The Wake County School System used to have a way of doing things. The student body at Green Hope and many other schools had become very accustomed to the PowerSchool system, which was used to report student schedules and grades. Now, seemingly out of the blue, the whole system has been flipped, and PowerSchool has been replaced by the new Infinite Campus. The change leaves many wondering, why? Why did Wake County move away from PowerSchool? Why was the system that everyone understood and found accessible left behind? And how will Infinite Campus fare? The GH Falcon recently took an in-depth look at the new platform and its possible flaws.
The main reason for the switch comes from the hacks faced by Powerschool that raised privacy and security concerns. The platform had been threatened by hackers on multiple occasions attempting to gather data from students and users. However, the switch is also being put in place by Wake County because of an initiative to modernize learning tools and the learning system.
But does the switch come with problems? Some issues with the platform come from the students lack of familiarity. Many don’t know how to access the platform and have yet to even add the app to their homescreen. Additionally, once the app has been added, the log-in could cause potential trouble for some users. For example, the app requires users to press a different log-in button in order to even get into their accounts.
Students now need to learn how to navigate a completely different system in order to see all of their schedule and grading information. The platform will only display three classes at a time on the home screen, an inconvenience as most students will have four classes at a time.
On the other hand, Infinite Campus does have some better features than Powerschool. Once the system has been worn in it could be more than just a Powerschool replacement, but an upgrade. One of the useful features that Infinite Campus has to offer is the “Recent Updates” tab. If users scroll down on the home page, they can view the most grades that have been put in place. This ability was not accessible with Powerschool and is a new addition with Infinite Campus. Another useful feature included is the “Quick Links” tab on the side of the home page. This tab offers students quick access to important websites for them, personalized for each user. For Green Hope students, this tab offers links to the WCPSS homepage and the homepage for Green Hope High School. Many students don’t have a quick link to the high school homepage, so the ability from Infinite Campus presents itself as helpful.
The switch to Infinite Campus comes with many concerns and requires many to readjust, but it isn’t without its positives. Although students will need to learn a new system and leave behind some old ways, Infinite Campus has its own positives to offer and after some time the switch may not be as faulty as some believe. Overall, Green Hope students have a lot to look forward to with the new platform, once the rough part of the switch is sorted out.
