Broadband internet connection ipad, Android tablet, Windows Surface RT or Pro, Chromebook Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox

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2 TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW... 3 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS... 3 INSTALLATION... 4 LOGGING INTO THE SOFTWARE... 4 STUDENT PASSWORDS... 5 TEACHER PASSWORDS... 5 GETTING YOUR STUDENTS STARTED... 6 OPEN LOGIN... 6 PRIVATE LOGIN... 6 USING THE PROGRAM... 7 PRETEST... 8 ASSIGNMENT... 9 TEACHER DASHBOARD CLASS WINDOW STUDENTS WINDOW PROGRAMS WINDOW REPORTS WINDOW... 20

3 OVERVIEW Essential Skills Online programs provide systematic and explicit instruction to students from K-6 grade level. These programs use hundreds of colorful graphics, sound effects and music rewards to motivate students to continue learning with the software. Additionally, a help system allows students to work independently and frees up teacher time. Also included with the programs is the Teacher Dashboard - a tool which allows teachers to monitor students progress as they work through the program. This tool also allows teachers to assign diagnostic tests and custom activity sets. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Your Essential Skills Online program is a web application, which runs in your web browser on a Windows PC or Macintosh computer. The majority of programs also run on ipad, Android and Chromebook. PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Broadband internet connection Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP Printer recommended for printing student reports. Internet Explorer 9 and above, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge MACINTOSH SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Broadband internet connection Mac OS X 10.4 or greater Printer recommended for printing student reports Safari 5.1 and above, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome MOBILE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Broadband internet connection ipad, Android tablet, Windows Surface RT or Pro, Chromebook Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox * Note: Some programs, including many titles for grades 4-6 have different system requirements. Please see below for a list of these additional requirements. PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS * Java Version 8, Update 65 Internet Explorer 6 8, Mozilla Firefox, No Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge Support 3

4 MACINTOSH SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS * Java Version 8, Update 65 Safari 4 and above MOBILE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS * No Mobile support INSTALLATION Required for programs running on Java * PC Make sure you have the latest version of Java installed on your system. Java can be downloaded freely from This software was designed to run with Internet Explorer 7 or higher. MAC Make sure you are using Safari 4 or higher. There is no need to install Java on Mac OSX. When running the software for the first time you may be presented with a Security certificate dialog. Simply check the box next to the Always trust content from this publisher text and click continue. This Certificate only needs to be accepted once. LOGGING INTO THE SOFTWARE Begin by logging into the essentialskillsonline.com site with the supplied school ID provided by Essential Skills. 4

5 You can recover a lost school ID by simply clicking the Find my school ID link and filling out the form. Once your school ID has been entered click on the Teacher icon to access the Teacher Dashboard (instructor portion of the software). Continue by entering your supplied User Name and Password. STUDENT PASSWORDS Students can only access the software with a valid user name and password. Student passwords are set in the Teacher Dashboard section, as outlined later in this document. TEACHER PASSWORDS For each class created, a teacher username and password can be assigned. This username and password combination will allow an instructor to view and edit his/her own students. Logging in with the Super Teacher user name and password will give an instructor access to every class and student in the database. 5

6 GETTING YOUR STUDENTS STARTED Supply your students with their user names and passwords and direct them to the login page. It is recommended that you bookmark the Essential Skills login page for quick and easy access whether it be on your client s desktop or in your browser s menu bar. Enabling cookies for your browser can make subsequent logins quick and easy by retaining needed login information. For example your school s ID and password will no longer be needed once typed in, requiring only your student user names and passwords to log in. The Essential Skills Online system offers two different log in procedures to satisfy your needs based on your school s privacy policies. OPEN LOGIN Using the Open Login method allows a user with the school ID and password to select a class and student from a list. This procedure only requires your students to enter a log in password as the school ID and password will be saved if cookies are enabled. Should your school s ID and password fall into the wrong hands your class lists and student names could potentially be viewed. Enter your school ID and check the box by the Pick students from a list". Enter the school password in the text field and click the student icon. Your student will then be presented with a list of available classes. Have your student click on their class and select their name from the student list. Finally have your student enter their password and click Go to open the program selection page. PRIVATE LOGIN The Private Login method requires your student to select their class from a drop down menu. No student lists are ever displayed to the screen. If cookies are enabled your student is only required to enter their user name and password as the school ID will be retained by your browser. Enter your school ID and click the student icon. On the Student Login page have your student select their class from the drop down menu. After entering their user name and password your student can click on the Go button to open the program selection menu. 6

7 USING THE PROGRAM A good starting point is to provide your students with a brief demonstration of how the program works. While the Essential Skills Series program can contain hundreds of activities, a similar format is used throughout. This enables students to familiarize themselves with navigating the user interface. The main menu allows students to access a program s primary units. Each unit has its own menu, which provides access to that unit s activities. Each time a student starts the program, and selects their name, they are automatically placed in the program where they last left off. Activities should be completed in a sequential order from top to bottom. When a score of 80% or better is achieved in an activity, the student receives a gold star. A gold star represents mastery of an activity. Some activities require students to achieve an average of 80% or better on at least two trials for a full star to appear. It is advised that students work on the program for at least minutes, three times per week to receive the full benefits of the software. Teachers are advised to configure the Teacher Dashboard before students use the program for the first time. This is a very simple procedure, whereby a class name is created within the Teacher Dashboard, and then the name of each pupil is entered for that particular class. All of the options for adding, moving, and deleting students and classes can be accessed through the Student and Class menus. Detailed instructions are provided in the Teacher Dashboard section below. *As a security measure, students that are inactive for a period of twenty minutes will be automatically logged out of the program. 7

8 PRETEST A pretest is a placement test. If a student achieves less than 80% for any module tested then an assignment will be created for them based on the results. The assignment will either place them at a relevant starting point in the program or lock the modules they do not need to complete. There are two types of pretests. One tests a student until they achieve less than 80% for a module and then creates an assignment comprised of the module the student failed and all subsequent modules. The other type of pretest will test all modules within a program and then create an assignment of only those modules they failed. The modules they passed will be locked. This is based on program content and cannot be selected by an instructor. If a student achieves 80% or more on all the modules within a pretest an assignment will be created with all the modules locked. This indicates that the student does not need to do modules and should move on to a more challenging program. The modules can be unlocked by deleting the pretest in the Teacher Dashboard. Pretests can be configured in the Teacher Dashboard as described later in this document. 8

9 ASSIGNMENT An Assignment is comprised of a selection of modules that the Student should complete. Modules that are not part of the Assignment are locked and indicated in red text. Assignments can be useful in a number of ways. The standard usage would be to tailor an assignment for a student(s) that should be completed over a period of time. Another usage is to create an assignment for the class containing only one module, which ensures all your students will be working in the same area of the program. Lastly, an assignment can be created where all the modules are selected. This simply has the effect of promoting the program to the Home Page. Thus, making it easier for you students to find it if there are a large number of Essential Skills programs registered to your school. The Program Selection Menu will also indicate which programs a student has Pre-Tests and Assignments for by coloring and labelling the icons. Assignments can be configured in the Teacher Dashboard as described later in this document. 9

10 Summary Screen When students exit, they are shown a summary report of the work that they have completed for that session. 10

11 TEACHER DASHBOARD The Teacher Dashboard is a tool used by teachers to manage students and classes; view student marks and reports; assign pre-tests, entire programs or program modules; and view Scope and Sequence documents. The Teacher Dashboard can be accessed from the same login site as the Essential Skills Online application. The different sections of the Teacher Dashboard appear on one screen. 11

12 CLASS WINDOW The Class window allows you to set admin passwords, and to add, delete, and edit classes. Specific settings can also be applied to affect all students in a class. The Class Window The class window shows a number of option buttons along with a list of the classes in the Class Name column. The Password column shows the blanked out passwords only for security reasons. The Mastery % column displays the setting for the percentage a student must achieve to "master" an activity, which earns them a gold star. The default setting is 80%. The Menu Numbers column option controls whether or not numbers will appear in front of the unit and activity names throughout the program. This can be useful for students with reading difficulties. Setting Admin Passwords Click on the Admin button at the top of the Class window. This will open a window showing the Admin Login, Admin Password and the School password. The Admin Login and Password are used to log in as the administrator for your account. The School Password is the password your students will enter when they log in by choosing their name from a list on the School Login page. You can type a new password for either category here by typing the 12

13 new password in the appropriate box and then clicking Save. A pop-up window will appear informing you that the password has been changed. Click Close when you are finished. Adding a Class First click the Add/Edit button. This will open another window showing the list of classes with different options. Type your new class name in the Class Name box and type a password for this class in the Password box. When ready, click Add. Your class name should now appear in the list. You can add multiple classes without closing this window. Click Close when you are finished. Deleting a Class First click the Add/Edit button. This will open another window showing the list of classes with different options. Find the class(es) you want to delete on this list and select it by clicking in the small box to the left of the class name. Click Remove. A window will open asking you if you are sure you want to delete the selected class(es). Click OK if you want those class(es) deleted. The class will be removed from the list. Click Close when you are finished. You will not be able to delete a class if students of that class are currently logged in. If you add or delete classes while students are logged into the system they will have to log out and in again to see the changes. 13

14 Editing a Class First click the Add/Edit button. This will open another window showing the list of classes with different options. Find the class you want to edit on this list and select it by clicking in the small box to the left of the class name. The class name, password, mastery setting and menu numbering options can all be edited in the appropriate line for that class. When your edits are complete, click the Save button. You can edit multiple classes without closing this window. Click Close when you are finished. Import a Class See "Importing and Exporting of Students" section below. Export a Class See "Importing and Exporting of Students" section below. Show List The Show List button opens a new window displaying an alphabetical list of the classes, their password, mastery setting, grade level, menu numbering options, and themes. Close the browser tab when you are finished. Importing and Exporting Student Lists The Teacher Dashboard supports the importing and exporting of class lists and students into the Essential Skills Online database. Imported files must be in ASCII delimited spreadsheet format (CSV delimited is recommended). Any delimiting character will work as long as it is not found in the class or student names in the spreadsheet. Exported files are saved in tab delimited spreadsheet format. All contemporary spreadsheet programs support the saving, importing and exporting of CSV and tab delimited spreadsheet format. Importing Student Lists To import a list of students from a delimited spreadsheet file, click on the Import button from the Class window. First you will be asked to choose the file to be imported. In the file chooser window, select the import file, and click on Open. You can open folders by double clicking them, and you can select a drive from the drop-down menu at the top of the window. If the Teacher Dashboard can correctly determine the delimiter character for this file, you will be shown the file layout window. CSV Delimited Text is the recommended file format to import from. The import window provides an opportunity for you to specify how the information in the file will be added to the database. The layout window shows part of the content of the file you choose to import. If this information, displayed in the grid area of the window, is garbled or incorrect, the file did not load properly. 14

15 For the importing function to work, the spreadsheet file must have a single row or column, which contains the class name(s). Only one row or column can contain the class name(s). All the other columns and rows should contain the student names. This means, for example, that it is impossible to import two columns of class names from the same spreadsheet. Please see the examples below. Data format must conform to one of the following two layout examples. Select the row or column that contains the class names in the large grid area of the layout window by clicking on one of the arrows at the top of the grid to select a column, or clicking on one of the arrows at the left hand side of the grid to select a row. The row or column selected for the class names will highlight. You should see every class name in the spreadsheet highlight. No student names should be highlighted. The layout window also allows you to ignore the first few rows or columns. Some spreadsheets contain headings or other information that you do not want imported into the Essential Skills Online student database. To exclude such information, enter the desired number of rows or columns to ignore in the boxes at the bottom of the layout window. The ignored rows or columns will turn gray. Once you have selected a row or column to represent the class names, and once you have set any rows or columns to be ignored, you can click on OK to begin the import. When the import is complete a message window will appear, showing the results of the import. The number of students added to the database will be displayed here, along with any errors encountered during the import process. Exporting Student Lists When you export a student list from the Teacher Dashboard, you are creating a tab delimited spreadsheet file, which contains the names of all the students and classes. The classes will be arranged in the left hand column of the file, and the students in each class will be in the same row as their class name. To begin the export process, go to the Class window and click Export. A file selection window will appear asking for the destination file name to which exported student list will be saved. Use this window to select the name of the export file. Usually it is best to enter a new name for the file, rather than over-writing existing files. If you select an existing file from the file-choosing window, then click Save, all of the contents of the existing file will be lost. If you enter a new file name, and click Save, the file you specified will be created. The export process will begin after clicking Save in the file selection window. 15

16 STUDENTS WINDOW The Students window allows individual student records in the selected class to be added, edited, moved and deleted. Adding a Student First, select a class from the Class window. Then click on the Add/Edit button in the Student window. This will open another window showing the list of students with different options. Type the student name in the Student Name box and type a password for this student in the Password box. When ready, click Add. The student name should now appear in the list. You can add multiple students without closing the window. Click Close when you are finished. Deleting a Student First click the Add/Edit button in the Student window. This will open another window showing the list of students with different options. Find the student you want to delete on this list and select the student by clicking in the small box to the left of the student name. Click Remove. A window will open asking you if you are sure you want to delete the selected student(s). Click OK if you want those student(s) deleted. The student(s) will be removed from the list. Click Close when you are finished. You will not be able to delete a student if that student is currently logged in. Editing a Student First click the Add/Edit button in the Student window. This will open another window showing the list of students with different options. Find the student you want to edit on this 16

17 list and select the student by clicking in the small box to the left of the student name. The student name, login and password can all be edited in the appropriate line for that student. When your edits are complete, click the Save button. Click Close when you are finished. Moving Students Between Classes To move one or more students between classes, click on the check box to the left of the student name in the Student window. Then click on the Move button. This will open a new window showing the list of existing classes. Click on the destination class for your student. Click the Move selected student(s) button at the bottom of the screen to complete the move. The Select All button allows you to select all the students in the class for large moves or edits. The Show List button opens a new window showing a list of the students in the selected class. Currently logged in students will only see the changes for any of the above operations the next time they log in. *Note that students cannot be moved between classes or renamed while they are currently logged in. 17

18 PROGRAMS WINDOW The Programs window allows for individual programs and program pretests to be assigned. Assigning a Program When a program is assigned to a student, the program will appear as an option when the student logs into the program. You can assign a program to a student by first clicking on the appropriate class name in the Class window and then the appropriate student name in the Student window. The programs window will show a list of programs. To assign a program to a student, check the appropriate box in the Assign Program column. Click on Save when you are finished. Removing a Program Assignment You can remove a program assignment for a student by first clicking on the appropriate class name in the Class window and then the appropriate student name in the Student window. The programs window will show a list of programs. To remove a program assignment from student, un-check the appropriate box in the Assign Program column. Click on Save when you are finished 18

19 Assigning Modules You can assign specific program modules for a student by first assigning a program as outlined above. Then, in the Assign Modules window, click on the desired modules to be assigned. Click on Save when you are finished. When the student logs into the program, he/she will only be able to access the assigned modules. Assign a Pretest A pretest assigns a series of questions to the student, which represents an overview of the entire program. This allows the pretest to identify areas of student strength and weakness. The results of the pretest are then used to automatically generate an assignment based on the areas that need improvement. You can assign a pretest to a student by first clicking on the appropriate class name in the Class window and then the appropriate student name in the Student window. The programs window will show a list of programs. To assign a pretest to a student, check the appropriate box in the Pretest column. Click on Save when you are finished The next time a student logs into that program, he/she will be placed in this pretest. Scope and Sequence The Scope and Sequence document outlines the program s targeted skills and summarizes the content and required skills for each activity in the program. To view the Scope and Sequence document for a desired program, click the desired program in the Programs window. Then click the Scope button. 19

20 REPORTS WINDOW The Reports window of the Teacher Dashboard allows marks and reports to be displayed and printed. To display reports for a given student, first click on the appropriate class in the Class window. This will display the students in that class in the Student window. Click the checkbox to the left of the student you want to see reports for. Next, click on the name of the program you want to see reports for in the Programs window. You'll now see options in the Reports window for different reports for the selected student in the selected program. The report types are described below. Click on the report you would like to see, then click Generate Report. The report will open in a new window or browser tab. Reports can be printed through your browser. Report Types Unit Report. Shows the number of activities mastered, the number of activities in the unit, the number of questions answered correctly, the number of questions attempted and overall time spent in each unit of the program. Activity Report. Shows the unit name, activity name, the number of attempts, how many attempts were mastered, the highest mark, the last mark and the average mark from the different attempts, the time spent in the activity and the date. Hotspot Report. A hotspot is an activity that has been attempted by the student three times without mastery. The hotspot report notes how many hotspots vs. total activities attempted there are in total for the student. The report goes on to list the unit name and activity name for each hotspot, along with the number of attempts, the average mark and time spent in each hotspot. Pretest Report. Using data from the pre-test, this report shows the modules tested, the number questions answered correctly, the number of questions attempted, the score time and the modules assigned to the student. If the student has a grade less than 80%, that module will be assigned to them. 20

21 Skill Report. Broken down by individual skills, this report lists the number of correctly answered questions and the number of attempted questions. Class Report. This report lists all students in the selected class. For each student, data is displayed detailing the number of activities mastered, the number of correctly answered questions, the number of attempted questions, the total time spent in the program and the current module being worked on. 21