Edudemic published a recent post about the 5 biggest education technology trends that teachers and administrators should be aware of. Here are the trends they listed:

• Online learning
• Alternative credentialing platforms
• Tablets and smartphones
• E-textbooks
• Learning management systems

This is what Edudemic said about learning management systems:

Technology doesn’t just disrupt education; it makes it easier for educators to do their job. That’s the case with learning management systems, which track and monitor student progress and effectively are data analytics for education, simplifying the process so that teachers can focus on what they do best. As they get phased in, expect LMS systems to join the list of technologies changing the way we think about teaching.

We can help your school move forward with this exciting new technology with RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle. Want to learn more? Email us at moodleproductmanagement@renweb.com.

The most successful school boards and executive leaders consistently implement these three best practices for leadership: They Hire Well, Fire Well and Engage the Donor.

Despite the many issues and responsibilities that compete for attention, the most effective board trustees and chief administrators diligently keep these three keys as the top priority. Scott Barron, Chief Reinvention Officer & CEO of School Growth, will share how these keys are implemented to create a high performing organization that is equipped for greatness. Failing to execute well in these three areas will produce unnecessary stress, turnover and risk at all levels. Many understand the importance of these key elements and concepts but struggle with the implementation processes. A balance is essential between these elements and the polarities that can tip the scales--potentially resulting in “Boards Gone Wild.” (Another board development series from School Growth.)

Webinar participants will have the opportunity to submit questions in advance and during the one hour session.

Register for the Series

PART ONE: 3 Keys for Successful School Leadership: Hire Well (1 of 3) - May 7 at 2:00 PM ET

Nothing is more important for the board and for the chief administrator than hiring talented employees who are well-aligned with the mission, culture, strategies and position of the school. This duty should not and must not be outsourced! Imagine if Apple or Google recruited the way most schools do. Would they still be in business or be as successful?

Part One will feature the effective talent cycle that the best schools use to build an outstanding administrative team and faculty. Attendees will learn to build on employees' unique strengths, including how to best bring out an employee's star attributes while also blending into the overall team.

PART TWO: 3 Keys for Successful School Leadership: Fire Well (2 of 3) - May 14 at 2:00 PM ET

Dealing with an underperforming employee is inevitable. Evaluation and, if necessary, dismissal can be accomplished in a manner that is constructive for the person and the organization. Fire poorly, however, and you will create consequences that are expensive, demoralizing and disruptive.

Part Two will feature performance review and counseling techniques that build on the integrity of the organization to build a culture of high expectations and professional respect. Participants will also learn how to minimize the risks of a lawsuit, and how to sustain momentum through a period of transition in leadership.

PART THREE: 3 Keys for Successful School Leadership: Engage the Donor (3 of 3) - May 21 at 2:00 PM ET

At the most successful schools, fundraising isn't about selling stuff and managing events. Consultative relationship development with an ROI focus is most common among the organizations that raise the big bucks, with the board and administration collaborating to cultivate generosity throughout the community.

Part Three will feature fundraising techniques designed to cultivate deeper relationships that encourage donors to make the organization a top giving priority. Participants will also gain a better understanding of how to structure the annual fund calendar and the campaign leadership to maximize the results.

Now is your chance to sign up for a FREE trial that lasts until August 1 of RenWeb Learning Management, our hosted Moodle service that integrates with RenWeb. That means you’ll have time to get set up and ready for the new school year -- at no cost and with no risk! We’ll set up your Moodle site so you can load your content and train your teachers before school starts. If you decide to move forward with the service, we won’t begin making payments until August 1.

To get started, simply sign up below for a free demonstration of RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle. After the demonstration, we’ll provide you instructions how to begin your free trial.

Register for Sessions and Receive Your Free Trial

• Tuesday, May 7 - 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM CT

• Wednesday, May 15 - 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CT

• Thursday, May 23 - 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM CT

• Wednesday, May 29 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CT

When prospective parents visit your school’s website, what call to action do you want them to see? Do you want them to learn more about your school? Read about the academic and extracurricular offerings you have? Fill out an online inquiry form?

The first step in improving your school website’s call to action is to determine what you want your prospective parents to do.

What’s next? You need to convince prospective parents that there is something in it for them. What makes your school enticing? You have to give prospective parents a reason to want to learn more. A well-designed website that communicates your brand effectively goes a long way to accomplishing this.

Schools should make it easy for prospective families to contact them for more information. An online inquiry form is essential to today’s tech-savvy parents. Make sure the inquiry/request information button or link is visible on every page of your website.

How does your school get parents to move to the inquiry stage?

We came across this article in Forbes about how businesses need to be going “SoLoMo”—or, Social, Local and Mobile.

Recent research Forbes cited shows how important “SoLoMo” is to small businesses. (It’s time to start thinking of your school like a small business!) Here are some statistics you need to be aware of:

• 97% of consumers now search for local businesses online
• 72% trust online reviews
• 78% of small businesses now get at least a quarter of their new customers via social media

Here are some ways you can go SoLoMo:

1. Make sure your school is registered with local search systems.
2. Prioritize getting your school reviewed online.
3. Invest time and effort into your school’s social media channels and use them effectively.
4. Make sure your school website is mobile-friendly.

Have a few minutes? Here are 10 important updates to make to your school’s website today:

1. Get rid of your contact form. If prospective parents want to contact your school, you want to make it as easy as possible. Post your school’s phone number, an email address and easy directions to your school. (Don’t forget to include parking instructions, if necessary.) For extra credit, have an easily accessible inquiry request form in addition to your contact page.
2. Don’t forget the small details! Do you know how many private schools don’t post the grade levels they serve (i.e., K-8, PK-12, etc.)? A lot! Make sure you post your school’s available grade levels in a prominent area.
3. Update your staff directory. Keeping your staff directory updated is important. Make sure the email addresses and phone numbers are still accurate.
4. Put a map on your contact page or on a directions page. Learn how to embed a Google Map into your website here.
5. Make sure your school calendar is up to date. Are all upcoming sports games listed? Any special events you need to add?
6. Remove any links that send you to an “Under Construction” page. Once that section is ready, just put the link back up.
7. Buy a domain name for your school. Are you using a long, confusing hyperlink to your school? Keep it short and simple with your own domain name. (It looks better on your marketing material too.)
8. Check and make sure all your downloadable documents are current. Are you still linking to the 2011-2012 handbook? Do you have an athletics physical form from 2010 still available for download?
9. Add links to your school’s social media accounts. If you have a school Facebook Page or Twitter and don’t link to it from your website, add a few buttons so people know how to find you!
10. Create an FAQ page. Do you get a lot of the same questions from prospective families? Consider creating an FAQ page that can help clarify some general questions.

Rick Newberry, President of Enrollment Catalyst, wrote a blog post this week about 12 Ways to Stop Attrition in its Tracks and we thought it made a good pairing to our blog post yesterday about making your school more inviting to prospective families.

Here are Rick’s tactics to keep current families enrolled at your school:

1. Enlist a retention champion.
2. Grade your families.
3. Reach out “one family at a time.”
4. Roll out the red carpet.
5. Focus on the transition grades.
6. Tell stories.
7. Market internally during re-enrollment.
8. Send personal notes.
9. Serve coffee and conversation.
10. Make a state-of-the-school address.
11. Say thank you.
12. Conduct an annual satisfaction survey.

For more on each of these tactics, see Rick’s blog here.

How do prospective families learn more about your school? Here is a checklist of a few important items your school should have:

• An easy-to-navigate website. Does your school’s website make a good first impression to a prospective parent? It’s important to have a website that’s both visually appealing and highly functional.
• Visible contact information. Make it as easy as possible for parents to contact your school directly. Consider doing away with contact forms and instead post a general email address (like frontdesk@school.com) and a telephone number. This information should be on the front page of your website, on a separate “Contact” page on your website and on all your admissions and information materials.
• An online inquiry form. Online inquiry forms simplify the admissions process for parents that are eager to move to the next step in the discovery process. It’s important that your school use an inquiry form that’s integrated with your school management software in order to properly access funnel data and track prospects. See an example of RenWeb’s online inquiry form here.
• Open houses. Some schools offer frequent open houses or tours while other schools schedule them in monthly or quarterly intervals. If your school offers open houses, make sure the information is front and center on your school’s website. Post information about the open houses on your social media accounts too! Don’t forget about community newsletters. They can be a good place to advertise upcoming open houses. A formal, organized open house helps prospective parents see your facilities, gather information, speak to teachers and get an initial impression of the school. Some schools have begun to conduct Friend Day open houses as an alternative way to introduce prospective students to their school.
• Continue to reach out. If a prospective family has expressed interested in your school and you haven’t heard from them, consider reaching out and seeing if you can offer any assistance. A second tour of the school or introducing them to a “family ambassador” at your school may be beneficial.

Have you been evaluating school management systems? Here are 10 reasons why you should choose RenWeb:

1. We offer you one fully-integrated system that seamlessly shares data among administration, the classroom and the home. See our list of integrated features here. 
2. RenWeb offers your school added convenience with our mobile apps for staff (RenWeb Staff and RenWeb Staff HD); for parents (RenWeb Home) and for sending instantaneous notifications to parents and your school community (Parent Alert).
3. With RenWeb, you receive unlimited free lifetime training.
4. We are committed to providing our customers the highest level of customer support, which is why our clients receive unlimited tech support.
5. You can immediately post to our parent portal (ParentsWeb) and to report cards without the need to export any data as part of our fully integrated system.
6. RenWeb is easy to implement and maintain. We provide your servers—that means your school doesn’t have to purchase or maintain any hardware.
7. RenWeb clients receive upgrades at no additional cost.
8. We offer you free web form capability, which means families can update their family demographics and fill out permission slips electronically.
9. If you want to go above and beyond school management, RenWeb’s integrated value-added services include RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle, School Site, Donor Connect and more.
10. You can join us for our 2013 RenWeb Power Conference and see firsthand the power of RenWeb’s user community! View demonstrations of our newest products, learn more about our 200+ features, participate in roundtable discussions and sit down with our RenWeb Experts and RenWeb clients from around the world.

Email us at socialmedia@renweb.com for more information.

Rick Newberry, President of Enrollment Catalyst, recently featured a RenWeb school—First Baptist Academy in Naples, FL—on his blog. He interviewed Rebecca Curran, FBA’s Director of Admissions, about a student-to-student referral program they have implemented called Friend Day.

Rick asked Rebecca about the success of Friend Day and she said:

“Over the years we have had between 62-96 students visit on Friend Day. We also have had a range of 8%-16% of those students become FBA students the following school year.”

Wow! Do you have a student-to-student referral program or recruiting day at your school? Would you ever consider doing one?

We saw this blog post on Hubspot about inbound marketing strategies, including a list from Michael Lieberman, and thought many of the items were applicable to schools too. How do you incorporate traditional inbound marketing tactics into school marketing strategies? Here are a few tips:

1. “Make sure your website has the right messaging to help visitors pass the blink test.” – Does your school’s website meet all of your school’s needs? Is it visually appealing? Can visitors—whether they be current or prospective parents—find the information that they need in a few clicks? Does your school’s website communicate your school’s brand quickly and effectively?
2. “Add visual calls-to-action to your site.” – Is your contact information front-and-center? Do you have a “request information” link on your homepage? 
3. “Start blogging, and strive for a frequency of three to four times a week.” – If your school doesn’t have a blog yet, you should consider creating one. You can maximize your resources by using student bloggers.
4. “Share your blog content with social media followers.” – Don’t forget to advertise your new blog posts on Facebook and Twitter too!
5. “Nurture leads with campaigns that bring them further down the funnel.” – Do you have an efficient admissions tracking system? Can you automatically convert inquiries into prospects? If you don’t already use it, consider RenWeb’s Online Application to help you streamline and automate your admissions process. This service can increase your enrollment levels and improve parent satisfaction too!
6. “Share educational content on sites your target audience frequents.” – Offer your school community compelling content across all platforms. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
7. “Track and test all of your activities so you can get a more accurate gauge of what's working.” – Don’t forget to use an analytics tool to measure your website traffic.

What marketing tactics are you using at your school?

RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle offers schools a hosted learning management system that’s simple to manage and inexpensive to own. But did you know these other facts?

1. Moodle is the most widely-used open-source learning management system.
2. Moodle is SCORM compliant.
3. Unlike other LMS products, Moodle is a flexible, open-source platform. That means it is more customizable and offers you the option of using third-party plug-ins.
4. Moodle integrates with Google Apps for Education.
5. Moodle has a utility that allows you to clear out course work and gradebook information without erasing any course structure—perfect for a quick start for the next school year.
6. Moodle’s social learning tools helps encourage students to create content and collaborate together. Instead of students merely being information consumers, it helps students become information creators.
7. A learning management system like Moodle can help your school make the most of your 1:1 programs and devices. When launching 1:1 programs, schools often focus on management of the devices, but not on management of the digital lessons they will share on the devices. Moodle allows schools to maximize the value of their hardware investment by organizing and sequencing the digital lessons they will share with students.
8. Hosting Moodle on RenWeb is more cost-effective than using other Moodle hosting partners. For schools considering self-hosting, consider that using RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle will eliminate the need for employing additional tech staff or purchasing additional servers. 
9. RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle offers schools deep integration between RenWeb and Moodle. This integration includes student and staff members; automated configuration of courses within Moodle; automated enrollment/un-enrollment of students in Moodle courses based on changes made in RenWeb; automated updates to RenWeb’s gradebook for homework assignments and grades originating in Moodle and updates to ParentsWeb for homework assignments, grades and calendar events created in Moodle.
10. As part of your purchase of RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle, you have access to on-going Moodle Monday webinars led by Sqooltechs, our hosting partner and Moodle experts. Each class is led by live instructors in a webinar environment and focuses on different best practices for Moodle, including flipping your classroom with Moodle, incorporating games into courses, using peer assessment in Moodle and more. Additionally, Sqooltechs provides self-paced Moodle courses comprised of video tutorials, recommended exercises and self-checking quizzes to help beginner Moodle users familiarize themselves with how Moodle works.

Are you ready to make the move to Moodle? Email us at moodle@renweb.com.

Does your school have a student questionnaire or essay section on your application or online application?

A student questionnaire or essay can be a great way to find out more about potential students. Many schools use student questions or essays to complete a picture of what the child is like and to determine if their school is a good fit.

Here are some example questions we’ve seen from schools:

• What did you do over the summer?
• What is your favorite school subject and why?
• Outside of school, what are your most significant interests?
• What is your favorite book and why?
• What is the definition of a good friend?
• What are your favorite hobbies?
• What are some recent current events that have interested you?
• What interests you about our school? Why would you like to attend our school?
• What is one of your best school-related memories?
• Tell us about the most important person in your life.

Do you use essay questions on your school application? If so, what questions did you include?

It’s 3/14 and you know what that means…it’s Pi Day!

We’ve compiled a few of our favorite classroom activities and crafts that you can use to help celebrate this momentous occasion.

• This Pi Day “Solve and Snip” puzzle uses pizza to illustrate the area of circles.
• This Pi Day printable helps students create bracelets using beads, with black beads for decimal points.
• For more advanced students, here is a Pi Day Sudoku puzzle.
• Here is a list of several different Pi Day activities. 
• This Pi Day scavenger hunt is a fun way to teach the concept and learn a few other things along the way!
• Here’s a link to free Pi Day math problems.
• This blog has several Pi Day printables and freebies for the classroom.
• This Pi infographic lists tons of facts about Pi.

Enjoy the day!

Enables Teachers to Access Student Information, Manage Grade Books, Take Attendance, Record Lesson Plans, and Place Lunch Orders - all from their iPad.

March 12, 2013 - RenWeb School Management Software, the leading provider of Cloud-based school management systems, today announced the launch of its RenWeb Staff HD app for iPads, enabling teachers to access student information, manage grade books, take attendance, record lesson plans, and place lunch orders - all from their iPad.

"Our new RenWeb Staff HD iPad app takes our current RenWeb Staff iPhone app to the next level by leveraging the additional screen space we have available on the iPad to add new features and functionality. We’re very pleased to provide faculty members in our schools access to this powerful functionality from a mobile tablet,” said Bob Wilbers, RenWeb Founder and President.

RenWeb Staff HD provides mobile access from an iPad to the following RenWeb features and information:

STUDENT INFORMATION:

• Demographic Information

• Emergency Contact/Pickup

• Family Information

• Medical

• Behavior

• Parent/Teacher Conference

• Student Schedule

ATTENDANCE:

• Attendance by Class

• Two Columns for AM and PM Attendance

• Yearly Attendance Report

LUNCH:

• Student Lunch

• Staff Lunch

GRADE BOOK:

• Add/Edit Category

• Add/Edit Assignments

• Add/Edit Grades

• Controls for Grade Book Setup

• Grade Book Progress Reports by Quarter

LESSON PLANS:

• Lesson Plans

• Homework Published from Grade Book

• Copy from One Class to Another

SCHOOL:

• School Calendar

• School Announcements

• School, Parent and Student Directory

Future enhancements to RenWeb Staff HD include report card management and communications.

To download the RenWeb Staff HD App:

1. Click the App Store icon on the iPad screen.

2. Tap “Search Store” and type “RenWeb Staff HD” into the search bar. The RenWeb Staff HD app will appear in the search results.

3. Tap it, and then tap “FREE” in the upper right-hand corner.

4. Tap “INSTALL APP.”

5. Tap “OPEN.”

6. Tap “Login” and log in as normal to the system using your existing Username and Password.

Are you looking for ways to go green at your school?

Pay Now, powered by FACTS/NBS, allows your parents to make safe and secure online payments directly from ParentsWeb. If your school is using Pay Now, you can simply email your families their invoices! You can also notify families via email that their balances have been updated and posted on ParentsWeb. (Of course, you still have the option to mail invoices to families that don’t have access to email or prefer to receive a paper statement.)

This eco-friendly approach to invoicing and sending balance update notifications saves your school significant expenses and gives today’s busy parents more convenience and ease-of-use!

Learn more about Pay Now on Wednesday, March 20 at 10:00 AM CT!

Loads Moodle with Students, Faculty and Courses Originating in RenWeb

Updates RenWeb's Grade Book and Parent/Student Portal with Grades, Homework Assignments and other Content Originating in Moodle

Provides Management of Digital Lessons for Schools Launching 1:1 Device Programs and Blended Learning Classrooms

Moodle Hosting by RenWeb Provides One-Stop Shopping for Schools

If your school is looking at purchasing a Learning Management System (LMS), now is the time to sign up for your free 90-day trial of RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle.

Moodle, the most widely used LMS in the world, combines digital lesson content with student collaboration tools and powerful online quiz capabilities to create an interactive learning environment that reinforces traditional classroom teaching.

Especially important for schools launching 1:1 device programs, Moodle allows schools to maximize their investment in devices by organizing, sequencing and delivering digital lesson content to students on their devices.

Plus, hosting by RenWeb makes Moodle easy to own and operate. Our integrated solution loads students, faculty and courses stored in RenWeb into Moodle, and then updates RenWeb's grade book and ParentsWeb with grades, homework assignments and other content originating in Moodle.
To learn more, we encourage you to sign up for the following webinars by clicking on the link for the desired day and time.

Moodle Product Demonstration

This webinar provides an overview of learning management systems and what makes Moodle the most widely used LMS in the world with 59,000,000 users. It then provides an overview of what a Moodle course looks likes, demonstrates how the tools provided by Moodle can enrich the classroom learning experience for students, and covers pricing for Moodle hosting and support.

• Monday, March 4 - 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM CT

• Tuesday, March 12 - 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM CT

• Wednesday, March 20 - 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM CT

• Friday, March 29 - 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM CT

Moodle Integration Training

This webinar provides an overview of the integration that exists between RenWeb and Moodle. This includes RenWeb passing to Moodle RenWeb classes, teachers and students to create Moodle Users and Moodle Courses. It also includes passing homework assignments and scores created in Moodle to RenWeb's ParentsWeb for viewing by parents and students, and to RenWeb's grade book for calculating report card grades.

• Wednesday, March 6 - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

• Monday, March 25 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CT

Rick Newberry, President of Enrollment Catalyst, recently wrote a great blog post about three Facebook Page goals that a school should consider when developing a school marketing strategy.

Here are the three goals:

1. Facebook is a great place to tell the story of your school.
2. Facebook should be used to engage your audience in a conversation about your school.
3. The goal of your school’s Facebook Page should be to direct your viewers back to your school’s website.

Rick also lists ten Facebook post ideas that you can use to help meet these goals.

Here are a few things we came up with as well:

• Develop a creative fundraising campaign combining your school’s Facebook Page and Donate Online. (Read our case study of one school’s success with this strategy here.)
• Make sure you use a Facebook Page cover photo that conveys your school’s strengths.
• Include links to free online resources that students can use to help with homework or brag about school awards or special accomplishments. Get several more ideas here!
• Create an editorial calendar so you can ensure your Facebook Page stays active.
• Consider having only one Facebook Page for your school instead of multiple pages for various groups (alumni, sports, etc.).
• Use these suggestions to further build a vibrant Facebook community on your page.

Does your school have a thriving Facebook Page? We’d love to feature it in an upcoming blog post. Email us at socialmedia@renweb.com!

We’ve picked some of our favorite Valentine’s Day activities and printables from Pinterest and wanted to share them with you! (Don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest.)

• Here are some free printables to include with a bagged snack or treat.
• These printable Valentines can be customized with a student’s name!
• Looking for a fun Valentine’s game or craft? There are several ideas in this post!
• If you’re having a Valentine’s Day classroom party, these printable party hats would be great!
• Make a Valentine’s-themed paper airplane with this printable template.
• Turn a can of Play-Doh into a customized Valentine’s Day treat with this tutorial.
• Download a whole grade school Valentine craft pack.
• Learn ABC order with this Valentine’s day lesson.
• These Valentine’s printables are fun to share…and help teach students homophones too.
• Check out this Valentine’s Day bingo game!
• Use heart candy to help fill in words in a short essay. 

Do you have a favorite classroom activity for Valentine’s Day? Let us know!

Schools are always searching for new, innovative ways to attract donors and run successful fundraising campaigns. If you're looking to reach the new wave of tech-savvy parents in an upcoming campaign, consider using Donate Online in conjunction with your school's Facebook Page.

At St. Luke's Episcopal Day School in Baton Rouge, LA., Laurie Adams, the Institutional Advancement Director, did just that.

"Each year that new parents arrive, they are a year younger and a year more technologically savvy. When we sat down to think of ways to reach them in our annual campaign, we knew we needed something comfortable, fun and engaging," said Adams.

The Campaign

In response to this need, Adams and the team at St. Luke's created a campaign called 371 Reasons to Give. To drum up interest prior to the campaign launch, the school began posting photos on their Facebook Page of a student or faculty member holding a sign that said, "I Am a Reason."

"People kept checking to see if their student was going to be featured," said Adams. "It helped us create a lot of engagement on our Facebook Page prior to the official launch of the campaign."

Once the campaign launched, St. Luke's posted a link to their Donate Online secure donation page right on Facebook. Parents could simply click the link and make their donation via credit card.

The Results

"Parents told us that they loved how Donate Online made donating so fast, easy and convenient," said Adams. "In addition to placing a link to our Donate Online secure donation page on Facebook, we also included the link in email reminders to parents throughout the campaign. It's great how Donate Online is branded to our school and integrates directly with RenWeb. That integration meant I could just download the donation information for the day and process it directly into our system. It saved me a tremendous amount of time!"

By using Donate Online on their school Facebook Page, St. Luke's had their highest campaign participation rate to date and over 10% of the donors were new donors.

If you would like to learn how Donate Online can help with your upcoming fundraising campaign, feel free to register for one of our free webinar demonstrations listed below.

• Tuesday, February 12 - 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CST

• Thursday, February 28 - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CST

Is your school waiting to launch RenWeb’s Online Application and Online Enrollment features until you’re sure the services work and your parents will have a good experience?

Your wait is over. In 2012, 463 RenWeb schools processed over 100,000 Online Applications and Online Enrollment packets, and received over $11.4M in online payments for application and re-enrollment fees.  

As you consider whether or not to launch Online Application and Enrollment this year, here is some additional information that demonstrates how these services can increase your enrollment levels, accelerate collection of re-enrollment fees and improve parent satisfaction.

Online Application Statistics and Information

• 437 schools processed 39,000 Online Applications in 2012.

• 89.8% of schools using Online Application charged parents an application fee.

• The average application fee paid online by parents when submitting their application was $100.50. 

• Total online application fees collected by RenWeb schools exceeded $3.0 million.

Per Kim Norbeck, Admissions Coordinator at Wheaton Christian Grammar School in Wheaton, IL:

“We absolutely love our OA here at Wheaton Christian Grammar School! Over 60 percent of our new applications since our launch of OA in October have been online. I love how easy it is to navigate and customize. Thanks again for all your help in setting it up for us!”

Per Stacie Harrell, Admissions Director at Living Word Christian School in O’Fallon, MO:

“We had more applicants and new students than ever before because the new Online Application system was easier to use than our old paper application process. Last year we had approximately 100 new students.  We have 186 new students attending our school this year - an 86 percent increase in new students!! We have so many new students that we ran out of locker space. Students are sharing lockers for the first time.”

Online Enrollment Statistics and Information

• 193 schools processed 62,000 Online Enrollment packets in 2012.

• 76.7% of schools using Online Enrollment processed online re-enrollment fee payments.

• The average re-enrollment fee paid online by parents when submitting their online enrollment packet was $278.

• Total online enrollment fees collected by RenWeb schools exceeded $8.4 million.

Per parent at All Saints Catholic School in Plano, TX:

“Online Enrollment was very user friendly!! The pre-populated info was correct, very easy to navigate. One feature that I like is the 'Save' or 'Save and Next,' an easy one but missed in a lot of sites. It provided me reassurance that the info was saved along the process of filling out all the forms. In fact, I had to came back to one of the pages (to enter his Dentist info), very easy (just a click on the menu located @ the left) and all the info was saved there.”

Per Lisa Espinoza, Director of Admissions at Mission Hills Christian in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA:

“I am AMAZED at how simply and clearly RenWeb lays out all these potentially overwhelming tasks for setting up your system, OA/OE in particular. You have done FAR more to get us set up for success than I even imagined.”

To Sign Up for Online Application and Online Enrollment

To sign up for Online Application and Online Enrollment, go to your Main Menu in RenWeb, select Report Manager. Select Product & Services. Select and -complete the Online Application - Sign Up form and Online Enrollment - Sign Up form and a RenWeb Project Manager will contact you to begin the setup process.

To Learn More About Online Application and Online Enrollment

If you would like to view a free, live demonstration of Online Application or Online Enrollment, please click on one of the links below to register for one of our scheduled webinars.

Online Application Demonstrations

• Tuesday, February 5 - 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM CST

• Wednesday, February 20 - 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM CST

Online Enrollment Demonstrations

• Wednesday, February 6 - 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM CST

• Tuesday, February 19 - 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM CST

We look forward to sharing with you how to modernize your application and re-enrollment processes!

Give Parents the Convenience of Online School Payments with Pay Now

Does your school give parents a way to make school payments online? If not, consider the fact that:

• 68% of Internet users took advantage of online banking in the past year. (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve)

• Using online banking and online bill pay is about as popular as using Facebook. (Pew Research)

Don't let your school fall behind. Given the statistics mentioned above, we expect the percentages to be even higher among parents who send their children to private schools given their typical age range, income bracket and educational background. Your parents are not only accustomed to using electronic commerce and online banking, but likely anticipate having the option of online bill pay. Pay Now, powered by FACTS/NBS, not only gives your parents the option of making safe and secure online payments directly from ParentsWeb, but it even automates the accounting for your school.

Pay Now is easy to use and there's no need for parents to apply or qualify in advance. They simply input credit card or bank information and confirm the payment! The payment immediately posts to family account balances inside RenWeb and clears charges.

To Learn More:

To learn more about how Pay Now can help you offer online payments for school parents, please join us for a FREE webinar.

• Monday, February 4 - 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM CST

• Tuesday, February 21 - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CST

How do you distinguish your school online? There are several important ways your school can stand out from the competition.

1. A clean, modern and informative school marketing website. (And make sure your website is mobile-friendly!)
2. Features that are attractive to potential and existing families, like online applications and online enrollment.
3. The ability to instantaneously contact your school community about emergencies, weather-related closures, other delays or even to send attendance notifications.

But what about social media usage? Marketing using social media is more important than ever and Pinterest is rapidly becoming one of the most widely used among school marketing teams.

How do you take full advantage of your school’s Pinterest account?

We came across this blog post on Brendan Schneider’s blog about how one school (Canterbury School of Florida) turned their Pinterest account into an online marketing viewbook. What if prospective parents could learn about your school community and school guidelines without even taking a tour? Pinterest can make that possible.

Here are some of the pins on the Canterbury School of Florida’s Pinterest account that we thought presented a unique and exciting perspective on their school:

• In the “Visiting CSF” category, they pinned various photos of their campus and classrooms.
• The “CSF Athletics” category showcases the various sports available at the school.
• The “Student Life” board gives prospective parents a fantastic idea of the school community that the school offers.

Is your school using Pinterest effectively? We’d love to hear about it at the 2013 Power Conference. Submit your request to lead a seminar here.

Looking for a fun way to ring in the New Year in your classroom? We’ve rounded up a few lesson plans, crafts and other activities that we spotted on Pinterest:

• Have students reflect on 2012 by drawing pictures or pasting photos of favorite events using this printable.
• Students can write their resolutions for both Home and School.
• Need a sight words game? This free one has a New Year’s theme!
• Practice handwriting with this Happy New Year trace activity.
• Download this free New Year’s classroom activity pack. It includes two writing and two center activities.
• This classroom DIY is designed for a New Year’s Book Challenge.

We hope you had a great holiday season! Don’t forget to find us on Pinterest. We’d love to follow you back!

Do you need a few ideas for holiday classroom activities before winter break begins?

We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite ideas from Pinterest and posted them below! (Don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest too.)

• We love this lesson in adjectives using popular holiday candies from the Teacher Idea Factory blog.
• Do you use Elf on the Shelf in your classroom? Here is one teacher’s list of ideas and “elfcapades.”
• Check out these 150 free teaching products and holiday teaching tips via the blog One Less Headache.
• Teach place value with snowmen!
• These free reindeer contraction cards are a fun memory or concentration game too.
• The blog 1st Grade Fantabulous has free holiday-themed book report printables to download.
• Print out this free reindeer-themed mini-book that students can help put together and decorate.

Do you have any fun holiday-themed classroom activities or lessons to share?

As the new year looms closer and closer each day, many publications are releasing their lists of the best children’s books of 2012. We’ve compiled links to some of them below. Happy reading!

• The New York Times Book Review released a list of the Notable Children’s Books of 2012, which includes Young Adult, Middle Grade and Picture Book volumes.
• The Children’s Book Council of Australia announced their 2012 short-list, but you can view all the nominations here.
• The Columbus Dispatch panel chose 20 of their favorite children’s books.
• The Kirkus Review lists are some of the most highly anticipated each year. Here is the link to their picks for best children’s books for 2012.
• The Wall Street Journal recommended five children’s volumes in their 2012 gift guide.
• The Guardian’s Julia Eccleshare picked her favorite children’s books for 2012.
• Amazon.com released their 2012 Editor’s Picks lists, which include a list of the Top 20 for Kids & Teens, as well as lists for best picture books, middle grade books, etc.

Have you read any of the picks on these lists in your classroom this year?

As you prepare to go on holiday break at your school, here are a few Thanksgiving-themed classroom activities and crafts we found on Pinterest.

• Print off these after-Thanksgiving printables for students to draw, color and label what they ate for Thanksgiving dinner.
• Create a classroom Thankfulness Jar.
• Grab a paper plate and some colored construction paper for this turkey craft.
• Color and write on this free Thanksgiving coloring page printable.
• Use a pinecone and some construction paper to create Thanksgiving turkeys.
• Integrate a math lesson into a Thanksgiving craft by having students write out Thanksgiving shopping lists and adding up the total cost.
• Check out this link for several Thanksgiving lesson plan ideas and activities.

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at RenWeb!

As social media continues to play an important role in the education industry, it’s important for teachers and administrators to become comfortable with Twitter—one of the most active social media tools in their community.

Here are some commonly asked questions:

How do I find good educators or education content on Twitter? It’s so overwhelming!

A great place to start is by searching several of the biggest education hashtags. Here is a comprehensive list of popular education hashtags from Edudemic.

I’m not really seeing much interaction yet. What can I do?

Keep at it! Ask your friends and colleagues if they have Twitter accounts. Make sure to reply to other Twitter users and retweet their updates every now and then! Linking to interesting education blog posts or articles is another way to encourage other Twitter users to reach out to you. 

All the symbols and lingo are confusing!

Twitter seems very intimidating at first for this very reason! There are several guides out there that can help break it down for you. Try this one from Mashable!

Once you’ve created your Twitter account, don’t forget to follow us @renwebpower and feel free to say hi!

At the 2011 Power Conference, a few schools mentioned to us that they were starting a student-run blog on their school’s website. Why should your school consider it?

• It can maximize your resources. Motivated student bloggers can produce an enormous amount of blog content for your school given the right direction and supervision.
• A student-run blog seems less “official” to a prospective family visiting your website. It shows that you have an involved student body that is passionate about their school.
• It gives parents an inside look into how your students view their campus and their school community.
• Entrusting students with creating blog content for your school will give them valuable learning experience. They may have to do additional research, find sources for quotes or get the right photo for their post.
• Entrusting students with developing blog post ideas or themes will help generate more creative, compelling content for your school blog. They may have an idea for a post that you wouldn’t have thought of!
• Students may be more motivated to write content for your school blog if they know the posts are also being included in a school newsletter or featured in the school newspaper. Use the content in as many areas as possible!

Do you have students assist with blog content at your school? Do they help contribute to your social media marketing on Twitter or Facebook?

In our recent blog post about the essential components to your school’s brand, we touched on the necessity for your school to have a tagline that was succinct, but also conveyed key items that could set your school community apart from your competitors. Similarly, we’ve also written about the importance of having a concise paragraph prominently displayed on your school’s website that tells visitors who you are, where you are, what you do and who can benefit from it.

One way to develop this content is to work backwards. The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) recently featured an article about first steps parents should take when choosing a school. In the article, they give parents a guide to creating a school “wish list.” Some of the items include questions about ideal school size, whether the school is a day school or boarding school, if the school is traditional or progressive and if the school is a source of special programs, like “arts, sports or computers.”

If someone asked you to define your school in two or three sentences and also hit on some of the key questions that parents may have about your institution or school community, could you do it?

Eliminate Dual Entry of Financial Transactions and Month-end Reconciliation between RenWeb and QuickBooks

All Made Possible via RenWeb's QuickBooks Interface

Are you manually reconciling each month your QuickBooks accounts receivable balance against your aging report balance in RenWeb?

Are you entering into QuickBooks by hand payments, deposits and charges that originate in RenWeb?

Would you like to automate those processes?

RenWeb is pleased to announce that our QuickBooks interface makes that possible. RenWeb's QuickBooks interface:

• Eliminates dual entry of student billing and payment information between RenWeb and QuickBooks.

• Sends RenWeb charge and payment details to QuickBooks for posting.

• Eliminates the need to manually reconcile account receivables balances between QuickBooks and RenWeb, saving time and energy during the QuickBooks monthly close process.

Per Doug Reynolds at Clapham School in Wheaton, IL:

"We used RenWeb Student Billing and QuickBooks separately in the past. That means throughout the month we had to dual-enter payments and deposits in both systems, as well as post charges in RenWeb and book the corresponding revenue in QuickBooks. At the end of the month, we had to reconcile the accounts receivables balances, which can often be a challenge just due to timing differences.

Now using the interface, the automated posting process to update the two systems works very quickly and has helped us tremendously. We are now automatically in synch and reconcile at the end of the month when we close the books.

During the setup, the RenWeb team was with us every step of the way. When we encountered a few unexpected challenges, they walked us through how to solve them and got technical support involved when needed.  The setup process helped prepare me to do this on my own afterwards - and in that sense, the setup also provided great training that has helped me move forward almost seamlessly. I recommend this to anyone who uses QB and RenWeb!"

Register for a Demonstration

To register for a free demonstration of RenWeb's QuickBooks interface, please click on the desired date below:

• Thursday, November 1, 2012, 4:00 - 5:00PM ET

• Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 11:00 - 12:00PM ET

Pricing

The one-time cost for RenWeb to set up the interface is $395. The ongoing support fee is $49 per month.

We look forward to demonstrating how we can help simplify your financial management using RenWeb's QuickBooks interface.

We hope all our East Coast customers will be safe during Hurricane Sandy over the next several days. If you’re stuck at home, we’ve compiled some kid-friendly indoor activities that are perfect for riding out the storm.

• 50 Indoor Activities for a Rainy Day via MommyPoppins.com.
• Rainy Day Activities (including plastic bottle bowling and DIY vinyl stickers) from SunScholars.
• Fun suggestions (like staging a circus or becoming a movie producer) from author Tricia Goyer’s blog.
• 15 rainy day ideas from The Mother Huddle, including holding an indoor picnic or having a fashion show.
• These 10 suggestions from InnerChildFun.com are simple and fun!
• The blog Make, Do and Friend features lots of creative play ideas.
• And finally: a list of 101 “fun, easy and cheap” indoor activities for kids!

Stay safe!

QuickBooks Users: Display Family Account Balances in ParentsWeb and Offer Online Payment Processing to Parents

All Made Possible via RenWeb’s QuickBooks Interface

Does your school use QuickBooks to bill your families?

Would you like to display your QuickBooks family account balances in ParentsWeb where parents can view the balances and make online payments?
RenWeb is pleased to announce that our QuickBooks interface makes that possible. RenWeb's QuickBooks interface:

• Sends QuickBooks family balances to RenWeb for displaying balances in ParentsWeb.
• Enables parents to make online payments via Pay Now that post in both QuickBooks and RenWeb to update displayed balances in ParentsWeb.
• Offers QuickBooks users the opportunity to take advantage of RenWeb’s automated billing capabilities without requiring dual entry between the two systems.

Per Ken Nelson at Ukiah Junior Academy in Ukiah, CA:

“In August, we began using RenWeb Student Billing and the interface to our QuickBooks program.  Before that, we used QuickBooks for billing on a standalone basis, but wanted to begin displaying family account balances in RenWeb’s ParentsWeb where parents could view their balances and make payments.

Now we use RenWeb’s billing capabilities to create student fees and process online payments by parents. The interface updates QuickBooks family account balances with fees and payments that originate in RenWeb, and then posts the updated balances back into ParentsWeb so our parents can view the balances and make online payments against the balances.

We’ve already had 25% of our families begin using Pay Now in just two months. That makes payment processing much easier for us since Pay Now automatically posts the payments in both RenWeb and QuickBooks.     

The RenWeb team was very helpful during the initial setup of the interface and with the ongoing use of RenWeb’s student billing capabilities. I know if I have any problems the RenWeb support team will do anything to help me work through the issue.”

Register for a Demonstration

To register for a free demonstration of RenWeb’s QuickBooks interface, please click on the desired date below

• Tuesday, October 30, 2012, 11:00 – 12:00PM ET
• Thursday, November 8, 2012, 4:00 – 5:00PM ET

Pricing

The one-time cost for RenWeb to set up the interface is $395. The ongoing support fee is $49 per month.

We look forward to demonstrating how we can help simplify your financial management using RenWeb’s QuickBooks interface.

RenWeb Product Management

We came across this infographic on MediaBistro and wanted to share it:

How do you apply this to your school’s social media marketing strategy? A few tips:

• Have a designated person at your school monitor and provide content for all your online communication channels, including Twitter, Facebook and your school’s blog. If you are struggling to find the time to create content, have a few high school students (perhaps the newspaper staff!) assist you.
• Encourage a two-way communication between your school and your parents or other constituents. Building a safe environment for discussion is key!
• Social media needs a lighter touch than a school newsletter, for example. Keep things more casual and fun when possible!
• Don’t forget a key audience you should be cultivating: prospective families.
• Use images often! From a photo of a school event to a picture of your school campus, images can add a lot to your Facebook updates or blog posts.

Do you have any best practices for social media marketing at your school? We’d love to hear them!

Have you registered your school with local search systems? Several major search engines offer businesses the ability to register with their service in order to appear in local or map search results. Why is this important? Prospective parents typically search for private or independent schools in a local area. You want to be sure to maximize your school’s visibility in all search engine results!

Here are links to four major local search systems so you can register your school:

• Google Places/Google Maps
• Yahoo! Local
• Bing Local Search
• Ask Local

Don’t forget that one of the first things prospective parents will look at after searching for your school is your school’s website. Is it up to par?

Are you attending an ACSI NEXUS event? You may have seen this video yesterday during the NEXUS broadcast. Watch below to find out more about us and to see what RenWeb clients have to say about our product!

Are you planning a fall festival at your school? We compiled a few great ideas to help you make the most of your event!

• Sell raffle tickets or admission tickets in advance using Donate Online. You could offer an Early Bird discount for buying online instead of at the door!
• Contact local farms to see if they can donate pumpkins for your event. You could offer the farms advertising or a booth (maybe selling other goods, like hot cider) at your festival in exchange for the pumpkin donation.
• Ask parents to volunteer to cook and distribute food from various stations. You can offer tasty (but simple) foods like kettle corn, popcorn, hot dogs, roasted corn on the cob and pumpkin bread. If you haven’t designated an overall fundraising goal for your festival, it could be fun to designate different food stations as going toward different funds. Maybe the popcorn will help buy new equipment for the soccer teams and the hot dog sales could benefit the music department.
• Coordinate a book drive! Ask families to bring one or two books to donate to the school library. In return, you could offer them a free pumpkin to take home or cups of free apple cider.

One of the most important components of a fall festival are the games and contests! You could designate each game/contest as costing a certain number of tickets to play, similar to a county fair. For example, you could charge $10 for 10 tickets or $25 for an unlimited play pass. You could even offer a discount if parents buy tickets early online! (You can buy rolls of tickets at your local office supply store.)

Here are a few low-cost ways to incorporate some games and contests into your festival:

• Build a ring toss game using bowling pins or other items found at a toy store.
• Buy several small rubber ducks and write “winner” on the bottom of a few of them. Float them in a large barrel or plastic toy storage container. Each child gets three tries to pick a duck and win!
• Build a dart balloon board with balloons and some corkboard.
• Find a talented older student or parent to work at a face painting booth!
• Hide a small toy in a large pile of hay. The first person to find the toy wins.
• Set up a basketball hoop and reward players who get a certain number of points in a time period. 10 points in 60 seconds could be a grand prize, 5 points in 60 seconds could be a medium prize while 2 shots in 60 seconds could win a small prize.
• Find your new school quarterback! Have kids try to throw a football through a hole in a piece of wood.
• If one of your parents owns horses or ponies, see if they will volunteer to offer horse rides.

Do you have any ideas to share? Feel free to email us at socialmedia@renweb.com.

Are you attending an ACSI NEXUS event this year? Eight ACSI regions will host ACSI NEXUS on October 18–19 this year. The event will be a live, interactive broadcast from Columbus, Ohio, to approximately 83 Live Satellink Sites.

RenWeb will be attending 14 NEXUS events and we’d love to see you there!

Here are the following locations where RenWeb representatives will be in attendance:

• Westerville, OH – NEXUS broadcast location
• Mobile, AL
• Castro Valley, CA
• Roseville, CA
• Colorado Springs, CO
• Indianapolis, IN
• Louisville, KY
• Mitchellville, MD
• Woodbury, MN
• Raytown, MO
• Lancaster, PA
• Sewickley, PA
• Charleston, SC
• Knoxville, TN

We look forward to seeing you there! If you have any questions, feel free to contact our team at sales@renweb.com.

Do you have a blog on your school’s website yet? If you’ve just started out, here is a great article from Rick Newberry with some advice on how to make the most of it.

If you need some post ideas to get going, we’ve made a list of a few topics you could write about this month:

1. Create a Student of the Month blog feature and have students and/or teachers nominate a student. You can then interview them and highlight their accomplishments!
2. List fun activities happening in the community. Since it’s autumn, family-friendly ideas you could post include Fall Festivals, apple picking or corn mazes.
3. Review education apps available for mobile devices (like iPads, iPhones, etc.) and suggest a few of your favorites to parents and students.
4. Highlight student community service activities and list upcoming events that students or their families could participate in.
5. Post study tips from various teachers in your school. Ask each teacher what their most challenging subject was in school and what study tips or strategies they used to be successful.
6. Summarize the results of parent surveys and explain how you will use the survey results.
7. Do you have a school football team? Interview the MVP or team captain/co-captain after each game!

What are some things your school will be blogging about this month?

More and more schools are creating accounts on Twitter and Facebook and other major social media sites, but how do you know if you are really making the most of your presence on these “2.0 technology” websites?

This blog post by George Couros on his blog The Principal of Change has some great tips for making social media usage meaningful for schools.

As we have progressed, not only in our use of technology but also our understanding of effective leadership, we know that communication includes effective talking but, more importantly, listening. Being able to hear what is being said from those we serve is extremely important to how we develop our schools, and the conversation is extremely valuable. Yet, many schools and organizations use social media in the old fashion: sharing information but not having a conversation. In reality, just because you have ears doesn’t mean you are listening.

Are you using your school’s social media accounts to start conversations with your current and prospective families?

George sums it up well:

We need to not only get into the same room but also talk when we are all there.

What are some ways you are using your school’s social media accounts to communicate with parents or students? We’d love to hear from you! Email us at socialmedia@renweb.com.

We came across an article in USA Today about how educators across the US are using creative strategies to encourage regular attendance.

According to the article, schools are trying the following to encourage good attendance:

• Using school day wake-up calls recorded by celebrities
• Implementing weekend makeup classes
• Offering attendance contests with computers, private concerts or cars as prizes
• Movie night for the grade level with the best attendance
• Social media messages to students

Before you start searching for a celebrity to record wake-up calls for your students, try something a little easier! Many studies (like in this article from The John Hopkins University or in this fact sheet from the Michigan Department of Education) cite parent involvement as a key factor in improving attendance. This article, from the Center for Public Education, cites two studies that found that communicating with families using targeted content about attendance can increase average daily attendance rates and reduce chronic absences at elementary schools and secondary schools. Get your parents involved in their student’s attendance by using Attendance Notifications in RenWeb’s Attendance tool!

There are several options you can select when you create an Attendance Notification. You can select the type of attendance (period attendance, day attendance, etc.) as well as the time frame that the notification should assess (a single day, current term, current semester, current year or custom). One of the most important items is your ability to select the threshold—or how many absences a student must have before an email is sent.

Once you’ve prepared those Attendance Notification parameters, your final selection will be who receives the notification.

1. Parents: The email will be sent to any and all parents who are marked as custodial in the family screen.

2. Advisor: The email will be sent to the individual selected as the student's advisor (in the Advising tab of the Student screen).

3. School Representative: the user must type an email address.

If your school has a subscription to Parent Alert, you can also send notifications using that service! Read more about how to use it here.

Did you know you can create electronic student portfolios in RenWeb?

There are three popular types of student portfolios and each serves a different purpose. They are:

• The working portfolio, which is a collection of projects or work that are in progress or have been recently completed
• The assessment portfolio, which is designed to demonstrate that a student has met specific goals and/or requirements
• The display portfolio, which is used to highlight and display the best of a student’s work

Each portfolio type can work in conjunction with the others! For example, a student can use work from their working portfolio to prove they have met class requirements in an assessment portfolio. Then, for a Parent Exhibition, for example, a student could pull work from the working or assessment portfolio to create a display portfolio.

Teachers say one of the best things about student portfolios is that they encourage students to take ownership and pride in their work. So how do you get started creating a student portfolio in RenWeb? It’s easy!

First, here are the things you can upload to a portfolio in RenWeb:

• General documents
• Grade Book progress reports
• Report cards
• Transcripts
• Class work

Here is where you can access the Portfolio feature:

• RenWeb Desktop : Student screen –> Portfolio button
• RenWeb Desktop: Grade Book –> WEB (Configuration)
• FacultyWeb: Web Configuration –> Portfolio

To upload a new document to a student’s portfolio using FacultyWeb, first navigate to the Portfolio feature.

1. Select the Class in which the student is enrolled for whom you want to upload a document.

2. From the Upload File area, select the Student Name.

3. Click Upload.

4. Click Browse or click in the File field.

5. Select the file and click Open.

6. Type a Note if desired.

7. Click Submit.

8. Once the file is completely uploaded, close the window or upload another document.

We came across a wonderful blog post by J. Robinson on The 21st Century Principal about how school leaders should best manage their web presence. From the school website to social media platforms, there are huge opportunities available for schools to communicate in new and exciting ways.

Here are a few of our favorite tips from the post:

• Use social media tools to direct traffic to your website.
• Update and revise your school’s website often.
• To get the most out of your web presence, you have to start looking at your web site as “information central” about your school and district, and take an active role in its management and maintenance.

Read the full post here!

 A few weeks ago we announced RenWeb had partnered with Scott Barron of School Growth for a webinar series entitled “Boards Gone Wild.” In this new four-part series Barron shares about real-life behaviors by board members that have had devastating results for the school. This critical insight for school heads and board chairs will help cultivate an intentional strategy for board effectiveness and success.

In Barron’s first webinar of the series, he discusses “The Trusted Confidant,” or a school board member who is available to faculty in the hallways or other places to listen to their concerns and solicit feedback. He or she is the go-to-person when parents have concerns about a coach, teacher, or administrator.

Learn more about The Trusted Confidant by viewing the webinar in full below:

Donor Connect Development Success Series: Boards Gone Wild - The Trusted Confidant (09.13.2012 - 35 mins) from RenWeb onVimeo.

We will post about the second in the series, “The Hiring Pro,” when it is available. Register for the two remaining webinars in the series by clicking below:

• Boards Gone Wild: The Public Speaker - October 11, 2012 11:00 AM CDT - Register Here
• Boards Gone Wild: The Yardstick - October 25, 2012 11:00 AM CDT - Register Here

Do you need more ideas for what to pin on your school’s Pinterest account? Here are a few we initially came up with, but we wanted to add to the list after seeing some fantastic examples of “pin-able” content on this article: The 10 Most Impressive College Pinterest Pages from Best Colleges Online.

• Show off your school’s campus by pinning photos of your facilities. Don’t forget to include ball fields, classrooms and playgrounds!
• Start a board featuring your school’s traditions like special events or school songs or cheers.
• Create a Fundraising board with pins celebrating your school’s fundraising events or your school’s community service contributions.
• Help new families to your area get to know their community! Pin popular local businesses or kid-friendly activities in your town.
• Are you proud of your school’s hot lunch program? Pin photos of them!
• Do you have a school mascot? Pin photos of your school mascot at various school events or around your campus.
• If you haven’t yet, starting a Photo of the Day tradition at your school is a great way to create content for your Pinterest account as well as your school blog and Facebook Page. Get students involved too: have them vote on the Photo of the Day or submit ideas!

Do you have more great ideas for school pins? Email us at socialmedia@renweb.com!

Over 400 Schools Processed 35,000 Online Applications for Fall 2012 Enrollment

88% of Participating Schools Charged Application Fees Totaling $2.8 Million, with Fees Averaging $90 per Online Application

September 27, 2012 - RenWeb School Management Software today released results of its Online Application processing for Fall 2012 enrollment.

Over 400 schools processed 35,000 Online Applications during the admissions season for the 2012/2013 school year. Of these schools, 88 percent charged application fees, which totaled $2.8 million. The average fee charged to prospective parents was $90 per online application.  Parents pay the fees at time of their application submission with an online payment processed by FACTS/NTS, the leading provider of K-12 payment online payment processing.   

"Schools have experienced terrific results with Online Application, including an increase in the number of applications received, higher enrollment levels, and reduced mailing and data entry expense," said Brad Lee, CEO of RenWeb School Management Software.

"Private school parents are online every day shopping, banking and paying bills. They prefer the convenience of the Internet, including completing forms online rather than filling them out by hand. Online Application is a natural fit in today's world, and we encourage every school to experience the same success that many of our schools have reported," continued Lee.   

The one-time cost of an Online Application setup by a RenWeb project manager is $295 per school. There is then a $20 processing fee per submitted application to cover online processing costs.

To sign up for Online Application today, go to Report Manager > Products & Services > Online Application Sign Up > Print and complete the online form. A RenWeb project manager will then contact you to begin the setup process.

If you haven't participated in an Online Application demonstration yet, you can sign up for one of the upcoming FREE webinars by clicking on one of the links below:

• Thursday, October 4 - 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm CDT
• Tuesday, October 23 - 11:00 am - 12:30 pm CDT 

An essential part of building a cohesive and effective marketing strategy for your school is to establish your school’s brand. You’ve probably heard the word “branding” before, but how does it apply to a school?

A brand is your school’s face to the world. Your brand will help your school cultivate relationships with your existing families, prospective families and with your community at large. An effective branding strategy requires a few key elements.

Here are those elements:

• Choose a unique, professional logo. Then use your logo on letterhead, school brochures, paperwork, your school’s website, Facebook Page and Twitter account.
• Develop a tagline for your school. It should be succinct but should also convey the key items that you feel set your school community apart from your competitors. Is your school proud of your campus? Your sports teams? Your excellent academics?
• Maintain your logo and tagline! After you’ve thoughtfully chosen a direction for your logo and tagline, continue to use them! It’s important to have brand consistency.
• Know your customer. Consider developing a profile of the parent or family who is attracted to your school. What do they value most? What are they looking for specifically? What things would draw them to your programs? Use the final product as a guideline for developing advertising or marketing campaigns. Ask yourself if the typical parent or family you described would respond to your advertising!
• Think differently than your competitors. A well-designed website or an excellent school blog are things that could set your school apart.
• Offer superior service and unmatched collaboration to your parents. There are many possible applications for this branding element, but for example, many of our partner schools are excited about how RenWeb helps to enhance the way that parents collaborate and engage in the school community.

Has your school undergone a successful rebranding campaign in recent months? We’d love to hear about it! Email us at socialmedia@renweb.com.

 Sign Up for Moodle Hosting and Integration by RenWeb Prior to September 30 to Lock In at Introductory Price and Avoid October 1 Price Increase

Each New Signup Will Receive a 90-day Free, No-Risk Trial and Make No Payments until January 1, 2013

Price Increase Does Not Affect Existing RenWeb Learning Management Customers

September 20, 2012 – RenWeb announced today that the introductory pricing period for RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle will end on September 30, 2012.

Schools that sign up by September 30 for the hosted Moodle LMS will lock in at the current introductory price and avoid the October 1 price increase. After signing up, they will receive a 90-day free, no-risk trial to experience Moodle and its integration with RenWeb.

After the trial ends, schools can cancel the service or elect to continue using it going forward. Then on January 1, 2013, RenWeb will bill the setup fee and first monthly hosting fee at the introductory price.  That means there is no risk in signing up now to take advantage of the introductory pricing.

Register for a Demonstration

To register for a demonstration of RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle, please click on the desired date below:

• Tue, Sep 25, 2012 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CDT
• Thu, Sep 27, 2012 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CDT
• Thu, Oct 4, 2012 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CDT
• Thu, Oct 11, 2012 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CDT

Sign Up Now and Begin Free Trial

If you are ready now to sign up for the service and begin your free 90-day trial, go to the RenWeb Main Menu and click Report Manager, then select the Products & Services category, then select Moodle Hosting Sign Up and click Print.  Fill out the form and you will receive via email an order confirmation.

A lot of educators are using Pinterest now to share printables, education articles, Smartboard tips and more! But have you ever thought of creating a Pinterest account specifically for your school?

We came across this fantastic article yesterday on edSocialMedia about a school that is using Pinterest for some really creative things. Here are some of the things they are pinning:

• Stylish outfits that are approved under the school’s dress code on a “Dress Code” board.

• Pins of various items in their school colors, including a flower, jewelry, architecture and more!

•  Resources for parents, including tips on heading back to school with less stress and  nutritious school lunch ideas

•  A “Notable Alumni” board including politicians, film editors and even an opera singer! 

Here are a few other ideas for Pinterest boards for your school:

• Recommended Books
• Homework/Study Tips
• School News and Announcements
• Teacher Resources
• Senior Survival Kit, including pins to SAT prep, college planning and more

Do you have a Pinterest account for your school? We’d love to see it! Drop us a line here. Don’t forget to check RenWeb out on Pinterest too!

The new Facebook Timeline has completely changed the way business pages display. What is the first thing current and prospective families will see when they view your school’s Facebook Page? Your cover photo!

Confused about what the cover photo is? It’s the photo above of the RenWeb team on our Page and you can see another example below:

The cover photo you choose for your school’s Facebook Page is important! Here are some things to remember when choosing your cover photo:

• Select a high quality photograph. You don’t want anything blurry or pixelated!
• Make sure the photograph is sized correctly to fit in Facebook’s cover photo space. The dimensions of your photo should be 851x315.
• Coordinate your profile photo and your cover photo, but don’t duplicate your efforts. If you use your school logo as your profile photo, you don’t need to use your school logo as your cover photo too!
• Use your cover photo to show your school’s strengths. Is it a beautiful campus? Or a tight-knit student body? Do you have a unique school event that you’d like to show?
• Consider changing your cover photo to reflect the season! For the first month of school, a cover photo of your campus is a good way to welcome families back to school. Once the weather gets cooler, you could change the cover photo to a picture of your fall festival or an opening football game. Later still you could display a picture of your annual Christmas concert!
• Don’t miss an opportunity to incorporate marketing into your Facebook Page! Why not include your school website URL on your cover photo? You could also put your school motto or tagline on it!

What do you use as your cover photo on your school Facebook Page?

A school Facebook Page is a great way to communicate with your current families, but it can serve as an important marketing tool to prospective families too. Keeping your Facebook Page active is important! Are you stumped for new ideas for posts?

Here are a few types of posts you can include on your school’s Facebook Page this week!

1. Link to new blog posts on your school’s blog
2. Post the cover page of the school newspaper and link to an online version if you have one
3. Include links to free online resources that students can use to help with homework
4. Post reminders about the school social media policy
5. Poll parents about possible fundraising events
6. Introduce new faculty or staff with a photo and short bio
7. Brag about school awards or special accomplishments/recognitions

Do you have any other ideas for great posts? Feel free to send them to us at socialmedia@renweb.com!

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be intimidating! Simply put, SEO is the process of boosting the traffic to a website from the “free” search results on major search engines, like Google. It sounds tricky, but there are lots of easy ways you can help boost your school’s SEO.

1. If possible, have your school’s entire name in the URL. (For example, Pine Tree School would be www.pinetreeschool.com or www.pinetreeschool.edu)
2. Make sure your school’s website does not contain any broken links.
3. Keep your school’s website content fresh! Using a blog or announcements page and updating it every day or every other day is an easy way to add new content to your website each week.
4. Learn about how title tags can affect your search results!
5. Use Google Analytics to see what keywords are bringing visitors to your school’s website. From there, you can develop a strategy to utilize those keywords more effectively in your content!
6. You should include on your school’s home page or about page a concise paragraph explaining who you are, where you are, what you do and who can benefit from it.
7. Start a blog!

For more tips, check out this great list!

 

Rick Newberry, President of Enrollment Catalyst, wrote a blog post about why schools should start blogging. One of the most interesting facts in Rick’s blog post is that having a school blog could increase the traffic to your website. It’s not just a small potential bump in traffic either. HubSpot found that companies with blogs got almost 55% more visitors!

Check out Rick’s top five reasons to start a school blog here.

Does your school have a blog? We’d love to check it out! Leave a comment or email us at socialmedia@renweb.com.

 

You may be familiar with some of the features of Parent Alert already—like emergency notifications or the ability to send parents an instant alert when buses are running late from a football away game—but did you know you can also send attendance notifications to parents*?

You can use Parent Alert to automatically send alerts to parent phones via a recorded voice call, text message or a text to speech call when their student has reached a pre-determined number of absences or tardies.

1. If desired, click the Parent Alert tab in the notification area of the Attendance Notification. 

2. You may utilize all or selected Notification types:

   1. Voice Message: Select the saved voice message from the drop-down menu to send a voice alert if a student reaches the specified number of tardies or absences.

   2. Text Message: Type in a message of 140 characters or less to be sent to the parents of the student who has reached the specified number of absences or tardies. You may use the Variable List options if desired. (You may copy and paste variable items from the Email Notification tab if desired.)

   3. Text to Speech: You may type a message to be read by a computerized voice.  You may copy and paste information, including variables, from the Email Notification area directly into this area for the computer to read.

3. Click Save.

If you’re interested in learning more about Parent Alert before subscribing, join us on September 27 for a free demonstration webinar!

*To activate this feature, you must have a subscription to Parent Alert.

 

Congratulations! Your school has a Facebook Page, a brand new blog and even a Twitter account! But where do you go from there? Luckily, edSocialMedia has a few answers for you! They are posting a series entitled 3 Ingredients of Your School’s Social Strategy.

In the Part Two post, they discuss how essential the ingredient of intention is to a school’s social media strategy. Do you have a long-term plan for your school’s social media accounts? Do you have goals…and a way to track whether you are achieving them?

Two actions of intention that edSocialMedia recommends are:

1. Creating an editorial calendar
2. Building an team to help support and contribute to your social media system

Read more of their post here!

Football Season is Here!

Don't Keep Parents Waiting in the Parking Lot for Late Buses After Games!

With RenWeb's Parent Alert service, your parents will never need to wait in the parking lot for buses that are running late after a game. Coaches or faculty members on the bus can send to parents an instant alert containing an ETA directly from their Smartphone using the iPhone Parent Alert app and the new Parent Alert app for Android!

Parent Alert's apps for the iPhone and Android devices are FREE with any school subscription to Parent Alert. They give administrators the flexibility and convenience to send emergency alerts from anywhere--even if they have no access to electricity, landline phones or Internet service. That includes text messages to cell phones; voice calls to work, home and cell; and emails to multiple addresses.

To learn more about Parent Alert and the Parent Alert app for the iPhone and Android devices, please join us in a FREE upcoming webinar.

This webinar will cover the functionality available through Parent Alert and demonstrate how to send out different types of alerts, including how to send alerts from the Parent Alert app for iPhone/iPad and Android. Following the session, attendees will be provided access to Parent Alert at their school for one month free of charge. Schools may then sign up for a 12-month subscription to Parent Alert for $0.30 per student per month.

Click on a date/time below to register:

• Tuesday, September 11, 2012 - 9 to 10:00 a.m. CDT
• Thursday, September 27, 2012 - 2 to 3:00 p.m. CDT 

 

How do you know when your school’s website needs a facelift?

• Does your current website meet all of your school’s needs?

Ask yourself a few questions about the functionality of your school’s website. Does it provide easy access to information that prospective and current families will want? Do you have a Contact page? An Admissions page? Do you have an online application or a regularly updated calendar? Is your CMS easy enough for any employee at your school to use?

• How often do you need or want to update content on your school’s website?

Common items that are updated regularly on school websites are news/announcements, a school calendar and a school blog.

• Does your current website work in conjunction with your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts?

If you Google the name of your school or the word “schools” and your city, does your school appear on the first page of Google’s search results? Is it in the first five results?

• Does your school have a branded identity? Does that brand extend to your current website?

Branding is an important component of school marketing. Does your school have a logo? Do you use your logo everywhere—on admissions documents, school brochures, your school’s website and on any advertisements you may place? Do you use a consistent color scheme in all your marketing materials, including on your website? Can you define your school in one sentence? Is that sentence in a visible place on your website?

• Are you ignoring your competitors?

What are other local schools doing? Are their websites better designed than your school’s website is? Take a look at a few of your competitor schools and place them next to your current website. From a prospective parent’s point of view, which school looks more interesting? Which school would you call for a tour first?

After looking through these questions, you may decide that your website needs an update. Consider School Site to assist you in making those changes School Site can offer your school a modern, dynamic website design and an easy-to-use CMS. School Site is also integrated with RenWeb services like Online Application, Online Enrollment, your RenWeb calendar, announcements and more. Get a free, live look at School Site on September 24 and see how we can help you create a brand new look for your school’s website!

 Did you know Facebook has many tools that can help enhance your classroom lessons? Edudemic recently posted a great article that lists 100 ways to use Facebook in the classroom.

Here are a few of our favorites from their list:

• Museums and more: Help your students follow along with local and international museums, art galleries, exhibits, and more for enriched learning on Facebook.
• News gathering: Your classroom can follow journalists and media outlets on social networks, gathering past and current news clips relevant to your latest classroom discussions.
• Take on a classroom cause: Using the Causes application on Facebook, students can take on projects that benefit the greater good.
• Create fake profiles: Students often love filling out their own profiles, so creating fake ones offers great appeal. Ask students to create fake profiles for historical figures, fictional characters, and more.
• Broadcast school news: Ask students to be the source, taking on a classroom journalism project to report on sports results, campus news, events, and more.
• Save paper: Instead of handing out permission slips and flyers, post them to Facebook and allow parents to download and print them at home.
• Tag books: Tag books for students to read easily and conveniently right on Facebook, and even create resources to go along with the readings.
• Typing Test: Help students build their typing skills right inside Facebook using the Typing Test app.
• Flashcardlet: Using Flashcardlet, you can create your own flash cards that students can study on Facebook.

Check out the article for the rest of their suggestions!

 

PAY JUST $295 DOWN AND MAKE NO MONTHLY PAYMENTS FOR 6 MONTHS!

YOU RECEIVE ... A TURNKEY RENWEB SETUP AND DATA CONVERSION

PLUS ... A FREE SETUP OF RENWEB’S ONLINE APPLICATION AND ONLINE ENROLLMENT SERVICES

AND ... A 90-DAY FREE TRIAL OF RENWEB LEARNING MANAGEMENT powered BY MOODLE!

 

 

 

You read that right. Sign up for RenWeb this Fall, and your school will pay NO upfront license, conversion or training fees, and make NO MONTHLY PAYMENTS for 6 months!

Pay just $295 down, and we’ll make a Fall Install easy for your school with a turnkey setup. We’ll provide your server, convert your data from your old system or paper records, and then set up and configure RenWeb to fit your school.

Plus you’ll receive a free setup of RenWeb’s Online Application and Online Enrollment services so you’ll be ready to maximize enrollment during the upcoming admissions and reenrollment season! 

As an extra benefit, you can take advantage of a 90-day free trial of RenWeb Learning Management, our hosted Moodle service that integrates with RenWeb.

FLEXIBLE, AFFORDABLE, NO-RISK MONTHLY PAYMENT PLANS

RenWeb’s Fall Install program offers flexible, no-risk monthly payment plans that won’t begin until 6 months after your down payment. Plus, there is NO long-term contract to sign. We will earn your business every day with unmatched functionality, service and support. 
So don't wait. Take advantage NOW of RenWeb’s Fall Install program before the special offer ends on November 15, 2012.

Contact Sales or Request a LIVE Demonstration at www.renweb.com or call 1-866-800-6593 to request a free demonstration today!

Offer details:

• Schools must sign a General Agreement by 11/15/2012.
• Conversion and Administration training must take place between 09/24/2012 and 06/30/2013.
• Onsite training and travel costs not included in offer.

 The “connected educator” is a popular buzzword right now, but do you know what it means? The blog Teaching With Soul compiled a listof five tips for new teachers in order to become connected educators.

Here are their tips:

1. Be able to define what it means to be a connected educator.
2. Be knowledgeable about Web 2.0.
3. Be willing to join a social media network.
4. Become a blogger.
5. Be reflective and reach out.

For more details on each of these tips, see their blog post here.

What does it mean to you to be a connected educator?

 A lot of schools are back in session this week. Have you thought about new ways you might connect to your students this year? George Couros wrote six ways principals can connect to their students on his blog The Principal of Change.

1. Welcome the kids when they arrive. Wave goodbye when they leave.
2. Your first interaction with a student should be a positive one.
3. Talk as little as possible.
4. Use humor to deal with situations any chance you can.
5. Do the walk.
6. Kids will love you if they know you love them.

Get more details on each of these items here on George’s blog.

We hope you have a great school year!

 Fundraising is about relationships. Building those relationships takes time. The best way to increase your fundraising effectiveness is to spend less time managing data and more time cultivating relationships with those who care about your school.

Donor Connect provides an on-demand information platform that enables:

• Automated management of donor lists, contact information, campaigns, efforts, gifts and pledges.
• Distribution of solicitation and thank-you letters using templates and mail merge features.
• Access to donor information anytime, anywhere via the web.
• Integration with RenWeb School Management Software's database to update alumni lists, add parents and grandparents to donor lists, and update contact information.
• Integration with Donate Online, allowing for web-based donations to your schools fundraising program along with donation tracking.

If you want to learn more, one of our consultants can provide you a one-on-one demonstration of Donor Connect so you can see how it can help your school and your fundraising efforts. To sign up for a free demonstration, please click the Demonstration Request link.

 

In the past we’ve posted several blog resources for teachers and administrators, but what about parents? Are there any blogs that provide parents the latest education news, trends and resources?

The answer is yes! Edudemic collected a list of the top 25 education blogs perfect for parents. Click over to their site to see the full list! 

Do you have a favorite parent blog or website resource?

 

 Use School Site to Make a Great First Impression This 2013/2014 Admissions Season

School Site can help your school create a modern, dynamic website design and content management solution just in time for the 2013-2014 admissions season!

Plus, when you adopt School Site, you'll also receive RenWeb's fully-integrated Online Application and Online Enrollment FREE (a $395 value). Having an Online Application improves your school's online image, simplifies submission of applications for prospective parents, attracts more applicants and lowers the cost of application processing.

School Site also offers your school:

• Affordability
• An easy-to-use content management system
• A professional, clean design (click here to view example sites)
• A RenWeb-integration ready website that can sync with your RenWeb calendar, announcements, newsletters, lunch menu, faculty list, ParentsWeb login and more!
• A custom, configurable Online Application that integrates with RenWeb's Admissions features
• A branded Online Enrollment process that provides end-to-end enrollment and re-enrollment processes for new and returning students

Are you ready to have your best admissions season yet?

Join us for a free School Site webinar and put your best foot forward for 2013-2014!

• Thursday, August 23 @ 10 am - 11 am CDT
• Wednesday, September 5 @ 2 pm - 3 pm CDT
• Monday, September 24 @ 11 am - 12 pm CDT

 Watch our video below to see why RenWeb schools think ParentsWeb makes partnering with their parents easy!

ParentsWeb by RenWeb Makes Partnering with Parents Easy from RenWeb on Vimeo.

 

Rick Newberry, President of Enrollment Catalyst, wrote a great blog post about analyzing your school’s enrollment data to learn more about the effectiveness of your overall enrollment strategies and goals.

Here are the five data points he suggests looking at:

1. Admission Funnel (See graphic above)
2. Lead and New Student Generation Results
3. Retention
4. Enrollment Data Mapping
5. Financial Aid

To learn more about analyzing each of these areas, please read Rick’s blog post!

Did you know that you can easily generate an Admission Funnel report for your school using Online Application and Online Enrollment? If you’re interested in signing up for these products, you can do so by going to Report Manager->Products & Services->Online Application Sign Up or Online Enrollment Sign Up.

 

Did you miss out on attending the 2012 Power Conference and would like to brush up on some areas of RenWeb? If your school has the Lifetime Training Pass, you have FREE access to dozens of online classes taught by live trainers each month.

Here is some more information about the Lifetime Training Pass:

• The Lifetime Training Pass provides low-cost, ongoing access to training for new and existing staff members at your school. New staff members can take initial fundamental trainings online to perform their day-to-day job in RenWeb. Seasoned users can attend online trainings as refresher classes or to expand their RenWeb capabilities.
• The Lifetime Training Pass also ensures that your school is properly trained to take full advantage of RenWeb's unmatched range of automated, best-practice processes and new functionality.
• RenWeb offers more than 20 classes and 40 hours of training to help schools take full advantage of our functionality and automation. All scheduled online training classes can be taken via the Lifetime Training Pass.

Don’t know if your school has it? No problem! Click here and then enter in your district code to find out.

If it turns out your school doesn’t have a Lifetime Training Pass and you’d like to sign up, go to Report Manager->Products & Services->Lifetime Training Pass – Sign Up. Schools can purchase the Pass for a one-time payment of just $299 ($499 for schools with enrollments over 400) along with a $10 monthly fee. This low payment schedule represents a savings of $1,500 over the cost of taking all classes just once on an a la carte basis!

 Do you use iPads in your school? We came across this article on Mind/Shift about how best to incorporate iPad technology into the classroom.

Here are a few of our favorite tips from the article:

IDENTIFY DEVICES. Use laminated name tags and have kids personalize their cases with a key chain. You can also ask each homeroom have a different key chain for easy identification. Also ask kids to put their names on their home screens. This is an easy way to identify ownership of the iPad and allows kids the opportunity to personalize and customize their devices.

PROVIDE A FEW WIRELESS KEYBOARDS. Though most kids will opt to use the iPad keyboard, the wireless keyboards will come in handy now and then. That said, kids who have mobile phones and text a lot are quick iPad typists and their fingers are smaller and more nimble than adult fingers. Watch how they explore the split keyboard feature to enable and mimic texting like typing.

INDICATE YEA OR NAY. If you’re not using the iPad everyday, post a visual in the classroom for whether the iPad will be used that day in class. For example, a red light signals no iPad, a yellow light indicates maybe and a green light means get the iPad out and ready to use right away. This will save the daily question, “Are we using the iPads today?”

Don’t forget that students can also access ParentsWeb via their iPads using the new ParentsWeb Mobile interface! Learn more about it here.

We came across a great article series on Education Week about teaching teachers to tweet. The first installment talks about some general Twitter education, but Part II has two fascinating graphic depictions on how teachers are expanding their resources using technology and therefore becoming a “networked teacher.”

Here’s the typical teacher network:

And here is a model of a “networked teacher”:

Do you use any or all of the networked teacher resources in your own professional development?

Don’t forget to read more about teaching teachers to tweet!

 

Want to add an assignment for your class using the RenWeb Staff App? Here is how to do it:

1. From the Grade Book screen, select the Category to which to add an Assignment.

2. Tap Select Assignment.
3. Select Add Assignment.
4. Type the Title Abbreviation.
5. Type the Description.

6. Select the Date Assigned.

7. Select the Due Date.
8. Select the Weight (if other than 1).
9. Type the Max Points.
10. Choose yes or no to Calculate/Display the assignment.
11. Choose yes or no to Publish to Lesson Plan.
12. Select Save.

That’s it! Check out our recent blog post on how to take attendance on the Staff App too.

 

Do you want to provide your school’s new families an introduction to using ParentsWeb?

Here are a few options to consider:

• To help introduce parents to their ParentsWeb accounts, use the resources available in Report Manager->Training and Documentation->ParentsWeb – Login Instructions from RenWeb Website and Report Manager->Training and Documentation->ParentsWeb New Parent Introduction.
• Help parents become familiar with our new mobile access options for ParentsWeb. Go to Report Manager->Training and Documentation->ParentsWeb Mobile: Parent Communication.
• New families can also read FAQs about mobile access to ParentsWeb on our blog.

 

Yesterday we announced the release of mobile access to ParentsWeb and beginning today, parents and students have two new ways to access ParentsWeb from their mobile devices -- ParentsWeb Mobile and the RenWeb Home App!

ParentsWeb Mobile provides free browser-based access to ParentsWeb information from any mobile device, including an iPod, iPhone, Android Phone, iPad or Android Tablet.

The RenWeb Home App accesses the same information as ParentsWeb Mobile, while providing the additional conveniences of an App for an annual subscription of $4.99 per household.

Here are a few more details about the RenWeb Home App:

SCHOOL INFORMATION

• Calendar Events
• Announcements
• School Directory Information

STUDENT INFORMATION

• Homework Assignments
• Lesson Plans
• Daily Grades
• Report Cards
• Attendance
• Behavior Events
• Class Schedules

FAMILY INFORMATION

• Demographic and Contact Information for Family Members on File

For more information about ParentsWeb Mobile or the RenWeb Home App, click here.

 

 

 

RenWeb is pleased to announce that beginning Wednesday, August 8, parents and students will have two new ways to access ParentsWeb from their mobile devices - ParentsWeb Mobile and the RenWeb Home App!

ParentsWeb Mobile provides free browser-based access to ParentsWeb information from any mobile device, including an iPod, iPhone, Android Phone, iPad or Android Tablet.

ParentsWeb Mobile allows parents and students to access Homework Assignments, Daily Grades, Lesson Plans, Calendar Events, Announcements, School Directory Listings, Report Cards, Attendance, Behavior Events and Class Schedules.  Future enhancements include Family Account Balances, Pay Now, Lunch Menus, Lunch Ordering, Newsletters, Resource Documents and Medical information.

The RenWeb Home App accesses the same information as ParentsWeb Mobile, while providing the additional conveniences of an App for an annual subscription of $4.99 per household.

With the RenWeb Home App, parents and students will:

• Always stay logged into ParentsWeb, providing instant access.

• Navigate to their information faster.

• Communicate easier with other school parents and faculty through their Smartphone's integration with the School Directory, allowing parents to Tap & Send emails or make phone calls instantly to directory listings.

• Import school calendar events and student homework assignments into Personal Calendars.

Parent Communication Document

RenWeb has prepared a one-page communication document for schools to share with their parents and students that describes ParentsWeb Mobile and the RenWeb Home App.  It can be accessed here or by navigating from the RenWeb Main Menu to Report Manager > Training and Documentation > ParentsWeb Mobile: Parent Communication and click Print.

To provide schools further information, we have created a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that also can be accessed in Training and Documentation as well under ParentsWeb Mobile: FAQs.

RenWeb is also placing an announcement on the ParentsWeb Login page that informs parents of the release of ParentsWeb Mobile and the RenWeb Home App.  It also provides parents instructions on how to access the two mobile-friendly options.

Access Instructions for ParentsWeb Mobile

To access ParentsWeb Mobile, parents simply use their mobile device to navigate to their normal ParentsWeb Login Page and they will be redirected to the ParentsWeb Mobile login page.

Access Instructions for the RenWeb Home App

The RenWeb Home App is available now in the Apple App Store for an annual subscription of $4.99 per year.  Parents should use their iPod, iPhone or iPad to search the App Store for RenWeb Home. 

RenWeb Home is offered by the App Store as an In-App Subscription. That means a parent or student installs the App for free, and then purchases an annual subscription to the App the first time they access it. That single annual subscription then covers every iPod, iPhone or iPad used by every member of the family as recorded in RenWeb.

There is nothing the school needs to do to manage the subscriptions.  It is managed automatically through the integration that exists between RenWeb and the App Store.

Faculty Members Have Free Access to RenWeb Home

As a special benefit, RenWeb has made arrangements with the App store to provide RenWeb Home for free to school staff members with students in the schools they serve.  That means staff members can install the RenWeb Home App and access it for free without paying an annual subscription fee.

Please note that if a staff member is asked to pay for a subscription upon their initial login to RenWeb Home, it likely means the staff member has multiple records in their school's RenWeb database - one as a faculty member and one as a parent.  If this occurs, the staff member should not install the app, but instead ask the school to merge their parent record into their staff record and then attempt to log into the app again for free.

Android Version of RenWeb Home

An Android version of the RenWeb Home will be released in the Android Market later this Fall.  For now, parents on Android devices should use ParentsWeb Mobile.

We hope you enjoy these great new additions to the suite of products and services RenWeb provides.

 

RenWeb is pleased to announce that schools can now receive a 90-day free trial of RenWeb Learning Management Powered by Moodle, our hosted Moodle service that integrates with RenWeb. To learn more, schools can sign up for online demonstrations that provide an overview of how a Learning Management System (LMS) like Moodle can help your school, and how Moodle integrates with RenWeb.

RenWeb Learning Management Powered by Moodle provides a very cost-effective solution for schools wanting a hosted LMS like Moodle. Plus, our hosted Moodle solution integrates with RenWeb to pass RenWeb classes, teachers and students from RenWeb to Moodle to create Moodle Users and Moodle Courses. It also passes from Moodle homework assignments and scores created in Moodle to RenWeb's ParentsWeb for viewing by parents and students and to RenWeb's grade book for calculating final grades.

Sign Up for a Free Trial 

To sign up for a free trial, go to the RenWeb Main Menu and click Report Manager, then select the Products and Services category, then select Moodle Hosting Sign Up and click Print. Fill out the form and you will receive via email an order confirmation.

During your trial, you will be able to participate in our online Moodle training sessions, including Moodle Administrator Training and Using Moodle in the Classroom Training.  At the end of the trial, your school can decide whether or not to continue using your Moodle site on an ongoing basis. No billing will take place unless your school elects to move forward with the service.

Sign Up for a Free Online Demonstration

To learn more about RenWeb Learning Managemented Powered by Moodle, sign up for the free online demonstrations by clicking on the links below for the desired sessions.

• Thursday, August 9 - 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm CDT
• Thursday, August 16 - 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm CDT
• Thursday, August 23 - 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm CDT
• Thursday, August 30 - 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm CDT

We look forward to providing you with this opportunity to have a Moodle site that integrates with RenWeb at a price all schools can afford.

 

Learn More About Moodle Integration, Moodle Administrator Training and Using Moodle in the Classroom

RenWeb is pleased to announce it will begin offering weekly training sessions to schools that have subscribed to RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle, our hosted Moodle service that integrates with RenWeb. The weekly training sessions will be led by live instructors in a webinar environment. The sessions include:

• Moodle Integration

This class provides an overview of the integration that exists between RenWeb and Moodle.  The integration includes using classes, teachers and students that exist in RenWeb to create Moodle Users and Moodle Courses, and importing homework assignments and scores created in Moodle into both RenWeb's ParentsWeb for viewing by parents and students and into RenWeb's grade book for calculating final grades. 

• Moodle Administrator Training

This class is designed for Moodle site administrators. It covers how to set up and configure Moodle, how to perform day-to-day administrative tasks and how to manage the integration between Moodle and RenWeb.

• Using Moodle in the Classroom

Are you new to Moodle and want to get a better feel for what it is and how it works? In the Using Moodle in the Classroom session, you'll learn what Moodle does, how to navigate it, what can go into a Moodle course and how to manage class content. Additionally, you'll learn how to manage your gradebook so homework assignments and scores created in Moodle automatically load into your RenWeb gradebook and then display in ParentsWeb.

Sign Up for Training

To register for Moodle training sessions, click the link with your desired training date below.

Moodle Integration

• Monday, August 6, 2012 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM CDT
• Monday, August 13, 2012 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM CDT
• Monday, August 20, 2012 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM CDT
• Monday, August 27, 2012 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM CDT

 

Using Moodle in the Classroom

• Monday, August 6, 2012 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM CDT
• Monday, August 13, 2012 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM CDT
• Monday, August 20, 2012 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM CDT
• Monday, August 27, 2012 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM CDT

 

Moodle Administrator Training

• Tuesday, August 7, 2012 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM CDT
• Tuesday, August 14, 2012 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM CDT
• Tuesday, August 21, 2012 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM CDT
• Tuesday, August 28, 2012 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM CDT

We look forward to you joining us for these trainings!    

 

After we created the RenWeb Pinterest account, we started finding fascinating articles about teachers using Pinterest in the classroom. In this article in Mashable, one professor grades students on the quality and visual aesthetic of what they pin, factoring it into their final participation grade. For younger students, teachers integrate Pinterest into course materials and projects.

“Christina DiMicelli, a technology integration specialist at Hampstead Academy in Hampstead, N.H., said, for instance, educators can ‘assemble a group of materials for students to access,’ while ‘study groups can easily manage research materials found online’ using the site.”

For more education content on Pinterest, check out this article on EducationWorld about “power pinners.” In it, they list five of their must-follow Pinterest users who curate everything from substitute teaching ideas to classroom themes.

Do you have a unique way you’ve integrated Pinterest into your classroom materials or assignments? Have you used an idea from Pinterest before? Tell us at socialmedia@renweb.com or on Twitter @renwebpower!

 

Here are a few reviews on iTunes from the new RenWeb Home app! Have you downloaded it yet?

“Parents Will Love This” – by hilemonl – “I think our parents will love this app. It makes accessing the ParentsWeb information so easy. It includes the ability to import contact information, calendar items, and even lesson plan items into your mobile device. As the Technology Coordinator for our school, I’m excited about being able to share the good news with our families. […]”

“I love this!!” – by Mom of 3 Ducks – “I am so glad that I can log in and access my kids data at anytime. I can import their homework directly into my iCal and set reminders. No more printing, no more papers to keep up with!”

“Mini ParentsWeb on my iPhone” – by AppleEducator – “I really like that I can view my daughter’s school information (grades, atendance and such) in the palm of my hand anytime and anywhere.”

“Loved it!” – by BL! – “Loved being able to pull up the school directory and make a call by just tapping the directory listing.

 We’ve had several questions about RenWeb Portal since we debuted it at the 2012 Power Conference. This FAQ list will hopefully serve to answer some of your most pressing questions!

Q: What is RenWeb Portal?

A: RenWeb Portal is a modern replacement for the RenWeb Desktop that is browser-based, meaning schools will no longer have to download a desktop application to access RenWeb’s features. RenWeb Portal will make both RenWeb’s administrative and faculty features available through a browser.

Q: What browsers does RenWeb Portal support?

A: All major browsers including Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and Chrome.

Q: Will it work on a PC and Mac?

A: RenWeb Portal works equally well on a PC or Mac since it is browser-based.

Q: How about a tablet or Smartphone?

A: RenWeb Portal was not designed to work on a tablet or Smartphone. RenWeb Staff is our current solution for iPhones and can work on an iPad in 2X Mode. RenWeb Staff HD, which is being designed specifically for the iPad, takes RenWeb Home to the next level by taking advantage of the iPad’s larger screen size to add additional feature areas to this mobile solution.

Q: When will a RenWeb Portal Preview be available?

A: In December 2012, we will make the following feature areas of RenWeb Portal available for schools to access and review:

• Student
• Family
• Staff
• Admissions: Including Admissions, Inquiry and Reenrollment
• Communication
• Report Manager
• Security
• Configuration

Q: When will you then turn off the desktop access to RenWeb?

A: We have no planned schedule for turning off access to the RenWeb desktop. We believe schools will naturally want to use the new RenWeb Portal, but will not be forced to do so until they are trained and ready to make the transition.

Any other questions? Feel free to email us at socialmedia@renweb.com.

 Have you seen YouTube for Schools yet?

Here’s an explanation from Brian Troung, a Project Manager at YouTube:

We’ve been hearing from teachers that they want to use the vast variety of educational videos on YouTube in their classrooms, but are concerned that students will be distracted by the latest music video or cute cat, or a video that wasn’t appropriate for students. While schools that restrict access to YouTube may solve this distraction concern, they also limit access to hundreds of thousands of educational videos on YouTube that could help bring photosynthesis to life, or show what life was like in ancient Greece.

And another description from SocialTimes.com:

To solve this problem and help teachers bring the power of video to the classroom as a tool for education, engagement and inspiration, YouTube has developed YouTube for Schools. YouTube for Schools offers high quality educational videos on YouTube for free, in a controlled environment. When a teacher logs in with their school’s Google account, students can browse educational content from over 600 partners, including TED, Steve Spangler Science, Smithsonian and more, without the distraction of kittens or music videos.

YouTube has worked with teachers to put together a variety of educational playlists, according to subject and grade level, from Math to Science, English Language Arts and more.

Would you use this in your classroom? 

 With the start of the 2012-2013 school year rapidly approaching, have you considered using the RenWeb Staff App to take attendance in your classroom?

Here’s how to do it:

• From the Home screen, click  Classes. The list of classes to which you have access displays.

• Select the class for which to take attendance.

• Click on the  (ATT icon). The class selected on the Classes screen displays.

• Tap the class drop-down menu to select another class for which to take attendance.
• Select the desired class or click Cancel to return to the Attendance screen.
• The Date defaults to today’s date.
  • Tap the date drop-down menu to select another date for which to take attendance.
  • Select the new date and tap Done.
• Tap the student name to enter an attendance code. The Attendance Codes display.
• Select the attendance code to assign to the student.
• Tap Fill Present to assign a P attendance mark to any student with a blank attendance mark.

 

At this year’s Power Conference, we encouraged attendees to tweet with us at #rwpc throughout the conference. Additionally, schools who did not attend this year’s conference could follow our Twitter feed for live news at General Sessions, read announcements and more.

If you aren’t using Twitter yet at your school, there are plenty of reasons to start!

Here are a few articles we’ve found helpful:

• Twitter In Schools – A Getting Started Guide by Steven Anderson – This blog post helps you start a Twitter account and explains some logistics you may want to think about.
• Tweeting for Schools by George Couros – What’s next? Once you have a Twitter account for your school, this article outlines some great ideas for utilizing your account to communicate with students and parents.

Here are a few additional things your school can tweet about:

• Tweet when you’ve updated your school’s blog or calendar
• Promote your school’s sports teams and events
• Remind parents of the week’s lunch menu!
• Help get parents involved by posting upcoming opportunities for them to volunteer or assist with school activities
• Link to an Online Donation page to invite alumni, parents and other constituents to give to specific campaigns or other fundraising events

 

Follow RenWeb on Pinterest! What have we been pinning?

• Classroom Tips
• RenWeb News
• Social Media and Education
• School Marketing
• …and more!

Is your school on Pinterest? Check out one of our pins to learn how you can use Pinterest to market your school!

 Here are two photos we took at the 2012 Power Conference during the General Session on the second day. The first is looking at the RenWeb Portal Family settings section and the second is a look at the Communication section.

RenWeb Portal’s Demographics phase is set to launch in Winter 2012/2013. Are you excited to use it?

 Tweet to the RenWeb Team, Ask Presenters Questions and Discuss Topics with Other Attendees Using Twitter at the 2012 Power Conference

Would you like to send questions to your session presenters, write feedback directly to RenWeb and discuss the Power Conference with other attendees? You can do all these things and more by using Twitter at the 2012 Power Conference!

How can you participate?

• Follow @renwebpower (http://www.twitter.com/renwebpower) on Twitter. This is our official Twitter account and will provide conference news, announcements, updates and a live stream of conference happenings. This will be an invaluable resource for all Power Conference attendees!
• Use the hashtag #RWPC throughout the conference. Tag your Power Conference tweets with #RWPC or view the other Power Conference tweets by searching for #RWPC on Twitter.
• Ask questions or send comments and feedback directly to your session presenters. Each session presenter will have their own personal Twitter account. You will be able to find this information on the documentation for each session. Feel free to tweet “@” the presenter throughout your session! (Don’t forget to tag your tweets with #RWPC!)

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/renwebschoolmanagementsoftware) and tag your Instagram photos with #RWPC for even more interaction throughout the 2012 Power Conference!

We look forward to meeting you in person in a few days! If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at socialmedia@renweb.com. If you’d like assistance making a Twitter account, please visit the Social Media Booth at the Power Conference!

The RenWeb Social Media Team

 

We recently came across an interesting blog post by Brendan Schneider about how many Facebook Pages a school should create. Some schools think they should have a separate page for their main school, sports teams, alumni, etc. Is that the best way to reach constituents on Facebook?

This blog post argues no—that you should consolidate your efforts into one main school Facebook Page. Schneider said:

I think there is value in alumni seeing information for current students. It’s important for prospective parents to see information intended for current parents. I think the sharing of information is good for your school community and can potentially help with branding.

If your school doesn’t have a Facebook Page yet, consider creating one. More and more parents are looking to school Facebook Pages to get news, announcements, upcoming school event schedules and more!

 

Includes Browser-Based Access to ParentsWeb Content for iPads, Tablets and Smartphones

New “RenWeb Home” iPhone App Provides Additional Convenience of an App, Including Always-Logged-In Instant Access to ParentsWeb and Tap & Send Capability

Android App to Follow Soon!

July 5, 2012 – RenWeb is pleased to announce it will soon begin phased launches of mobile-friendly versions of ParentsWeb that will provide students and parents free browser-based access to ParentsWeb content via iPads, Tablets and Smartphones.

In addition, RenWeb is launching RenWeb Home, a new iPhone App for accessing ParentsWeb content that takes advantage of core iOS integration to provide additional convenience and capabilities that go above and beyond what is possible in the mobile-friendly browser, such as always-logged-in instant access to ParentsWeb and tap & send capability from the iPhone.

Browser-based Access to ParentsWeb for iPads and Tablets

RenWeb will debut its first mobile-friendly version of ParentsWeb at its 2012 Power Conference. This release, which provides free browser-based access to ParentsWeb, has been designed and formatted for iPads and Tablets. Though accessible by both parents and students, this release is intended to support students working from an iPad or Tablet, whether at home or in the classroom of a school offering 1:1 devices, to provide the student access to daily grades, homework assignments, lesson plans, attendance items, lunch menus, class schedules, and report cards.

Browser-based Access to ParentsWeb for Smartphones

After RenWeb launches the mobile-friendly version of ParentsWeb that has been designed and formatted for the screen size and resolution of iPads and tablets, we will turn our resources to developing a version for the screen size of a Smartphone. We plan this release to launch in the Fall.

RenWeb Home iPhone App

The RenWeb Home App will be the best solution for accessing ParentsWeb content via an iPhone due to the core iOS integration of the app, providing inherent advantages over a browser. RenWeb Home works equally well on an iPad, where it can be installed and ran in 2X Mode to take full advantage of the screen size and resolution of an iPad.

Features of RenWeb Home include:

• Always-Logged-In Instant Access means users remain logged into the system until they choose to log out, providing instant access to ParentsWeb Information.
• Tap & Send capability allows users to view the School Directory and simply tap a directory listing to make a call, send an email, look up an address in the iPhone’s mapping tool, or import a listing into the iPhone’s Contact List.
• Importing capability allows users to import school calendar events and student homework assignments into multiple iPhone Calendars.

RenWeb Home will be offered for an annual fee of $4.99 per family per year. The annual subscription purchase covers all iPhone/iPod/iPad devices for every parent and student in a family as the family is recorded in RenWeb. This step was taken to lower the cost of RenWeb Home for families with multiple devices. Families will be offered the opportunity to renew their subscription prior to its expiration at the end of 12 months.

RenWeb Home will become available in the iPhone App Store by July 13, just in time for the 2012 Power Conference where it will be featured. We will then begin advertising RenWeb Home for parents in August 2012. In order to provide the best parent experience possible, it will be important that schools have ParentsWeb loaded with content that is current before parents download and use RenWeb Home for the first time.

RenWeb Home Android App

Once RenWeb Home for the iPhone is launched at the Power Conference, attention and focus will turn to developing an app for Android phones that RenWeb will offer through the Android Market. The intent is to provide the same advanced features for Android phones that are offered through the iPhone version of RenWeb Home. We anticipate the Android app to launch in January, 2013.

Access to RenWeb’s Hosted Moodle Sites via Smartphones, iPads and Tablets

RenWeb’s hosted Moodle sites will support Moodle’s native themes for the Desktop, iPads/Tablets and Smartphones. That means students can access Moodle via their device to review lesson materials, view assignments, take tests and quizzes and interact with other students.

Because of RenWeb’s integration with its hosted Moodle sites, students can then access ParentsWeb via their device to see the same homework assignments that were created in Moodle by the instructor, as well as view their grades for the test and quizzes taken in Moodle.

“We are very pleased with the holistic solution we are offering schools,” said Bob Wilbers, RenWeb Founder and President. “Through the combination of our mobile-friendly browser, Smartphone apps and Moodle integration, we are providing the most current technology to serve schools and their hand-held devices. We see this as a very important step in the evolution of RenWeb given the growing popularity of blended learning classrooms and 1:1 device programs.”

About RenWeb

RenWeb’s Power, Integration, Ease-of-Use and Affordability are demonstrated daily in more than 2,400 customer schools as the leading provider of next-generation Internet-based school information systems. RenWeb’s unmatched convenience and service include complete installation of the software, including conversion of data, along with a client interface that provides easy access to more than 200 integrated features. Developed by a university dean, RenWeb is leading the migration of schools from client server-based to Web-based systems, bringing administration, parents, students and the classroom together with anytime, anywhere access to a full range of services. Features include Admissions, Enrollment, Scheduling, Billing and Tuition Management, Lunchroom Management, Health Management, Attendance, Homework, Lesson Plans, Grade Book, Report Cards, Transcripts, Extensive Reporting Capabilities, Automated Emailing and ParentsWeb. For more information about RenWeb and its affordable payment plans for schools of all sizes, visit www.RenWeb.com.

 

Did you know RenWeb has a Twitter account? Follow us here!

If you aren’t using Twitter yet, now is a great time to get started! We will be using Twitter at the upcoming 2012 Power Conference to communicate and interact with attendees using the hashtag #RWPC.

Here are a few ways you or your school can use Twitter effectively:

• Link to school blog posts or personal blog posts
• Follow other thought leaders in the education community
• Post recent news or school announcements
• Send reminders about upcoming school events
• Live-tweet school sporting events
• Link to education articles or blog posts you find interesting
• Talk to other teachers or administrators about social media and technology in education

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at socialmedia@renweb.com! Don’t forget to keep an eye on #RWPC in advance of the Power Conference for news, announcements and more!

 Schools Placing Advance Orders Will Receive Hosted Moodle Sites That Integrate with RenWeb Beginning June 26

RenWeb is pleased to announce it is now accepting advance orders for Moodle Hosting, which will begin on June 26 for schools that submit advance orders. Advance Ordering is intended for schools with prior Moodle knowledge, or for schools that will require no Moodle support. RenWeb will not begin providing training or support on the hosted Moodle solution until the official launch of Moodle Hosting at the 2012 Power Conference.

Pricing

Moodle hosting is purchased by Usage Level. Usage Level is defined by the number of teachers and students that will be enrolled as users in Moodle. It is also defined by the amount of storage space the Moodle users and school will require for their Moodle site.

There is a $195 one-time Moodle Site setup fee. Schools then pay a monthly Moodle Hosting fee following the schedule below for the selected Usage Level. 

• Up to 250 Moodle users and 5GB of storage: $65 per month
• Up to 500 users and 10GB: $90
• Up to 750 users and 15GB: $ 115
• Up to 1,000 users and 20GB: $140
• Up to 1,250 users and 25GB: $165
• Up to 1,500 users and 30GB: $190
• Up to 1,750 users and 35GB: $215
• Up to 2,000 users and 40GB: $240

If schools exceed their storage, they will need to either eliminate content to stay within their disk storage tier, or move to the next larger storage and pricing tier.

Ordering Instructions

To place an advance order for your school, go to the RenWeb Main Menu and click Report Manager, then select the Products and Services category, then select Moodle Hosting Sign Up and click Print. Fill out the form and you will receive via email an order confirmation.

Moodle Plugins

If you currently use Moodle, we would like to collect on the Sign Up form the non-native Moodle plugins you currently actively use. You can find a list of all enabled plug-ins on the Settings > Site Administration > Plugins > Plugins overview page of your current Moodle site.

Term Commitment

There is no long-term contract or term commitment. You can sign up for Moodle Hosting and see how it works for your school with no risk or large, up-front financial investment. You can then cancel the service at any time if it doesn't meet your expectations.

Next Steps

After you place your advance order, you will receive written instructions on how to access and log into your Moodle Site. In general, you should expect it to take 2 - 3 days for RenWeb to establish your site and issue the written instructions after we receive your advance order. We will wait until June 26 to begin issuing instructions.

No training or support will be provided at this time while we prepare for the formal Moodle Hosting launch at the 2012 Power Conferenceto be held July 16 - 19 in Anaheim, CA. At the conference we will provide training on Moodle Administration and Using Moodle in the Classroom.

Once we formally launch Moodle Hosting at the conference, we will begin offering these training sessions online for Moodle Hosting customers.

We look forward to providing you with this opportunity to have a Moodle site that integrates with RenWeb at a price all schools can afford.

 The New York Times recently reported on the growing trend of using “backchannel” Twitter-like live streams in the classroom to enhance classroom discussion. Unlike a traditional classroom discussion in which a teacher raises a topic and asks for student input via a raised hand, backchannel live streams (created using Twitter, Google Moderator and Today’s Meet) allow students to type questions, answers and bring up new topics—all while the teacher is lecturing. The teacher then monitors the backchannel in order to steer the lecture or discussion accordingly.

In the article, one teacher said he was nervous that students would be too distracted and wouldn’t use the technology appropriately, but found that the students’ “hypertext minds” were well-suited to incorporate this new tool into the classroom. Another teacher remarked that he was blown away by how many students that would previously stay silent during classroom discussion were suddenly involved on the backchannel.

Have you ever considered using this technology in your classroom? Send us your thoughts!

 

Your website does more than just market your school. To a prospective parent, it is your school.

With combined experience of 30+ years, RenWeb and Cherry+Company can provide you with an award-winning design that integrates with the power and performance of RenWeb School Management Software in our School Site product.

We've worked to make our School Site product the ultimate in ease-of-use and flexibility. There's no special IT experience required and youhave the power to update and change your custom website anytime, anywhere. It is an affordable, dynamic website solution for your school.

"Cherry+Company's design solution for our School Site really captured the essence of our school. We immediately wanted to extend the design to other materials! THAT is how much we loved the design!" -- Cherie Jackson, Communications Coordinator at Hinsdale Adventist Academy in Hinsdale, IL regarding their new School Site website, which is currently in development

 

Start the 2012-2013 school year with a brand new website!

 

• Wednesday,  June 6 - 10:00 am - 11:00 am CDT

• Tuesday, June 19 - 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm CDT

Rick Newberry, President of Enrollment Catalyst, recently featured a blog post on his site about how to use photos to tell your school’s story.

Here are four strategies Newberry outlined:

1. Photo of the Day
2. Facebook Updates
3. Blog Photos
4. Photo Tours

To learn more about implementing these strategies, please visit Newberry’s blog here!

Does your school use photos in your marketing campaigns? Let us know in the comments or email us at socialmedia@renweb.com!

Is Your Current Alert Notification System Contract Expiring?

Want an Instantaneous Alert System That Integrates with RenWeb?

Parent Alert is the solution for you!

Parent Alert provides instantaneous notifications to parents and your school community via text messages to cell phones; voice calls to work, home and cell; and emails to multiple addresses. You can send the alerts directly from RenWeb or from our apps for iPhone, iPad and Android phones. Parent Alert gives you a convenient and consistent method of communication for situations such as tuition payment reminders, bus schedule changes and emergencies

Please join us in a FREE upcoming webinar!

• Thursday, May 31, 2012 - 2 to 3:00 p.m. CST - Register Online
• Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - 1 to 2:00 p.m. CST - Register Online
• Monday, June 25, 2012 - 10 to 11:00 a.m. CST - Register Online

This webinar will cover the functionality available through Parent Alert and demonstrate how to send out different types of alerts, including how to send alerts from the new Android mobile app. Following the session, attendees will be provided access to Parent Alert at their school for one month free of charge. Schools may then sign up for a 12-month subscription to Parent Alert for $0.30 per student per month.

For more information regarding Parent Alert, please go to RenWeb's Online Help. To access click the Online Help button from the main screen of RenWeb, then click the Parent Alert folder to view documentation, FAQ's and help demonstration videos.

To sign up for Parent Alert go to the main screen of RenWeb and click Report Manager, then select the Products and Services category, then select Parent Alert - Sign Up and click print. Fill out the authorization form and your account will be activated within 1 business day.

 Donate Online provides a secure donation link that schools can attach to any web page that will allow often hard-to-reach family and friends to make online donations via credit cards with a few clicks. Powered by the secure and reliable processing engine of FACTS/NBS, the industry leader in K-12 online payment processing, Donate Online speeds deposits of donations into school bank accounts within three business days.

Using Donate Online, schools can simply add a Secure Donation Link to an existing Fundraising area on their website to begin accepting online credit card payments for memorial and tribute gifts.

Donate Online also makes it easy for schools to take their fundraising to the next level by creating complete Memorial Gift areas for their websites, using simple web pages provided by RenWeb. These comprehensive webpages can include an overview of the school's memorial program, descriptions and photos for the school's various campaigns, and a secure donation button for submitting honorarium gifts. (See Memorial Gift page example.)

Now every school can simplify Memorial Day or honorarium donations for school friends and families, while empowering schools to acquire new donors who often do not respond to traditional postal mail solicitations.

To sign up and register for one of the free sessions, please click on the appropriate link below:

• Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 1 to 2:00 p.m. CDT  - Register Online
• Thursday, June 7, 2012 - 2 to 3:00 p.m. CDT - Register Online
• Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 10 to 11:00 a.m. CDT - Register Online

 

We’ve received an overwhelmingly positive response regarding our announced launch of RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle. This upcoming launch is further demonstration of our ongoing commitment to integrate RenWeb with a wide variety of services our customers want and need, making those services more valuable to our customers.

In response to the many questions we received, we have prepared the following Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document. We look forward to providing additional information as we near the launch of our Moodle integration.

If you have any further questions, feel free to email us at socialmedia@renweb.com.

 Ready to give your transcript a fresh look? 

Learn how with the RenWeb Customization Kit!

Have you ever wondered how to customize your transcript? Join us for an upcoming live demonstration of the RenWeb Customization Kit. The Customization Kit enables schools to:

• Customize transcript templates, report card templates, student and family-based reports, and accounting statements.
• Brand communications by compiling and deploying custom dynamic web forms and email templates.
• Enhance your Online Giving site with access to the style sheet for Donate Online.

The webinar demonstrations will cover how to create a student transcript, how to customize an existing transcript template, how to brand your email communications, and where to find additional documentation and online training videos to view.

Following the sessions, attendees will be provided access to the RenWeb Customization Kit at their school for one month free of charge.  Schools may then sign up for a $495 annual subscription and have access to the service year round.

To sign up and register for the free session, please click on the link below:

• Thursday, May 24, 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT - Register Online
• Wednesday, May 30, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CDT - Register Online

RenWeb Announces Launch of 
RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle

Loads Moodle with Students, Faculty and Courses Originating in RenWeb

Updates RenWeb's Grade Book and ParentsWeb with Grades, Homework Assignments and other Content Originating in Moodle

Provides Management of Digital Lessons for Schools Launching 1:1 Device Programs and Blended Learning Classrooms

Moodle Hosting by RenWeb Provides One-Stop Shopping for Schools

May 14, 2012 - RenWeb School Management Software today announced the launch of RenWeb Learning Management powered by Moodle, combining the strength of the K-12 industry leader in Web-based student management software with the world's leading open-source learning management system (LMS).

Moodle combines digital lesson content with student collaboration tools and powerful online quiz capabilities to create an interactive learning environment that reinforces traditional classroom teaching. 

The integration of RenWeb and Moodle loads students, faculty and courses stored in RenWeb into Moodle, and then updates RenWeb's grade book and ParentsWeb with grades, homework assignments and other content originating in Moodle.

"We are very pleased with how RenWeb's integration with Moodle can simplify a school's use of a learning management system," said Bob Wilbers, RenWeb Founder and President. "We have eliminated all the manual uploads and duplicate key entry of information between RenWeb and Moodle. Plus, our hosting service and training on Moodle makes it that much easier for schools to initially launch and then maintain this important tool."

Brad Lee, RenWeb CEO, stated, "Our integration with Moodle supports the launch of 1:1 device programs and blended learning classrooms by many RenWeb schools. When launching 1:1 programs, schools often focus on management of the devices, but not on management of the digital lessons they will share on the devices. Moodle allows schools to maximize the value of their hardware investment by organizing and sequencing the digital lessons they will share with students, and by saving it for reuse in multiple class sections or in subsequent semesters."
 

An article last year on eSchoolNews featured the top ten ways that schools utilize social media.

1. Professional development
2. Community outreach
3. Course assignments
4. Parent communication
5. Distance learning
6. Assessments
7. Cross-cultural communication and language learning
8. Collaborative learning
9. Networking with colleagues
10. Integrating real-world applications into teaching

How does your school use social media tools? Don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! 

Increase Fundraising Returns by Connecting Your Phone-A-Thon to the Power of Donate Online's Easy, Online Donations

Did you know you can combine your Phone-A-Thon campaign with Donate Online? Donors will love the convenience of making a secure online payment!

Once a donor has agreed to make a pledge during your Phone-A-Thon, take note of their current email address. You can then email donors a secure donation link and give them the option of making a gift online. Donate Online is faster and more affordable than mailing a pledge card to each donor! 

How does Donate Online work?



Donate Online provides a secure donation link that schools can attach to their existing website that allows individuals to make an online gift via credit cards with a few clicks. Powered by the secure and reliable processing engine of FACTS/NBS, the industry leader in K-12 online payment processing, Donate Online speeds deposits of donations into school bank accounts within three business days.

Learn more!



Discover how Donate Online's convenient and secure online processing can help increase the return on your Phone-A-Thon fundraising by signing up for a free webinar demonstration.

• Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 1 to 2:00 p.m. CDT  - Register Online
• Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 10 to 11:00 a.m. CDT  - Register Online
• Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 1 to 2:00 p.m. CDT  - Register Online

 

School Site can help your school create a modern, dynamic website design and content management solution that's affordable, feature-rich and easy to update just in time for the 2012/2013 admissions season. Prospective parents will be impressed by your clean, professional design and current parents will love how School Site is RenWeb integration-ready with your RenWeb calendar, announcements, newsletters, lunch menu, faculty list, inquiry form, ParentsWeb login and more!
 
Are you ready to take your website to the next level with a new design and state-of-the-art look and feel?  See what School Site can offer your school by viewing these award-winning designs: Mount Pisgah Christian School, Lawton Christian School and Westerly School.
 
Don't forget: Your purchase of School Site includes a FREE set-up of Online Application and Online Enrollment (a $395 value). Your school will have its best admissions and re-enrollment season yet!
 
Join us for a free School Site webinar and put your best foot forward for 2012/2013!

• Tuesday, April 17 - 10:00 am - 11:00 am CDT
• Thursday, April 26 - 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm CDT