School Setup & Course Scheduling Using the Digital Academy - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

School Setup & Course Scheduling

Using the Digital Academy

Administrator Training

1717 Superior Ave. Cleveland, OH 44114 / 833-222-3359 / sales@digitalacademy.org

SCHOOL SETUP & COURSE SCHEDULING

This document explains how to set up new schools for the upcoming school

• year. It assumes that user accounts for teachers and students have already

been created. This training will cover the following topics: 1. Logging in to the Digital Academy 2. Definitions 3. Setting Up For the Upcoming Academic Year 1. Creating Marking Terms 2. Creating Bell Schedules 3. Configuring Course Templates & Options 4. Creating Homeroom Rosters 5. Creating Course Lists 6. Creating Class Lists & Class Rosters 7. Scheduling Classes

LOGGING IN TO THE DIGITAL ACADEMY

To Get Started, Do the following

• 1. Log in to the Digital Academy at

https://auth.digitalacademy.org

• 2. Enter Your User Name and Password and

Click Login

* If you forgot your password, click forgot password? and you will be e-mailed a link to reset it. ** If you forgot your username, contact your school administrator

LOGGING IN TO THE DIGITAL ACADEMY USING GOOGLE

If you previously mapped your Google account to your Digital Academy Account, click Login with Google. To map an account for the first time, click Login with Google, Login to your Google Account.

MAPPING YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT

After you click Login with Google, you will be prompted to Login to your Google Account if you are not logged in already. Enter you GOOGLE e-Mail and press NEXT. Then enter your GOOGLE Password and press NEXT.

MAPPING YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT

After you Successfully login to your Google Account, you will be returned to a Mapping Screen in the Digital Academy.

• 1. You will be prompted to enter your Digital

Academy Username and Password.

• 2. Enter that and press Map.
• 3. After that, you can press Login with Google

at the digital academy login page and you will be automatically logged into the Digital Academy

Digital Academy Definitions

DEFINITIONS

The Following Definitions are used throughout this training and The Digital Academy Course A collection of classes that all have the same Grade Level and

• Subject. Courses are generally linked to Curriculum and to Standards

for that Course Class / Section / Course Section These terms all mean the same thing. This refers to the instruction of a course by a teacher to a group of students. A class has a teacher and a roster of students. It has a schedule with meeting times and a

• location. Generally all classes within a course share the same

Curriculum and Standards. Each class has its own Online Classroom and Gradebook. Lesson Plans are created by the teacher for a class.

DEFINITIONS

Grade Level The Grade that a student is in (EG: K – 12). Educators frequently refer to a Grade Level as a Grade, but our documentation does not do that because grade can have a different meaning, as showing below. Grade The score that a student received on an assignment, standard or a class. A Grade can be a percent, an A – F Letter Grade, a Standard Grade, or an other letter grade as specified on the grade scale for a course. Standard Grade A code that represents a students level of understanding on a given learning standard. Codes are typically: Meets, Exceeds, Working, Needs Improvement. Grade Scale A progression of levels of understanding that a student is able to

• achieve. A Grade Scale has multiple levels. Each level can be

represented by a Letter or a range of percentages.

DEFINITIONS - 2

Synchronous Online Class / Live Online Class This is a digital class in which the teacher is presenting materials to the students in a live / real-time manner. Both the teacher and students are online as the same time and can interactive using audio/video conference tools, chat tools and/or shared screens. Asynchronous Online Class / Online Class This refers to digital learning in which the teacher and students are not interacting at the same time. Tools for Asynchronous Online Learning include:

• Class pages (Google Classroom-Style Pages where information is

posted by the teacher)

• Uploaded Videos / YouTube Videos
• Digital Academy Online Lessons
• Online Discussions
• Digital Resources, Websites and Web Applications

DEFINITIONS - 3

Classroom / Online Classroom / Digital Classroom / Class Portal These terms all mean the same thing. This refers to the collection of modules in which class information is delivered to students & parents in a digital format. This includes an option for live / interactive / synchronous delivery of information as explained below. Class Pages / Portal Pages This is a Module within the Online Classroom that allows teacher to create one

• r more pages with informational posts. A “Post” can be:
• An announcement with text, images, links and resources
• An embedded item such as a YouTube Video or an Uploaded Video
• A link to an assignment or lesson

Online Discussions This is a Module within the Online Classroom that allows teachers to create Online Discussions. A discussion can have a required number of posts &

• replies. It can be added to the assignment list and can have a due date.

Discussions can be graded in the Smart Grader

DEFINITIONS

Online Lesson Module This is a Module within the Online Classroom that allows teachers to create sequenced digital lessons. Each lesson consist of multiple stages / segments. A segment can be:

• An HTML post with Text, Images, Resources or Links
• An uploaded video
• An embedded video
• An Online Assessment
• An Online Discussion

There is an Online Lesson Player that steps students through the lessons and ensures that they complete them in order The teacher has a class progress screen that shows a grid with all students and all stages and visually depicts the students’ progress against each stage Online Assessments Online assessments are online questionnaires that are made up of True/False, Multiple Choice, Fill-In or Short Answer Questions. They can be self-grading and can go into the gradebook automatically. They can be delivered Synchronously through the Live Classroom or Asynchronous through the Assignment List.

DEFINITIONS - 5

Live Classroom / Classroom Live (Daphne Version) This is a Module within the Online Classroom that allows teachers to conduct Synchronous / Live Online Classes with Students. The Digital Academy Live Classroom contains a variety of tools for synchronous learning including:

• Audio / Video Conference Capabilities
• Ability to Present a document to students, Including Graphic Organizers
• Ability to draw on documents using a digital whiteboard
• Ability to hand out documents to students and monitor their work on them
• Ability to hand out websites and lock students into a given website
• Ability to Share Screen
• Chat Tool
• Online Assessments & Games
• Word Cloud Game Tool
• STEM / Computer Programming Tools

The Live Classroom has the ability to Record Sessions and Post it to a Digital Academy Online Lesson or Class Page

DEFINITIONS - 6

Standards Learning Goals for what students should know and be able to do at a specific stage in their

• education. In the Digital Academy, standards are organized by subject and grade level.

Essential Standards A subset of Learning Standards that educators have determined to be the highest priority or are most important to learn. Essential Standards typically appear on a Standards-based report card. Essential Standard grades are determined by calculating the mode of the indicator standards that make up the Essential Standard. Indicator Standards Learning Standards that are used to determine student progress against Essential

• Standards. Assignments are typically linked to Indicator Standards in the Digital Academy.

Curriculum Map / Curriculum The academic material taught in a course which is divided into Units, each with Standards (including Catholic Standards and Catholic Identity), Essential Questions, Content, Skills and Vocabulary.

DEFINITIONS - 7

Assignment A task that the student is expected to complete. It has a Title, Description and Due

• Date. It shows on the student's assignments list. It is in a gradebook category and

it shows in the gradebook. It does not need to have a grade or count as part of the grade calculation. Online Assessment This is a type of assignment that is completed online through the digital academy. It consists of a number questions that are either true/false, multiple choice, fill-in or Short Answer. Online Assessments can be automatically graded (except for Short Answer). Online Assignments can be graded in the Smart Grader. Digital Assignment / Assignment with Digital Turn-In A type of Assignment in which students are permitted to turn in files digitally. Digital work is stored and can be graded using the SmartGrader. Offline Assignment A term that is occasionally used to refer to an Assignment that is NOT an online assessment and that does not allow digital turn-in.

DEFINITIONS - 8

Gradebook A collection of tools that allows teacher to enter grades for student assignments Gradebook Grid Tab The “Traditional” gradebook view that shows a grid of all assignments with a row for each

• student. Teachers can enter Point Grades or Standards Grades for each Assignment for

Each Student Gradebook Standards Review Tab A Gradebook Tab that shows a grid with all essential standards across the top and with a row for each student. Teachers can expand an essential standard to see the indicator standards, and can expand an indicator standard to see assignments. Teachers can update / override standard grades for students on this tab Gradebook Digital Review Tab / SmartGrader A tab that shows the digital submission for each student. A teacher selects an assignments, then students, and can look at all digital work submitted and grade it. Gradebook Category A grouping of assignments within a gradebook. A category can be configured to count towards the final grade or not.

DEFINITIONS - 9

Academic Term / Academic Year / School Year These terms mean the same thing. This refers to the period from 7/1 to 6/30 Marking Term A grading period such as a Quarter, Semester or Trimester. Marking Terms have a start date and end date and are made up of marking columns. Marking Column A grade column that appears within a Marking Term. In some cases, a Marking Term can have multiple marking columns. A marking column has one of the following calculation types: Calculated Grade The Grade is calculated based on assignment values Combined Grade The Grade is calculated by combining the calculated grade from other marking terms. For example: Semester 1 is a combination of Quarter 1 and Quarter 2. When creating a Combined Grade column, you need to specify which Marking Terms are being combined Manual Grade The Grade is entered manually by the teacher. This is sometimes the case for Effort and Conduct columns.

DEFINITIONS – 10

Roster Set A group of rosters. Each roster contains a list of students and is referred to as a Roster Set Group or a Roster Set Section. Courses are linked to a Roster Set. Multiple Courses can be linked to a Roster Set Roster Set Group / Roster Set Section These terms mean the same thing. This is a list of students in a roster set. A class is linked to a Roster Set Group. Multiple classes can be linked to the same roster set group. When the student list is changed in a roster set group, it is changed for all classes that use that group Bell Schedule Specifies the start time and duration of one or more periods on each day of a day pattern. Bell schedules can have patterns that repeat on a daily basis (the same every day) or on a weekly basis (The same every week). Bell schedules can apply to one or more grades. Alternate Bell Schedule A special schedule that administrators can activate for a specific day, such as a Mass Schedule, Early Dismissal Schedule, Delayed Start Schedule, Etc.. An alternate bell schedule is for a single day.

DEFINITIONS - 11

User Account A single account within the Digital Academy. An account has a username and password. An account must have a role at an organization, but accounts can have more than one role at more than one organization. Additionally, parent accounts can have multiple people listed on a single user account, such as a mother and father that both live at the same household. These accounts are referred to as Additional Guardians. Role A role defines the permissions that a user has with an organization. Permissions are largely based on the “Base Role” for a given role, but can also be manipulated on the Security Setup Screens. Base Role The Digital Academy supports 4 base roles that define the permissions of a user account: Student, Parent, Teacher and Administrator. Typically there is only one role for Students, Parents and Teachers, however many roles can be created with Administrative Permissions such as the Nurse Manager, Cafeteria Manager, Finance Office Role, Admissions Director, etc..

Setting Up Your School Using

The Master Scheduler

SCHOOL SETUP USING THE MASTER SCHEDULER

The Master Scheduler allows you to set up classes, rosters and schedules for an Academic Year. This training will show you how to use the Master Scheduler to do those things. The training will be broken into four parts 1. School Setup 2. Create Homeroom Rosters and Course Lists 3. Create Class Lists and Class Rosters 4. Schedule Classes

GETTING INTO THE MASTER SCHEDULER

To open the Master Schedule, click the menu bar (3 lines). This will display the Administrator Menu on the Left. From the Administrator Menu, Master Scheduler. This can be found under the Setup category at the top. You will see the Master Scheduler Header as shown below

School Setup

General Information

Confirm School Year, check to make sure that the “edit pencil” is available for all on the Setup Checklist, and then click the blue Setup Button.

GENERAL INFORMATION – YEARS & TERMS

The Years and Terms Tab allows you to setup your Marking Terms and Marking Columns. A Marking Term is grading period such as a Quarter, Semester or Trimester. Marking Terms have the following fields:

• A name

e.g.: Quarter 1

• An abbreviation

E.g.: Q1

• A Start Date and an End Date

A few notes about Start and End Dates:

• The start date does NOT need to be the same as the start date of the academic
• year. It should be the first day of classes.
• The End Date should be the last day of classes
• There should not be gaps between the end date of one term and the start date of

the next term.

CREATING MARKING TERMS

To create a marking term, do the following: 1. Confirm your organization and academic year is correct

• Do not enable groups.

2. If you do not have a term listed, Click +Add Term 3. Enter the name of your first Marking Term (Quarter 1- 4) and enter the abbreviation (Q1- Q4). 4. Input your Start and End Date Follow the instructions on the Next Page to Create a Marking Column for your first term before creating your second term

MARKING COLUMNS

A Marking Column is a grade column that appears within a Marking Term. In some cases, a Marking Term can have multiple marking columns. A marking column has a name and a calculation type. Calculation types can be one of the following: Calculated Grade The Grade is calculated based on assignment values. This is the MOST COMMON column for normal marking terms. Combined Grade The Grade is calculated by combining the calculated grade from

• ther marking terms. For example: Semester 1 is a combination of

Quarter 1 and Quarter 2. When creating a Combined Grade column, you need to specify which Marking Terms are being combined Manual Grade The Grade is entered manually by the teacher. This is sometimes the case for Effort and Conduct columns. A Marking Term must have either a Calculated Grade Column, or a Combined Grade

• Column. It cannot have BOTH, it cannot have NEITHER.

MARKING COLUMNS – Additional Options

A Marking Column has several other options that can be set On Grade Card This term appears on the grade card. Usually set to true. Special cases like Semester Exam may not appear on the grade card On Transcript This term appears on the Transcript. Sometimes transcripts only show Semester Terms and not Quarterly Terms Required If Checked, all classes that run during this Marking Term must have this marking column. This is typically set for the “Grade” column. It is not typically set for things like Effort and Conduct (if those are their own columns)

To create a marking column, do the following: 1. Go to the Marking Term that you want to add a column for 2. Check the active box to enable that column. To add a new column, click +Add Column 3. Enter a name. For your first column, enter the word “Grade” in the name box. All Schools should have one column called grade. 4. Select the type. For the grade column, Confirm the type is “Calculated Grade” 5. Select the following checkboxes. For the grade column, all three should be set.

• On Grade Card?
• On Transcript?
• Required

Repeat this process for All Other Marking Terms

CREATING MARKING COLUMNS

GENERAL INFO – MARKING TERM TEMPLATES

A Marking Term Template allows you to specify default values for all of the Marking Term Fields that can be used when building your courses. You must have at least one marking term template. Some schools have different templates for different grades / skill levels. Every Course Section will be linked to ONE Marking Term Template A Marking Term Template has a name and a set of grade levels that it applies to. It also has options for how grades are shown. Options are None (Not Shown), Show Grade Only, Show Percent Only or Show Grade and Percent. Standard Grades don’t have percentages associated with them. Assignment Grade Format Determines how assignment grades are shown in the desktop site, on the app, and in the daily and nightly reports. Overall Grade Format Determines how the overall grades are shown on the Site and on the App. Report Card Grade Format Determines how grades are shown on the report card Transcript Grade Format Determines how grades are shown on the transcript

GENERAL INFO – MARKING TERM TEMPLATES

In addition to general information about the Marking Term, the Marking Term Template allows you to specify the following: Whether a Marking Term is Active. You can create a template for course that only meet in Q3 and Q4 and that data will be set automatically when the course is built. This information can also be easily edited on the Course Setup Screen. Which Grading Columns are active for each term Required columns must always be active. The Grade Scale and Credits for each Grading Column These are the fields that are most commonly changed between templates. Frequently K-3 will have a different grade scale than other grades. Include in GPA Determines whether courses with this template are included in the GPA Calculation

CREATING MARKING TERM TEMPLATES

Make sure that you mark and setup for all 4 Quarters.

Creating Marking Term Templates (Quarter Defaults) 1. Select the Marking Term Templates Tab 2. Click New Template 3. Give the template a name (Typically this is the grades that it applies to Plus info on special GPA or Grade scale settings) 4. Enter the Grades that the term applies

• to. If it applies to all, you will need to

select all grades 5. Specify the Grade Format Values. To HIDE grades of a certain type, select NONE as the format code. For Each Term 1. Check “Used” next to columns that are active. 2. Select a Grade Scale, Credits and Include in GPA

GRADEBOOK CATEGORIES

A Gradebook Category is a grouping of assignments within a gradebook. Categories have a variety of options that determine how the final grade is calculated. A Gradebook Category Template is a set of default categories that can be linked to a

• course. You must have at least one Gradebook Category Template. You will be able to

specify whether teachers can change categories on a later page. Gradebook Categories have the following properties Name This is the name of the category that will be shown in the gradebook and to students on the assignment list. Students can group assignments by category. Color This is the color for the Assignment Header in the gradebook Exclude from Grade Calculation When this is set, grades from this category will not count as part of the grade calculation. This can be set for Letter/Percent Grades and Standard Grades

GRADEBOOK CATEGORIES

For Schools that use Letter / Percent Grade, there are several other options that can be

• set. These options have no affect on standard-based grades.

Grade Method This determines how the category grade is calculated. Options are Sum of Points: All points earned by the student are added up and divided by the total points possible. That is the students percentage grade for that

• category. In this mode assignments with a higher number of total points possible

will have a greater affect on the final grade Average of Percentages: The students percentage grade for each assignment is averaged. The average of the percentage grades is the students average for the category. In this mode, all assignments have the same weight in the final score regardless of the total number of points in an assignment Has Weight If Gradebook categories have a weight, you will need to enter a percentage weight for each category. Percentages must add up to 100%. The final grade will be adjusted based on the relative weight of each category.

Creating Gradebook Category Templates 1. Select the Gradebook Category Templates Tab 2. Click New Template 3. Give the template a name 4. Enter the Grades that the term applies

• to. If it applies to all, you will need to

select all grades 5. If you want your categories to be weighted, check “Has Weight” For Category 1. Give the Category a Name, Color and indicate if it is Excluded from the Grade Calculation 2. Select a Calculation Type 3. If you want to require that teachers use this category, select “Is Required” 4. Press +Add to create a new Category

CREATING CATEGORY TEMPLATES

CLASSROOM DEFAULTS

A Classroom Defaults Template allows you to specify which features of the Online Classroom are enabled by default for each new class. You will be able to determine whether teachers can edit their classroom templates on a later page. You have the following options: Pages This is a Module within the Online Classroom that allows teacher to create one or more pages with informational posts. A “Post” can be:

• An announcement with text, images, links and resources
• An embedded item such as a YouTube Video or an Uploaded Video
• A link to an assignment or lesson

Online Lesson Module This is a Module within the Online Classroom that allows teachers to create sequenced digital lessons. Each lesson consist of multiple stages / segments. There is an Online Lesson Player that steps students through the lessons and ensures that they complete them in order. The teacher has a class progress screen that shows a grid with all students and all stages and visually depicts the students’ progress against each stage

CLASSROOM DEFAULTS

Calendar This is a tab that shows the events for the class. These events also show up on the main calendar and on the dashboard so this is frequently not activated. Assignments This is a tab that shows the Assignments specifically for this class. Assignments for all classes also show on the dashboard and can be filtered by class. Online Discussions This is a Module within the Online Classroom that allows teachers to create Online

• Discussions. A discussion can have a required number of posts & replies. It can be

added to the assignment list and can have a due date. Discussions can be graded in the Smart Grader

CLASSROOM DEFAULTS

Live Classroom / Classroom Live (Daphne Version) This is a Module within the Online Classroom that allows teachers to conduct Synchronous / Live Online Classes with Students. The Digital Academy Live Classroom contains a variety of tools for synchronous learning including:

• Audio / Video Conference Capabilities
• Ability to Present a document to students, Including Graphic Organizers
• Ability to draw on documents using a digital whiteboard
• Ability to hand out documents to students and monitor their work on them
• Ability to hand out websites and lock students into a given website
• Ability to Share Screen
• Chat Tool
• Online Assessments & Games
• Word Cloud Game Tool
• STEM / Computer Programming Tools

The Live Classroom has the ability to Record Sessions and Post it to a Digital Academy Online Lesson or Class Page

Classroom Defaults (Templates)

Rename by typing “Classroom Template”

Creating Classroom Default Templates 1. Select the Classroom Default Tab 2. Click New Template 3. Give the template a name 4. Check the options that you want to have enabled 5. Set the Order Number for each option 6. If you want the option to have a different display name, fill that out under “Display Name”

COURSE SECTION DEFAULTS

This screen allows you to set default behaviors and permissions for a number of items related to your classes. The following permissions can be set: Teachers can edit schedules Determines whether teachers can edit their class schedules. Typically this is permitted with the younger grades, but not at the High School Level. Schools that follow a strict Bell Schedule should not allow teachers to change the schedule. Teachers can edit gradebook categories Determines whether teachers can edit gradebook categories. If this is not checked, the categories that are specified on the category template will be locked. If it is checked, teachers can change categories that are not marked as “Required” Teachers can edit classroom settings Determines whether teachers can edit turn modules on or off in their online

• classroom. Even if this is off, teachers will still be able to add/edit/delete and

rename class portal pages.

COURSE SECTION DEFAULTS

Default Course Section Naming Convention This determines how course section names are generated when they are created by the Master

• Scheduler. There are several options:

Smart Combine This will put together the course name and the Roster Set section name. If there is a repeating character it will be repeated. For example: If the course is Science 8 and the Roster Set Sections are 8A and 8B, the Course Section Names will be Science 8A and Science 8B. Add Space Course Section names will be created with the Courses Name + SPACE + Roster Set Section

• Name. In the example above, the Course Section Names would be Science8 8A and

Science8 8B Add Dash Course Section names will be created with the Courses Name + DASH + Roster Set Section

• Name. In the example above, the Course Section Names would be Science8-8A and

Science8-8B None Course Section names will be combined with Course Name + Roster Set Name

Setting Up Homerooms

BUILDING HOMEROOMS

A Homeroom is a class in which a teacher typically takes attendance and makes

• announcements. Homerooms are like classes but there are a number of

differences.

• A Homeroom is not linked to a particular Subject. It does not have a gradebook.
• A homeroom has a teacher
• A homeroom has a roster of students and it can be setup for to Daily Attendance
• It can appear on the Class Schedule
• It can have a Class Portal and all modules are available.
• Homerooms typically do not have the Online Lesson Module or

Assignment List Enabled When building your course list, you can link the roster for the course your are building to the “Homeroom Roster Set”. When you do this, the Course will have

• ne section for every Homeroom Class. The teacher and all students will be the

same as the homeroom class teacher and students.

To Create Homerooms, Do The Following:

• 1. Go to the Master Scheduler from the Admin Menu. If you are on the General Info Setup Screens,

Press Save and Close to get back to the main level of the Master Scheduler

• 2. Click the Course Tab as shown below
• 3. On the Courses Tab, Click the Homeroom Tab
• 4. Enter the Information as outlined on the next page

CREATING HOMEROOMS

HOMEROOM FIELDS

To Create a homeroom, you will need to specify the following fields Grade This is the Grade Level for the Homeroom. There can only be one grade level for a homeroom Teacher The name of the teacher for the homeroom. There can only be one main teacher. Name The Name of the homeroom. A standard format is “Homeroom X” where X is the Grade Level. Section The Section name of the homeroom. If you have 2 or more homerooms in a grade, they will each need a unique section name. An example of this for a 1st grade that has two sections would be 1A and 1B. If you have only one section for a grade, put a SPACE in this field. If courses use the Homeroom roster, the name of each section will be the name of the Course plus the name of the Homeroom Section, in the format specified in the Course Section Setup Screen (Previous Slide).

USING ROSTER SETS TO SIMPLIFY SCHEDULING

Roster sets have been created to make it easier to build course sections (classes) and enroll students in those classes. To understand this, it is important to know several definitions A Roster is a list of students. All classes have a Roster. A Roster Set is a collection of rosters. Each roster contains a list of students and is referred to as a Roster Set Group or a Roster Set Section. A Roster Set Group or Roster Set Section refers to an individual list of students in a roster

• set. A class is linked to a Roster Set Group. Multiple classes can be linked to the same

roster set group. When the student list is changed in a roster set group, it is changed for all classes that use that group Building Out Course and Course Sections (Classes) Roster Sets are created to make it easer to build Courses and Course Sections. If multiple classes are going to have the same rosters, you can create a Roster Set and then link each course that has the same rosters to that Roster Set. When the system builds out the Course Sections, it will use the rosters from the Roster Set. You only have to indicate which students are in each roster one time, and that data is reused for every class.

SPECIFYING A HOMEROOM ROSTER SET

When creating a homeroom, you need to specify a Roster Set. This process is fairly automatic for Homerooms: 1. When you pick a Grade, the Homeroom Name and Section is filled automatically using the following formats: Homeroom Name: Homeroom X where X is the Grade Level Section: XA, XB, XC where X is the Grade Level and A, B or C is used to make the section name unique. 2. A Roster Sets are created for the grade automatically. A Roster Set Section is created for each Homeroom in that Grade using the Homeroom Section Name as the Roster Set Section Name 3. When a 2nd Homeroom is created for a grade, an additional section is automatically created in the Homeroom Roster Set for that Grade

EDITING ROSTER SETS

If you want to edit a roster set, you can click the Dropdown for the Roster Set and select the option “Edit ROSTER_SET_NAME”. You will see the following screen: A Roster Set has a Name and a set of Grade Levels that it applies to It has a list of Groups (Sections). Each Group has a Name, a Section Code and Optionally a teacher. If a teacher is not specified, it will be assigned during the build process. The bottom section shows all courses that Use the given Roster Set. For a homeroom roster set, it is typical to have multiple courses that are linked to it.

HOMEROOM ATTENDANCE

The last fields to specify is Attendance. There are several options for attendance. This will apply to homerooms and to all other classes as well Daily When teachers take attendance, they will be updating the schools daily attendance. Administrators are able to specify which attendance codes can be picked by teachers and which are admin only. It is common that teachers can only select “Unexcused Absence” or “Unexcused Tardy”, and the administration has to switch codes to approved absence or approved tardy. Class Attendance is tracked by the class (or homeroom) but does not affect daily

• attendance. It is possible to run a report of students who are present on the daily

attendance but absent from a class. Additionally, teachers will see the daily attendance value when taking class attendance. None There is no attendance for the class or homeroom

If you have multiple homerooms per grade, you can speed up the homeroom creating process by Copying A Homeroom. To do that:

• 1. Create the first Homeroom for the Grade
• 2. Click the Copy Button. The system will create another homeroom for the same grade, with the

same name and the same attendance method. It will increment the Section Number and update the roster set.

• 3. Select the Teacher and Press Save

COPYING HOMEROOMS

2

Setting Up Courses

BUILDING COURSES

A course is a collection of classes that all have the same Grade and Subject. A course has one or more sections. A Course Section (class) has a teacher and a student list (Roster). It can have an assigned room and an assigned time to meet – although it does not have to. In the Digital Academy, the steps for creating courses are as follows: 1. Create your Homeroom and Homeroom Roster Sets 2. Define your Course and the required fields for the course. This will Include:

• Selecting the subject, grade, and giving it a Name
• Selecting templates for Marking Terms, Gradebook Categories and Classroom

Defaults

• Specifying the # of Sections for Each Course.
• Specify whether the course will use an existing roster set or have its own roster
• set. You can optionally specify the teachers for each section.

3. Fill out your Roster Sets. Assign each student to a Roster Set Section. 4. The system will then Build the Course Sections. Properties can be overridden on a section-by-section basis

To Create Your Courses, Do The Following:

• 1. Go to the Master Scheduler from the Admin Menu. If you are on the General Info Setup Screens,

Press Save and Close to get back to the main level of the Master Scheduler

• 2. Click the Course Tab as shown below
• 3. On the Courses Tab, Click the Courses Tab
• 4. Enter the Information as outlined on the next page

CREATING COURSES

COURSE FIELDS

To Create a Course, you will need to specify the following fields Subject This is the Subject for the Course. Name This is the Name. EG: Subject X where X is the Grade level Grade(s) This is the Grade Level for the Course. There can be multiple Roster Set Pick an Existing Roster Set or Click Add New. IF you pick an existing roster set, the # of Sections and Allowable Teachers will be filled out automatically. If you pick “Add New” you will need to build the roster set. Instructions for that are on the next page. Curriculum If your Diocese or school has pre-built curriculum, you can select that here Standards Select the Standards that should be linked to this course. Only standards for the grade level for the course will be shown. Max Class Size This is used for automated scheduling # Sections The Number of sections (Classes) that this course will have Allowable Teachers Lists the teachers who will teach the sections

COURSE ATTENDANCE

The last fields to specify is Attendance. There are several options for attendance. This will apply to homerooms and to all other classes as well Daily When teachers take attendance, they will be updating the schools daily attendance. Administrators are able to specify which attendance codes can be picked by teachers and which are admin only. It is common that teachers can only select “Unexcused Absence” or “Unexcused Tardy”, and the administration has to switch codes to approved absence or approved tardy. Class Attendance is tracked by the class (or homeroom) but does not affect daily

• attendance. It is possible to run a report of students who are present on the daily

attendance but absent from a class. Additionally, teachers will see the daily attendance value when taking class attendance. None There is no attendance for the class or homeroom

COURSE TEMPLATES

The last step for creating a course is to pick templates for Marking Terms, Gradebook Categories and Class Portal Setup: Marking Term Templates This specifies which marking columns will be used Once you pick a marking term template, you can then select which marking terms will apply to the course. By default, terms selected by the template are active, but you can

• verride that here. You can also override that at the course section (Class) Level.

Gradebook Category Templates Select the Gradebook Category Template that should be used with this course. Teachers may be able to change categories if the “Allow Teachers To Edit Gradebook Categories” flag is set on the General Info - Course Section Defaults Tab Portal Templates Select the Class Portal Template that should be used with this course. Teachers may be able to portal settings if the “Allow Teachers To Edit Classroom Portal” flag is set

• n the General Info - Course Section Defaults Tab

EDITING COURSE ROSTER SETS

If you want to edit a roster set, you can click the Dropdown for the Roster Set and select the option “Edit ROSTER_SET_NAME”. You will see the following screen: A Roster Set has a Name and a set of Grade Levels that it applies to. Course Roster Sets have a Type that is either Single Course or Multi Course (See Next Page for Details). It has a list of Groups (Sections). Each Group has a Name, a Section Code and Optionally a teacher. If a teacher is not specified, it will be assigned during the build process. The bottom section shows all courses that Use the given Roster Set. For each Course, you can specify the names of the teacher for each section. You do not need to do this.

COURSE ROSTER SET TYPES

There are two types of Course Roster Sets: Single Course and Multi Course Single Course Roster Set Type In a Single Course Roster Set, There is one set of

• sections. When you link a course to a a Single

Course Roster Set, that course will get a copy of all of the sections for that roster set. When a student is put into a section, he is added to the roster for the corresponding section for every course that is linked to the roster set. A single course roster set is just like a homeroom roster set except that you can change the teacher for each section in a single Course Roster Set

Multi Course Roster Set In a Multi-Course Roster Set, there are Roster Set Sections for every course that is part of the roster set. An example of this would be a Roster Set for Junior High math. You may have 7th Grade Math, 8th Grade Math, Algebra and Geometry as Courses. You may have 2 sections of 7th and 8th grade math, 1 of Algebra and 1 of

• Geometry. All 7th and 8the graders would be in ONE of the sections across ALL Courses.

When additional courses are added to a Multi-Course Roster Set, they become additional offerings in which a student can be placed.

Rosters & Requests

ROSTERS & REQUESTS

Once all of your courses are created, it is time to put students into your Roster Set Groups. To do that, do the following:

• 1. Go to the Master Scheduler from the Admin Menu. If you are on the General Info Setup

Screens, Press Save and Close to get back to the main level of the Master Scheduler

• 2. Click the Rosters & Requests Tab as shown below

If you do not see a drop down next to Roster Set, click Refresh

• 3. Select one or more grades to work with or select one or more roster sets. The page will

automatically load

EDITING ROSTER SETS

Once you select a grade or a roster set, you will see a screen similar to the one on the right. The top row (“Homeroom 7”) is the name of the Roster

• Set. Click that row to edit it.

The next row (“Homeroom 7 +3 Others”) is a list of courses that use that Roster Set. Click that line to see the courses and optionally move them to their own set The next row is the list of Roster Set Sections. Click the Radio button under a group to put a student in that group

+ 3 Others

MOVING A COURSE TO A NEW ROSTER SET

To Change which courses are in a roster set, click the 2nd

• row. The row that says “Homeroom 7 +3 Others” in this

example. You will see the screen on the right. This screen lists every course in the Roster Set. To move a course to a new roster set, click the dropdown that says “Pick to add or link” You can link to a single course roster set and that will create course sections for all roster set sections. You can add the selected course to a multi-course roster set. That will make the selected course an additional offering in that roster set

+ 3 Others

NOTE THAT CHANGING ROSTER SETS WILL DESTROY EXISTING COURSE SECTIONS AND RECREATE THEM. EXISTING ASSIGNMENT DATA WILL BE LOST!!

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