Overview
With the shift to remote learning, one challenge that quickly surfaced for families was managing multiple learning management systems and online programs. For families with students in multiple grade levels living in one household, the online programs being used to engage in remote learning varied widely. In response to this challenge, Meriden Public Schools chose to provide students and families with a single sign-on for multiple digital learning platforms.
"I think one of the key resources that really worked well for us, especially in the initial days, was our implementation of single sign-on. You're providing students and families with the programs that they needed to access in one place. This, I truly believe, made a difference in households. When you had students at different grade levels accessing different programs, many students may not have known programs by name because it was just so intuitive to what they did daily in their classroom. And that was a big help to families in the fact that you weren't sending multiple URLs." - Barbara Haeffner, Director of Teaching and Innovation
Approach
Using ClassLink, the district provided one URL for families to access all programs needed for every student within a single household. This allowed for multiple learning management systems and other digital learning programs to be accessed by students in different grade levels. In addition to the support this offered families, providing students with a single URL to access all of the programs they needed for remote learning helped to minimize the number of logins that students needed to remember. Students could access their learning management system, such as Google Classroom, and digital learning platforms, such as Newsela, all from one place.
This strategy is a part of TLA's Hop, Skip, Leapfrog release, which explores the concrete ways in which schools and systems pursued student-centered innovation during COVID-19. Explore the full guide to find additional strategies, insights, and resources.