The Challenge
Lost instruction time and overwhelmed support staff
Before Colegio Nueva Granada (CNG) adopted ClassLink's single sign-on platform, their technical team was swamped with support calls.
"Constant requests to our support desk for help with passwords, access, links to subscriptions, or apps took up a hefty portion of our technical support staff's time," explains John Parker, Director of Educational Technology and Innovation at the Bogotá, Colombia school.
As Parker explains, the international private school's over 1700 students and 388 employees use hundreds of digital applications to support teaching, learning, operations, facilities, and human resources. The district also has a lot of first-year teachers, and a multi-platform Bring Your Own Device program, both adding to the support strain.
As a result, CNG's K4-12 teachers and students were losing instruction time to access issues. At the same time, technology staff spent their time focused on support issues instead of higher-level projects to enhance teaching and learning.
"When you have a lot of technology, the tradeoff is the amount of time you're taking teaching kids to use it and get logged in. That was a significant problem," says Parker.
Choosing ClassLink
Fewer support calls and easier access to learning
When the school learned about ClassLink's single sign-on platform, the staff did a cost analysis. They quickly determined adopting the technology would help regain instruction time and reduce the strain on technology staff.
Students and staff would only need to remember one password to log in to ClassLink and access all the digital resources they needed in one place from ClassLink's Launchpad.
Outcome
Personalized access to resources
One year into adopting ClassLink, Parker says support calls have decreased significantly, and access to digital resources has improved dramatically.
ClassLink allowed the school to assign roles and profiles to users, helping them tailor the applications and resources available through ClassLink's Launchpad to each person. "The user experience is fantastic," enthuses Parker. "It allows them to access the tools they need quickly without a lot of clutter. Everyone has a unique experience when they log in to ClassLink."
A smooth shift to remote learning and actionable analytics
Having ClassLink in place also helped staff, teachers, and students make a seamless switch to remote learning during the 2020 school closures.
"ClassLink's single sign-on made access to digital learning materials easier for us in a distance learning environment. We channel everybody to one location, so they always know where to find the tools in their virtual classroom. And that's been powerful," says Parker.
With far fewer questions about access and logins, teachers and students could jump into higher levels of teaching and learning right away during remote learning. "Because all of that is taken care of, we're able to dive into deeper learning pieces," explains Parker.
ClassLink Analytics also provided the school with detailed data on the use of applications, when students were in class and during remote learning.
Take educational apps, for example. Parker says ClassLink Analytics, helps him see how many teachers or students use a specific app, how many times they use that app, and for how long.
"Right now, we're facing budget cuts," says Parker. "Some of these applications are very expensive, but with ClassLink's data, we know a lot more about their use and can make strategic decisions."
As Parker explains, having a single sign-on platform is now ingrained in the fabric of the distance learning experience for CNG teachers and students. "While other schools might struggle with passwords and accessing apps—we don't have to battle that. Instead, we can launch straight into learning whether students are at home or in school. Having ClassLink has just been an absolute lifesaver for us."
"While other schools might struggle with passwords and accessing apps—we don't have to battle that. Instead, we can launch straight into learning whether students are at home or in school. Having ClassLink has just been an absolute lifesaver for us."