This week, I’d like to share some best practices and practical tips from Donna, a Technology Coordinator. Her efforts help her whole school community stay connected through FastDirect Communications.
Here’s what the principal at her school has to say:
“Donna goes above and beyond the call of duty to help parents with any FastDirect access and navigation issues. She gives them helpful tips on how to get the most out of FD through the planners, calendars, bulletin boards, and messaging options. Because of this they don’t just log in to see their children’s grades and progress. She also assists our school secretary in entering the new students, updating the teachers’ databases and creating their schedules. As a result she helps to optimize the faculty’s experience with the system as well. She is always available to help the teachers before, during and after school hours to troubleshoot and help them get comfortable with all the features in FastDirect, even those new ones! This way they can maximize their effectiveness with their students and in their ongoing communication with parents.”
3 Ways FastDirect Helps:
How do you get parents started on FastDirect?
We use the first page of the Parent Welcome Packet and give parents their activation code right away. Then we ask them to log on within 24 hours. We also provide training and support for parents through our newsletters and through two parent meetings (the open house and our Catholic Schools Week meeting).
What features do parents like the best?
They love to check online grades (GradeBook), teacher communication, and FDmail (email). For example, if there’s a change in someone getting picked up, parents prefer to send an FDmail (email) message rather than calling.
Do you get feedback from parents?
There doesn’t seem to be too much, but if there is an issue I encourage that they use FastDirect as the first line of communication.
