Next Home Base Maintenance Period

The next Home Base maintenance is scheduled for tonight, March 19, 2021.  Currently, PowerSchool is the only known application that will undergo maintenance.  All other Home Base applications will remain available.

Maintenance Window Updates 

This maintenance window will include the addition of new Legal Name fields and a Preferred Name display update.  It is the PSU’s local decision to determine which of these fields to send to third-party vendors.  By default, the preferred name will populate third-party systems that sync with PowerSchool.  PSUs may elect to sync the legal name instead of the preferred name field.  All legal documents must display the student’s legal name such as transcripts and other official school documents. Other reports, such as the NC Report Card and elective reports, are not considered legal documents and may indicate the student’s preferred name, if desired. For more information, see this Guidance Document. 

The addition of the new fields requires a slight change in the enrollment process including a new pause feature. The pause will either present near matches or ask you to confirm that you want to create a new student record before a record is created or updated in UID. The Enrolling a New Student QRD has been updated to reflect these changes, and a new Enrolling a New Student Quick Reference Video has been published as well.

This maintenance window will also include an update to the Race field’s functionality during the enrollment process. Prior to the maintenance window, the Race fields would not write to the demographic screen. A fix for this is being put into production so the selected Race will flow into the demographic screen from the enrollment process.

The PowerSchool application will be brought down for one night only, Friday, March 19 at 7 p.m. and returned to service by 2 p.m., Saturday afternoon, March 20.  The application will be made accessible to all users once maintenance is complete.

Note:  Each year, a list of scheduled maintenance windows are published by NCDPI.  This is published in advance to help teachers and administrators better prepare for temporary outages and loss of access.  Please review the 2020-2021 maintenance schedule and put these dates on your calendar. In most cases, the entire window is not necessary and we can return systems to service earlier than listed. If emergency maintenance is required in addition to these scheduled dates, all users will be notified in advance. 

2021-2022 Instructional School Start and End Dates   

G.S. 115C-84.2(a2) specifies that a report on the start and end dates of the instructional calendar for students for the next academic year be provided to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of education by April 1 of each year.  To make this deadline, the start and end dates of the instructional calendar for students for each school must be in PowerSchool before April 1. 

School Start and End Dates for 2021-22 will be pulled immediately after April 1, 2021. 

Reminder:  New sqlReport5 Report - CCRG Student List

A new sqlReport5 report called CCRG Student List has been created and entered in all NC PowerSchool instances.  This report lists students enrolled in the special program for CCRG English or Math. Schools must assign a special program of NC-CCRG English or NC-CCRG Math to the section for the report to pull the students.  The report is located under the CCRG heading/folder.

Reminder:  FERPA Collection in PowerSchool

The yearly required collection of the parent’s or eligible student’s response to the use of data for directory purposes is included in PowerSchool.  Please click on the following link to access the full message sent this week with details about this collection process.

FERPA Collection in PowerSchool

Spring 2021 Course Code Webinar Series

Please join the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) for a Spring 2021 course code webinar series. PowerSchool Data Managers, PowerSchool Coordinators, School Counselors, Career and Technical Education Directors, Career Development Coordinators, CCP Coordinators, and Curriculum and Instruction/Academic Leaders are encouraged to join the conversations. Please see details below and we look forward to seeing you (virtually) soon! 

SAVE THE DATES! 

Time:  2 - 3 pm EST

Platform:  Webex

Dates and Registration Information:

• April 16th:  Generic CTE Course Code Implementation (Join the Webinar Here)
• April 30th:  Generic Course Code Scheduling (Join the Webinar Here)

Completed Webinars and Slides can be viewed at SIS Resources

• Course Codes General Overview - Part A
• Course Codes General Overview - Part B
• CAA vs. Non-CAA Courses

Questions? Please enter your questions in the Question Collection Form.

Canvas PD Mini-Course - Crafting High Quality Feedback in Canvas

Our next Canvas mini-course is now open for self-registration in NCEES. Learn all about the different ways you can give high quality feedback in Canvas.

This course is designed to be completed in one hour, and upon course completion, 0.1 CEU of Digital Learning Competency Credit will be applied to your transcript in NCEES (within 48 hours).

Register here (must login to NCEdCloud): https://bit.ly/3nxtogw

New Self-Paced Course on Curating Content in #GoOpenNC

We are so excited to try something new with our monthly webinars for #GoOpenNC. The webinar is now available on-demand in a mini Canvas course (you will need to login to NCEES via NCEdCloud to register).

The course is designed to be completed in one hour and NCEES will apply 0.1 CEU of Digital Learning Competency Credit to your transcript within 48 hours of completing the course.  The course is available until May 31, 2021

New Mini-Course: Remix and Add Your Own Content to #GoOpenNC!

Our next #GoOpenNC mini-course is now available for self-registration on NCEES. Learn how to remix and add your own resources to #GoOpenNC.

Each mini-course is designed to take one hour to complete and within 48 hours of course completion, 0.1 CEU of Digital Learning Competency Credit will be applied to your transcript!

Register here (must login to NCEdCloud): https://bit.ly/3amydp9

NCWiseOwl EBSCO Webinars 2020-2021 

PSUs, please share this message with your teachers.

Want to love and utilize NCWiseOwl even more?  Attend the upcoming webinars available from our database vendors! 

Britannica School: REGISTRATION and RECORDINGS

• Britannica School for Remote Learning 
• Britannica School for Parents 
• Britannica Basics for Elementary Educators 
• Britannica Basics for Secondary Educators 
• Sharing Britannica Content on Google Platforms 
• Preparing Digital Content Sets for Instruction 
• Britannica Tools to Support Reluctant Readers 
• Britannica School - STEAM in Focus 
• Britannica School - Arts & Humanities in Focus 
• Britannica Tools to Support English Language Learners 
  
  

EBSCO: REGISTRATION and RECORDINGS

• EBSCO Reference Center Exploration 
• EBSCO Online Classroom Tools and Integration Tips 
• EBSCO Accessibility and Usability Features within EBSCO Resources
• EBSCO Working with EBSCO eBooks
  
  

Please visit the NCWiseOwl  Toolkit  professional learning section for detailed descriptions and registration links.  www.ncwiseowl.org

Friday Wrap Up

The Friday Wrap Up contains quick "Did You Know" tips that were shared with our social media audience during the week. Would you like to get these in real-time?  See our next article below on how to join us on social media.

Canvas

We have a FREE sample course available in the Canvas Commons with ideas for including Social Emotional Learning in your #CanvasLMS courses. From building learner agency, self-regulation, to student community, this course has examples you can reuse and remix. Check it out by searching the Canvas Commons for "Making Remote Learning Personal" or using the direct link below (you must be signed into Canvas for the link to work): https://lor.instructure.com/.../1d5a83c37ed54316af0964a64…

Coming soon! The ability for students to take pictures of assignments with a webcam and submit them in #CanvasLMS. This new feature will be available after the March 20th release. It's sure to be a handy feature for all students.

#GoOpenNC

We invite YOU to join our Open Education Community of Practice by leaving a comment and/or a star rating on a resource in #GoOpenNC. This valuable information helps educators find the best resources and know how to improve the resources available!

Get WILD about learning on #GoOpenNC with resources from the @nczoo!

This collection of lesson plans and activities is perfect for the warmer weather ahead. Check out the resources and make a plan to explore learning in the classroom or at home!

https://goopennc.oercommons.org/curated-collections/234...

NCEES

Did you know? NCEES Admins can create a PD Playlist and view who has completed a group of selected courses such as ECATS or MTSS!

Check out the Help Guide "PD Playlist Creation Guide 122018"

https://ncees.homebase.ncpublicschools.gov/.../downloadFi...

Your district will need a PD Playlists Moderator. Contact cami.narron@dpi.nc.gov to enable this role.

Find Resource Guides and Videos under the Mobile App tab in NCEES.

#NCNCEES, @NCHomeBase, @nchbase, @ncdpiDTL, @ncpublicschools

Local PD Creators!! Did you know? NCEES has a Mobile App for Attendance!!

Download the Performance Matters app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store to view PD courses as both an instructor and a participant.

As a participant, you can use the scanner to mark your attendance in the learning opportunity. As an instructor, you can take attendance directly in the app. Have attendees scan into your Event QR code or scan the attendee's QR codes as they attend.

During first login use this code, KeXU4s, and log in using your NCEdCloud credentials.

Find Resource Guides and Videos under the Mobile App tab in NCEES.

#NCNCEES, @NCHomeBase, @nchbase, @ncdpiDTL, @ncpublicschools

Learning.com

Did You Know? That Learning.com offers FREE 2-week trials for the following content areas:

Coding

Keyboarding

Cyber Robotics

Computational Thinking

Multimedia

Spreadsheets & Databases

Computer Fundamentals

Internet Usage & Communications

Visual Mapping

Digital Citizenship

Presentations

Word Processing

Learning.com curriculum is available as a comprehensive solution or by individual content areas.

SchoolNet

Did you know? There are two current self-paced Schoolnet PD courses available in NCEES! These are a quick way to learn about Schoolnet and earn some Digital Learning Competency CEUs. Check them out on the Schoolnet Google Site!

Follow Us on Social Media!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and begin receiving "Did You Know" tips featuring each Home Base product. 

These messages will include upcoming changes, tips, and even hidden treasures within each product to make your job easier.  If you are not following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, click on the links below and begin today!  Make sure you share this information with other staff within your school.

Instagram:  @nchomebase         Facebook:  @nchomebase       Twitter:  @nchomebase

NCDPI Technology Support Center

NCDPI's Technology Support Center continues to meet your support needs for:

• Schoolnet 
• NCEES/Unified Talent
• IAM/SSO (NCEdCloud) 
• Staff & Student UID (eScholar)

Support availability:

Web (NEW URL):  https://ncgov.servicenowservices.com/sp_dpi   -  24/7

Phone:  919-716-1840, Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. (excluding state holidays)

Technical support for SIS needs is handled directly by PowerSchool support using chat, phone, or by opening a case ticket.