Monthly Mentions Newsletter – August 2018

The start of school can be a crazy time but HelpDesk is here to make it easier.  With the start of school quickly approaching, FastDirect wants to make sure your school is ready.  In addition to completing the Summer Transition steps, there are several other items to be addressed.  To stay on top of the many features and settings that need to be reviewed for the start of school, we have created a checklist for administrators, as well as separate ones for teachers and parents.  Click the links below to view the checklists, as well as click here to view our Summer Timeline.

Here are the three different checklists we’ve created:

Click here to view the administrator checklist!

Click here to view the teacher checklist!

Click here to view the parent checklist!

HelpDesk is available to help guide you through these steps – just contact HelpDesk with an FDmail message or call our toll free number 866.805.3116.

Assigning courses to teachers is an important step at the beginning of every school year.  If you have any new teachers who are missing their courses, we have a feature that lets you reassign the inactive teacher’s courses to the new teacher!

To reassign all of an inactive teacher’s courses to a new teacher, follow these steps:

1. In Show Who Teaches What, select the new teacher and click Edit
2. Scroll down to the bottom left hand corner. Look for the ‘Give Courses To (Instructor’s name):’ header and drop down
3. Select the name of the teacher who has been made inactive (those names appear toward the bottom of the list); click ‘Reassign All Courses’
4. When the page refreshes, the courses will appear in the teacher’s list but they will be empty and will still need to be filled with the necessary students

Besides the Administrator Checklist, we also have for you an activation letter (as a mail merge file) which includes the activation letter plus the activation code for each new parent – as a batch print! As schools start the 2018-2019 school year, new parents will need an activation letter to get activated in FastDirect.  We have an activation letter that we can customize for your school and we can also provide a mail merge file which includes an activation letter for each new parent as a batch print. We also have a Family Welcome packet that helps parents better understand FastDirect and the role it plays with the school and families. In your Links page, you will have links to the activation letter and the Family Users Guide.  If you need a mail merge for the activation letters, just send a request to HelpDesk.

There is a Teacher Checklist designed to help teachers get ready for the new school year.There is a Teacher Checklist designed to help teachers get ready for the new school year.  Just follow this list and you’ll be all set in FastDirect! Click here to view the teacher checklist!

With regards to your GradeBook, don’t forget that you can copy grade book events from one course to another.  This feature is such a time saver, especially for our speciality teachers!Here are the steps to copy events:

1. Open up the grade book for the course that needs the new events copied to it
2. In the top right hand menu, click on ‘Copy Events’
3. In the course selection drop down, select the course that has the events you want to copy
4. When the events appear, check mark which events you want to copy
5. If needed, change the date of the events (system will default to the current day)
6. Click ‘Copy Events’
7. If needed, you are able to edit the newly copied events by clicking on the event name

There is a Parent Checklist designed to help parents and guardians get ready for the new school year.  Just follow this list and you’ll be all set in FastDirect!  Click here to view the parent checklist!

Want to find your FastDirect login page quickly?  Your smartphone or tablet’s home screen isn’t just for apps.  You can pin your FastDirect login page to your home screen so you can quickly access your school’s portal.  Click here to read this FAQ!

• How do I change the dates in ReportCard Input Controls?
• How can the Links page help teachers?
• How do I help a parent who is having trouble with the activation process?

Watch this video tutorial to learn about setting up the daily menu!

• Click here to watch the video tutorial as an MP4!
• Click here to watch the video tutorial in Youtube!