STAFF DEVELOPMENT Managing your Learning with the Learning Management System By Jesrine Clarke University of Sheffield November 2006
Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 3 2. ACCESSING THE LMS 4 3. VIEWING YOUR LEARNING PLAN 5 4. VIEWING LEARNING ACTIVITIES.. 7 5. ENROLLING ON LEARNING ACTIVITIES 10 6. AUTOMATED EMAILS. 12 7. PROBLEMS ACCESSING THE PMD E-LEARING MATERIALS. 13 2
1. Introduction In 2004 the University of Sheffield implemented a Learning Management System to manage and record the training and development activities undertaken by staff and postgraduate research students. The system being used is the Docent Learning Management System and it can be used in the following ways. View a catalogues of Learning Activities e.g. taught courses, e- learning, and other flexible learning options, offered by SDU, CICS, LDMU and Safety Services. Enrol or register an interest in a specific learning activity. Record your own personal learning activities including conference attendance and other external development opportunities. Maintain an ongoing personal learning plan where you can record learning activities you either plan to undertake, are currently taking or have completed. The Learning Management System (LMS) is web-based and very easy to use. These notes outline its many uses. 3
2. Accessing the LMS The LMS can be accessed either from the Staff Development or CICS web pages, see links below; http://www.shef.ac.uk/stdu/lms http://www.shef.ac.uk/cics/courses http://www.shef.ac.uk/staff/training.html If you want to access the LMS from home of off-campus you can do this via MUSE. Once you have logged into MUSE; Click on the Using MUSE tab and choose Work from the list under Channel Guide. Then click on the Learning Management System link which will take you to a page where you can login into the LMS. To login to the LMS you will need to use your usual University network user ID and password. Please note: To exit the LMS please ensure that you always click the Logout link on the left otherwise you may have problems logging in the next time. 4
3. Viewing your Learning Plan The first page you will see is your Learning Plan. Your learning plan is individual and you are the only person who can access this. Your individual learning plan offers a summary of training and development activities that you are planning to undertake, learning activities you are currently taking or that you have completed. There are a number of views available, each accessible via the links at the top of the page. The first page of your learning plan is the summary view which is split into two sections; In Progress and Planned Learning. The In Progress section shows all learning activities that you are currently undertaking but have not yet completed. It lists the name of each learning activity, with its code, its status (for example Enrolled, Interested, In Progress) and action, which could include links to launch, cancel interest, unenrol, or mark an activity as complete. The Planned Learning section shows any learning activities you have added to your learning plan. This section should be used to plan your learning and development by adding learning activities that you may wish to do at a later date. It lists the name of each learning activity, with its code, under requirement heading it will show whether the activity has been recommended to you or whether you have been required to take it, a due date will be displayed if you are required to complete the activity by a certain date and the action heading will include links to allow you to edit or remove the activity from your learning plan. Once you have completed a learning activity it then appears in the Transcript view of your learning plan. You can access this by clicking on the Transcript link at the top of your learning plan. You can also use your Learning Plan to record personal learning activities that are not included in the LMS, such as attending an external conference, a course or a qualification you are working towards. 5
To add a personal learning activity to your learning plan: Click on the Add a Personal Learning Activity link at the top on the right hand side. The Create a Personal Learning Activity screen will be displayed. On the Create Personal Learning Activity page you must enter: the name of the learning activity, the type (for example taught course, online course), the vendor (the course provider), and start and end date for your personal learning activity, the other information is optional. Click the submit button at the bottom of the page when you have finished entering the information. The personal learning activity will then be shown in the summary view of your learning plan. To mark a personal learning activity as complete: Once you have completed your personal learning activity you can mark it as complete. Click on My Learning Plan link on the left. Click on the Mark Complete link next to your personal learning activity. From the Mark Complete page, Enter the date the personal learning activity was completed, and ensure that the Has Completed box is selected and enter any comments if you wish, then click Save button at the bottom of the page. The learning activity will then move to the transcript view of your learning plan. To remove a personal learning activity from your learning plan: Click on the Remove link from the learning plan page. You will then asked to confirm that you wish to remove it by selecting the Delete button at the bottom of the page. 6
4. Viewing Learning Activities 4.1 Using the Catalogue to view learning activities To view a list of all the learning and development activities offered within the University click the Catalogue link on the left hand side. The catalogue has been divided into sections and subsections to help organise the different learning activities into topic areas. For example if you were interested in web design you would find this in the Information Technology section under the Internet and World Wide Web. The catalogue lists the name of each learning activity, with its code and indicates the type of learning activity, for example instructor led course, other web based course. 4.2 Searching for Learning Activities The LMS allows you to search for learning activities by Code, title, type or description. The drop-down lists for code and title allow you to specify whether your search criteria starts with, contains or matches the words exactly. To search for a learning activity: Click on the Search link on the left. A Search page appears. Enter your search criteria and then click the search button at the bottom of the page. A list of learning activities will appear that matches the search criteria you specified. You can also click on the More Options link to carry out a more detailed search. 7
4.3 Viewing Scheduled Learning Activities Class Schedule Report To view a list of courses that are scheduled to run in the near future. Open the Reports menu by clicking on the link on the left and click Class Schedule. A schedule appears with a list of all upcoming courses. Calendar view of Scheduled courses You can also view all scheduled courses in a calendar view, which is available from the Catalogue page. Click on the Catalogue link on the left hand side. Then click the View Scheduled Learning Activities link, which is at the top on the right hand side of the catalogue page. It does not show instructor led courses as default, so please ensure that the box next to Show Instructor Led Courses in: All is ticked and click the Update button to refresh the view. A calendar view appears showing all the scheduled courses. You can click on the course title in the calendar to view the learning activity details page. 8
To find out more about any of the learning activities click on the title. This will display a page summarising the learning activity details. There may be a link to More Information, which you can click on to view more detailed information about that learning activity. If there are no dates scheduled for an instructor led course there will be a link to Express Interest. This will allow the training provider to keep a record of people interested in a particular learning activity and you will be informed when dates have been arranged. You can also add a learning activity to your learning plan if you wish to pursue this learning activity at a later date or to help you plan for your next SRDS. Items added to your learning plan can only be seen by you and therefore does not register an interest in a learning activity so you will still need to enrol or register an interest at a later date. To do add and Learning Activity to your Learning Plan Click on the Add to my Learning Plan link. The Add to Learning Plan page allows you to specify whether the activity is required of you or recommended to you and to set a date to complete the activity. The activity will then be shown under the Planned Learning section of you learning plan summary page. You will also be able to enrol on a learning activity from this page. Information on how to do this is outlined in the next section for each of the different types of learning activities. 9
5. Enrolling on Learning Activities Once you have found a learning activity that you are interested in, the procedure for enrolling or registering an interest is very straightforward. 5.1 Instructor Led courses All instructor led courses available are listed in the catalogue. Some courses will be scheduled to run in the near future, others will not have a scheduled date but will allow you to express an interest. If a course is scheduled to run, you will see a list available dates at the bottom of the learning activity details page. To book a place on a course: Click on the Enrol link next to the date you are able to attend. Your enrolment will be confirmed on screen and it will be added to the in progress section of your learning plan. You will also receive an email confirming your enrolment. A week before the course you will also receive a reminder by email. If a course is not scheduled to run in the near future, there will be no dates listed. In this case you can express an interest, which will inform the Training Coordinator that there is demand for that course to be run. To express an interest in a course: Click the Express Interest link. This will be confirmed on screen and it will be added to the in progress section of your learning plan. You will also receive an email confirming that you have expressed an interest in this course. When the course is scheduled to run you will be invited to enrol by email. If you later find you are unable to attend a course that you have enrolled on, you will be able to unenrol. To unenrol from a course: Click on the Unenrol link, either from your learning plan or the learning activity details page. This will Unenrol you from the course and free up your place for someone else. You may find that a course is scheduled to run but there are no places left. In this case you may have the option of adding yourself to the waiting list. To join the waiting list: Click on the Join Wait List link. This will add you to the waiting list and automatically enrol you on the course as soon as a place becomes available. You will be notified of this by email. 10
5.2 Web Based learning activities All web based learning activities available are listed in the catalogue. Working through a web based course will allow you to learn online at your own pace. To enrol on a web based learning activity: Click on the Enrol link from the learning activity details page. Your enrolment will be confirmed on screen and it will be added to the in progress section of your learning plan. Some web based learning activities contain several course elements which you will need to enrol onto individually. You will then receive an email confirming your enrolment. To access the course materials: Click on the Launch link. If the learning activity contains several course elements you will need to enrol/launch the course materials from your personal learning plan. To mark a web based learning activity as complete: When you have completed the learning activity you can click on the Mark Complete link from either your personal learning plan or the learning activity details page. The learning activity will then move to the transcript page of your learning plan. If you later decided that you are no longer interested in taking the web based learning activity, you can then you can remove it from your learning plan. To unenrol from a web based learning activity: Click on the Unenrol link from either your personal learning plan or the learning activity details page. Note: If you are experiencing problems accessing the online course materials please see the following web page http://www.shef.ac.uk/stdu/elearning/support/problems.html 5.3 Blended Learning Activities A Blended Learning activity is a group of different learning activities that you can study together to compliment the topic area. This could combine different types of learning activities such as a taught course, a web based course, a video and books. All Blended Learning activities available are listed in the catalogue. From the learning activity details page you will see a brief description about the topic, and at the bottom you will see a list of the learning activities contained within this topic. It will also specify how many of the learning activities you need to take in order to complete that topic. 11
To enrol on a blended learning activity: Click on the Enrol link. Your enrolment will be confirmed on screen and you will also receive an email confirming your enrolment. The learning activity will be added to the in progress section of your learning plan along with the contained learning activities which you can enrol onto individually. To unenrol from a blended learning activity: Click on the Unenrol link, either from your learning plan or the learning activity details page. This will Unenrol you from the blended learning activity and you will also be asked if you wish to unenrol from contained learning activities. 6. Automated Emails Please be aware that the Learning Management System generates automated email messages whenever there are any changes in the system. Automated emails are generated in the following circumstances; When you enrol or are enrolled onto a learning activity When you un-enrol from a learning activity When you register an interest in a learning activity If any of the course details change, i.e. location, date, time etc A week before a course starts you will receive a reminder by email Whenever you complete an online course, once you have marked it as complete you will receive an email confirming this When you have attended a course you will receive an email requesting that you give feedback If you join a waiting list for a course If your enrolment status changes for example if you move from a waiting list status to enrolled, or if you are enrolled on a course but then cancel As these emails are generated automatically you normally do not need to take any action as they are for information purposes only. However, if you do have any queries you can simply reply to the email and the appropriate training provider will get back to you. 12
7. Problems accessing the PMD e-learning Materials 7.1 Managed XP Users Staff using the Personal & Management Development e-learning materials from the Managed XP service may experience some difficulty launching the content. Those on the Managed XP service will quite likely experience a failure due to a Java Applet Failure. Instructions on how to fix this problem are as follows: 1. Open page of course and play 2. Go to start menu 3. Click on load applications 4. Click Academic 5. Click Internet Explorer Plug Ins 6. Choose IE Java Version 7. Follow Prompts 8. Open your course and it should work! The above will 'stick' or remain so you won't have to do it each time you want to use that course. 7.2 Windows XP users Windows XP users, if you are running Internet Explorer and experiencing any Java-based problems with these materials, then you will need to install the Microsoft JVM which can be downloaded from the link below. Here are the instructions on how to install the new software: 1. Download the file by clicking on the link below and save it to your hard drive. 2. Once the file is on your hard drive, locate the file and double-click on it. This loads the Virtual Machine software. 3. As the file begins execution, answer Yes to the License Agreement question and then once complete, re-start your PC. 4. Once the PC is re-started the Virtual Machine software should be installed and you should be able to use the e-learning materials. www.meetingworks.com/files/msjavx86.exe 7.3 Conflicting versions of Java It is possible that you have 2 versions of java (Sun and Microsoft VM) trying to run on your machine. This could cause a conflict. If this is the case then to run the Xebec materials, you must disable the Sun JRE. This is relatively simple. 1. In your Internet Explorer window, go to the Tools menu 2. Click Internet Options and then click the Advanced Options tab. 3. Scroll down until you can see Java (Sun). Make sure there is no tick on this box (click on it again to uncheck it) and it s done. 13