We’ve posted our ’0-6 Month Guide’ again because we think it’s the most useful bit of kit we’ve got – and it will help you to start using realsmart immediately!

What’s more, we’ve uploaded this using ‘Issuu’ so that you can browse the guide in this page, rather than having to download the PDF. Click on the image below to read the guide at your leisure……

To download a copy of this PDF click here.

Q: How much learning time is wasted finding passwords?

A: None!

ANY teacher can find out the usernames of their students and reset their passwords quickly and easily in realsmart.

• When you’re in realsmart, open up the desired unit that you are working on and select the correct group / class that you’re working with (use the ‘shares‘ tab at the top of the page for this).

• Then select the ‘passwords‘ tab – again this is at the top of the page. This will then display all of the usernames for that particular group, and give you the option of resetting passwords should this be necessary.

*This negates the need for loads of staff having admin rights. We normally advise against there being more than 2 administrators for realsmart. This is because any changes in the admin area can seriously impact on mentor / learner data and work, and we need to be able to trace accountability – something we can’t do if there are 20 different admin users.

A few years ago as part of a Learning to Learn course I was teaching, we asked students to create a website ‘all about them’. This was supposed to be a really engaging way for students to reflect and share their understanding of the first module of work, and a bit different from creating a PowerPoint or a poster.

The problem was, creating a website isn’t that easy, is it? You need students to understand some pretty complex software. I used Microsoft Front Page – just teaching them basic web design took weeks. Then we had the problem of hosting these websites (getting them online), which was near impossible. So at best this became a lesson in using front page, and students shared their work by rotating round the classroom and looking at each other’s computer screens.

rweb has completely revolutionised this approach. In less than a minute (before you can even say ‘hyperlink’!) you can create a website structure, without even having to worry about the esoteric skills associated with web design. Students using this structure can add content to each page using the web cell editor within realsmart.

But this is where rweb really gets going. Students and teachers can ‘share’ their websites with each other, really online. And the best bit is that using an agreed success criteria and asking students to create a page with this on, allows everyone you have shared your rweb with to add comments and feedback.

That’s real assessment for learning, baby!

*watch this video to see how easily you can create your own rweb.

Like a phoenix rising from the flames, Campsmount Technology College had a tough ol’ year in 2009 when it was hit by a devastating fire, but is now back on its feet and doing great things.

Recently we’ve been hearing all kinds of impressive comments about Campsmount’s website which has been created by staff using realsmartcloud. Add to the mix, rumours of staff using the cloud to improve whole school collaboration and we knew it was time to get in touch.

We caught up with ‘smart’ cookie and Assistant Headteacher Jamie Portman to find out how teachers are getting on with realsmartcloud at Campsmount.

If you’d like your school to follow in Campsmount’s footsteps, then why not get in touch and let us show you how we can help. To find out more and arrange a demo, please contact us on 0114 224 2334 or email realsmart@smartassess.com

Can’t see video? Click here1) So Jamie, first of all, tell us about the fantastic website that you’ve created with realsmartcloud.

“Ah thanks very much! We’re glad you like it. We’re all really proud of our school website here at Campsmount. Thanks to realsmartcloud, we can now access the latest in technology and use it to share information and communicate through our website in a very engaging way with students, parents and staff as well as the wider community.”

Can’t see video? Click here2) What impact has realsmartcloud had on staff using the website?

“Staff are really enjoying using the website, we’re finding that teachers are beginning to embrace the new technologies that realsmartcloud provides so it’s really helped to created a buzz of activity within the school.

“By this I mean that staff are uploading things like podcasts, image galleries and even videos to our website to showcase the learning and various activities that go on throughout the day. realsmartcloud enables us to celebrate our fantastic learning experiences and share them with the world!”

Can’t see video? Click here3) What in particular do staff at Campsmount like about realsmartcloud?

“To put it simply, realsmartcloud is so effective because it brings everything together in one place, making our lives so much easier! Rather than having to sign in to different applications, we can access a number of them quickly and simply through realsmartcloud. The cloud acts as the gateway to some of the best technology applications that exist currently, plus it’s also incredibly easy to use!”

Can’t see video? Click here4) How are you using realsmartcloud to collaborate?

“Through realsmartcloud, we’re using Google Docs which is a great suite of tools that enable us to collaborate easily across the school. Many teachers use Google Docs to plan lessons or create schemes of work and presentations. Through Google Docs we are now sharing resources with each other, working together on projects and accessing information. It’s really improving the way we work together at Campsmount and the potential is enormous.”

Can’t see video? Click here5) Can you sum up for us the benefits of realsmartcloud, in one sentence?

“realsmartcloud is a brilliant teacher toolkit which provides easy access to the best technology available on the world wide web. It’s amazing!”

About Campsmount Technology College

Campsmount Technology is based in Norton, Doncaster. It has around 800 students with a Sixth Form.

Check out the Campsmount website at: www.campsmount.com

Investing in just one Digital Leaders’ training day does exactly that.

During a training day tailored to your needs, our realsmart trainers work with both your realsmart Champions (staff) and your selected student Digital Leaders. Your student Digital Leaders (or ‘smarties’) can be present all day with a rotating group of staff to become the resident experts on all things realsmart, as well as other technology across the school.

Mark (Digital Leader) said, “I really enjoy teaching teachers; it’s nice to turn the tables on them sometimes! We really like realsmart so far and we’re looking forward to seeing how the teachers use it.”

Dan Stucke (Assistant Headteacher, Stretford High) said, “I’m a busy man, and even though realsmart is easy to use, having the Digital Leaders to help me train the staff and students is going to make the launch much more successful.  We’re already seeing pockets of innovation from keen teachers, but the Digital Leaders will help us spread the use of realsmart to the less confident staff”.

We have found that our most successful schools are the ones that involve students in the implementation of realsmart; at Homewood School in Kent their realsmart Digital Leaders have even trained staff across the Local Authority. After all, who better to train your staff than your very own digital natives?!

To arrange your realsmart Digital Leader training day or to book a bespoke training day, contact lynn@smartassess.com or call 0114 224 2334.

If you’re one of the many schools we’ve worked with to set up a dynamic integration between realsmart and your SIMS MIS system, we’d like you to check that the link is still working.

We’ve noticed that in some schools the integration which should synchronise users daily hasn’t worked recently.  It’s obviously very important that this is running regularly, as you’ll have new staff and students with you in this academic year who will need access to realsmart.

We’re in the process of contacting all the affected schools but in the meantime, if your realsmart member data is not being kept up to date, here are a few things we’d like you to check, which might be the cause of the problem:

1) Has the scheduled task been deleted?

Chances are, this was set up on your SIMS server, so check there first, unless you know it was set up elsewhere. If it’s no longer there, please email support@smartassess.com, and we’ll resend the instructions to set this up again for you.

2) Is the URL in the scheduled task correct?

Towards the end of 2010, we changed servers, and emailed all our SIMS schools informing them of a change to their task, but this may not have been actioned in your school. The URL in the scheduled task should be:

https://www.rlsmart.net/webservices

3) Has the username/password used in the scheduled task been changed/removed?

If you have used a regular SIMS account to set up the automated integration, then these could have been changed, which would stop the integration from running.

4) Have you moved or changed your SIMS server?

If your server has been moved or changed, chances are it could no longer be set up. If you need instructions on how to set the task up again, please email support@smartassess.com, and we’ll resend the instructions to set this up again for you.

5) Have the files been deleted?

If your scheduled task is still set up, then you’ll be able to find where the files should be from here, probably in the “Start in” field. Check this directory to make sure the files are still there. If not, they can be downloaded from this link:

http://data.rlsmart.net/admin/mis_import/RealsmartSimsWebService.zip

6) “I’ve checked everything above” or, “I don’t know where to look”.

There should be a file called ‘realsmart.log’ in the same directory as the .exe file. Please send this to support@smartassess.com, and we’ll be able to look into this for you and advise on the issue.
If you don’t know where to look, or you have a Managed Service and no access to your SIMS server, please email support@smartassess.com, and someone will be in touch to assist you.

Please notify us if you think you’ve found or solved the issue, along with the time of day that the schedule is set to run, and we’ll check our sever log to make sure the data is coming across as it should.

Thanks for your co-operation.

New feature

If you are a realsmartcloud customer you can create a single sign on link from any wordpress item, google doc or site.

For example if you are a French teacher and you would like to link your google sites lesson plan to a students French activity in realsmart, you can!

Click here for an example…..

To do this you need to know SuperTed’s secret magic code, so here goes;

You will need to be signed in to realsmartcloud

Paste in this link and the activity name after the =
http://www.rlsmart.net/main/index.php?subject_name=

If you have spaces in an activity name you will need to add a + where the space would have been.

http://www.rlsmart.net/main/index.php?subject_name=Weekly+reflective+blogs

Please be aware that the user who clicks on the link must have a share in the activity you would like them to access.

For more information on sharing click here….. blog post “it’s good to share”

Every now and then, Google make your accounts go through a ‘Captcha’ to make sure the emails are real, still used, and / or not being used inappropriately by spammers, robots, etc.

Below is a link to a page where you should enter your details; the account will be unlocked and normal service will resume.

Remember folks, it’s all in the name of safety.

https://www.google.com/accounts/DisplayUnlockCaptcha

In a recent article, Jamie Portman from Campsmount Technology College discussed why he loves his realsmartcloud site.

“So why am I so proud of our school website? Because it celebrates what goes on within it. That’s it.”

“Sadly, school websites are often a contradiction of what normally goes on within them. I regularly see sites that haven’t been updated in months and can only be described as dull, boring, static and lifeless. And yet for me, school websites should actually be a celebration of the learning and achievements that goes on within them.”

“They should advertise the fact that students enjoy being at your school due to the exciting learning experiences that your teachers work so hard to facilitate. Parents should be reassured that their children are fully taking advantage of the broad, balanced and dynamic curriculum offer that your school provides ….”.

Naturally, we agree!

Click here to read the full article.

Winton School have taken realsmart fully on board and are starting to roll it’s use out across the whole school.

Whether it’s using rafl and rpassport on whole area Project Days which incorporate Modern Foreign Languages, ICT, and English, to using rcast to blog minutes of Leadership Meetings, the staff have become enthused and the kids are loving it! The Head has even started presenting at conferences using rmap instead of Powerpoint! On one of our support visits we talked to some of the staff about why they liked realsmart, what they were currently using it for, and their hopes for the future.

Click on the videos below to find out more.

Click  here to see Winton on youtube, where amongst other things they discus the merits of using realsmart.