Issues update poses problems for teachers

According to S-House Principal Jason Kurtenbach, an updated version of Illuminate went live on Sept. 28, but the update stymied teachers’ attempts to input grades before the end of the grading period causing widespread frustration among faculty and students.“I don’t think they did a great job with [the update], but they are improving all the time,” Kurtenbach said.Science teacher Kate Song noted complications with the update. Song said that the Gradecam program teachers use to grade tests has not been updated to fit the new Illuminate update.“[The designers] are aware of it; they are trying to address it, but there is a significant issue with that,” Kurtenbach said.According to Kurtenbach, some of the designers of Illuminate have educational backgrounds, while some of them do not.“The designers may be good with data, but [some of them] do not understand the needs of teachers,” Song said.Junior Suzanne Pye said she also encountered some problems with the new version of Illuminate.“When you check yout computer, usually you can see your grade in one class and then press student view to go back to see all of your grades, but I tried to do that and I wasn’t able to,” Pye said. “When clicking the student view button, it just stays on the single class view rather than showing you all of your classes.”Song said that although the update is in need of some improvements, the Illuminate update does have its positives.“Grades go straight into the grade book [now], which helps with organizing data,” Song said. “We can [also] see attendance and grades on the same spreadsheet.”According to Kurtenbach, the issues with Illuminate are evident, the designers will try their best to get the program back in order.“With any software designer, you design your product with the constituents in mind,” Kurtenbach said. “But any product needs to be improved upon.”emebane@thesamohi.com