2.2 How to Use the Online Administrative Tools

One of your major responsibilities as the Online Administrator is the creation of user accounts, or ID's and Passwords, that teachers and students will use to log onto their courses. Open School BC has developed the Online Administrative Tools to assist you with the management of these teacher and student online accounts and classes.

Logging On

You will be emailed an id and password to log on to the Online Administrative Tools system. Point your browser to http://online.openschool.bc.ca/ and select the "Online Admin Tools" on the left-hand side and you will see the following:

Enter your id and your password in the respective boxes. You will see a "Welcome" screen where you can select the administrative function you want to perform.

On this screen, you will see the following:

1. Link to Open School BC website
2. Link to Online Administrative Tools Home
3. Log off
4. Link to a popup window with Contextual Help
5. Your district or school or organization name
6. Scroll down menu for selecting an administrative tool function such as "New User" or "Manage Section" etc.
7. Link to the Educators' Resource Centre website

To perform other Online Administrative functions with the Tools, make another selection from the pull down menu. Click on "Help" if you require details on the selected function.

Filters and User Management
In a large organization it can sometimes be difficult to make a small change to just a few users. In the latest release of our online tools, we have provided two new user classifications and a Last Name / User ID filter utility to assist in identifying both individuals and groups quickly and easily. You will find these utilities anywhere you may be working with existing users.

Group
The Group classification is a free-form text field that allows for users to be identified by a common organizational unit. For example, a group can be the name of a specific school, cohort year, or department of study.

Group Selection Mode
The middle drop-down menu allows you to specify if the group selection should allow for multiple selections or just one single selection. For example, if you want to find students who are in both “new students” and “math 10” groups, you can select both of those groups and then any users listed must be in all of the selected groups to show up.

Type
The Type classification pertains to roles within the Open School context. Presently Type offers three options: "Student", "Teacher", or the default "None". Users belonging to the None type will only be returned on searches that include all Type classifications.

Name/ID Filter
The Name / ID filter allows for searches based on a partial or exact last name or user id, helping you find the account you want quickly, instead of having to scroll through dozens of accounts.

– User Tools –

Before setting up user accounts for access to your online courses you will need to have the names of your teachers and your students available. (User phone number and email address are optional.)

New User – How to Create a New User ID and Password

1. Log on to the Online Administrative Tools
   
2. From the drop down menu under the topic header "User Tools" select the "Manage User" option
   
3. Click on "Add New User" on the upper right
4. Enter the required information in the text boxes
5. Click on "Save"

Contextual help in the form of "pop up" windows is available by simply clicking on "Help"

User Report
Provides a user list for your school/district. Includes user names, User ID's, Passwords and all information that was entered in the screen above.

Tips for Setting up User Accounts

ID Creation
You can choose your own user name when creating a user account. If you leave the user ID blank, the system will automatically generate a user ID using the standard format of the first letter of the user's first name and the surname up to 8 characters in length. A number will be appended to the end of the new user id if there is a duplicate ID already in the system.

Password Security
Remind users not to disclose their password to others and that in shared computer environments, they should log out and close their browser when finished. This will prevent others from logging on and using their account. If a user feels their password has been compromised, they should alert the Online Administrator so they can change the password.

Change Password Function
This function can allow students, teachers and designers to change their password. There are a number of features that accompany this function.

• Users can access the OCHS Change Password function from their myWebCT page under Campus Bookmarks


• The Online Administrator can allow or disallow any OCHS user access to this function. Within the Online Administrative Tools an addition to the 'New User' and 'Edit User' function has the following option:

To allow a user to change their password select Yes, otherwise select No. The Online Admin Tools will maintain this selection until it is changed by an Online Administrator.

• If 'No' is selected and the user tries to change their password, they will be prompted with a 'PERMISSION DENIED' message which includes some explanatory text.


• Passwords are updated every 5 minutes. Once the update takes place, the user will be automatically logged out of WebCT and required to log back in using their new password


• To use the Change Password function there are a number of options:


1. Access the Change Password function from myWebCT page under Campus Bookmarks,
2. Place the URL within a course, name it Change Password, and then point it to the URL mentioned above,
3. Place the URL, mentioned above, on a Web Site, for example, your schools home page,
4. Email or communicate the new URL to new users as they are given their initial UserID and Password.

For those familiar with WebCT's Administrative interface, this function is not related to that aspect of WebCT. This function uses the Online Admin Tools, its associated Oracle Database, and OCHS programming using the WebCT API functionality.

Edit User
The Edit User tool allows you to edit an existing user's personal information such as first/last name, phone number, and email address. You may also change the user ID, password, type, group, and service associations from this tool. When you first select Edit User you will be shown a screen listing all users for your organization. You may scroll through this list or filter it using the Name / ID filter, Group, and/or Type drop-down boxes. Once in the Edit User screen, should you wish to edit another user, you may use the filter utilities to again manage the drop-down list of users, or scroll through the list to select the next user you wish to edit.

Delete Users
The Delete User tool allows you to delete users from WebCT and/or from the ERC; it also allows you to completely remove a user record from Online Admin Tools. Online Admin Tools will not permit you to remove a user that is still enrolled in a WebCT course.

Warning: All user data is lost once deleted. Download Grade Books and Tracking Reports to your desktop if required before deleting user accounts. Online Admin tools will initially show all users in your organization. Use the Group, Type and Name/ID filter utilities to manage the list size. In addition, Delete User offers additional filters to list only WebCT users, WebCT users not presently enrolled in a class, or users not assigned to any service.

To select users for deletion, click the radio button under the degree of removal you wish for EACH user, then click the Delete User(s) button.

Manage User Groups
In the Manage User Groups tool the Group filter utility works a little differently in that, when you first open the page, a list of all users in the organization will appear. You may still filter this list by Type, Name, or ID. If you have no groups defined, adding a group is done by entering a new group identifier in the "Create new group" text field and clicking the Create button. To manage user membership in an existing group, select the group from the Group drop-down box. This will open an additional list of group members to the left of the complete user list. To add or remove users from the group, click the corresponding blue arrow buttons. To remove a group, simply select the group from the Delete group drop-down box and click Delete. Any users still linked to the group will drop their association automatically. This does not delete the users, only the group.

Manage User Types
At present there are three user types available. If unset at the time of creation, a user will default to the type "None". To assign users to a different type, click the corresponding radio button underneath the Type column of your choice. Once all users in the list have been assigned the appropriate type, click Save Changes to save the changes. As this tool deals with users directly, you have the filter utilities available to refine the user list search result.

– WebCT Tools –

Manage WebCT User
The Manage WebCT User tool allows you to place a single WebCT user in multiple sections and to set that user's role within the sections. When you first select the Manage WebCT user tool, you'll be given the user selection screen where you can use the filter utilities to refine your search for a specific user, or groups of users. Selecting a user from the user selection screen list will open the course selection screen. To assign the user to courses, select the courses you wish to add from the right list of courses and click the corresponding blue arrow to move them into the left window, the list of courses in which the user is already registered. To remove the user from courses, select the courses in the left list from which you wish to remove the user and click the corresponding blue arrow to effect the change.

Change Roles
You can assign 6 different roles to a user in a given course: Instructor, Designer, Instructor Designer, TA, Student, or Inactive Student. Each role represents a degree of user privilege in that particular WebCT course. In most cases, you will be setting up your teachers with Instructor Designer access as this will give them the ability to customize the interactive features available to them such as class discussions or calendar. Clicking on the Change Roles button opens a list of the user's assigned courses, each with a set of radio buttons for the 6 roles. For each course that you wish to change the user's role, click the radio button in the corresponding column to the role you wish them to assume. When all selections are complete click the Update Roles button. Your browser will open a confirmation window to inform you of the status of the updates and return you to the user's course selection screen. You may select another WebCT user to administer from the user drop-down list. The filter utilities are available to further refine the list of users.

Manage Course
The Manage Course tool allows you to add or remove multiple WebCT users from a particular course and to set the users' roles within it. When you select the Manage Course tool you will be given the course selection screen. You may order the list of courses by the actual name or by the assigned "Display Name" as is set by using the Edit Course Name tool. When you select a course you are taken to the course management page for that course. Here you can assign or remove users from the course by selecting them from the right-hand list of all users to add, or from the left-hand list of users assigned to the course to remove. Once you have made your selections, click the respective blue arrow buttons to effect the change. You may refine your lists of users by using the Group, Type, and Name/ID filter Utilities. These filters affect both the assigned and unassigned lists.

Change Roles
Clicking on the Change Roles button opens a list of the users assigned to this course, each with a set of radio buttons for the 6 roles of: Instructor, Designer, Instructor Designer, TA, Student, or Inactive Student. For each user whose role you wish to change, click the radio button in the corresponding column to the role you wish them to assume within this course. When all selections are complete, click the Update Roles button. Your browser will open a confirmation window to inform you of the status of the updates and return you to the course's management screen. You may select another course to administer from the course drop-down list.

Manage Previews
Select Manage Previews to switch from your organization's course list to the list of available previews.

Edit Course Name
The Edit Course Name tool allows you to edit the Course name of a class. You have the option of changing the name of the Course in WebCT or in just the Admin Tools. To change a course name in WebCT, use the column labeled "WebCT Course Name". To change the name in the Admin Tools only, use the column labeled "Course Display Name".

Previewing a Course Instance
Want to see what a course looks like before ordering it? A Preview is the master course that can only be reviewed in the Student Role. The reason for this is each Preview is a shared copy for all districts to review prior to ordering. You have access to the Preview instance of all regular courses that your district can order (has licensed via COOL membership or OSBC Course License).
Your course count is not affected by Previews, however, it will use up a seat when a user is assigned to the Preview. Once a user is finished reviewing the courses, remove the user from the Preview to regain that seat. Previews are available at all times to you if you want to look at them in the future.

SPECIAL NOTE: You should be aware that Previews may be updated or otherwise changed at any time, which can wipe out any student progress, etc., so they should never be used for anything beyond a review of a course prior to ordering your own instance.

You can give your teachers/principals access to the Previews via the Open School Online Admin Tools.

1. select 'Manage Course'
2. click in the box next to 'Manage Previews'
3. select the section the teacher/principal want to preview
4. move the teacher/principal name(s) across to the 'USERS ASSIGNED' box
5. have the teacher/principal log on with their User ID and Password and select the preview course
6. once the teacher/principal has finished their preview, remove them from the preview as they will be counted as a student and the seat will be deducted from your seats maximum total.

Request Course Instance
A person in the role of "Online Administrator" should perform this process.

Online Administrators can request Course copies using the "Request Course Instance" tool in the Online Administrative Tools.

The Request Course Instance tool allows you to request a new course copy to be set up for you on the Open School BC WebCT server. Open School BC will automatically be notified of your request and you will receive an email when the course has been created. (see following page for sample of Request Course Instance tool).

On this screen, you will see the following:

1. Course Maximum – the maximum blank course instances purchased by a district for a school year.
   
   
2. Courses Available – excess blank course instances
   
   
3. Courses Used – courses already in use by a district
   
   
4. All Courses – a drop down list of all courses available to a district.
   
   
5. Sort by WebCT Course Folder – an alphabetical sort of courses by the WebCT Course Folder e.g. COOL Biology 11, COOL Biology 12
   
   
6. Sort by WebCT Course Name – an alphabetical sort of courses by the course title that you assigned to the course in the Edit Course Name screen e.g. Biology 12 1234, English 12 1235, etc.
   
   
7. Request – allows an online administrator to choose from 1 to 3 copies of the same course instance. Click on the drop-down arrow then click on a number from the list.
   
   
8. Request Course(s) – after completing the course selections, scroll to the bottom of the browser page and click on Request Course(s). Another screen will pop up with confirmation of the courses and quantity of courses the administrator has selected. Also showing on this page is the districts Existing and On Confirmation course instance information. If the course selection information is correct, click on Confirm Request, whereby an email is forwarded to Open School BC's Customer Support for processing. Requests will be processed on a first come first serve basis. You will be notified by email when your course has been created.
   
   
9. Empty Course Shells – allows an online administrator to choose from 1 to 3 empty section shells at a time to be used for course restore or course development. If the information is incorrect, click on Cancel and re-enter choices. At the bottom of the screen you will be asked to enter in the WebCT Course Name. Once the name has been entered, click 'Confirm Request'. After the Confirm Request button is clicked a notice will pop up and will include the online administrator's name and email address, the quantity of courses requested, the WebCT Course Name and ID, and the Class Display Name. Print this page as confirmation that the request was successful. You will be notified by email when your course has been created.

   NOTE 1: If the district has zero existing course instances available, a new purchase order will need to be filled in and sent to Open School BC. Please contact the Open School BC Support Team at online@openschool.bc.ca for pricing options.
   

Delete Course Instance
The Online Administrator will practice good course management by deleting a course instance not in use. The Delete Course Instance tool allows you to delete courses that are no longer needed.

Important steps before deleting a course:

1. If the grade book is used in a course to keep track of student grades, download a copy of the grade book to your local computer for safekeeping/archival purposes.
   
   
2. All students, designers, and teachers assigned to a course must be removed from the course before it can be deleted (do not remove students from a course until after the grade book has been downloaded, otherwise student grades will be deleted).
   
   
3. Once a grade book is downloaded and the course is cleared of students, designers, and teachers, use the Delete Course Instance tool to delete it.

Upload User File Tool
The Upload User File tool allows you to create multiple user accounts from a .txt or .csv file (see examples below). Please note that the upload file can only contain the Last Name, First Name, UserID, Change Password and Password for each account. Sections cannot be assigned to users from this tool. You must use the Manage WebCT User tool to assign users in one or many courses or Manage Course tool to assign a course to one or many users.

– Reporting –

View Reports
The View Reports tool redirects you to the new Report Centre. You will find the following reports in the "Reports" area inside the Report Centre.

• Teacher Reports
• Inactive Student Report
  Displays a list of students in your organization who have not logged any activity in WebCT within a specified range of dates.
• Organization Local Administrators
  This report lists the Local Administrators of your organization.
• Total Number of Students Per Course
  This report shows the total number of students in each course of your organization.
• Student Achievement Report
  Displays the assignment and assessment grades for all students in a course. Items that have no maximum value defined in the WebCT Gradebook will be displayed in the report but won't be included in the calculated totals.
• Student Class Activity Report
  Shows tracking information about a student in their classes. The information includes actions that a user has performed in a course, date of the action, pages visited within a course, and tools used by the student.
• WebCT User Course Report
  This report lists all of the WebCT users in a chosen course.
• Local Administrator Reports
• Oranization Course Report
  This report lists all courses belonging to your organization.
• User/Course Report
  This report shows the users in your organization, the courses they are currently enrolled in, and the date they were enrolled for each course.
• User Report
  This report shows the total number of users in your organization.
• WebCT User Course Report & Contact Information
  This report lists all of the WebCT users and their contact information in a chosen course.
• WebCT User Report
  This report allows you to retrieve all courses that a chosen user is currently enrolled in.

Contact online@openschool.bc.ca for more information.