By Noah Rosen
As you
all know, last year, LREI made the decision to switch from google classroom to LREI connect. This decision proved rather unpopular, throughout the student and teacher body alike. A feedback form was sent out to all middle schoolers about the opinions on LREI connect. As far as I know, all answers were negative. No changes were made, which was upsetting to myself and many other teachers and students.
LREI connect is a paid program, and is not particularly user friendly. It has a confusing interface, and is very hard, borderline impossible to find out what grade you got on a specific assignment; it just shows how you are doing on a certain learning target, rather than individual assignments. Certain assignments often don’t show up on the unfiltered assignment center, which causes me to miss a lot of assignments. Google classroom, on the other hand, has a simple feature called “To do” with 3 simple buttons: Due this week, due next week, and later, with a number next to each one that is the number of assignments under that certain category. (This sounds confusing but it is actually very easy to navigate.) I am not just commenting on LREI connect in this way because it is a bit clunky at times, but it has actively affected me and my fellow students’ learning experience negatively.
Here is some statistical data that puts Classroom above Blackbaud. Classroom scored an 8.3 out of 10, and Blackbaud, an 8.1. Another example is that key user insights put “Would buy again” for Classroom at a 97%, and Blackbaud at a mere 77%. For “Implementation went as expected,” Classroom was at a 100%, and Blackbaud at an 80%.
Another topic I would like to bring up that is genuinely upsetting, is that LREI connect goes against a large part of our schools mission, for students to have a voice. I’ve been at LREI since I was in 2nd grade, and in the play that they perform every year, it shows the way schools used to be, where students must get all the answers right, or else they have “no playtime.” Elizabeth Irwin’s belief was that students should have a voice, and a right to stand up for things they believe in: “Students graduate from our diverse community as active participants in our democratic society, with the creativity, integrity, and courage to bring meaningful change to the world.” Some phrases I would like to highlight are, “democratic society,” “courage to bring meaningful change to the world.” The whole LREI connect situation relates to this because a feedback form was sent out, and while I didn’t read all the answers, I know from things I have heard from students (and teachers!) that most responses were probably negative, and while there was also a question to say what you do like about LREI connect, I can tell you that most students have a negative opinion about connect in general. No changes at all were made, not even something as small as changing a small part of the interface of connect. What is the point of collecting feedback if you’re not even going to listen to anything they say? This is not what democracy looks like.
I have heard from a lot of teachers that they find LREI connect somewhat annoying, and very hard to use, and often assignments don’t go through correctly, because of how confusing it is to post an assignment. “I will say that it feels more complicated and harder to use than Google Classroom.” says a teacher from a middle school. Another says, “I have gotten a little bit more used to it now that I’ve used it more, but when I saw my students struggling to find their assignments, I felt bad for them.” The teachers at LREI are all very good teachers, and they always find a way to stay positive through most of the changes our school has had, whether positive or negative, but I found that LREI connect was an exception. I feel bad for the teachers and other students. They seem almost helpless, having no say in what happens to their school, and just hoping that whatever changes are made are positive, knowing that there is not much they can do about it.
Hmmmm cool article