User Guide Assessors Page 1
Contents Logging In... 3 Assessor Dashboard... 4 Viewing your learners portfolio from the assessor dashboard... 11 Overall Progress... 15 Picking the Learners Units... 16 Booking a Session... 18 Booking a Smart Session... 19 Booking a Traditional Session... 21 The Training and Assessment Plan... 23 Task Allocation... 29 Uploading and mapping evidence... 35 Step 1: Uploading evidence into the evidence library... 35 Step 2: mapping the piece of evidence into the learner s qualification.... 38 Evidence Feedback... 44 Evidence Referencing and PC Content... 46 Completed Sessions... 50 Task Library... 51 The Skills Scan... 55 The Learner Tab... 59 Adding a new Learner... 61 The Sessions Tab... 63 Adding Additional Learners to a Session... 64 Booking an assessor as unavailable... 66 Emailing the Learner... 68 Timesheet Recording guided learning hours... 69 Performance Criteria sign off... 75 Completing a Unit... 77 Joining a Smart Session... 78 Using the Smart Session Client... 80 Mapping prior learning evidence APEL... 84 Employer Login... 86 The Reports Tab... 88 Gap Analysis... 89 Additional Help and Support... 91 Page 2
Logging In Go to www.smartassessor.com, then click the client log in button at the top right. Client Log in button Then click on your client name which will take you into the login page where you can enter your details. Client Login Screen Page 3
You will then need to enter your assessor username and password and press the login button. User Login Screen Assessor Dashboard Once logged in this will take you directly to the Assessor Dashboard which gives you an overview of all the learners assigned to the Assessor you just signed in as. Page 4
As you can see this Assessor has two learners assigned to them, you can find out additional information about your learners from this screen such as: Their names Learner Name Their Course (To see course information hover over the course icon) Course information Page 5
Their employer Employer The date they registered, and their course Registration Number Registration date/registration number Page 6
The units they have chosen (By hovering over the unit number, it will display the name of the unit) Units chosen by Learner How far they have progressed through their course (shown in %) Orange is the % of PC s that have evidence attached and green is the amount of PC s signed off as complete by the assessor. Blue is there time progression how far through they are between there start and end date. Percentage complete/ percentage assessed Page 7
Any IQA Reports or Actions IQA Reports/Actions When their next session is booked for (green highlight is a Smart Session no highlight is a traditional session, for more info on these see page 18) Next booked session Page 8
Whether there are any outstanding actions associated with a learner (Action Bubble icon Shown in red, if an action is outstanding) Actions icon, both outstanding and complete Any evidence that you or the learner may have uploaded to assess (An orange box around the icon shows there is new evidence that you have not yet viewed). Evidence icon, both un-viewed and viewed The 2 symbol in the system shows there is a second assessor assigned to that learner or unit. 2 nd Assessor Symbol The L symbol in the system shows there is a lead assessor assigned to the learner. Lead Assessor Symbol Page 9
If you are assigned to a learner as a 2 nd assessor or lead assessor then you will have a drop down at the top of your dashboard to enable to view those learners. 2 nd assessor view This will enable you to view all those learners you are assigned to as a 2 nd assessor; you can interact with these learners just like you normally can. 2 nd assessor view You can email the primary assessor via the email icon next to their name. Page 10
You can navigate back to the Assessor Dashboard at any time by clicking the Home button. Home Button Viewing your learners portfolio from the assessor dashboard You can jump straight to a Learners portfolio from your dashboard by simply clicking on the course icon next to the Learners name you want to view. Learner dashboard icon Page 11
This screen will give you a more detailed view of an individual learner, it will show you: The Course that the Learner is doing, who the assessors are, their contact details, the date started, the next session you have booked with the Learner if there is one, any actions that are outstanding (shown in red if there are any), the Awarding body for the course the Learner is doing, the Learners Registration Number, the Registration date, the estimated completion date and the learner can see your contact details. Information on the learner The Percentage of the course the Learner has completed, the orange, shows the amount of evidence that has been mapped to the assessment criteria; the green shows the amount of PC s that have been signed off and the blue bar shows the amount of time progression. Percentage complete/ percentage assessed Page 12
The units the Learner has chosen 1, any evidence that has been mapped or assigned to a unit 2, how far through each unit they are 3, the date a unit was completed 4, assessed 5, internally verified 6, its claimable status 7 and a link to any downloadable material that may have been assigned to a unit 8. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 Learner units and other information You can also upload files for the Learner whose portfolio you are viewing to use, by browsing for the file you want and pressing the upload button. Browsing for a file Page 13
You can also access the evidence library where all the evidence you upload is stored, view the Learners CV and view their Training and Assessment Plan from the Learner Dashboard. You can also view more detail on each unit that learner is doing by clicking on the name of the unit you want to view. Unit name This will then open the unit screen; from here you can see any evidence attached to that unit, what PC s have been ticked and a list of what the PC s are for that unit, along with the different levels of sign off. Unit screen Page 14
Overall Progress If the learner is doing more than one course or the entire apprenticeship I.E. The Tech cert, main qualification and Functional Skills, then you can view your overall progress across all of these on the overall progress screen; this can be accessed by clicking the Overall progress button on your Dashboard. Overall progress button This will show you not only the individual progress of each course but an overall progress too, as well as allow you to jump into each part of the qualification by clicking the go to dashboard buttons. Overall Progress Screen Page 15
Picking the Learners Units To chose the units click choose units button, then if you have not completed the Skills Scan yet you will be asked whether or not you want to do the Skills Scan or just go straight to picking units, click Ignore and choose units Choose Units Button This will take you to the choose units screen, from here tick the units you want to do, and press the submit button, the mandatory units are already marked for you. It will also automatically calculate the amount of credits you have chosen, show you the rules of combination and the groups, guided learners, the Different levels and the amount of credits each unit is worth. Choosing the units Submit button Page 16
If the learner has more than one assessor you can choose which units the 2 nd assessor will be dealing with by ticking the allocate to 2 nd assessor box. Allocate units to 2 nd assessor Once you have chosen the Units they will now be visible on the Learner Dashboard. Alternatively the Learner can log in and pick their units in the same way. Units visible on Learner Dashboard Page 17
Booking a Session To book a session you will need to click the calendar icon next to the learner you want your session with, this will take you to the Add New Session page; from here you can book both a Smart and Traditional Session (A Smart Session is a Session using our integrated virtual training room over the internet, a Traditional Session is a normal face to face meeting). Booking a session Sessions booking screen Page 18
Booking a Smart Session (Please note the notes below are for booking a Smart Session, for a Traditional Session please see page 21) You firstly need to set the session method as Smart Session, to do this chose which session you want by checking either button next to each one. Session Method Next you need to select the assessor and learner you want the session to be between using the drop down boxes under the heading Learner/Assessor. Learner Selection Then the date of the Session you want to book, you can enter in manually or use the calendar to input the date. Date selection You the need to select a time for your meeting, you will notice that times already allocated to you or other assessors also wanting a smart session are highlighted (Green by another assessor, purple by you red if it is unavailable and grey for times outside of traditional working hours 9.00am 5.00pm, you can however still book sessions outside of these times, for more details on how smart sessions booking and licensing works please see Admin User Guide). Time Selection Page 19
Then you will need to select the number of participants you want, typically a Session will consist of 2 participants, an assessor and a learner, however you may want to do a session with more than one learner, if so change the number of participants accordingly (See page 64 for adding new learners to the session once it s booked). Number of participants Once you have done this you need to select course you want to do the session on Course Selection Then if you want to book an induction, a review or a general session, you need to tick the relevant box under the course. Session Type Then select the duration of the Session you want to book. Duration of session Page 20
Then once you have filled in this form, click the add new session button, this will take you through to the training and assessment plan where you can add in what you want to cover on the session and set tasks and actions for yourself and the learner. Booking a Traditional Session (Please note the notes below are for booking a Traditional Session, for a Smart Session please see page 19) You firstly need to set the session method as Traditional Session, to do this simply select which you want by checking the button next to each one. Session Method Next you need to select the assessor and learner you want the meeting to be between using the drop down boxes under the heading Learner/Trainer, this will be filled in for you if you have used the calendar icon. Learner Selection Then you can enter a location for the session e.g. at college, room 3A. Location Then the date of the Session you want to book, you can enter in manually or use the calendar to input the date. Date Selection Page 21
You then need to select a time for your meeting, you will notice that times already allocated to you are highlighted (purple by you and grey for times outside of traditional working hours 9.00am 5.00pm, you can however still book sessions outside of these times.) Time Selection Then you will need to select the number of free places you want leave this at 0 if it is just between an assessor and a learner, however you may want to do a session with more than one learner, if so change the number of participants accordingly. Number of participants Once you have done this you need to select course you want to do the session on Course Selection Then if you want to book an induction or a review you need to tick the induction box under the course, else leave blank if neither. Course Selection Page 22
Then select the duration of the Session you want to book. Duration of session Then once you have filled in this form, click the add new session button, this will take you through to the training and assessment plan where you can add in what you want to cover on the session and set tasks and actions for yourself and the learner. The Training and Assessment Plan The Training and Assessment plan is where all the Sessions that are booked against a learner are stored, and where any tasks or actions for these sessions can be added or viewed for that learner; providing a full audit trail of interventions between learner and assessor. This can be found via the Training and Assessment plan button on any Learner Dashboard. Training and Assessment plan button Page 23
At the top of the Training and Assessment plan you can open the Learner information bar from their dashboard by clicking on the plus icon. Below this is the progression bars, showing individual units progress as well as overall and time progress. The Training and Assessment Plan, Plus icon to open up course info The Training and Assessment Plan when plus icon is opened for course info Page 24
Below this are the sessions for that learner, with the latest session on top and the earliest at the bottom. You can add session planning notes and feedback notes to each session that has been booked in. you can also add actions or tasks to each session for the learner and yourself and mark each session as attended or cancelled by assessor, by learner or by employer. Also from this screen you can edit the session s dates, times and duration as well as the session type by clicking on the calendar icon. The Training and Assessment Plan sessions To add an Action to a Session locate the session you want to add the action too and click on the Add Action button. An Action can be anything you want you or the Learner to do. Action Creation Page 25
This will open the create action pop up, where you can enter the Action name 1, description 2, target date 3, who the Action is for 4 and assign the action to a unit 5 if it is for something specific. 2 1 3 5 4 Once you have filled in this information click the submit button to add this action to the session. To Leave some planning notes (a note before the session has taken place) locate the session you want to add the note to and click on the add note icon on the formative session box. Planning notes icon Page 26
This will open a pop up where you can add the planning notes, once you have done this click the submit button to save your notes. Planning notes Planning Notes To add Feedback to a session (a note after the session has taken place) locate the session you want to add the note to and click on the add note icon on the summative session box. Feedback icon Page 27
This will open a pop up where you can add the feedback, once you have done this click the submit button to save your notes. Feedback Feedback You can upload documents to any session, things like review documents or workbooks for the learners or any other documentation relating to that session that isn t evidence. Files button Page 28
By clicking the file button it opens up a pop up that allows you to upload your document, by browsing for the file and clicking the upload button. You can also give a description to your document; click save and this will then appear against that session. File upload Task Allocation Once you have created your library of tasks against a course, you need to assign them to learners. To do this, navigate to the learner s portfolio by clicking on the course icon next to their name. From the learners dashboard, click on the training and assessment plan button. Training and Assessment plan button Page 29
This will open up the training and Assessment plan, this is a store of all the sessions and actions or tasks that have been booked into the system with that learner, and this is also where you allocate Tasks to a leaner. The difference between an Action and a Task, is something that can be assigned to more than one learner and a Task could require evidence to be produced for it, and can be mapped to PC s, where as an action is something that the learner has to do, but might not have evidence produced as a result of it. Actions can also be left for Assessors as well as Learners and are only available for that learner. To assign a pre-created Task to a Learner, from the Training and Assessment plan, locate the session that you want to add this Task too (or the session you want to set this Task for the Learner) and click the Add task button. Training and Assessment plan Page 30
This will open a pop up containing all the tasks for this course. From this screen you can view all the Tasks that have been created for this course, create new Tasks and assign existing Tasks to a Learner. To assign a Task or multiple Tasks to a Learner tick the boxes next to each of the tasks you want to assign to this Session. Once you have done this click the Add selected tasks to Training and Assessment plan button. Task Allocation Page 31
This will add the selected tasks to the session and will be available for you to upload evidence too. To create a new task from this page, click on the Add Task Button, this will open the task Creation form. Task Creation form On This Form you will See it has filled in the course for you, you can then pick the unit this Task is going to relate to 1, the Task name 2, a Task description 3 and a sequence number 4, which is the order of importance for this Task. 1 2 3 4 Task creation Page 32
Once you have filled in the information click the submit button to save your task, this will now appear in the list. To Auto map PC s for this Task you need to click on the + icon next to the Task you created. This will display the PC s for the Unit you created the Task against. Mapping PC s This will show you the PC s for the unit this tasks relates to, if you want to view the To Know s and Range as well as the To Do s you need to show them by clicking on the Show to know and Show Range buttons. Mapping to PC s and showing criteria Page 33
To allow auto mapping, you need to pre tick the PC s that once complete this Task will meet. To do this put ticks in the boxes under the PC numbers; you can hover over the PC s to find out what they are. Mapping to PC s and showing criteria Once you have done this, click the Save button to Store your work. This task is now created and ready to assign to the learner, this task will also be available to all other Learners doing this course. Page 34
Uploading and mapping evidence Uploading and mapping evidence is a critical part of using an e-portfolio because it moves the learner s progression through their framework. Smart Assessor has a central evidence library which means that any evidence uploaded to the library can be used across any course within the e-portfolio. There are 2 steps to evidence mapping:- Step 1: uploading the evidence into the evidence library. Step 2: mapping the piece of evidence into the learner s qualification. Please note that learners also have the option of uploading and mapping evidence into their e- portfolio, however the assessor will be notified when the learner does so and gets the option to approve or remove any mappings done by the learner. It is worth noting that learners cannot change mappings done by their assessor. Step 1: Uploading evidence into the evidence library To upload evidence into the learners evidence library we have to start from the assessor dashboard, then click into the learners portfolio by clicking on the learners course icon. Assessor Dashboard, Learners course icon Page 35
You will then see the Learner s dashboard for the specific course that you have selected. From the learner dashboard select the EVIDENCE LIBRARY button. Learner Dashboard, Evidence Library button You will then be in the evidence library screen. The evidence library is where you or the learner can upload evidence against the learner s qualification. Evidence Library Screen Page 36
To upload a file, simply click on the upload file option. uploading a file means any type of electronic evidence such as a photo, scanned in document, audio recording, video, PDF, word document etc. Uploading a file To input a link into the evidence library you will need to click on the link using URL option, copy and paste the link that you want to add into the evidence library into the text box below. This enables you to link to a website where some of the learner s evidence may be stored, for example Moodle or any other VLE systems that the learner may be using. Inputting a link To reference to a paper based piece of evidence you will need to click on the Paper Hardcopy option. Then you will need to name the piece of evidence and allocate where this piece of evidence is located. Referencing to a paper based piece of evidence Once you have clicked Upload, Add Link or Add Paper Evidence the system will take you to the evidence description page. Before you can map the piece of evidence across units, you need to firstly give it a name 1 description 2 leave any feedback you want to 3 select the assessment method that is relevant to the piece of evidence 4 lastly you can now upload a signature against a piece of evidence 5, then press the save button. ] Page 37
1 2 3 4 5 Evidence Description Screen Step 2: mapping the piece of evidence into the learner s qualification. You then need to map the evidence across the units it relates too, to do this tick the box under the unit heading, by hovering over the unit it will show you what unit it is. Once you have selected the unit/units it relates to press the save button. Mapping the evidence across units Page 38
You will notice that once you press the save button the tick icon will go green; this is where you map the evidence to the assessment criteria. You can also edit the name, description, add in an evidence signature or assessment method again by clicking on the edit icon (pencil) under the action heading, to map the evidence to the PC s click the green tick. Green tick once saved, and edit icon To map the evidence across the assessment criteria click the green tick, this will open a new window where you can map your evidence to PC s. Firstly select the assessment criteria this evidence relates to by ticking in the Map box. Select as many of these as is relevant then press the save and continue button at the bottom of the screen. You can also open up any other units that have been selected to map to by clicking on the plus icon next to the unit title. Mapping evidence to assessment criteria and clicking save and continue Page 39
Notice that when you have selected your mappings and pressed the SAVE AND CONTINUE button the + symbol in the comment column becomes available. The comments column provides you with an opportunity to explain to the quality assurer of where in this evidence file they can find the relevance to these assessment criteria. This can be really helpful for the IQA s and external awarding body moderators. Once you have saved your comments the + in the mapping screen turns bold to show that there are further comments available. Comments Column The green, amber and red squares in the Gaps column indicate the status of the assessment criteria. Green means that the assessor has signed it off as completed, red means that it has yet to have any evidence mapped to it and orange shows that it is in progress and that there is evidence mapped to it, for every piece of evidence that has been mapped there will be one square. You can also sign off the criteria to say that it is completed by ticking down the right hand side in the sign off column Page 40
. Once you have done this press save and return at the bottom of the screen which takes you back into the learner s evidence library. You have now completed the evidence mapping stage. By mapping the piece of evidence against the assessment criteria in the map column you are moving the orange progress bars on the learner dashboard. By ticking in the sign off column you are moving the learners green progress bar If you go back to the Learners portfolio (see page 11), you will see the overall percentage completed has changed 1 and also the unit percentage 2 you will also see there is now evidence mapped against the units 3. 1 3 2 Learner Dashboard with updated percentage completed Page 41
You can click on the unit name at any time to show you a more detailed view of the unit, see any evidence that is mapped to it, and map existing evidence across more performance criteria if you need to. You can also map evidence from this screen, you firstly need to upload the new piece of evidence (see page 34 for information on how to do this) once this has been done you will need to click the add new task button. Add new task button Page 42
This will generate a blank set of PC s for you to mark the new evidence against. Adding new task You then need to click the add evidence button. Adding new task This will open up the evidence mapping screen where you can pick the piece of new evidence you want to map across, tick the piece or pieces of evidence you want to assign to the new task you created then press the save button. Assigning evidence to new task Page 43
This has now added this piece of evidence to the new task. You then need to add a task description and mark the PC s the task relates to and press the Save Button to finish. Description and PC marking Evidence Feedback When a learner uploads a piece of evidence, you will automatically get an email alert informing you of this, to leave the learner some feedback about that piece of evidence navigate to that learners portfolio via the course icon and then into the learners evidence library. From here click on the edit icon next to the piece of evidence the learner uploaded. Edit icon Page 44
This will open up the evidence description screen Evidence description form You can enter feedback on evidence in the Assessor feedback comments box; any evidence feedback you leave will automatically generate an email to that learner informing them that you have left them some feedback. Assessor Feedback box Page 45
You can also see any feedback that has been left by hovering over the assessor feedback icon. AFB icon Evidence Referencing and PC Content To use our built in evidence referencing/content tool, you first need to navigate to the learner dashboard (see page 10 on how to do this) from here you can reference any piece of evidence you have already mapped across by clicking on the unit name that the piece of evidence is attached to. Learner dashboard Page 46
This will open the unit screen, showing you any evidence that has been mapped to the PC s in that unit. Learner dashboard In order to reference where individual PC s are in the uploaded evidence documents, you need to click on the cross icon under the PC you want to reference. Reference icon This will open a text box which you can then input any text regarding the location of this PC in the evidence documents uploaded; you can also add content that is only for this learner if there is no content in here already. Reference text Page 47
To Add content you need to click the add content button, Content can be used as a sort of check list below PC level to ensure standardisation or correct delivery. These can be preset by admin (see admin user guide) or added to individual learners by assessors. Once you click the add new content button it will add a new row of content for you. You can then enter the name of your content, mark it as satisfied and attach any evidence files specifically to that criteria you can also leave notes. Once you have entered the reference text or content click the submit button to save it. You can then see that it will have changed the cross icon to black, to show that there is some referencing text in there to view. Cross icon Page 48
If you hover over this cross it will display the text in there, so you can quickly view the reference point should you need to. Reference point Should you wish to edit or clear any reference points, you need to click on the cross under the PC you want to change. This will bring up the comment box for you to edit. Reference text You can then press the submit button to confirm your changes, or should you wish to completely clear the comment, press the clear comment button. Clear button All of this can also be done from the evidence mapping tool in the evidence library (For more info on this see page 34). Page 49