2011 LCS Application Help - A learner s handbook LoudCloud Systems, Inc. 1/1/2011
Contents Login & Homepage... 2 1. Login Screen:... 2 2. Course Listing Screen:... 3 3. Home Page Details:... 4 How to interact using Forums?... 5 1. Type of Forums:... 5 2. Type of Topics:... 6 3. Accessing the Forum:... 7 4. Creating a new thread / topic:... 8 5. Creating a New post for a topic:... 9 6. Replying to a post in a topic:... 10 7. Forum Grading... 11 8. Reporting Offensive content:... 12 9. Sorting / Filtering Posts:... 13 Course Materials... 14 1. Accessing Course Materials... 14 2. Course Materials Listing Screen:... 15 3. E-Reader / LoudBooks... 16 4. Add-Ons... 17 Assignments... 18 1. Accessing the Assignments:... 18 2. Assignment Listing Screen:... 19 3. Individual Assignment Details:... 20 4. Attempting an Individual Assignment:... 21 5. Group Assignment Details:... 22 6. Attempting a Group Assignment:... 23 7. Graded Assignment:... 24 Quiz... 25 1. Accessing the Quiz:... 25 2. Quiz Listing Screen:... 26 3. Attempting the quiz:... 27 4. Viewing Quiz grades:... 28 Page 1
Login & Homepage 1. Login Screen: Is the screen wherein you are expected to enter your username and password. The screen also reveals information about the following: 1. Login access for the Username 2. Latest update for on-campus / online events at your University. 3. New LMS product features being made available to you 4. Featured courses at your University: This is a list of most sought after courses at the University 5. Message from the University management board 6. Testimonials: What the University management has to say about your new Learning Management System 7. University Notice Board Page 2
2. Course Listing Screen: Presents the list of various courses you are enrolled for 1. This screen will be available to you only if you are enrolled in multiple courses simultaneously. 2. Topics in the Main Forum and all topics under the Group Forum qualify as Participative Topics. 3. These are open topics available within the Question s to Instructor Forum and Individual Forum. Page 3
3. Home Page Details: This screen gives you a quick snap shot of your class details. 1. Course & class that you are currently accessing 2. Navigation panel to assist you in browsing through the class content 3. Weekly course duration for the selected course 4. Course tasks allocated to you for the current week 5. Today s details with scheduled tasks, if any Page 4
How to interact using Forums? 1. Type of Forums: Following types of Forums are available to use: 1. Main Forum 2. Group Forum: You will be able to view topics of only your 3. Questions to Instructor Forum 4. Individual Forum Forum Type Question Topic Grading Participation Grading Access Rights Student Instructor 1. Main Forum a. Discussion Question Topic b. Other Topic 2. Group Forum Only assigned Group members 3. Questions to Instructor Forum 4. Individual Forum Every student has a personal forum Page 5
2. Type of Topics: Following types of Topics are available to user: 1. Discussion Question Topic: Posts made in the Discussion Question Forum, are graded by the class instructor for the correctness of the answer. Discussion Question topics shall be available only in the Main Forum. 2. Participation Topic: Posts made within a Participation type of topic, is graded only for class Participation. Topics in the Main Forum and all topics under the Group Forum qualify as Participative Topics. 3. Others: These are open topics available within the Question s to Instructor Forum and Individual Forum. Page 6
3. Accessing the Forum: Following are the three methods of accessing the Forums: 1. Global Navigation Bar: is available across all modules of the LCS application. This link will guide you list of forums available. 2. Calendar: is available on the Homepage of the LCS Application. This link will guide you to the threaded view of the forum topic 3. Forum Notecard 4. Forum Post update card Page 7
4. Creating a new thread / topic: 1. A new topic can be created using the Start Topic link on the topics listing screen. 2. In the Start New Topic, define the forum thread title and description. 3. Click Start to activate the topic and Cancel to exit the operation. Page 8
5. Creating a New post for a topic: 1. New Post can be created for any topic by clicking on the New Post link as shown below. 2. Type your post in the text panel. 3. Click on Post Reply to make your post available to other users. 4. You can also choose to save your post as a draft by clicking on the Save as Draft button. In this case, the text entered by you shall be saved for Page 9
6. Replying to a post in a topic: 1. You can Reply or Quote & Reply to a post by click on the respective link for any of the posts. 2. Type your post in the text panel. 3. Click on Post Reply to make your post available to other users. 4. You can also choose to save your post as a draft by clicking on the Save as Draft button. In this case, the text entered by you shall be saved for Page 10
7. Forum Grading 1. Your instructors will grade you on the quality of posts and the extent of participation. An instructor can mark your posts as Substantive, based on his / her judgement of your reply to the Discussion Question Topic. 2. All posts made under the Main Forum and Group Forum account towards you participation scores for that topic. Page 11
8. Reporting Offensive content: In case you feel that your colleague has posted content within the forums that potentially abusive, it is your duty to report the particular content as abusive. An abuse report filed by you shall be authenticated by your instructor. Page 12
9. Sorting / Filtering Posts: 1. In the Linear Display, the forum posts can be sorted in the Chronological or the reverse chronological order, by clicking on the Ascending or Descending link. 2. Posts can be filtered based on the substantive or flagged as selected by the user. Page 13
Course Materials 1. Accessing Course Materials Course Materials includes the recommended readings added by the course author and your instructor. Topic specific materials will also be found under the same link. 1. Course Materials can be accessed by clicking on the Course Materials link under the Learn tab in the navigation bar. Page 14
2. Course Materials Listing Screen: Presents the list of various courses you are enrolled for 1. (a) The Current tab shall list the recommended reading material for the topics to be covered in current instruction week (b) In the All tab you shall find the topic readings for topics across all weeks (c) Add-Ons shall list the recommended course materials and the reference materials added by your instructor 2. Multiple types of topic and course materials are available to the student, of which some can be downloaded as documents and others can be read on the customized LCS e-reader application powered by LoudBooks 3. Notes created for all LoudBooks documents can be effectively filed, sorted and accessed in via the Manage Notes link Page 15
3. E-Reader / LoudBooks Within the LoudBooks e-reader you can perform the following tasks, by right-clicking on a particular selection: 1. Highlight content for personal reference 2. Add web-links to content for referring to external webpages 3. Add notes against text content Also, LoudBooks auto searches YouTube & Google books for the topic that you are currently reading and makes available videos and books directly in the right hand side panel of the screen 4. Related videos to the topic currently being read. Clicking on a link will open the video in an embedded view. 5. Related Google books to the topic currently being read. Page 16
4. Add-Ons Add-Ons include the reading material added by the instructor or the course author. 1. Instructor added course & topic material will be visible here. 2. Course author added reading material will be visible here. Page 17
Assignments 1. Accessing the Assignments: Assignments include the assessments set by the course author for the learning community, which could comprise an individual student or a group of students. Assignments can be accessed as follows: 1. Assignments can be accessed by clicking on the Assignments link under the Tasks tab in the navigation bar 2. Calendar: is available on the Homepage of the LCS Application. This link will guide you to the assignment listing due in the current week 3. Assignment Notecard Page 18
2. Assignment Listing Screen: Lists the assignments that you are expected to complete in the current week. Assignments can be of the following two types: 1. Individual Assignment (students are expected to solve this assignment individually) 2. Group Assignment (students are expected to solve this as a team effort as allocated by the instructor) Each assignment has a start date and a due date between which the assignment must be successfully completed by the students including submission to the plagiarism checker tool, if required. The landing screen shall also display the current status of the assignment. Page 19
3. Individual Assignment Details: This screen gives you a quick snap shot of the individual assignment details: 1. Details of the assignment with the due date, maximum points and reference attachment (if any) 2. Collapse & Expand button for assignment details 3. To create a new assignment attempt, click on the New Attempt button 4. My Attempts: Attempts created by you, contributing towards the Group Assignment Page 20
4. Attempting an Individual Assignment: This screen gives you a quick snap shot of the various assignment attempts made by all members of the group: 1. Attempts: shall detail the number of attempts made by you and the corresponding document that you had uploaded. If required, you will be required to submit the document through Turnitin, which shall return to you the Similarity Index and the Plagiarism report (which can be viewed by clicking on the View Report link). Any one of the attempts can be submitted as the final submission for the assignment. Once the final submission is made, you will not be able to make further new attempts or submit documents to Turnitin. Page 21
5. Group Assignment Details: This screen gives you a quick snap shot of the assignment details: 1. Details of the assignment with the due date, maximum points and reference attachment (if any) 2. Collapse & Expand button for assignment details 3. To create a new assignment attempt, click on the New Attempt button 4. My Attempts: Attempts created by you, contributing towards the Group Assignment 5. Group Attempts: Attempts created by fellow group members Page 22
6. Attempting a Group Assignment: This screen gives you a quick snap shot of the various assignment attempts made by all members of the group: 1. My Attempts: shall detail the number of attempts made by you and the corresponding document that you had uploaded. If required, you will be required to submit the document through Turnitin, which shall return to you the Similarity Index and the Plagiarism report (which can be viewed by clicking on the View Report link). 2. Group Attempts: shall provide you with the list of attempts created by all other group members and the corresponding document(s) that were uploaded. However you will not be able to see the Similarity Index of the documents submitted to Turnitin in this case. Any one member of the group can submit assignment for final submission. Once the final submission is made, group members will be only be able to view the attempts made. Page 23
7. Graded Assignment: Once the instructor completes grading the assignment, you can view the scores and instructor comments on the same screen: 1. Graded Document: Lists details of the attempt that was submitted as a response to the assignment 2. Result: Lists the points scored on the assignment, the instructors comments and the graded document uploaded by the instructor(if any) 3. My Attempts: Attempts created by you in response to the assignment with the corresponding uploaded document 4. Group Attempt: Attempts created by other group members in response to the assignment with the corresponding uploaded document Page 24
Quiz 1. Accessing the Quiz: Quiz includes a pool of objective and / or subjective questions set by the course author for the students of a course. Quiz can be accessed as follows: 1. Navigation bar: Quiz can be accessed by clicking on the Quiz link under the Tasks tab in the navigation bar 2. Calendar: is available on the Homepage of the LCS Application. This link will guide you to the quiz listing due in the current week Page 25
2. Quiz Listing Screen: Lists the quizzes that you are expected to complete in the current week. Quizzes can be of the following two types: 1. Graded Quiz (students attempt is graded a student has only one attempt to complete the quiz) 2. Practice Quiz (students attempt is not graded and the student can attempt the same quiz multiple times) All objective questions in the quiz shall be auto-graded by the application itself. If a quiz contains any subjective type of question, then only the subjective questions are graded by the instructor. Each quiz has a start date and a due date between which it must be successfully completed by the students. The landing screen shall also display the current status of the quiz. Page 26
3. Attempting the quiz: A quiz is merely a collection of a number of questions: 1. The quiz navigator allows one to switch between questions. Blocks in blue indicate that a particular question has been attempted and blocks in grey indicate that a question has yet not been attempted. 2. Displays the question details 3. This panel allows one to gain a quick snapshot of quiz progress and the time remaining to complete the quiz. In case you run out of time, the quiz shall get submitted automatically with the answers that were listed by you. 4. Allows for single step navigation across the quiz questions Page 27
4. Viewing Quiz grades: Once the quiz is submitted and the instructor completes grading the quiz (if required), you can view the scores and instructor comments: 1. Provides a details break-up of the number of questions that were correctly or incorrectly answered and the points scored. The same score shall also reflect in the GradeBook. Page 28