teaching and learning experience.
“By making teaching and learning easier, we improve the classroom experience,” he says. “And, because we are connected with almost 5,000 digital resources, there’s no limit to the number and variety of content that schools can access – all with one login.”
Before other school districts launch into a single sign-in solution, Sexton recommends reaching out to current users, like Olentangy Local School District. That way, no time is wasted during the decision-making process, and all prospective solutions can be explored.
“Do your homework, collect best practices, ask other districts what they have,” Sexton says. “See if you’re happy with it, or if there’s something you’re missing, or if a switch is needed. Learn from your mistakes and successes.”
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