Students Are Struggling to Sign In
One common challenge we heard from almost every attendee who spoke with us was the challenges faced by the youngest students in their board, and the teachers of those students, in getting everyone signed into their devices. For younger students, students with exceptionalities, or multilingual learners, signing in with usernames and passwords can be difficult and time consuming. We heard many different stories of sticky notes posted around the room, lists of usernames and passwords on white boards and teachers signing in for their students. We even heard of a student’s username and password taped to a device which was almost shared in a promotional video! It’s not uncommon for elementary classes to take 10-15 minutes of learning time to get everyone signed into their device. We heard the need loud and clear. School boards need a simple and secure way to get ALL students, regardless of their age or ability signed into their devices, Google or Microsoft accounts and connected apps.
Replace Less Secure Password Policies
Our second takeaway was the desire for school boards to replace their less secure password policies for their younger students and the realization that there was a simple, secure and practical solution for this. A common problem we heard from IT administrators was balancing account security with ease of access for younger students. Make the password too complex, and students will have a difficult time logging in. Make the password too simple and the accounts are vulnerable to attack. Many attendees were excited about a solution that exists without the need for cell phones, dedicated devices or hardware tokens. We were very excited with the positive response we received for our passwordless login for students and the benefits it brings to both the classroom and IT security.
A Solution for Google and Microsoft
Some of the attendees we spoke to were surprised to hear we support Google, Microsoft and hybrid environments. While we began our journey with Google, we fully integrate with Google Workspace, Azure AD or boards using a hybrid of both. We provide students a seamless SSO for however your environment is configured.
COOL Easy Login for Windows Devices
Our most exciting announcement from the conference was the arrival of COOL Easy Login for Windows devices. We had great conversations with many boards using exclusively Windows devices with their students or boards who are using a mix of Chrome and Windows devices. With the same functionality as Easy Login for Chrome devices, we are excited to announce the release of COOL Easy Login for Windows devices in Q1 of 2024.
COOL is More Than Easy Login
“They do more than Easy Login!”. While our sessions were focussed on COOL Easy Login, we were pleased with the positive responses and interest in our other COOL modules; COOL Focus and COOL Check. COOL Focus is our comprehensive online classroom management tool. Accessed through our COOL Dashboard, teachers can remotely open or close websites and applications, temporarily lock student screens, set up web filtering and see in real time what their students are doing on their devices. COOL Check is our secure digital assessment tool. Teachers and administrators can run online assessments, knowing that they will get results they can rely on. No googling, screenshots or ChatGPT! Teachers can allow selected URLs as resources and access our speech to text feature to accommodate for student needs.