Whipple Hill - Teacher Tasks - University Schoolupper.us.edu/help/WhippleHill-TeacherTasks.doc  · Web viewTo view Word documents, they must have Word (or perhaps another word processor

Whipple Hill - Teacher Tasks

CustomizeAnnouncementsAssignmentsMessage Board

AttachmentsLinksSyllabusExpectations

PhotoCreate Custom Calendar

Customize

Each component (gold bar with title and content underneath) on your course page is called a "channel." You can customize which channels are displayed on your course page and which are not. Click CUSTOMIZE in upper right corner.

Check the channels you want. Uncheck those you don't. Then SAVE & EXIT.

Announcements

In Announcements title bar, click EDIT. On next screen, click ADD NEW.

Enter HEADLINE, and optionally, AUTHOR and DESCRIPTION. You can publish this announcement to other classes by locating them in LOCATIONS TO PUBLISH. Ctrl-click to choose multiple class, then click ADD (to the right of GROUPS box). The screen will re-draw with the additional classes displayed under ACADEMICS.

Don't forget to enter the publish date for each class under PUBLISH (shortcuts: T for today's date, UP ARROW to increase the date, DOWN ARROW to decrease the date). Then SAVE & EXIT or SAVE/ADD ANOTHER.

Assignments

In Assignments title bar, click EDIT. On next screen, click ADD NEW.

If you want to add more than one assignment (all can be entered on the same screen), change NUMBER OF ASSIGNMENTS. If you want to make this assignment for other sections/classes, select them in AVAILABLE window, and click ® to move them to SELECTED window. Click NEXT.

For each assignment, enter ASSIGNMENT BRIEF, TYPE (select from pull-down; these are used in report ROSTER - MAJOR ASSIGNMENT - BY SECTION, a tool to identify your students' upcoming major assignments), ASSIGNED date and DUE date (shortcuts: T for today's date, UP ARROW to increase the date, DOWN ARROW to decrease the date), and DETAIL if needed. If you are publishing to more than one class, the DEFAULT ASSIGNED date and DUE will apply to all which are not overridden.

Notice that your assignment can have LINKS to websites and ATTACHMENTS (i.e., documents) associated with it. Then SAVE/EXIT or SAVE/ADD MORE.

Message Board

Under MESSAGE BOARD bar, click START A NEW TOPIC. On the next screen, enter SUBJECT and MESSAGE TEXT, then SAVE & EXIT.

Attachments

"Attachments" are files your students will be able to download. Though Whipple Hill allows you to upload most popular file formats, consider what software your students will need at home to view these files. To view a PowerPoint presentation, students must have Office. To view Word documents, they must have Word (or perhaps another word processor like Open Office that has a Word filter). Until an official ruling you have four options:

1. Ask your students to install Open Office, a free Open Source suite (which we could loan on CD) that is Office-compatible2. Save Word docs as RTF (Rich Text Format), a standard format viewable by all word processors that allows images3. Save Office docs as PDF (if you have Acrobat Pro - see Sherrie Loveman for DVD install disk) - excellent transference4. Save Office docs as HTML (images in Word docs seem to be lost, however)

In the Attachment title bar, click EDIT. On the next screen, click ADD NEW.

BROWSE to the file you want to make available. Enter DESCRIPTION, LONG DESCRIPTION if needed. You can make this file available to other sections/classes by locating them in PUBLISH TO LOCATIONS boxes (see details in ANNOUNCEMENTS section).

For each class, don't forget to enter a PUBLISH date (shortcuts: T for today's date, UP ARROW to increase the date, DOWN ARROW to decrease the date). Then SAVE & EXIT or SAVE/ADD ANOTHER.

Links

"Links" denotes internet links you want your students to visit. They might be links to files too large to store at Whipple Hill (16 MB maximum) that we store at http://upper.us.edu.

In Links title bar, click EDIT. On next screen, click ADD NEW.

Enter SHORT DESCRIPTION, the link's URL, check OPEN IN NEW WINDOW (once there, we don't want students to lose their place at Whipple Hill) and DESCRIPTION (if needed). You can add this link to other classes by choosing them in PUBLISH TO LOCATIONS boxes.

Don't forget to enter a PUBLISH date (shortcuts: T for today's date, UP ARROW to increase the date, DOWN ARROW to decrease the date). Then SAVE & EXIT or SAVE/ADD ANOTHER.

Syllabus

Your class syllabus could be a separate attachment (here or in Attachments channel), entered as text here. In the SYLLABUS title bar, click EDIT. In the next window, click ADD NEW.

Enter DESCRIPTION, LONG DESCRIPTION if needed (type or copy-and-paste from existing document) or ATTACHMENT (if you'd prefer uploading an existing). You may publish this syllabus to another section or class in the ADD TO ANOTHER LOCATION section (see ANNOUNCEMENTS section for details). Don't forget to enter a PUBLISH date (shortcuts: T for today's date, UP ARROW to increase the date, DOWN ARROW to decrease the date). Then SAVE & EXIT.

Expectations

In Expectations title bar, click EDIT. On next screen, click ADD NEW.

Enter DESCRIPTION and LONG DESCRIPTION (if needed) or ATTACHMENT (if your expectations are in an existing file). If you'd like to share these with another class or section, add them from ADD TO ANOTHER LOCATIONS boxes (details in the ANNOUNCEMENT section). Don't forget to enter a PUBLISH date (shortcuts: T for today's date, UP ARROW to increase the date, DOWN ARROW to decrease the date). Then SAVE & EXIT.

Photo

In Photo title bar, click EDIT. On the next screen, click ADD NEW.

Enter TITLE for photo series, additional classes/sections to get these photos in LOCATIONS TO PUBLISH boxes (see details in ANNOUNCEMENTS section), and a PUBLISH date (shortcuts: T for today's date, UP ARROW to increase the date, DOWN ARROW to decrease the date). For each photo entered, browse to the file, enter a CAPTION (if desired). You can adjust the order of the photos with SORT number. Pay attention to recommended photo sizes described under CLICK HERE FOR NOTES ON IMAGE QUALITY AND SIZES. When done, SAVE & EXIT or SAVE/ADD ANOTHER.

Create Custom Calendar

There are three ways of getting to the calendar: Calendar in left column, pull down NEWS & CALENDAR from top and choose CALENDAR, or clicking VIEW FULL CALENDAR in the SCHOOL CALENDAR channel on the SCHOOL PORTAL page. The SCHOOL CALENDAR show All School events by default. To see more events, click DATE/EVENT FILTER in upper right corner.

Click 9-12 FACULTY/STAFF, 9-12 STUDENTS, and any other events you'd like to see on your calendar. Then click APPLY FILTER.

Click VIEWS (upper left corner), and under SAVE THIS VIEW, in the ENTER A TITLE box, enter your name, and click SAVE. In the future, when you click VIEWS on the SCHOOL CALENDAR, you can select your calendar with the filters you just chose.

-Scott SmithJanuary 2008