Educational Technology & Information Services

During enrollment and each year during census verification, parents must review and sign the Technology Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Families with students in grades 6-12, receiving a 1-to-1 device, will also review and sign the Device Loan Agreement. 

English: Device Loan Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy
Anuak: Device Loan Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy
عربى: Device Loan Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy
Soomaali: Device Loan Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy
Español: Device Loan Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy

General Damage Information
The parent/guardian is responsible for the cost of repair or replacement if a chromebook, iPad, or their accessories are damaged, not returned, lost, or stolen. We offer optional device protection to help reduce the cost of any needed repairs. Optional device protection must be purchased by October 15 of the current academic year.

Damage to district devices should be reported as soon as possible. Incidents which result in damage involving multiple students will be investigated by building administration. 

English: Device Protection Plan 
Anuak: Device Protection Plan
عربى: Device Protection Plan
Soomaali: Device Protection Plan
Español: Device Protection Plan

As part of our commitment to ensuring success for all students, Mankato Area Public Schools is offering wireless hotspots to 1-to-1 students without internet access at home. High-speed internet access is essential to one-to-one learning, as it allows students to have continuous access to school resources and to make full use of their district-issued device for learning.

Families who do not have internet access at home are encouraged to apply by contacting their student's teacher, social worker, or school counselor.

Mankato Area Public Schools is partnering with Securly to provide an online student safety solution for students in grades K-12. Families with email addresses on file with the district will be automatically enrolled and will receive email reports from Securly. Parents can now view their children's activity across educational sites and time syncs, in-school and at-home across all of their school-owned devices. All of this is delivered via beautifully designed dashboards and e-mail reports.

Weekly activity emails provide snapshots of your child’s Internet use while on a school-owned or issued device. The emails parents receive can help start conversations around various topics, including education, online safety, and peer pressure. Parents can also customize what their children can do and see on their school-owned devices. They can allow or deny access to specific sites and categories while the child is at home. To learn more about this initiative please click the links below:

Securly Family Letter
Securly Parent Portal Introduction - video
Securly Parent Portal Directions
How to use Securly Parent Portal - video
Securly Parent Categories
Securly Parent Frequently Asked Questions

Mankato Area Public Schools is committed to protecting the privacy of each student. Under Minnesota’s Student Data Privacy Act, educational technology vendors are prohibited from selling or renting a student's information or from engaging in targeted advertising using a student's information. Such vendors may only disclose student data for K-12 school purposes and other limited purposes permitted under the law. This act also requires districts to provide timely notice of the tool used, data collected, and contact information.

Mankato Area Public Schools has partnered with Learn Platform to maintain an approved and compliant digital resource library, as well as manage the digital resource vetting process.  To see the full library of evaluated resources, please click here or on the Mankato Area Public Schools Public Library link below. If you have any questions or concerns about any digital resources used by your child, please contact your child’s teacher.

Mankato Area Public Schools Public Library

Seesaw is an interactive learning platform Mankato Area Public Schools utilizes with our students in grades PreK-2. Seesaw is a digital tool that provides an accessible and easy-to-use environment to enrich learning for our earliest learners. 

Family and Student Seesaw Resources

Google Classroom is a digital tool that is utilized with our 3rd through 8th grade students. Classroom incorporates Google's core products (Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, etc.) so students can access everything they need for a class, including homework assignments, group projects, files, and more. Classroom is part of Google's Workspace for Education.

Google Classroom offers a feature for parents called “guardian summaries.” The Guardian Summary includes: 

• Missing work —Work not turned in when the summary was sent. 
• Upcoming work —Work that’s due today and tomorrow (for daily emails) or that’s due in the upcoming week (for weekly emails). 
• Class activity —Announcements, assignments, and questions recently posted by teachers.

Guardian summaries must be enabled by your student's teachers. They will need to enter your email address and send you an invitation to begin receiving this report. 

Google Classroom Email Summaries
Guardian Email Summaries FAQ

Canvas is a learning management platform utilized with our high school students at Mankato Area Public Schools. Canvas is a tool to create engaging, relevant and robust learning opportunities for students that can be extended beyond the traditional walls of a classroom and traditional time frame of a school day.  

Parents have the ability to view their students’ course content (assignment due dates, assignments, course modules, etc.) by creating a Canvas “Observer” account that is linked to their student(s) account.

Parents can access information about their child's courses using the Parent App (available on iOS and Android devices), or by creating an Observer Account using your computer's web browser.

Setting up a Canvas account:

1. Go to isd77.instructure.com/login/canvas
2. Click the “Parent of a Canvas User?” link.
3. Fill in the information until you get to the Pairing Code.
4. Enter Pairing Code in set-up screen (see next set of instructions)
5. Click the box to agree to the terms of use and privacy policy.
6. Click Start Participating to finish set-up.

Finding the Pairing Code (overview):

1. Have your student open up Canvas.
2. Go to Account and click Settings.
3. On the right-hand side, click the Pair with Observer button.
4. The code on the pop-up is the code you will use to pair with your student’s account.

Directions for linking multiple students can be found here.
Please note, your child must be enrolled in a course before you can observe.

What is the Canvas Parent App?

Parents can also access their child's courses in Canvas through the Parent App.

The Parent App will allow:
1. Access to their child's courses
2. View past and upcoming assignments.
3. Check on grades
4. Receive course announcements and notifications.

Click here for information on downloading the Parent App for iPhone.
Click here for information on downloading the Parent App for Android.
Canvas Parent App Video

Navigating an Observer Page
Observers can view Global Navigation, Course Navigation, Breadcrumb Navigation, Sidebar, and Help link.

• The Global Navigation helps you get to where you want to go across all of your Canvas courses [1].

• The Course Navigation helps you get to where you want to go within your canvas course [2].

• The Breadcrumb Navigation shows you where you have navigated to inside of a course and gives you a quick and easy way to move backward [3].

• The Sidebar will be mostly empty for Observers, but will come in handy when it's time to edit a course Page [4].

• The Help link is very important. When you need assistance from your instructor or the Canvas Support Team, click the Help link [5].