[TASC Insight] The Basics and more

[DR3W]

Hi all,

 

I have been researching Parental Engagement Software's and TASC seems to be the one I want to focus on most. Previously, the school used SLG (before my time) but it was a complete bust! So this time, they've put me in charge of the Insight Project. Before I chased up a demo for myself, I did a little research and found plenty of schools that use it seem to be happy with the set up and ease of use. I have since then had a demo with the company and I really loved the simplicity that came with it. Logging in was minimal effort and we can alter what parents see.

 

I've read plenty of posts in terms of distribution of usernames and one time passwords but am a little skeptical on how I can achieve getting all parents to sign up. After running a report only 29 parents have an email on file out of the 1500 pupils here. Does Insight rely on the parent having an email address in terms of distributing this information? Any insight on this issue would be much appreciated.

 

Also, I only really want the bare basics to start and have been trying to find answers to my own questions as the person who gave me the demo couldn't answer them. I've been successful 90% of the time, finding what I need to know with the TASC wiki pages but I still have some questions that are pestering me.

 

Language Translator - Does it read the SIMS file and detect the home language so parents can change between English and said language? (The language bolt on)

What happens when students leave mid-phase and then return after x amount of months?

What happens to the parent logins when the year 11's leave?

How are new intake parent usernames and passwords generated? Does that also rely on email?

There are some parts of Insight I don't want parents to use such as absence reporting or updating details. Is there a way not include those on setup?

When is the best time to set up Insight? During a school term or the half term (summer in my case)?

Is there any way to link the parents to the behaviour reward platform Vivo through Insight?

 

I do apologise if the questions seem random and all over the place, its just what I have currently planted in my head.

 

Any advice or answers would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[RichCowell]

Hi @DR3W,

 

Can't answer your questions, but Tasc will be at the next ANME meeting on the 25th June in Lancashire, that all members of the ANME are invited to (free to join, free to attend).

 

Could be a great opportunity to chat to them in person...

 

More info online - Association of Network Managers in Education ANME

 

Rick

[vikpaw]

I'm all for sharing here, particularly on best practise but for the specific questions I would put them all to Tasc. I'm sure they would want to ensure you get the best answer and if the demonstrator couldn't help they should find the right person who can.

Have a chat to @jenny_urey

[teejay]

I would contact TASC directly with your questions, they may not have some of your requests but they are very good at producing little patches and updates for feature requests.

Any bits you don't want can be turned off in the admin panel, I would seriously look at leaving the update details one turned on, it saves a lot of admin time.

[SouthCoastSaint]

Quick answer to some of your questions - you can choose how you distribute log in details to parents each time you push them out. There is a choice of letter, email or SMS. I would work beforehand on trying to move many more of your parents to email communication. We have just 36 prime parents out of 1700 who are not contactable by email, we work very hard to maintain this as our primary method of communication, which means that any news about Insight can be emailed out rather than sending costly paper messages. I always include the link to Insight in any email about it, and a reminder about how parents log in. I also release PDF reports on Insight a couple of days before they are sent home, which encourages parents to log in and see what else the site can offer. We average about 350 logins on weekdays, falling to about 60 on weekends.

 

When you are setting up, all sections have a toggle button for a simple yes or no to displaying/utilising that function, so any parts you don't want to use are just set at No. We have Contact teachers available for parents but not the student role for example. For the year 11s, I am fairly sure you can set a time frame for when they are removed.

 

I set Insight up here really quickly - (we were also using SLG previously). It really IS as simple as it looks in the demo, and I love the fact that you can switch to a parent and see exactly what they see so when setting up you can check every step of the way that it looks as you would expect it to.

 

Hope that helps.

[DR3W]

@vikpaw I did ask most of these questions after the demo, but the lady I spoke to wasn't sure and sent me to the wiki pages they have to find answers.

[DR3W]

@SouthCoastSaint Thank you very much, that is really handy and helpful info.

[jenny_urey]

Hi all,

 

I have been researching Parental Engagement Software's and TASC seems to be the one I want to focus on most. Previously, the school used SLG (before my time) but it was a complete bust! So this time, they've put me in charge of the Insight Project. Before I chased up a demo for myself, I did a little research and found plenty of schools that use it seem to be happy with the set up and ease of use. I have since then had a demo with the company and I really loved the simplicity that came with it. Logging in was minimal effort and we can alter what parents see.

 

I've read plenty of posts in terms of distribution of usernames and one time passwords but am a little skeptical on how I can achieve getting all parents to sign up. After running a report only 29 parents have an email on file out of the 1500 pupils here. Does Insight rely on the parent having an email address in terms of distributing this information? Any insight on this issue would be much appreciated.

 

Also, I only really want the bare basics to start and have been trying to find answers to my own questions as the person who gave me the demo couldn't answer them. I've been successful 90% of the time, finding what I need to know with the TASC wiki pages but I still have some questions that are pestering me.

 

Language Translator - Does it read the SIMS file and detect the home language so parents can change between English and said language? (The language bolt on)

What happens when students leave mid-phase and then return after x amount of months?

What happens to the parent logins when the year 11's leave?

How are new intake parent usernames and passwords generated? Does that also rely on email?

There are some parts of Insight I don't want parents to use such as absence reporting or updating details. Is there a way not include those on setup?

When is the best time to set up Insight? During a school term or the half term (summer in my case)?

Is there any way to link the parents to the behaviour reward platform Vivo through Insight?

 

I do apologise if the questions seem random and all over the place, its just what I have currently planted in my head.

 

Any advice or answers would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Hi DR3W

 

Firstly may I apologise that all your questions were not answered during the demonstration. Little frustrating however I believe the person who demonstrated is a young lady who has now left the company so unable to re-train accordingly or turn back the clock so I am sorry about that.

 

If you email my team on [email protected] or call 01902 824281 they will give you all the information you need and will be happy to assist. All above is straight forward to answer and easy to manage...I could answer all on this forum however this could be deemed as 'selling' and I may get a virtual slap off the Edugeek guys!

 

I would contact you direct if I could suss out who you are.

 

Many thanks

 

Jenny

[Schoolcomms]

I've read plenty of posts in terms of distribution of usernames and one time passwords but am a little skeptical on how I can achieve getting all parents to sign up.

 

We have a product similar to TASC Insight.

 

Parents register themselves, a text is sent to the parent with their PIN and they use that to login. If they lose their login details they can reset them themselves- so you don’t need to be involved at any point. You do need to have contact details for parents in SIMS, but we have useful stuff to make that pretty painless.

Parents can see it all on our smartphone app as well as website, we find over 50% of access is on a mobile device, and the automatic push notifications mean parents know when there is new stuff to look at.