Viewing the cloud pupil portal as a pupil would be very useful because it allows to experience the platform exactly as students do. This helps identify usability issues, verify that resources and features are accessible, and ensure the overall user experience meets expectations. It’s an effective way to test functionality and improve support for pupils
Also the main reason we use the pupil portal is to allow pupils to enter their own self evaluation and subject reports.
I will enter a new idea but entering this here too - this functionality has also been removed from the new cloud portal.
The statement mentioned below - "All core functionality from the legacy iSAMS Student Portal (web version and iStudent app) has been retained in the upgraded cloud portal." is therefore not true.
This will be a huge problem for us. A delayed start is definitely needed until they can deliver all original functions.
What I find annoying is that in the "Announcing the new and improved Student Cloud Portal" page it clearly says:
"All core functionality from the legacy iSAMS Student Portal (web version and iStudent app) has been retained in the upgraded cloud portal." .... Well, not quite. The core admin functionality has been removed and iSAMS was not transparent about it.
I would also agree - moving portal at this time is problematic. Could we have a delayed start?
We are in exactly the same position and will not be switching until after GCSE and A-Level results have been published. Having a deadline of 31 August is always tricky when not all school staff work over the summer holidays.
We would definitely appreciate the deadline being pushed back as well.
Having the ability to view the portal as a pupil would be a massive help.
However, I suspect that iSAMS will refuse to implement this on the same basis that they are currently refusing to provide the same functionality for the Parent Portals. There is plenty about this at https://ideas.isams.com/ideas/MIS-I-3719 but this does seem like a big usability gap for both portals. At present, I can't view the Student Cloud Portal at all, I just get an authentication error as I'm not a pupil, at least with the Parent Cloud Portal I can view some of the pages, albeit without any content. It makes designing the portal and being certain about what data is or isn't visible virtually impossible, as well as preventing us from creating our own guidance materials for pupils using screenshots.
As a side note, we cannot move to the new portal until the very end of August as we aren't confident that the new portal can be relied on for exam results yet. It may well be fine but the idea of switching to a system that we can't view in advance ahead of such a critical time seems far too risky. We'll get through GCSE and A-Level results with the old portal, then switch to the new one at the end of August unless the deadline for changing is pushed back, in which case we'll wait it out as long as we can with the old portal.