School New s
By: Elisabet h M .
System updates on th e w ay!
A n i nterv i ew w i th M r. Bak k er
Q: Wh at 's t h e biggest ch an ge com in g t o
t h e pr ogr am ?
A.:?The biggest update is happening to the
Genius system. This isn't the coursework part
it's the records part. The biggest changes will
mostly impact AOA employees, not the
students. The biggest update for students will
be the student dashboard screen.
Q: Will t h e layou t ch an ge?
much faster and much easier. When we have
to make small changes we can do it on the fly
we don't have to wait for a big release. So we
will be able to make customizations to AOA?s
system much easier as we go.?
Q: Will t h er e be n ew f eat u r es available?
A: ?Yes there will, but most of them only
impact teachers and other AOA
employees and staff members.?
Upd a t e
A: ?Not much, but a little bit. The
dashboard is going to change a
little bit, the grade book will change
a little bit. It will not be
fundamentally different though. There will be
an update to the AOA logo, and that might
happen before the big update release. But
yes the layout will look a little different.?
Q: Will t each er s be af f ect ed by
t h e u pdat e?
Q: Will cou r sew or k ch an ge? A: ?Yes. There will be new tools for
teachers and staff to streamline
the process of setting up courses, and to plan
our future courses. So those are some big
advantages to us, to be able to keep those
records and write students future plans in
upcoming school years, course wise.?
A: ?No, the course content will stay the
same.? Q: Is t h er e an yt h in g t h at par en t s sh ou ld
look ou t f or ?
Q:Wh at w ill h appen t o t h e st u den t s w h o
st ar t ed t h e sch ool year bef or e t h e u pdat e
w as pu t in t o place? Will t h e u pdat e st ill
af f ect t h em ? A: ?Yes. Parents should be aware that the
student?s grade book will look a little bit
different. And some of the information
shown might not be exactly the same. So for
example right now in the grade book it shows
the number of attempts but in the new
version you may or may not be able to still
see that feature.?
A: ?The update will affect everybody. So even
if you're in the middle of courses it's still
going to update for you right away.?
Q: Wh at is t h e m ost excit in g t h in g abou t
t h e u pdat e?
A: ?This is a pretty major update that will
allow us to make little tweaks and changes