Hoisington USD 431, a small school district serving about 700 students, faced a significant challenge in managing multiple applications and ensuring seamless access for students and teachers. The complexities of juggling numerous usernames and passwords were hindering the learning experience, and manual account management and maintenance was a time-consuming, error-prone process.
The district turned to ClassLink's Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution–which includes single sign-on, rostering, and provisioning tools. With ClassLink IAM in place, the district granted teachers and students easy access to their resources and automated account creation and management for its IT staff.
Challenge
Before implementing ClassLink, teachers at Hoisington USD 431 lost valuable class time in managing their students' login credentials through memory alone. Technology Coordinator Kerry Mooney recalls that teachers often asked for software that would free them from having to help kids remember their usernames and passwords for their various applications, but, initially, no such solution existed.
The district’s small IT team also found it challenging to roster data into multiple platforms accurately and efficiently. The result was a slow account management process that was prone to errors.
Solution
ClassLink’s Identity and Access Management solution emerged as the solution they needed.
ClassLink's LaunchPad eliminated the need for teachers to keep track of student credentials. Mooney says, that after students “sign in the very first time, it saves that log-in information securely.” He goes on to explain that, for each subsequent LaunchPad login, students simply, “click on a link, [and] it logs them right into their application,” eliminating tech-related classroom disruptions once and for all.
Hoisington USD 431 integrated Roster Server into its infrastructure to address challenges related to data management. Roster Server eliminated the need for hands-on rostering by making the process automatic. Mooney says, “Roster Server takes users from our school’s information system and rosters them into our applications” alleviating the IT burden of switching back and forth between applications and accounts.
The introduction of OneSync further reduced the IT burden by automating the user account creation process. Mooney provides an example of the process saying, “Once we create the user in PowerSchool, OneSync’s going to create that Google account, which then will push out to the Roster.” He goes on to say that OneSync is “the provisioning tool that allows our users to be created with less human error and quicker set-up.”
Results
Implementing ClassLink’s Identity and Access Management solutions transformed Hoisington USD's digital landscape. As their single sign-on solution, LaunchPad increased classroom productivity, restoring time previously lost to the login process. Mooney says teachers report “it saves them at least 10 minutes of signing in.” That’s a lot of time when every minute counts in the classroom.
Thanks to Roster Server and OneSync, Hoisington USD 431 enjoys faster, more efficient account management and account creation, freeing the IT staff to focus on other tasks. Mooney appreciates that “Roster Server just pushes the one-time sync, [and] creates the users and the accounts. It’s all done in the background,” so the task no longer requires his constant attention.
Similarly, Mooney mentions that with OneSync’s streamlined account creation process, “user creation becomes automated” which allows accounts to be synced up, without error and hands-free!
By providing a seamless digital experience for both students and teachers, Hoisington USD 431 achieved a significant milestone in its technology integration journey— and set a precedent for other small school districts facing similar challenges.
“Having a small IT staff, ClassLink saved us money because of the time it saves, and that’s a good product for me. ClassLink is phenomenal. 100% worth the investment.”