For educators, managing the multitude of students’ various subject selections can be a time-consuming, and sometimes complex, task.
Not only can this be an administrative strain on educators, it can also be upsetting for students when things go wrong. As such, having the right technology in place to make administrative processes quick and seamless can make a big difference.
One organisation that is acutely aware of this is CountryNet, a company that prides itself on innovative solutions for educators, and has developed a tool to help schools reduce administrative workloads so they can focus on teaching and learning.
The company’s Subject Selection Online (SSO) customises subject selection, lets students choose their subjects from anywhere online and exports a report extract which is then able to be uploaded to the school’s favourite timetabling solution.
“Subject selection drains resources from school staff, but with SSO you can easily create an online system that handles perquisites and rules during the selection process,” CountryNet CEO, Simon Totonjian, told The Educator.
“Your school will benefit from a system that can be customised, take payments and deal with the complexities of selecting subjects.”
Alison Forster, manager of school information systems at Catholic Education Services in the Diocese of Cairns, said colleges in the Diocese have embraced the new version of SSO, finding it easy and efficient to interact with.
“Our largest college, which had used the previous version of SSO, is impressed with how much easier it is to make changes now and to set rules for various pathways in senior studies,” Forster told The Educator.
“One of our boarding colleges was impressed with the payment feature. Previously, costs were manually calculated based on students’ subject choices, so this is a huge time-saver for their support staff.”
Forster said the newest college onboard the School Information Systems used SSO for the first time with junior subject selections.
“They are delighted to be transitioning to paperless process, which removes the work intensity of collecting forms and translating choices into Excel spreadsheets,” she said.
“Being able to transfer student subject selection data directly from SSO to the Timetabling software is seen as a great enhancement to their processes. They are looking forward to extending their usage of the product next year.”
Theo Gummery, manager of operations at Southern River College, located in said SSO has enabled Southern River College Community to complete student course selections for future schooling years in an online environment.
“The easy to use software and highly supportive and professional team at CountryNet make it easy for school administrators to customise their online subject selections to meet their timetabling and schooling requirements,” Gummery told The Educator.
“Unique features built within SSO have also made it more effective for our College to process data and make informed decisions around course offerings and staffing.”
Gummery said the school community looks forward to using SSO in future years to come and “the continually evolving software that benefits the user”.
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