The other day I ran into Lynn Roediger, Director of the Northwest Regional Data Center (NWRDC) in our lunchroom. Even though I am familiar with NWRDC I learned that they do much more than I even realized, like providing information systems support to Washington State school districts and private schools. Headquartered in Everett, Washington the NWRDC is an integral part of the Northwest Educational Service District (NWESD). NWRDC is the largest of the seven regional data centers serving districts and schools in Washington State.
As Lynn and I talked I was surprised to learn that one of the services available to teachers is that they have the ability to make an assignment available online in Skyward Student Access? Teachers may enter the assignment questions and answers, and then post the assignment for online access by students. Students can then work on the assignment in Skyward Student Access. Upon completion, the teacher grades the assignment within the Gradebook. Additionally, Guardians are able to see that an online assignment exists and teachers may share results with them if desired.
NWRDC provides a training document called Online Assignments for Teachers. The document demonstrates how to create, take and score Online Assignments. If you need a username and password to access this document, call 425-349-6570.
What can you do within Online Assignments?
- Automatically post scores to the grade book.
- Choose the dates to show or hide the assignment.
- Run reports to analyze the results.
- Print a hard copy of the Online Assignments. (Some students may be unable to connect online or miss the window of opportunity to access the assignment online.)
And…if your districts also creates District Assessments using Standards Benchmarks in the Secondary Gradebook, teachers may attach the District Assessments to the Online Assignments given to students. In addition to the assessment questions established by the district, teachers may add their own questions as desired.
For more information, contact the NWRDC Student Team at 425-349-6570. Your NWRDC support team would be happy to help a district set up Online Assignments and/or Assessments and demonstrate how they work.
-Ed
