Gradebook Tip: Grade Change Requests

Once a grading period has closed, you cannot change an assignment grade or term grade without going through the steps listed below. Please remember that you will have a maximum of two hours to complete this process. If you do not finish the process in two hours you will have to start over again.

After submitting your request, before grade changes are finalized, they will have to be approved by your administrator or designee. If your request is denied you will need to repeat the steps listed below to change the grades back to the way they were prior to the request.

Please complete every step below.

1. Hover your mouse over the Options button in the column heading of the grading period and choose Grade Posting Status for Term.

 

2. Click Request Grade Changes.

3. In the Reason for Requesting Grade Changes box, type the reason you are requesting a grade change, then click Yes.

4. The grading period is now open for grade changes for the next two hours. You are able to make changes in the gradebook for the grading period. When finished, hover your mouse over the Options button in the column heading of the grading period and choose Grade Posting Status for Term.

 

5. Click Complete Grade Changes.

6. Click Yes.

7. Your administrator, or designee, will then receive your request for grade changes. They will either approve or deny your request. If your request is denied, you will have to repeat the above steps to change the grades back to the way they were prior to the request.

Checking the Status of Your Technology Service Request Ticket

When you create a Technology Service Request Ticket, you will receive a confirmation email from the "251Tech" account as well as additional emails as the ticket is updated. Please take the time to review any updates in the ticket system as additional information may be requested.

When additional information is requested, or if you have new information you would like to add, please do this within the ticket. Do not reply directly to the email as this is an informational email and is not monitored.

If you receive an email from the "251Tech" account and would like to respond, please add your information in the “Add Comment” section of the Technology Service Request ticket.

If you have any questions please contact the Help Desk at 713-251-TECH (8324).

Message From Venu

Updates to Teacher Webpages

Teachers, if you are responsible for maintaining and editing a page on your campus website, you have probably noticed a few changes in the way edits are made.

Why did this happen?

Over the summer our website software (DNN) was upgraded to the newest version. It’s the first step in our process to improve overall functionality and usability for our campus websites.

While there will be a learning curve for all of us while learn the ins and outs of the new version of our website software, we believe all users will ultimately enjoy working with this version as opposed to the previous version, which was much more limited in overall functionality and capability. To assist you in getting the hang of editing the new version of the website software, we have have created a series of training documents covering the basic steps. They can be found by clicking here.

If you have any questions about editing your campus webpage, please contact your campus web publisher.

Message From Venu

Welcome back to an exciting new chapter at SBISD with Dr. Scott Muri at the helm and with a renewed focus on Every Child. We in Technology Services are committed to making a positive impact on Every Child Every Day.

If you need technology help, please call the Help Desk 713-251-TECH (8324). Hours are: 7 AM to 10 PM Monday thru Friday and 8 AM to 10 PM Saturday and Sunday.

Please remember we have a scheduled Maintenance Window for server, infrastructure and network upgrades that starts at 6:00 PM every Friday. During this Maintenance Window, systems may go down without warning. Most Fridays you won’t notice anything but if you find something not working on a Friday evening, you’ll know why.

We have several exciting improvements underway. We are taking what is already a robust network to a whole new level this year. Our ultimate goal is 100% uptime. We are adding redundancies (alternate paths) in many places so there is no single point of failure. We have expanded our internet capacity this year and we are upgrading our wireless network so we can support more student devices in the classroom.

Have a great school year. Please feel free to call any of us with your questions and/or comments.

Venu Rao               Technology Services     713-251-2249      venu.rao@springbranchisd.com

Mark Maxwell      Applications                  713-251-2252      mark.maxwell@springbranchisd.com

Wes Hargrove       Infrastructure               713-251-1401      wesley.hargrove@springbranchisd.com

Ed Wilson              Customer Service         713-251-1443      forrest.wilson@springbranchisd.com

Friday Maintenance Window

Fridays 6:00 pm - Saturdays 6:00 am
Football Season: Email, network and Internet - Fridays 10:00 pm - Saturdays 6:00 am

We have 450 computer servers at SBISD serving 40,000 users (35,500 students plus 4,500 staff). Our wired and wireless data network connects these servers to our computers – desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. The data network makes it possible to access several hundred different programs we collectively use across the district. The network provides access to the Internet and provides content filtering (for our kids) and firewall protection (for viruses and malicious hacking).

To maintain this extensive infrastructure takes time and effort. Computer software goes through periodic updates to fix problems, introduce new features and stay current. Updating takes time and while the update is taking place, the computer or software is not available for use. I’m sure you’ve experienced this with your smartphone. With this many servers and programs something is always being updated – to fix problems, to apply security patches, to upgrade to a new version.

Instead of scheduling each upgrade individually, we accumulate all the updates for the week and do them all on Friday evenings. That’s the time most of us are taking a breather from work. This is our “maintenance window”. It is from 6:00 PM Friday to 6:00 AM Saturday. During this weekly Friday “maintenance window” which system goes down depends on what maintenance we are doing that week. If we are upgrading a major network component, everything will go down. If we are upgrading one application, just that application will go down. Please do remember the program you are trying to access may be down Friday evening. You will not see a warning. If it is being updated, it will just go down abruptly.

By instituting the concept of a “maintenance window”, updates become a routine thing. We don’t have to “schedule” each upgrade with all the affected users. And, you don’t see a bunch of emails about various systems going down at various times for maintenance.

To summarize, any computer system may go down on any Friday after 6:00 PM without warning. (During football season, we postpone email, network and Internet upgrades to after 10:00 PM.)

Don't Risk Losing Your Files! Save to Your SAN Folder!

Every SBISD employee has a SAN Folder, also known as an H-Drive. It is a storage folder on our network where you can store files such as Word documents, Excel sheets, PowerPoint presentations, etc. You should save your files to your SAN Folder. Why? Because your SAN Folder is backed up and files stored here can always be restored if accidentally deleted. Click here for instructions on how to restore files to your SAN Folder.

Saving to your SAN Folder is a much safer way of storing and protecting your data!

If you store files directly on your laptop i.e. My Documents, Desktop, C-Drive etc, you risk losing them if you delete them or if your laptop crashes or is stolen.

If you need help saving to or accessing your SAN Folder, please see the steps below. 

Saving to Your SAN Folder

1. When saving a file to your SAN Folder for the first time, choose "Save As."

2. Click on your SAN Folder in the folder list. Your SAN Folder name begins with your network user name.

3. Name the file and click "Save."

4. The file is now saved to your SAN Folder.

Accessing Your SAN Folder 

1. Click the My Computer icon located on your computer desktop.

2. Locate your SAN Folder icon. The name will begin with your network username.

3. You will then be in your SAN Folder.