One of the less glamorous, but necessary, parts of our days include logging in to Infinite Campus (IC) to take attendance, track grades, create reports and find useful student information. While IC has come a long way since it was first introduced to CUSD, it definitely still had room for improvement, especially as it clung to the remnants of it's past platform, Campus Tools. Teachers have often complained about having to toggle between Campus Tools (the old platform) and Campus Instruction (the platform that most staff are using regularly throughout the day). Well TOGGLE NO MORE!
IC has released a special little preview button that allows you to turn on a NEW LOOK that ELIMINATES THE OLDER PLATFORM. YES, NO MORE TOGGLING BETWEEN THE DUAL PLATFORMS. I bet now you’re thinking, “How on earth can this miracle come to pass in front of my eyes?” Simple: Just click on the little person icon in the upper right corner of Infinite Campus, while in Campus Instruction; from there click the switch to try the “New Look.”
Let the program work its magic, and voilà! You have effectively merged the two platforms together!! Now, some might be wondering why would you even want to merge the platforms? Here are a few great reasons why merging the platforms and using the “New Look” can be a great time saver for you:
Everything is in ONE place. The left side-bar index has been condensed, but upon opening it, you’ll find:
Under the new Instruction tab, the window expands to show all of the different features in one spot. I’ve highlighted a few of them that you may find yourself using often (i.e. Roster, Attendance, Seating Charts, Grade Book, Post Grades, Assignment Overview, Blank Spreadsheet, Custom Links and Reports - how to access the report card, and a variety of assignment based reports.)
Now you can find all of your student information in the new platform, and elementary teachers can also enter Report Card comments by clicking on Grading Comments here in the merged platform instead of trying to remember where to go to put in comments, just in time for report card season!
The best part about the “New Look” is that if you use any of these features often (um, don’t we all???), you can STAR THEM AS A FAVORITE FOR EASY ACCESS!! Once you make a list of favorites, you can organize them by moving them up or down in the list however you want, rather than searching through all of the different categories to find what you are looking for!
One final note: if you’re not comfortable with the changes (because, let’s be honest, change is hard!), you can turn the “New Look” off; however, I am not sure how long this option will be there. Also, keep in mind that, as is true with any online website, IC may undergo further updates that may not quite match the pictures that I have provided. Hopefully, you will also decide to TOGGLE NO MORE, and check out IC’s "New Look"!
Stay "Infinitely" Techie,
Michelle Borges
6th Grade Teacher
Sam Vaughn Elementary
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