Fun with GIS 346: Consolidate Orgs

[CharlieFitzpatrick]

Esri provides ArcGIS Online Organizations to schools and districts at no cost for instructional use as the central element in an ArcGIS School Bundle. These Orgs work best when architected carefully. Most school districts, certainly those below 50,000 students (in USA, about 100 districts exceed 50,000 students), are best served by a single Org covering everyone.

A single well-architected Org relying on single sign-on has these benefits for a district:

• improves access, making the Org available easily to all
• saves significant time for teachers and students coping with forgotten passwords
• saves time for teachers doing instructional planning
• teachers can more easily share activities within and even across schools
• teachers and students shifting schools within the district retain their existing account
• design standards and consistency across an Org make resources easier to find
• important content and messaging can be more easily shared to all
• IT staff is more easily engaged in planning and management;
  • teachers can reduce their time spent managing Orgs
  • having student usernames and profiles follow a consistent and proper protocol improves their security
  • ensuring multiple admins can engage means that any needs arising during absences and emergencies can be handled expeditiously
  • ensuring multiple primary admins exist means that critical system information will be received by more people, and is therefore more likely to be considered
• etc

IMPLEMENTATION: How can a district begin consolidating ArcGIS Online Orgs?

1. See https://esriurl.com/usk12gis to discover what exists. Seek out faculty at each site using any existing Orgs. Contact Esri Schools Team (schools@esri.com) to check on status of Orgs.
2. Confer with current users, instructional leaders, and IT staff about policy choices and decisions.
3. Discuss choosing an existing Org to become the designated district Org, including setting the URL and name to reflect everyone; OR discuss acquiring a new Org to be the new district home, perhaps even giving schools as much as a full school year to transition
4. Ensure single sign-on is in place. (See https://esriurl.com/k12sso for guidance.)
5. Explore processes for cloning important content of individual users from one or more school Orgs into new usernames within a district Org
1. Python code (do-it-yourself)
2. ArcGIS Online Assistant, https://assistant.esri-ps.com/signin
3. GEO Jobe Admin Tools, https://geo-jobe.com/admin-tools/

Q&A: 

1. How can I tell if our school or anyone in our district already has software? See the map at https://esriurl.com/usk12gis
2. Can a district above 50,000 students follow these same strategies? Absolutely, but contact schools@esri.com to explore additional strategies for such large numbers.
3. How can a school district with no Orgs start using GIS for instruction? Have someone in district IT staff or instructional leadership request an ArcGIS School Bundle, at https://www.esri.com/en-us/industries/k-12-education/schools-software
4. How can an individual school, teacher, program, or project retain "visibility" in a new single Org serving the entire district? Use ArcGIS Hub, ArcGIS StoryMaps, Groups, and Galleries to organize, collaborate, and promote; these resources provide infinite opportunity to retain visibility.
5. Can a private school follow these best practices? Yes, engage them even as a single school; this is a set of best practices.
6. How can a home school follow these best practices? Contact schools@esri.com; there may be a group you might be able to work with.

ArcGIS Online Organizations are powerful instructional resources when properly configured. They can help a district boost equity, student security, resource stability, and instructional quality and efficiency, all at once. Is your school or district doing the best it can?