Standard User Standard User Page 1
Standard User Introduction: The Learning portal is designed to manage the subscription and enrollment in the courses, and to provide community features to all of the subscribers. In order to take advantage of the system features, users have to be registered in the system. Logging In to The Portal: 1. Click Login or navigate to an Account Login module. 2. In the User Name field, enter a user name. 3. In the Password, enter the password. 4. Click the Login button. Managing Your Subscription Info: In order to change your subscription details, and if you need to change your login password, first you have to be logged in, and then go to the User Account Info Page by clicking on your name in the main menu. This will take you to the User Account Info page, this page has 3 sections, the first one, is for the User Credentials, from this page you can edit the name (First or last), the display name and the email for the subscription, you can edit the values then click on Update. All of the fields on this page are required, and the username cannot be changed. If you want to change your password, click on Manage Password link, on the password management screen, you will see the last date you changed your password, and if the administrator has set password expiry, you will see the date on which your password will expires, you can change your password by entering the current password, and the new password with its confirmationn then click on Change Password. You should get a confirmation message thatt Pag e 2
Standard User your password has been changed. The third section in the User Account Info page is the profile management, which contains some extra information about your subscription, like the contact info and the preferred language, you can edit any of these info and click on Update to save your changes. The preferred language is the default language you will see when you login to the system. Browsing the Course Catalog: You can access the course catalog from the Courses in the main menu, click on the category, and you will be redirected to the course catalog. In the course catalog page, you will see a list of the available categories; you can click on each category to view its sub you click categories or courses. When on the course, you will seee the details of that course, and the cost (in points) for taking this course. You can purchase coursess by adding them to your shopping cart by clicking on Add to shopping cart button in the toolbar. Downloading Required Software: In order to view the coursess correctly, some software has to be installed on the client machine, these requirements can be downloadedd from the Downloads page. This page contains links to the websites of the providers of the required software. My Account Menu: When you login, you will see a menu called My Account, from this menu you can access your courses, manage your cards, view you progress report and view your shopping cart. My Courses: In this page you will see a list of the courses you are registered in, in front of each course you will see the topics that are completed for that course and the status of the course. Pag e 3
Standard User The status of the course is as follows: Not Started ( Incomplete ( ): if the user started to study the course, but did not yet finish all of the course lessons. Completed ( ): if the user has completed studying all of the course lessons. In order to view the lessonss of the course, click on the course name. You will be taken to the course page, in this page you will see 3 tabs at the top of the page: Course Info: contains the general info about the course like the course name, course code and description. Course Content: contains the lessons of the course, and for each lesson, there is the lesson status, and the last time that lesson was accessed, in order to study a certain lesson, click on its name, and the lesson content will be displayed in a new browser window. Course Assessment: this will be visible only if there is an assessment associated with the course. This section contains some information about the course assessment, including the number of the questions, the passing grade, the assessment time, and the number of times the user took the assessment and the number of times the user is allowed to take the assessment again. In order to take the assessment, click on Launch Assessment. My Transcript: ): if none of the topics of the course is attempted. This page contains a report of the pages you are taking, and the courses that you took before, along with the status of each course. This report can be exported to PDF or to Excel by selecting the required format and clicking on Export. Pag e 4
Standard User My Cards: From this page, you can manage the access cards that are used to purchase courses, you will see a list of the cards available in your account and the balance of each card along with the date on which the card will expire. Also you will seee the total available balance. In order to add new cards to your account click on the Add New Card button in the toolbar. In order to add a new card to your account, enter the 10 digit number of the access card in the format (AAA AAAA AAA) the access card can containn numbers and letters. After you enter the card access code click on OK button from the toolbar, and the new card will be added to your account. My Cart: In this page you will see the courses thatt you have added to your shopping cart, you can remove unwanted courses by clicking on the Remove Item button beside the course you want to remove. You will see the total points required to finalize the purchase, and the points that you have in your account, if you have sufficient points, you can finalize the purchase by clicking on Addd Courses to My Plan. Pag e 5
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Overview: The module manages multiple forums. Each forum post includes a subject title and content. Additional posting tools include the ability to quote an existing post, add attachment to a post, pin a post, notification of replies posts and the ability to lock a post from replies. The module has optional features including a What's New pane and a Statistical Information pane. Searching : Search forums for posts by date and other criteria including author and keywords. 1. Click the Search button. 2. At From Date, click the Calendar button and select the start date of the search. The default setting is one month from the current date. 3. At To Date, click the Calendar button and select the end date of the search. The default setting is the current date. 4. The following additional search criteria is available: a. At Search In, click the Browse button and select the forum categories to search within. b. At Authors, click the Browse button and select the required authors. c. At Subject Contains, enter a word or number to search for within the forum subject. d. At Body Contains, enter a word or number to search for within the forum body. e. At Threads Per Page, enter the number of threads per page to be displayed in search results. Click Search. Results will be displayed. If no results are displayed then no results were found. Adding a New Forum Post: 1. Click on the name of the Forum List for the post. 2. Click the New Thread button. 3. In the Subject field, enter the subject of the thread. This will be the title of the post as it appears on the site. Choose a subject that best describes the purpose and content of the post. 4. In the Rich Text Enter, enter the content of the post. 5. At Attachments, click the Search button to add an attachment. 6. At Pinned, check to 'pin' the post above existing posts for this Forum List OR uncheck if the post will appear next in the list. 7. At Notification, check to be notified when a reply is made to this post OR uncheck to disable notification. Page 45
8. At Locked?, check to prevent others from replying to this post or uncheck to permit replies. 9. Click Update. You can now edit the Forum to add attachments. Forum Administration: The Forum Administration page provides Administrators with access to the following forum settings: General Settings Change forum configuration items used throughout the module. Consists of seven sections: General Settings, Forum User Interface, User Settings, Community, Post Attachments, RSS Feeds Forum Users This displays the Forum Users module which is the same interface as the Admin > Users module. Here you can change forum user profile settings and manage additional moderation and administration tasks for users. Forum Home Returns you to the Forum module. Avatars Manage avatarts (emoticons) on forums. Manage /Groups Add, Edit and change sort order of forums and forum groups. Word Filter Manage word filter and replacement words on post subjects and post bodies. Statistics & Rankings Control user rankings or module statistics. Email Settings Manage Email Settings & Templates. Consists of a General Email Settings and an Advanced Email Settings section. Templates Manage all template types from here including: email. Configuring General Forum Settings: The General Settings section is reached by selecting the General Settings item from the control panel page. Only users who are administrators of the site or are in a role that was given edit page rights on this page can see this menu item. Only the people who can see the Forum Administration menu item have complete control of the module. Host users, also known as Super Users, can see the same thing as the site administrators but it is recommended that users do not post in the forum as the host user as these users have no profile associated with their user account. It is also poor practice to do anything in a portal as host unless it is host specific. The module will work for host but certain things may seem to be behaving oddly because their user profile is not available. The first thing you will see when you get to the General Settings screen is that it is grouped into five different sections. The first one is expanded for you by default, General Settings. All the others are collapsed but can be expanded by hitting the plus sign next to their title. Each group Page 46
contains items which are specific to their group title. Each item has a question mark next to it which displays the inline help when clicked or it shows a tool tip when you remain hovered over the image for a brief period. This gives a brief summary of what each setting does. The time zone section allows you to configure the base time zone for this forum install. In most cases this should match the time zone set in the site settings section. Some cases, however, you may want to have multiple forums based on different time zones and this gives you the ability to do that. Next to it is the checkbox to enable per user time zones. This allows the user to see the time of posts relevant to the time zone selected in their profile. Show navigation turns the menu navigation on and off. This just provides another means for users to easily navigate your forum hierarchy. It is important to note that turning the navigation on, which it is by default, will impact performance of the module. The final section in General Settings is the display poster s location. This drop down box has three options. The default option of none displays no information about the posters location in each rendered post. The next option is to admin only, which will display the posters country of origin, based on their IP address, in the post details section only visible to those that are in the administrator s role or those who have edit page access to the page which the module is placed on. The last option is to all users which is very similar to the to admin only selection except this option displays to all users of the module. Please be aware that all posts that are coming from the local host will not show the location in the post details section regardless of your selection here. The actual IP Addressed is also shown as of version 3.20.01 for admin/host users only, if the To Admin only or All Users is selected. Notification Email: This section is for setting some defaults for email notifications of posts, moderation items, etc. If you are using the notification feature, it is important that you have the correct SMTP settings configured in your Host Settings section. The email notification feature is enabled by default, to turn it off you must uncheck the checkbox next on the first line and update your configuration settings. The show sender address checkbox is unchecked by default. If this is checked, it will set the email address of the outgoing email sent for each notification to that of the user who is posting the original message. You should carefully think before enabling this option because of user privacy issues. Not all users will want their email address being used on every post they make. If left disabled, all outgoing emails generated from this module will have the from address set to whatever you have the automated address set to. The email format option allows you to configure if you want all the outgoing emails going out in text or html format. By default this is set to html. I cannot think of many email clients or sites that don t support html format. Take note that the html version supported by many email Page 47
sites/clients is 3.1 so you should avoid using elaborate templates for your emails. The email template defines what your outgoing emails will look like. You can modify or create your own templates to make them look as you desire, but like forums themes you should create your own and not customize existing ones to avoid confusion. The items listed in this drop down box are actually pulled from the DesktopModules\Forum\Resources\ _forumemail.xml file. All email templates are logically grouped in this file, so if you want to add your own you should copy a section and paste it at the end of this file. This file will be overwritten on upgrade. This is a poor design and will be corrected in a future release. The last area is automated address. You should make sure you have the proper send from address listed here as automated address. This way, users receiving emails know where it is coming from. This displays as the from address for all moderation emails and when the show sender address setting is left unchecked. Consider using an email address specific just for this purpose. You will probably get some responses from automated handlers, users looking for support help, and of course spam blockers. Managing / Groups Adding a New Forum to a Forum Group: 1. Select Forum Administration from the module menu. 2. Click the Manage /Groups button or click Manage /Groups. 3. Maximize the Forum Group to which the new forum will be added. 4. Click Add Forum. 5. Complete the following General Information: a. At Enable Forum, check if the forum to be displayed and allowing posting, or uncheck if the forum is disabled. b. At Group Name, select an alternate Forum Group if required. c. In the Forum Name field, enter the forum name. d. In the Description field, enter a short description of the content for this forum. Complete the following General Settings:. At Forum Type, select from the following options: i. News: Posting of information. ii. Normal: Posting of news. a. At Authorised Edit Roles, choose from these options to select which roles can post to the forum:. To authorise all roles, skip to Step 3. i. To authorise one or more roles: i. Click on the Browse button ii. Enter all or part of a role name in the find box and click Go. Alternatively, leave the field blank to return all roles. iii. Select a role and click Add. iv. Click OK when finished adding roles. Page 48
b. At Is Role Restricted?, check if the forum is only visible to the roles selected above, or uncheck if all roles are able to view this forum. c. At Is Moderated?, check if forum posts require moderation, or uncheck if posts are immediately posted. Click Update. Adding a New Forum Group: 1. Select Forum Administration from the module menu. 2. Click the Manage /Groups button or click Manage /Groups. 3. Click Add Group. 4. In the Group Name field, enter the name of the group. 5. Click Update. Enable / Disable a Forum: When a forum is disabled, users will not be able to post new posts to it. To disable a forum: 1. Select Forum Administration from the module menu. 2. Click the Manage /Groups button or click Manage /Groups. 3. Maximize the Forum Group to access the required forum. 4. Click the Edit button beside the required forum. 5. Go to the General Information section. 6. At Enable Forum, check to enable or uncheck to disable. 7. Click Update. Editing a User Profile: Edit any user's profile including their alias (sometimes known as a handle), online messaging contact details and personal information. User's can update their own details under My Settings. 1. Select Forum Administration from the module menu. 2. Click the Forum Users button or click Forum Users. 3. Select the required user. 4. Go to the User Profile section and edit any of the following settings: a. Alias: The alias used by this poster. This is the name that will appear beside any posts they make. b. MSN: The poster's Messenger contact address. c. Yahoo: The poster's Yahoo contact address. Page 49
d. ICQ: The poster's ICQ contact address. e. Occupation: The user's occupation. f. Interests: The user's interests. Click Update. Setting a User as a Moderator: Enable a user to moderate new posts to a forum. Post Forum Moderators are able to approve or reject posts. 1. Select Forum Administration from the module menu. 2. Click the Forum Users button or click Forum Users. 3. Select the required user. 4. Go to the Admin Settings section. 5. At Is Moderator? check to enable this user to moderate forums that is displayed by default for this user, or uncheck to disable this feature. 6. Click Update. Editing My General Information: Enable a user to view general information about their account. To edit these settings, go to a User Account module. 1. Click the My Settings button. 2. At General Information, the following details are listed: User ID: The unique number of the user account. User Name: The user's user name. Full Name: The user's first name and last name. Website: The user's website URL. Email: The user's email address. Click Cancel to return to Forum Home. Setting Forum Tracking and Subscription: Enable a user to set the default forum, tracking and notification of favorite forums, which forum appears in the What's New panel and notification of posts to moderate. 1. Click the My Settings button. 2. Go to the Tracking/Subscriptions section and update any of the following settings: 3. At Default Forum, select the forum that is displayed by default for this user. No forum (Non Specified) is the default setting. 4. At Tracking Forum, select the forum this user will receive email notification when a new post is added. No forum (Non Specified) is the default setting. Page 50
5. At What's New Forum, select the forum that is displayed in the What's New panel for this user. No forum (Non Specified) is the default setting. 6. At What's New Tracking Duration, select the duration that a post is displayed in Whats New panel. Today is the default setting. 7. Click Update. Forum Moderation: When a user posts a post to a moderated forum, the post will not be visible in the form to other users until it is approved by a moderator. Approving a Post: 1. Click the Moderate button. All posts requiring moderation will be displayed. 2. Click the linked title of the Forum Name to view posts requiring moderation. 3. Click Approve to approve the post. 4. Repeat Step 3 to approve additional posts. 5. Click Cancel to return to Forum Home. Approve and Edit a Post: Approve a post and edit the content of the post. E.g. Spelling or grammatical errors. 1. Click the Moderate button. All posts requiring moderation will be displayed. 2. Click the linked title of the Forum Name to view posts requiring moderation. 3. Click the Approve & Edit button. 4. Edit the post in the Rich Text Editor. 5. Select one or more of these additional options if required: a. At Pinned?, check to set this post to always appear at the top of the related forum group. b. At Notification?, check to receive email notification of replies to this post. c. At Locked? check to disable replies to this post. Click Preview to preview the edited post (optional). Click Update. Click Cancel to return to Forum Home. Approve and Reply to a Post: Approve a post and email a reply to the poster. 1. Click the Moderate button. All posts requiring moderation will be displayed. 2. Click the linked title of the Forum Name to view posts requiring moderation. 3. Click the Approve & Reply button. 4. Enter your reply in the Rich Text Editor. 5. Select one or more of these additional options if required: a. At Pinned?, check to set this post to always appear at the top of the related forum group. Page 51
b. At Notification?, check to receive email notification of replies to this post. c. At Locked?, check to disable replies to this post. Click Preview to preview your email (optional). Click Update. Click Cancel to return to Forum Home. Approve Post (Additional Options): Approve a post and set it as pinned; enable notification of replies, or disable replies. 1. Click the Moderate button. All posts requiring moderation will be displayed. 2. Click the linked title of the Forum Name to view posts requiring moderation. 3. Click the Approve & Edit button. 4. Select one or more of these options: 5. a. At Pinned?, check to set this post to always appear at the top of the related forum group. b. At Notification?, check to receive email notification of replies to this post. c. At Locked?, check to disable replies to this post. Click Update. Click Cancel to return to Forum Home. Delete Unmoderated Posts: Delete a forum post before it appears on the site. A response explaining the reason for the deletion is emailed to the user. 1. Click the Moderate button. All posts requiring moderation will be displayed. 2. Click the linked title of the Forum Name to view posts requiring moderation. 3. Click the Delete button. 4. At Emailed Response, enter your reply in the Rich Text Editor. 5. Click Delete. 6. Click Cancel to return to Forum Home. Page 52