APSCN VPN Setup Guide for Windows 7

Transcription

1 APSCN VPN Setup Guide for Windows 7 Beginning in the school year the Bergman School District will be transitioning from GradeQuick as our district grade book system, to eschool. We will provide training on the use of the new eschool grade book system during the summer of It should be noted that eschool is actually much more than a grade book system. The grade book is only one piece of software in the eschool suite of products. To reduce confusion, this document is using eschool as a reference to a grade book system only. As a faculty member, you will be accessing what is known as TAC (Teacher Access Center) to enter grades. To access TAC, you must either be on a school district network, or be connected to the State of Arkansas Department of Information Systems with a secured Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection. Therefore, to access the new TAC grade book system from home you will need to follow these steps to create a VPN connection. This guide is for creating a VPN connection on devices running Windows 7 only. For other Windows versions, please contact the technology department for assistance. 1. Click on the round Start Button in the toolbar.

2 2. In the search box, type Setup VPN. 3. Click on the link Setup a VPN Connection at the top of the search box. 4. If you see a message about setting up an Internet connection, just click the link I ll set up an Internet connection later.

3 5. In the Internet address field, enter: vpn.apscn.k12.ar.us For the destination name enter: APSCN VPN Then click Next. 6. Enter your username (which will be given to you at training) and password. For security reasons, the State of Arkansas recommends that

4 you do not checkmark remember this password. Inside the Domain field, enter: APSCN Click the Create button. 7. How to disconnect from the VPN:

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6 8. How to connect to an existing VPN:

7 Frequently Asked Questions Q: Do I have to do all of this every time I need to use my grade book? A: No. The initial setup only requires being done one time per computer (steps 1 6). After the initial setup, you only have to do step 8. Q: Why do we have to do this? A: For security purposes, the State limits access to this service to Arkansas school district IP addresses. This connection allows you to securely connect to the State network while away from campus. Q: What is Virtual Private Network (VPN)? A: School Internet connections to the State of Arkansas are considered to be secure. Internet café, home Internet, and other type of connections are considered unsecure. The VPN connection allows you to use these unsecure connections to establish a secured (and encrypted) connection to the State network. The VPN allows you to access the State network from anywhere, while still being secure. Q: Can I install this on my home (personal) computer? A: Yes. However, we cannot support non school owned equipment. If you do install this on personally owned devices, please be aware of privacy issues related to sensitive information in your possession such as ID numbers, addresses, names, etc. Q: Can I use my same username & password as my school account? A: No. These usernames and passwords are regulated by State requirements. Therefore, we cannot change them. Q: What do I do if have forgotten my username/password? A: There will be separate training session for the initial creating and recovery of eschool usernames and passwords. IMPORTANT NOTE: Districts must educate all users that they should NOT download reports that contain sensitive data (student or employee names, addresses, social security numbers, etc.) to their home or public computers. If it is necessary for a user to generate such information for reports, the district should provide a laptop computer with encryption software for use at home and at work. Doing so will keep sensitive data only on district owned equipment.