Setting up PowerSchool Learning (Class Management System)
Overview:
PowerSchool Learning (formerly Haiku) is part of the PowerSchool Suite.
It is now populated with all teachers and students, courses, and rosters for 2016-17 school year. It does not contain your 2017-18 classes yet.
Starting in 2017-18, all teachers will use PowerSchool Learning as a classroom management page, instead of Moodle, Schoology, EdModo, etc.
The reasons for a single LMS are: ease of access for students and parents, and integration of, classes and rosters with PSGradebook, PTPro, and Google.
In June, 2017, PowerSchool will have a "Unified Portal", which will integrate PowerSchool Learning, PS Assessment & Analytics, and Gradebook.
The minimum content required for today is a Welcome page with 3 content blocks:
1. Important Resources
General resources to be used for the whole year, (not all your materials).
2. Contact
3. Upcoming Activities.
Only graded assignments are required, though you are free to add any additional activities.
Today’s Objective:
Teachers will create or update a class site in PowerSchool Learning, with the required
“Welcome” page, and personalize 2 of the 3 required pieces of content.
Follow these Steps:
1. Log in to PowerSchool Learning.
There are several ways to log in.
a.) From PowerTeacher or PowerTeacherPro
(If in PowerTeacher, click on PowerTeacherPro.)
Click on Class (top-left), and then click on My Classes.
b.) From Google’s amityschools.org:
"Sign in with Google" and use your @amityschools.org account.
Click on the nine squares, then “More”, and find the PowerSchool Learning logo near Classroom.
c.) From the Amity website
Look for “PowerSchool Learning”, under For Staff, Faculty, and Parents-Students.
"Sign in with Google" and use your @amityschools.org account.
d) From: https://amity.haikulearning.com/
"Sign in with Google" and use your @amityschools.org account.
2. Choose a class site to work in.
Click on a class site from your existing classes, or an original class you already created in PowerSchool Learning.
3. Upload the “Welcome” page template into the existing class or your original class site.
Once you are in one of your class sites, go to the top-menu item “Library”.
Use the template called: “Welcome to (Class Name)”.
Click “Use Resource”.
You are set to copy the “Welcome to…” page to “an existing class”. The class you are in is selected.
Click “Continue”. You will be brought to the class site you chose, to the Welcome page the template has created.
Use the “Organize Page” icon on the left to re-order your pages and make the welcome page the home page.
Use the “Manage Page” gear on the right of each page to “Manage Page Settings” to rename each page appropriately.
If you create your own class site, go to: Manage Class/Class Settings on the right.
Change class name.
Change the class URL.
Delete or change Short Summary.
Set the Class Availability.
4. Customize the required content in the class site’s Welcome page:
Add some content to the “Important Resources” block (see the FAQs for more info).
Add your information to the “Contact” block.
You do not need to add “Upcoming Activities” right now, but you can play with it. Announcements will go live if you activate the class site, and Assignments will go to Gradebook, but you can always erase them.
Your class is hidden from view until activated.
5. Create different sections (periods, or maybe levels) within the same class:
Click “Manage Class” on the right, scroll to,
“Edit Roster”
Click on “+Create Sections”, “OK”
A “Section A” and a “Section B” have been created. Add other sections as needed.
Select each section (“Section A”, “Section B”, etc.) in turn, and click in the “edit” area to change the names of your sections. Enter.
You can add import individual students or link a class by importing whole student rosters to each section (see next step, below).
6. Link a real class roster to a class site that you created on your own (this is when you have started a class site from scratch, not from within the class site that PowerSchool Learning created for you):
Click “Manage Class” on the right, scroll to,
“Edit Roster”
Click on “Manage Sections”.
Select each section (“Section A”, “Section B”, etc.) in turn, and click “Import Students”
Click “Import from another Roster”. Confirm the section you are importing to.
Find the class you are importing to in the “Search” box.
When you find the right class, Click “+ Import”.
Choose to “Link” to the section so that the roster is updated as PowerSchool is updated.
View the roster, and click the “Import Students”.
7. Review these training FAQs and Additional Information:
How can parents access the site?
Next year, parents will automatically have view only accounts through the PS Unified Portal. This year, you can invite them via access code.
How can students have notifications sent to their phones?
Students need to click on their user icon (top-right corner), select Notifications, put in their mobile number, and then select Instant SMS for all appropriate notification categories.
Can the calendar be synced with my calendar or a student’s?
PowerSchool Learning’s calendaring function can be synced as an iCal. You can also link Google calendars to your webpages.
Do I need to add all of my handouts to the Important Resource box?
No, you only need to add items that are used regularly throughout the year, for example: online textbooks, Turnitin.com, course requirements. However, you may add more if you want.
Do I have to post every homework I give?
No, you only need to add assignments that you would enter in your grade book. You can add them simultaneously by making them an Assignment or Assessment. However, you may add more if you want.
Can I just create one class page and use it with all my classes?
Yes, you can go to your class page, add class, and then link each section to the class.
Can I still use Schoology/Moodle/Edmodo/Canvas/Google Classroom?
No, you must use PowerSchool Learning. If you need help transferring material or replicating your class, please see Lisa Lassen for assistance, or the links below.
I currently use Remind to notify students, does PSL have a similar feature?
Yes, teachers just need to create an Announcement and make sure students have added their phones to their notification alerts.
Can I customize the look of my class sites?
Yes. To edit the look of the page
Click on the “gear icon” on the right that says “Manage Page”
Select “Edit Theme”. Choose one of the “PowerSchool Learning Themes”.
Select “Apply”. You can even create and customize your own theme.
How can I export content from Schoology/Moodle/Canvas?
Training Videos:
Click here for Training Video 1: overview, creating a master class, linking classes.
This is the PowerSchool Learning/Haiku initial training video. The trainer in the video details how to link your classes (if you teach multiple sections), basic functionality, and how to set up pages. It is about an hour and excellent.
Click here for Training Video 2: embedding Google Drive files, videos, and images.
This is the second training video. It includes embedding Google Drive, adding images, video, etc. It is a little over an hour.
This is the third training video. This training specifically covers Assignments workflow and Assessment tools—creating assignments and assessments that students submit online and sync with PTP and PTGradebook. The training is one hour.
Other helpful resources:
1) If you are looking for ideas for what a PowerSchool Learning page could look like or what types of features it could have, see the links below:
https://amity.haikulearning.com/burtbr/apenvsciencelh1a/cms_page/view
https://fsd.haikulearning.com/irene_kim/math/cms_page/view/12010599
https://skanschools.haikulearning.com/jryan/socialstudies1415/cms_page/view
https://www.myhaikuclass.com/mrsfeek/english11/cms_page/view
2) If you want more “how to” teacher training, this is a link to the PS Learning “class” for teachers that has all the training materials.
3) This is Lisa Lassen’s Powerschool Learning Help Page. It gives directions to various tasks, and the three training videos are time-stamped, so you can easily identify which parts of the videos demonstrate which tasks.
4) This is a site for Student “how to”:
Additional FAQs from the May, 2017 training sessions:
See link to PDF below.
Finding this guide:
Google Search:
Amity Libguides
(Left menu):
Subject Guide: Technology Instruction for Teachers
(Top purple tabs)
Topic
PowerSchool Learning