Information Services
Massachusetts Online Network for Education (MassONE)

Newsletter - May 2008

Summer's just around the corner!

Although you and your students may be going on vacation, MassONE will continue to operate through the summer. Wherever you go, you can access MassONE if you have an Internet connection. You can use it to store files and then access them from any location. You might also want to experiment with some of MassONE's tools so that you can use them in the fall. Give it a try, and have fun!

Special announcements for high school seniors

Teachers need to remind seniors that they will no longer have access to MassONE once they have graduated. If seniors have stored any files in their personal MassONE My Folder, they will lose access to these files. If students want to retain these files, they should copy them to another storage medium. MassONE will maintain seniors' accounts until the end of the summer in case they are needed for summer course work. Also, any senior who does not graduate will need to be given a new MassONE account.

End-of-year clean-up

With the school year almost over, teachers need to remind students to clean out any files they have stored in their personal MassONE My Folder. This applies only to students who will be going to a different school in the fall. Students should copy their files to another storage medium, such as a flash drive, and then reload them into MassONE when they enter their new school in the fall. In case students need their files for summer work, MassONE will retain the files in each student's My Folder until the end of the summer.

Summer online courses

During the school year, the Partnership for Online Professional Development (POPD) has offered courses on a pilot basis to educators in eight districts that received competitive grants from the Department. The courses, which focus on improving student learning of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and K-12 Instructional Technology Standards, will be offered again this summer. If the courses do not fill, they will be offered statewide on a space-available basis. If you are interested in taking a course, check the MassONE headlines periodically to find out if there are openings in any of the courses.

Avoiding problems with student passwords

In most cases, classroom teachers can create student accounts by simply by rostering students into their classroom workgroup. The roster tool allows teachers to search for the names of students in their school, select the names, and then add them to the workgroup. The tool will also produce a list of students' usernames and passwords. Teachers should only set up accounts when students are ready to begin using MassONE. If a student does not log in within 24 hours of being rostered, the password must be reset by the teacher, the MassONE Admin, or the MassONE Help Desk.

To be discontinued . . .

As announced in the March/April newsletter, the MassONE calendar tool will be discontinued in July. If you have been using the calendar, be sure to plan accordingly.

Back issues of Newsletters

If you missed any previous issues of the MassONE newsletter, you can now find them on the MassONE web site. To access them, go to MassONE News Archives on the MassONE home page.