QuickSchools have always loved to receive feedback from our customers. It gives us a chance to hear how our product worked for them and areas that greatly helped their school. These FireSide Chats are continuing for Orchestra and we were very happy to chat with our first school.
We interviewed Sonimar Villegas, Head of School for Online Oregon Schools that are a part of Stride as an online virtual school provider in the United States. In the interview, Sonimar shares the problems they were facing and how Orchestra helped to solve them.
Before using Orchestra, Sonimar explained how the student information system they were using didn’t have a scheduler that fit their needs. Due to the school district choosing the system, they had no choice but to use excel to create their schedules. The fact that Orchestra is a stand-alone product and is compatible with any other student information system will greatly help other schools in this same situation.”We have a student information system but it is not as easy to put in the information that we need and get the output that we need to provide to our students for their needs.”
To understand more about their situation before Orchestra, listen to the following video below. It could be a similar situation you are in too.
One of the main points Sonimar mentioned was how much time was saved, not just in creating the master schedule, but also in tightening up their own schedule offered to students.
Listen to the following clip below
It was wonderful to know how much of a positive impact Orchestra made to their school. Sonimar mentions how their “processes have been more streamlined and more efficient since using Orchestra when it relates to scheduling students within the school year.” Online schools can have a different \scheduling format and for them, they were enrolling students in all the time at different times. Now using Orchestra, they have “become more efficient and enroll kids immediately.” Orchestra allowed their team to have a better process so that on the first day of school, all students were scheduled for their classes. No student was accidentally missed.
Our team at QuickSchools recognized how building a master scheduler can be a very difficult time for the schools. We wanted to create software that would help not just save time but also help to create a much easier process, enabling schools to focus more on the academic planning they want to offer their students.
Listen below to how Orchestra benefited this online school.
The pandemic truly changed how education was delivered and online schools such as Online Oregan Schools saw a huge surge in admissions. There is a difference in how students learn between online and the traditional brick-and-mortar schedules. As Sonimar states, “They don't need to be sitting in front of a computer for six, seven hours a day.” Your schedule can become more compact as well as offering more sessions to your students. This does offer more opportunities for your school but if you don’t have a proper master schedule that can handle this complex schedule, it will be extremely challenging. The pandemic and skyrocketing intake became one of the main reasons Sonimar and her team said, "We need to find a master scheduler that works, there's got to be one out there."
Enter Orchestra by QuickSchools!
If you’re looking for a master scheduler to suit your exact needs, Orchestra can help! Don’t just believe us, hear what Sonimar has to say below.