To All Schools interested in being a part of Wave #1

To All Schools

To All Wave #1 Schools, and those that might be interested in being in Wave #1

To All Wave #1 Schools.

I thought I would give you an update on the status of training and implementation for Aspen.

1. Our team has been receiving training from the Provincial team for the last two weeks on the new MyEDBC system. Our team has been involved in a number of working groups over the last year and during the selection process, so we have seen the system before, but this was the first time we really got to spend extended time working with and testing different aspects of the system. We can definitely say that this system is much more user friendly and logical to use, and a lot more powerful with what you can do with it compared to BCeSIS.

2. We had hoped to start training this week with schools, but because of a number of configuration items that the Provincial team is still working on that have been delayed and that the first conversion round is only happening at the end of June. We have decided that it is best if we wait until July to start training for Independent Schools. We want to ensure you have the best possible training, if we proceed before the system is ready, we will just need to re-train on your own data again later.

3. The training sessions for Independent schools will be in person and will be done in Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Duncan, Victoria, and Kelowna. These session will be 2 day’s in length and each school will be able to bring 2 – 3 people to the sessions. (we suggest a principal or vice principal, secretary, and your scheduler). I have had a number of people ask me for dates so that they can book their summer vacation, at the moment we don’t have confirmed dates. But you can go ahead and book your  summer vacation because we will be having multiple sessions each week for most of the summer so their will be lots of chances to attend a session that meets your schedule. Our plan is to do a quick 1 hour teacher intro session at the end of June, and then a more in depth online session closer to the end of August specifically for teachers.

As soon as we have clearer information from the Provincial team on the items they are still finishing we will be sending out more information about dates.

If you have any questions you are always more than welcome to email me at: andrewsmit@bcesisigroup.ca

Thanks,
Andrew.
Independent School Project Manager

We are excited to announce the list of the Wave #1 schools, going live Sept 2014. (see below). This list was based on your indication of which wave you wanted to be a part of on the MOU you submitted to the Ministry. If you are missing from the list, please let me know by emailing andrewsmit@bcesisigroup.ca Or if you school no longer wishes to be a part of Wave #1 please let me know as well.

There are still a lot of pieces of the implementation plan that we are waiting on from the provincial team, but here is some information that we do know:

1. The iGroup implementation team is going to be trained sometime between the 12th – 23rd of May 2014. After which we will need a week or so to modify the training materials for the independent schools.

2. As such training for independent schools will be starting sometime between the 26th May – 2nd of June. We will training sessions throughout the summer until probably the end of July. We will also be doing refresher training for everyone in August, as well as doing a couple of online sessions for all your teachers. (they will be recorded for your teachers to watch later if they cannot attend).

3. We are planning on doing training sessions in the Fraser Valley, Vancouver, Kelowna, and Victoria, and possibly Terrace. We don’t have specific dates or locations yet, but we contact your school as soon as we have the information. The plan is to have 5-6 schools in each training session and each training session should be about 2 days (we will be able to confirm this exactly once we have received training and see how easy or hard it is to train on different areas). We will have at least two of our trainers at these sessions, and each school will be able to bring 2-3 people. (ideally you would be your front desk person, scheduling person, and a principle or vice-principle)

4. For those BCeSIS schools we will be handling all of the data conversion for you (ie. all your data will automatically convert over to MyEducationBC) however you will need to verify the conversion to make sure it is right. For those non-BCeSIS schools we are working on how we can import the data the most efficiently.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Andrew Smit
andrewsmit@bcesisigroup.ca
– BCeSIS/MyEducationBC Independent School Project Manager –

LIST OF WAVE #1 SCHOOLS:

The MOU from the Ministry is now available for signing. By completing the attached Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Education, participating school authorities are asked to confirm their commitment to implementing the new student information service prior to March 2016. It would be appreciated if the Memorandum of Understanding could be returned to the Ministry of Education by February 16, 2014 to be included in Wave #1. 

For more information and to download MOU to be signed please click here. 

A few of you have been asking for an update on Aspen.

1. The MOU is still being reviewed by the Ministry and we are hoping that it will be sent to schools in the next couple weeks for you to sign.
2. If you missed the other online Aspen demo sessions they did in Nov/Dec they are doing it again on the 29th January 2014. This is going to be the same as all the previous ones so you don’t need to go again if you have been before. But if you haven’t or want other staff members to have a look at it you can sign up here: http://sisimplementation.ca/awareness-workshop-registration
3. Finally if you haven’t indicated your interest in Aspen or your desire implementation wave please make sure to submit your information here: http://bcsupportonline.com/connectedbc/ (item #1)
4. Finally there is lots of behind the scenes work that is being done to get things ready for schools to start implementing, and as I have more information I will be sharing it with all schools.

If you have any questions as always feel free to email me at: andrewsmit@bcesisigroup.ca

The Aspen has just announce the list of dates and locations for a series of demonstrations for the new Aspen software. This will be a chance to see the actual application and what it is capable of doing. It will also be a chance to ask questions about the software. Our team will be there as well to answer any questions that schools have and to explain the general process of implementation. These sessions are FREE however registration is required. Click here to see the dates and to register (if you already attended the consortium meeting a couple weeks ago it will be very similar to that, but you are welcome to attend again if you want)

If you have any questions about these please feel free to contact me at andrewsmit@bcesisigroup.ca

Message from the Student Information System Executive Steering Committee

November 5, 2013

The SIS Executive Steering Committee is pleased to announce that the Ministry of Education has entered into a contract with Fujitsu Consulting (Canada) Inc. to deliver ConnectEdBC (Aspen), a new hosted student information service to replace BCeSIS.

ConnectEdBC will be built around Follett Corporation’s proven Aspen SIS product. ConnectEdBC will deliver a modern, full-featured student information system capable of supporting complex functions and province-wide implementation.

Aspen SIS was selected because it has proven features that best address B.C.’s key requirements, including:

• A true enterprise solution that maintains a single record for each student throughout their entire education journey, from Pre-K to graduation;
• A modern, easy to use and easy to learn user interface;
• Features and flexibility to support personalized learning, special needs, and flexible scheduling options;
• A secure web-based portal, accessible through all browsers (including mobile device browsers), to provide parents and students with real-time access to student records;
• The ability for parents and students to monitor student progress on a continual basis and communicate securely with teachers and school-based staff;
• A suite of robust reporting tools that, within appropriate security constraints, can access all relevant and necessary student information;
• An enterprise solution that includes security and privacy management, integration with provincial authentication services, backup, archiving, and disaster recovery services, and user support and training.

The transition to ConnectEdBC will take place in two phases.

Start-up phase: Fujitsu/Follett will work closely with experts from school districts and independent schools to prepare and configure the new service and ensure it meets the needs of schools in B.C.  This phase will be very intensive and focus on critical tasks that must be completed before schools can begin to use the new service. School districts will be asked to contribute subject matter experts for many of these activities. This work will start immediately in order for the service to be production-ready by April 2014.

Implementation phase: School districts and independent schools will work with Fujitsu and use the training tools developed in the start-up phase to support deployment in their schools.  Implementation will begin in April 2014 and run to early 2016. BCeSIS will be decommissioned at the end of the implementation phase.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education, participating Boards of Education will need to confirm their commitment to implementing the new service as well as assign internal resources to fill key roles and provide an initial indication of their implementation plans.

In November and December a series of awareness workshops and demonstrations will be provided at various locations and online.  Further information about these activities will be available shortly.

The completion of the selection process and contract preparation is a major milestone.  On behalf of the SIS Executive Steering Committee I would like to thank everyone who has contributed their time, expertise and enthusiasm to this important initiative.

Renate Butterfield

Assistant Deputy Minister

Chair, SIS Executive Steering Committee

Next Steps for Independent Schools?

1. Firstly you can review the presentation that Renate Butterfield (Assistant Deputy Minister) gave at an open meeting last week by clicking here to download. This powerpoint outlines the general timelines, tasks to be completed by Aspen, and Roles of all stakeholders.

2. Secondly  there will be a number of sessions scheduled to showcase/demo the new SIS for schools.  The list of dates and location for the demo sessions have just been announced. Click here to registration (The sessions are FREE but registration is required). The Independent School Implementation team will be there as well to answer any questions independent schools have about implementation and the process.

3. The Ministry and Aspen are seeking candidates to serve on a number of working groups to assist in providing advice on configuration and setup of Aspen so that the SIS is most closely aligned with the needs of schools of all different types. (ie. DL, High Schools, K-12′s, Independent, etc).

• For more detailed information on these working groups click here for details on the requirements for the groups.
• If you are wanting to be a part of the one of the working group click here to sign up. Please note that due to the limited number of spaces there will probably only be one or two Independent school reps on each of the groups.

4. Starting in late March/early April we are expecting that our team (Adam, Albert, and myself) are going to be receive training on the SIS. We are going to be asking for individuals from the Independent schools to join us during this initial training to help us ask questions of the Aspen Training team that we might not think of. (ie. to be subject matter experts for us). We will be sending out more information about this closer to the time when we have more details on dates and timing.

4. Once our team has received training, we are then going to be developing training materials specific to Independent schools, testing different setups for different types of independent schools, and inviting schools to be a part of the initial wave (pilot) of schools to implement Aspen. (this invitation will be open to both schools currently using BCeSIS, and those that are using other systems currently)  We are expecting to pilot about 20-25 independent schools, with training for your school starting late April/early May, with the expectation that the first schools will be using Aspen in Sept 2014.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at andrewsmit@bcesisigroup.ca

Thanks,

Andrew Smit

– Independent School BCeSIS/Aspen Project Manager –

We have confirmed that there will be a presentation by Renate Butterfield and a demonstration of the Aspen Student Information System at the Common SIS Consortium meeting on October 30th from 8am – 3:30 p.m at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel in Richmond. Contract negotiations are nearing conclusion and we anticipate that the Ministry will be providing updates soon. Please find attached the revised agenda including the demonstration of Aspen by trainers from Follett as well as an additional session yet to be finalized with Follettt and Fujitsu. Please continue to watch the registration site for the latest information.

We encourage all districts to attend this meeting and to consider bringing both technical (L1) and training support as well as educators as the afternoon will be led by Dean Goodman, Lead for Strategic Educational Transformation, as we discuss “Reporting Student Progress”. Our normal subcommittee meetings will occur and the Student Achievement Committee will focus on assessment. The new student information system will play a key role in the BC Educational Plan and this is an opportunity to dialogue with other districts about assessment practices and reporting student achievement both through report cards and analytics.

To register online follow this link to Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/event/7052402927

Registration cost is $75.19 (which includes processing costs). Hotel rooms are available at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel under the Common SIS Consortium at a conference rate. Please call the hotel for details.

Add your voice to the discussions on governance and network with colleagues from across the province. We hope to see you on October 30th from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel at 7551 Westminster Highway, Richmond, BC V6X 0B5.