As Northwest Academy students shift back to in-person learning, many are struggling to keep track of homework. This transition, combined with a switch to a new online platform called the My School App (MSA), has created a challenging environment for some students.
“Every other day someone says, ‘Oh, this is due tomorrow by the way,’ and I had no idea,” said Paloma Thrailkill, a junior. “Either the teachers need to communicate better or they need to find a better way to give us our homework online.”
The school’s decision to move from Google Classroom to MSA has been challenging and controversial for many. Some students and teachers who use the new platform said that it is confusing, not user-friendly and crashes frequently.
“From a student perspective, MSA seems to make everything much more difficult than Google Classroom,” said Clyde Oh-Keith, a sophomore. “With Google Classroom, everything was in one place, but Okta/MSA makes you go in all different directions, and sign in many different times.”
Google Classroom became essential during the pandemic, and was broadly popular among students. It is no longer an option because teachers are now required to use MSA for class resources, grading and assigning work.
“I think [Google Classroom] was the only reason that online school worked at all, having that one place where you could submit sheets or documents, or you could message teachers, etc.,” said Adam Fortmann, a senior. “It was all in one place and easy to use.”
Several students said that the lack of consistent use between teachers, not the platform itself, was the main reason they found MSA confusing. Not every teacher uses MSA in the same way, and remembering which assignment to turn in where can add another layer of complexity.
“MSA is very different for each class because the teachers create it and the teachers edit it, so you have to do a lot of things to gather every single bit of homework,” said Finn Schwarz, a junior. “I think it should be one system that’s universal, that’s the same for everybody that works for every single class.”
Some teachers agreed with this sentiment, mentioning a learning curve and not enough guidance from the administration as reasons for the difficulties.
“It probably would be best if we got a message from the higher ups that this is what has to happen and there’s like one system that everyone relies on,” said Ryan Campbell, a math and science teacher. “I can imagine from a student perspective, if teacher X is only on MSA, and teacher Y is not on MSA, and then teacher Z is half on MSA, that would be super confusing and hard to keep track of.”
Some staff, who have been troubleshooting for the school’s online services, instead took issue with Google Classroom, including Systems and Technology director John Storhm.
“Google Classroom, like a lot of free things that you can get online, is not really a well-designed product,” said Storhm. “We had lots of issues with students not being able to submit assignments, we had lots of issues with parents not being able to get updates.”
One hurdle faced by teachers when using Google Classroom was having to type assignments and their grades into two platforms.
“I like that MSA is directly connected to the gradebook so that we don’t have to have multiple websites open, but I don’t like that there have been glitches and other problems that have caused confusion and added stress for students and teachers,” said Lisa Notman, a Spanish teacher.
The administration decided as a group to transition to an MSA-only system. They made the decision in order to help teachers and staff, some of whom were struggling with Google Classroom. While members of the administration acknowledged the difficulties mentioned by students, many also praised MSA for it’s flexibility and integration.
Morgan Kunze, the school’s Admissions and Database Associate, stated that integration was one of the key reasons why Northwest Academy made the switch to MSA and chose it over other possible Google Classroom alternatives.
“The main goal was to provide one place for students, teachers, and families to “do school.” Having assignments, class materials, and teacher gradebooks in the same place as schedules, attendance, calendars, announcements, permission slips, transcripts and more, means that we’re all working with the same tool set and can support each other seamlessly,” said Kunze.
Julia Cain, the school’s college counselor, cited lack of teacher training due to Covid as one of the main reasons for difficulties experienced by teachers and staff, but mentioned that she sent out guides through email with instructions for students wondering how to properly use MSA.
“I kind of feel like the school has just purchased a Ferrari and we’ve been driving a Gremlin so it’s like we have to figure out how to use this tool, ” said Cain, “But the setback is just not having enough time to really train and know what we don’t know because there’s a lot we don’t know. But I do think the good thing is there’s a lot of information in one place so for families looking for information, we just gotta use it so you know where to find it.”
Reporting by Sam Noble-Kats and Jasper Selwood
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