[sims] Sims Learning Gateway.... a failure?

[glennda]

And that also allows you to set the Homework directly from a Register in SIMS?

 

With SLG that is, literally, all a Class Teacher has to do! What could be simpler?

 

No but all the timetables etc are linked from sims etc. Does the slg module allow you to pull reports of students rag rate homework? Or who sets what homework which teachers don't etc?

[Sivadam]

Not sure what you mean by 'rag rate'.

 

SLT can see all the Homework set by anybody for anybody. They can do that directly via SIMS or via SLG.

 

The Homework is ALL available in SIMS via Focus as well as via Registers, pupil records etc etc. Obviously this is duplicated in SLG, but there is actually no need to visit SLG if you are in school (or if you have a VPN etc into SIMS). Reports etc will be available in SIMS itself!

 

The Homework Diary in SLG (with its hyperlinks to the Homework Resources) is available to Parents, Pupils and Staff!

 

Hopefully, in the not too distant future, a magic button will appear so that the pupils can submit the Homework to their teacher, online!

 

Wonderful! I hope that I get the approval to go ahead - I've been pushing it for a while now!

Edited February 10, 2012 by Sivadam

[glennda]

Not sure what you mean by 'rag rate'.

 

Red Amber Green, I.e they can say I found this hard, ok, easy and then teachers can easily see which areas the class needs to look at again.

[Sivadam]

Now that is a good idea! Thanks - I'll pass it on to the new SLG Product Manager - when (s)he is appointed.

So you gave me one reason why your system is better!

I don't think that is that significant when you consider the SIMS functionality in conjunction with the SLG functionality!

[glennda]

I'll pm you a login and you can look at the inside of ours.

 

T

[zag]

Yesterday we bought TASC insight, and all I can say is what an improvement compared to SLG!!!

 

Some highlights:

 

- TASC insight price was £980 (SLG cost £15,000)

- Install took 3minutes. Yes you read that right 3mins from receiving the order email. Simple Windows installer, all it needed was IIS installed and dot.net 4.

- There are no extra servers, AD patches, ADP services. Just one simple installer on a Sims workstation is needed. Upgrades work in the same way, couple of clicks. In contrast for SLG we needed to pay an extra 1.5k a year for managing the upgrade as it was so complicated.

- The user interface is brilliant, so easy to use and intuitive. The "web 2.0" theme is well worth using, looks very modern.

- The navigation is all on the left hand side with easy to use buttons and very simple to find the page you want in easy to use categories.

- The graphics and icons TASC use are really good (check the screenshots)

- The admin interface took 2mins to create the users. No errors or complicated options like SLG.

- Setting up users was easy, generating passwords simple and easy to remember (no upper case and lowercase ridiculous combos like SLG). Setting up 950 users took 10mins.

- All reports show instantly in PDF format inbedded in the page. Unlike SLG which requires you to first publish them and then download them using file save as.

- The Achievement and Behaviour buttons are excellent on the first page and easy to see instantly. SLG is burried somewhere I can't even remember where.

- TASC insight works beutifully on the ipad with big easy to use buttons and menus. SLG is a complete failure when using mobile devices.

- No instructions are needed for parents on TASC insight, its so easy to use. In comparison the SLG manual was 20+ pages long.

- The extra modules parent evening bookings, reporting absences and surveys are well worth looking into. Great new functionality I hadn't even thought of.

 

As you can probably tell, we've been quite impressed with this software. I'm sure SLG has a place for some people for things like teachers writing reports online but we've got remote desktop access over the web here so they much prefer doing it that way. For us, an easy to use parental gateway is all we ever wanted and thats what TASC insight has given us.

 

Here's some screenshots for anyone who's interested in the interface.

 

Edited May 31, 2012 by zag

[reggiep]

I agree with zag about Tasc Insight. I have never seen SLG but I don't need to as I know Insight just works.

Also their support is amazing. If you have a request they very often add that in an update that could come out the following day!

[GREED]

I see Zag is sitting on the fence with his feelings on SLG

 

I must say I cannot believe how it is even shifting at all at those prices?

 

I'm glad you have found something that works for you, I too have heard nothing but good things from TASC customers.

[GREED]

Hopefully, in the not too distant future, a magic button will appear so that the pupils can submit the Homework to their teacher, online!

 

Never mind, Aspen already has that feature...

 

In fact, homework doesn't just have to be docs and pdfs, but interactive internal pages like quizes and the likes, pumping automated results back into the teacher definable markbooks, or even pull e-resources from you library system or online subscriptions into such an assignment.

Edited May 31, 2012 by GREED
more stuff to say

[CyberNerd]

 

I must say I cannot believe how it is even shifting at all at those prices?

 

 

It's bought by the LA's who partner with capita, they then resell it to schools at a fraction of the price.

From my experience, even when SLG is heavily discounted, the man hours involved makes it too expensive to implement.

( Same argument with SIMS really)

[GREED]

Loss making LA projects... who signs off on these things! Actually, silly question that...

[vikpaw]

At BETT TASC were showing a tool, that let students rate the lesson / teacher. Like whether they enjoyed it, or were engaged, something like that. Although it's a scary tool to give them, the results were fantastic. At least from a management point of view. You can see any correlations between the lesson delivery and grades.

[GREED]

I saw that too @vikpaw thought that was really neat.