Samo updates to Illuminate 2.0 after first semester issues

Alison GuhStaff WriterThough the first semester trial of Illuminate 1.0 was plagued with problems, administration hopes that the newly implemented Illuminate 2.0 will rectify these issues.Illuminate streamlined several systems, including Pinnacle grade access, Data Director, and Reflections attendance into one. However, its implementation resulted in various unforeseen complications for teachers, students and parents.“It’s certainly more aesthetically appealing than the older systems, but it’s just dysfunctional,” senior Tommy Neale said. “Its just incredibly irritating. Illuminate doesn’t round up, we can’t even see second semester grades yet, and I never got a student log in. I have to log in as a parent to see my grades.”Other students had also had experienced issues with Illuminate 1.0.“We can’t see how our grades are weighted or the different sections on Illuminate,” senior Johanna Turner said. “Even when our grades are supposed to be weighted, they don’t always show up that way on Illuminate. I have to do all the calculations on my own.”The problems presented by Illuminate 1.0 caused uncertainty about its reliability amongst the student body.“I never feel certain when I see my grades [on Illuminate] because I don’t know if they actually reflect my real grades that teachers have given me,” senior Ariel Pourmorady said. “I’ve actually seen my grade change just on its own without any new assignments.”Many teachers have also experienced issues with unreliable and inaccurate grades with Illuminate.“Right now I have an issue where my grades are not matching up with my assignments,” English teacher Chon Lee said. “The percentages do not match up.”Illuminate 1.0 created various other problems for teachers and parents.“As far as the grade book, teachers were used to using one particular system, and their learning curve was very steep. Many of the things they were used to seeing, used to doing, no longer existed,” S-House principal Jason Kurtenbach said. “I would say that there was a high degree of frustration and anger amongst parents mostly because from an outside perspective, everyone saw things as just fine as they were.”Lee shares the feeling that the transition to the new system was sudden and seemingly unnecessary.“What really confuses me is that there was no prior request for feedback from me or any of the teachers I’ve talked to. It was a complete surprise, no one told us we were about to change the program, it was like one day ‘Pinnacles gone, we’re starting this brand new program',” Lee said. “That’s what shocked a lot of us [teachers]. We spent a lot of time, money, and energy perfecting Pinnacle, and then all of a sudden someone just pulls it randomly without finding us any kind of say or warning.”On the other hand, Kurtenbach hopes that the newly released Illuminate 2.0 will be more simple and clear for everyone.“I have had a few exit interviews with teachers about Illuminate 2.0, and they’re happy they see that there have been a lot of positive changes made by the company,” Kurtenbach said. “What I’m hoping is that it will be very clear for teachers to truly understand how a grade is calculated and that the grade books that parents see in the portal match up exactly with what they see on their grade reports."Kurtenbach hopes that teacher training for Illuminate 2.0 will help clarify and improve the system.“I hope that the training produces an opportunity for teachers to give their feedback and continue to make improvements. Kurtenbach said. “The ability to communicate vital information in between different groups of people is going to greatly increase.”However, many teachers, including Lee, are less optimistic about Illuminate 2.0.“I still have issues with 2.0, I know they’ve done updates, but I have not been able to see exactly what they are,” Lee said. “It doesn’t seem like its been truly updated based upon our training, and there are still a lot of people who are very frustrated and confused why certain things are not happening.”Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) Instructional Technology staffer Bertha Roman, who has been piloting the new system since December with approximately 20 other teachers, sees many positive improvements in Illuminate 2.0.“Illuminate took a lot of the feedback teachers had about the Illuminate 1.0 grade book and put it into the 2.0 grade book,” Roman said. “They streamlined the process of putting grades in the system.”According to Roman, the biggest change in Illuminate 2.0 is the way teachers view their grades.“Before, everything was on one window so that teachers had a spreadsheet which they would click on to do different things,” Roman said.“What Illuminate did [with 2.0] was it divided the different features to three separate windows. We still have the spreadsheet view, but we also have a student view where you can see grades for that individual student and an assignment view where you can see all the students for an assignment.”Though Illuminate has had its share of problems, many hope that it will continue to improve and become more intuitive to all.“The biggest change [in the coming semester] with Illuminate is that people are going to understand it better,” Kurtenbach said. “We know what we can do, we know what we can’t do, and we know what questions to ask.”aguh@thesamohi.com