Below is a list of the minimum required configurations your student’s laptop must have to successfully run the eTextbooks and Microsoft Office 365.

Minimum laptop requirements:

• 8GB RAM
• 128GB Hard Drive (250GB or larger recommended)
• i5/i7 processor or equivalent
• Wireless network card (b/g/n-based card recommended)
• Power supply cord
• Windows 10 OR Mac running OS X 10.6 or higher

The school provides Microsoft Office 365 included in the student's tuition price. (This includes all the office products.  This is a web based subscription connected with their student email.  New students it will be available to download when their email address is assigned.)

Note, the only tablet we have seen work all of the requirements is the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 or later versions.  (This has to do with how some of the etextbooks work and some of the functions in the Office 365 products.)

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Instructions on how to download the browser Google Chrome:

1. Type in google.com/chrome in the browser on your laptop.
2. Select: “download now”.

Google Terms of Service will come up. Make sure the box for “Set Google Chrome As My Default Browser” is checked.

3. Select: “Accept and Install”
4. The window with “Thank you for downloading Chrome” comes up, but YOU ARE NOT done. Wait for a window to pop up asking if you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer and select “yes”.
5. It should download and install. Depending on your setup, you may get another window asking you to select Run or Save. Select “Run” if that comes up.

OR

It may ask again if you want to make changes to this hard drive. Select “Yes”.

At this point you are done!  

When it’s done, Google Chrome will ask if you want to create an account. That’s up to you. You may choose to or select “No Thanks” (in little blue writing on the left hand side).

There is also another tab at the top which is titled “Getting Started”.  It gives an informative walk-through on how to use Chrome.

In today’s world, universities are becoming more and more eLearning environments.  In 2012. several Northside parents came together to raise money and started a technology reboot for the school. Funds were raised to install wireless internet throughout the entire campus which launched in February 2013. Northside will prepare high school students for the real world college classrooms by:

• all students 9th-12th grade have their textbooks almost completely in eTextbook format.
• All 7th and 8th grade students will have physical textbooks and utlize laptops and eTextbooks as an additional resource for their learning.
• All 7th-12th grade students have Microsoft Office 365 to give them the tools to not only learn in the classrooms, but also give them real world computer skills.
• FACTS is a platform where all assignments and grades are housed, and the Learning Mangagement System is used to facilitate online learning when needed.
• All of this in addition to computer classes and labs will make students from Northside competitive in college and the workplace.

New students and rising 7th graders will NOT have access to any of the items below until the school has issued the student their email address which includes the Microsoft Office Products.   The school will notify parents through email when the student is set up for email, etc. which should take place closer to the beginning of school starting.  Once those are set up, then the student will be able to follow the steps below.

Email, Microsoft Office Products, and RenWeb

Laptop requirements are listed on the left side of this page if you are viewing from a computer and at the bottom if you viewing are on mobile device.

These steps must be done in order!
1.School Email
This email account is for students in grades 7th-12th and ALL 7th graders.
Here is how to set up your email and Office 365. This can be done at home or on Orientation Night. (It will be easier to so set up at home so our servers won’t get bogged down.)
1. Go to www.Office.com select "sign in"
2. Your user I.D. and email are the same as your (first name.last [email protected]), for example: John Spencer Doe’s email and I.D. is [email protected]. (For those who go by nicknames or middle names, try the name you are called. We try to use the name most people are familiar with.)
3. For the general password to get started, please contact the high school office either by phone 334-836-2989 or by email: Kayla Wozniak, our High School Secretary, at [email protected] or Kylee Blackwell, our Councelor's Administrative Assistant, at [email protected]

 2. Microsoft Office Products in Office 365 
Office 365 is a subscription for Microsoft Office Products set up through the student's school email account. Office 365 consists of several products like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, just to name a few. This subscription is included in your tuition and students will need to use these products for class.
To download to your student’s computer:
1. The first time the student goes into his/her email, the install screen for Office products should automatically come up. If it doesn’t automatically show the install screen, go to the little gear on the top right of the email screen and pick “Office 365 settings”. Then select Software.
2. Click install (this should work for either Mac or Windows computers. It may ask you to specify which type of computer. Mac computers may take a little longer to load if it has to setup drivers as well.) Once installed, Office products will show up at the bottom of the screen for Mac and in the tiles for Windows 8 or higher or in programs for Windows 7.
3. The first time you open each product it may ask for you to login. Use the same login I.D. and password as you would use for your school email account.

3. FACTS SIS (RenWeb)

FACTS SIS (used to be called RenWeb) is our online system where teachers post homework, grades, etc. Each student in 7th-12th grades must set up a RenWeb account. (Parents can also set up a RenWeb account to view homework and grades for all their students in grades K5-12th. Parents can follow the same steps as students by selecting “Parents” during login and using the email address they provided to the school.)
1. Go to www.renweb.com, hover over logins and select "Parent Login" (even students select "Parent Login").
2. Put in district code: “nma-al” and your school email account (it will end with @northsideknights.net) for RenWeb I.D. Select "Create Account" for Parentsweb. It may come up and ask for your email address again.
3. An email will be sent to your school email account with a link to set up your ID and password for RenWeb.

4. E-Textbooks

The high school counselor will issues I.D. and passwords for eTextbooks during open house or through another means.  You can contact high school for further assistance.

******NOTE********If you are having problems loading the email or Renweb using the Edge or Safari browsers, we suggest you load another browser. Google Chrome is a preferred browser but Firefox and Explorer also work.