EDUcal Updates

Keep up to date on new features and changes

Update 2.1

April 6, 2020

Updated Servers

EDUcal knows that nobody wants to wait for loading screens or timeout pages. We updated our servers, networks, and databases all to accommodate the increase in distance learners. 

Security

Teachers can now control who sees their Zoom meeting link. Simply toggle the switch to off if a user following your planner should not see your Zoom meeting.  EDUcal is working really hard to ensure that students and teacher’s Zoom sessions are secure from outsiders. We have set default preferences on every meeting to ensure waiting rooms are enabled and passwords are applied. 

File Manager

EDUcal added a Google File Picker to the file manager. This allows our users to access their Google Drive directly from EDUcal to attach documents. 

Zoom Office Changes

Many people noticed when the Zoom Office buttons suddenly required a password. Zoom pushed out a security update in an effort to prevent uninvited users from attending sessions. As a result, we pushed out a new office hours system. Everything should look and operate the same, except that you will likely see your office hours as a recurring meeting in your Zoom account. 

Upcoming Features

  • Persistent logins. EDUcal is working on keeping our users logged in longer while also ensuring the security and safety of our data. We are going to leverage the Google Authentication to keep you logged in as long as possible. 
  • Mobile Apps – Our app developers are almost done with the student version of the mobile apps. We’ll be launching beta version 1 in April. 

Update 2.0

March 27, 2020

Recurring Zoom Meetings

Teachers can now schedule meetings on recurring dates such as every Monday and Wednesday until the end of the school year. These meetings can be accessed by the teacher any time during the day that they are scheduled.

Delete Zoom Meetings

Users can now delete their scheduled zoom meetings. If the meeting is a part of recurring meetings, the user is asked if they would like to delete all the recurring meetings or just the meeting scheduled for that day. 

Office Hours Zoom Room

Each user that has Zoom enabled will have an “Office Hours” room. When teachers enter their office hours room, students see that they are in their office and can join the meeting. As soon as the teacher leaves their office, the student’s button is disabled and says “out of office”.  Your office hours button does NOT show “in office” if you are in a meeting scheduled in one of your preps.  

Class Video Naming

Teachers can now name the class videos that they attach to each day. This allows teachers to attach multiple videos and differentiate between each video.

Other Changes

  • Upload to File Manager has been removed. All files should be uploaded to another storage medium and linked to EDUcal.  This allows for more flexibility for file control for our users. It also helps keep our costs down to keep offering EDUcal as a free solution.  Here are some directions tell how to use Google Drive
  • The view other teachers view has been updated to show Zoom meetings as well as the classroom attachments.
  • Students see all the times you will be in your planner’s zoom meeting. For instance if you’re live for Geometry at 8:30 AM, 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM, the student can enter the room at any of those times.