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New Samsung Interactive Displays/Panels

Several new Samsung Interactive Flat Panels (IFP’s) have been installed throughout the district this summer. Traditional connectivity to computers at teacher desks often requires new cabling. In the meantime, these Interactive Displays do not require a computer at all to operate. From the board itself, you can login, use the Whiteboard, present Google Slides, show Youtube video’s, draw or annotate on top of anything displayed, etc. You can also connect and present from your computer wirelessly using Miracast (Windows) or using Screen Share (Windows, Mac, Android, IOS, ChromeOS). There are ports on the side and front where you can directly connect a supported document camera and launch the Visualizer app to present and annotate from the front of your classroom! You can connect your computer/laptop (with a USB-C or HDMI cable) to share your screen this way if desired.

Below are some helpful resources to help you get started:

Miracast & Screen Share App

YouTubeFull Video 2:00Overview of WAD
YouTubeFull Video 1:11Planning and teaching lessons with the Samsung Interactive Display
YouTubeFull Video 1:37One lesson, three ways on the Samsung Interactive Display
YouTubeFull Video 1:20All the ways to customize your WAD Interactive Display
YouTubeFull Video 1:40How to use the built-in tools
YouTubeFull Video 1:30Using the Play Store 
YouTubeFull Video 1:35Allowing Guest Profiles from the WAD Home Screen
YouTubeFull Video 1:53How to use the Note App on the Samsung Interactive Display
YouTubeFull Video 1:36Using DeX and the Samsung Interactive Display 
YouTubeFull Video 1:36How to mirror & broadcast on the Samsung Interactive Display
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Google 2-Step Verification / Mutli-Factor Authentication Requirement

Google 2-Step Verification / Mutli-Factor Authentication (2SV / MFA) will be required for all staff beginning April 3, 2024 in order to align with standard cybersecurity practices and better protect accounts and data.

All staff must enroll prior to the deadline (April 3, 2024) to maintain access to school Google accounts. Please reference the following article for additional information and instructions for enabling this.

https://it.bentonschools.org/?epkb_post_type_1=google-2-step-verification

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New SMART Interactive Displays (Smartboards)

Several new SMART Interactive Displays (aka Smartboards) have been installed throughout the district this summer. Traditional connectivity to computers at teacher desks often requires new cabling. In the meantime, these SMART Interactive Displays do not require a computer at all to operate. From the board itself, you can login, use the Whiteboard, present Google Slides, show Youtube video’s, draw or annotate on top of anything displayed, etc. You can also connect and present from your computer wirelessly using SMART Mirror (newest Smartboards) or SMART Screen Share (new Smartboards over the past few years). Finally, if direct connection from your laptop to the Smartboard is required and we haven’t reached you with new cabling, you can connect directly to the ports on the front, side or underneath the board. Using these USB ports, you can also directly connect a supported document camera and launch the Visualizer app to present and annotate from the front of your classroom!

Please visit SMART’s short training videos to sharpen your skills in using Smart Interactive Displays: https://www.smarttech.com/en/professional-learning/interactive-displays-powered-by-iq
We recommend that you start with #1 – Personalize, “Sign in to the board” – This is where all of your settings, content, etc will be saved and follow you throughout the campus/district on these. We’ll be providing mini keyboards to help with sign-in, searching and general usage of the Smartboard as soon as we can get them to you.

Teachers, if you did not receive one of the newest Smartboards, we are sorry. Unfortunately, it will take time and funds to get all older Smartboards replaced but the wheels are in motion and getting innovative teaching tools like this to your classroom is important to us!

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Connecting a Chromebook to home WiFi

Your school-issued Chromebook can be connected to your home WiFi.

If you are prompted with a list of networks:

  1. Select your WiFi network from the list
  2. Input your WiFi Network password in the box that comes up. This is often found on the back, side, or bottom of your home network router that connects you to the Internet.
  3. Once connected, you should be able to log in with your school credentials (or Clever badge if that is available to you) and access your Google Classroom, Clever, Lexia, etc.

If you are not prompted with a list of networks, follow these instructions.

  1. Click the WiFi signal icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
  2. Click “Not Connected”.
  3. Select your WiFi network.
  4. Enter the password to connect to your WiFi network. This is often found on the back, side, or bottom of your home network router that connects you to the Internet.
  5. Once connected, you should be able to log in with your school credentials (or Clever badge if that is available to you) and access your Google Classroom, Clever, Lexia, etc.
Visual Instructions can be found here!

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Internet Availability

There are various methods to get your student and your family connected to the internet. We wanted to make sure you were aware of the multiple options available.

The Benton School District provides student accessible WiFi in the main student parking area and around the PDC at Benton High School as well as in the Football/Soccer, Baseball and Softball field stands, and near the ticket booths at the Athletic Complex.

The Saline County Library is open Mon-Thur 9am – 7pm, Fri & Sat: 9am – 4pm. They have high-speed internet available as well as library computers that patrons can use for 90 minutes a day.

T-Mobile also has “Project 10 Million” to provide free hotspots and internet service to 10 million eligible households.  Link: https://www.t-mobile.com/brand/project-10-million

Fidelity, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and others all service our area in various capacities and each provide a discount to qualifying households of up to $30/mo (or even free) through the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). For more information on the FCC’s program you can visit this link https://www.fcc.gov/acp

Fidelity Link: https://www.fidelitycommunications.com/acp#ebb-form

ViaSat Link: https://www.viasat.com/satellite-internet/affordable-connectivity-program/

HugesNet Link: https://www.hughesnet.com/acp

AT&T Link: https://www.att.com/help/affordable-connectivity-program/

Verizon Link: https://www.verizon.com/home/promo/affordable-connectivity-program/

T-Mobile Link: https://www.t-mobile.com/news/offers/t-mobile-brings-the-federal-affordable-connectivity-program-to-more-customers-with-free-wireless-service-at-metro-by-t-mobile

*Disclaimer: This post is informational only, the Benton School District is not endorsing nor promoting the providers listed or lack thereof.

eSchool/TAC/HAC Links

UPDATE 12/28/2020 – Apscn’s work on upgrading eSchool, TAC and HAC is complete. Your old shortcuts/links may not work. Use the following to access these resources:

Original Post 12/15/2020 “Planned Outage Alert – eSchool/TAC/HAC”:
Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN) Student Management Unit will be taking eSchoolPLUS (including TAC and HAC) offline Sunday, December 20, 2020 12:00pm (Noon) to begin work applying upgrades to the system. The system is expected to be back online Monday, December 28, 2020.

Staff – TAC/ESchool VPN

To use TAC, ESchool, or EFinance from home or otherwise off campus, the state requires that you connect through a VPN. We provide BPSD-VPN for staff issued laptops to facilitate this.

Instructions to connect to the VPN for WINDOWS (link) and MAC (link) are below:

Windows 11 Users

Staff with school issued Windows 11 (or 10) laptops

Link: Quick video demonstration

  1. Click the Start button or Windows key (square containing 4 squares) or the search box at the bottom of the screen.
    Windows 11 Button/Icon
  2. Type VPN Settings, then click VPN Settings (it should say “System Settings” just below it)
  3. Look for BPSD-VPN under VPN connections then click Connect
    • If you do not see BPSD-VPN, Launch Software Center and look for it under Applications or Installation Status, where you should be able to click on it to either Install or Reinstall it.
  4. You should be prompted for your username and password
    Enter your SCHOOL short username (The part before @bentonschools.org; ie: jdoe)
    Enter your SCHOOL password (the password you login to email with, not the one you use for TAC, eSchool,etc and click OK
  5. When finished, Repeat steps 1-3 above and click “Disconnect“
    Please – Always Disconnect when finished working for this session so others can use this resource!

After successfully connecting to the VPN use the following links to access the resources that you need:
TAC – https://www.bentonschools.org/tac
ESchool – https://www.bentonschools.org/eschool
EFinance – https://www.bentonschools.org/eFinance

MacOS / Macbook Users

Staff with school issued Macbooks

  1. Click the Wifi icon in the top right corner of your Macbook desktop
  2. Click “Network Preferences“
  3. Click “BPSD VPN” in the list in the left column.
    ** If you do not see it yet, your Macbook hasn’t applied the policy. Reboot and try again. Some policies may only apply after rebooting.
  4. Check the box at the bottom “Show VPN status in menu bar” and Apply.
    ** This will place a new VPN icon in the top right corner of your screen. Left of the wifi icon, left of the battery icon. It looks similar to a battery or the grill on the front of a Jeep.
  5. Click the red X (top left) to get out of this settings window.
  6. Click the VPN icon described in step 4 above
  7. Click Connect BPSD VPN
  8. Your username should be listed.
    Enter your SCHOOL password (the password you login to email with, not the one you use for TAC, eSchool, etc) and click OK
  9. You should now be able to access resources as if you were on campus!
  10. When finished, Click the VPN icon described in step 4 above and click “Disconnect BPSD VPN“
    Please – Always Disconnect when finished working for this session so others can use this resource!

After successfully connecting to the VPN use the following links to access the resources that you need:
TAC – https://www.bentonschools.org/tac
ESchool – https://www.bentonschools.org/eschool
EFinance – https://www.bentonschools.org/eFinance

Revision History

  • UPDATE 2/1/2023 2:26pm – New Macbook instructions.
  • UPDATE 2/1/2023 6:52pm – New Windows 10 instructions.
  • UPDATE 10/15/2025 – New Windows 11 instructions and brief video. Should also work for Windows 10.

UPDATE 2/1/2023 1:05pm – Stay tuned… We should have a solution very soon…


UPDATE 2/1/2023 11:25am
The state VPN (F5) that is used to access eSchool, TAC, EES, etc from remote networks is currently experiencing a licensing issue causing it to reach max capacity which is preventing users from connecting. This is an issue at the state level; however, BPSD IT is currently looking into options to alleviate this issue.

F5 VPN Error - The maximum number of concurrent user sessions has been reached. No new user sessions can start at this time.
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Original Post
AS OF 2/1/2023 – Please use the directions above for VPN access..
Staff – ESchool/TAC – Friday, April 3, 2020

To access TAC, E-School or E-Finance from home you must first connect to the APSCN VPN.  Instructions for the VPN are here: ApscnVPN via F5 (Jan 2021) (Updated 3/16/2021 with Jan 2021 version)

Once connected to the VPN, Even if the option isn’t displayed, TAC should be reachable at www.bentonschools.org/tac and ESchool at www.bentonschools.org/eschool

MAC USERS:
If you get the following message, please follow these instructions to Reinstall the F5 VPN (link).

WINDOWS USERS:

If you get the error shown above for Mac users (The session reference number: nnnnnnnn):

  1. You will need to install a new version of the F5 VPN for accessing TAC.
  2. Click the start button (lower left corner), type in “Software Center” (without the quotes) then click the App to open it
  3. Select the “2021 F5 VPN Install” – follow the prompts.
    *** If it asks for the server enter: apscnvpn.k12.ar.us
  4. Select TAC and/or login when prompted.