Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
System Administrator Manual
Citation preview
System Administrator Manual
arcalearn.org
Thinking Cap® LMS August 2012
Page 2 of 29
Thinking Cap® LMS System Administrator Manual
Table of Contents Thinking Cap® LMS System Administrator Manual ...................................................................................... 1
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Getting Started .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Logging In .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Domain Administrators .............................................................................................................................. 6
Metadata .................................................................................................................................................... 6
Setting Up Dynamic Management ............................................................................................................. 7
Learner View and Custom Gateway .......................................................................................................... 9
Learner View Settings Guide ................................................................................................................... 10
My Learners ............................................................................................................................................. 13
Certificates ............................................................................................................................................... 13
Day to Day Administration ........................................................................................................................... 14
Adding and Editing Users ........................................................................................................................ 14
Adding and Editing e-learning Courses ................................................................................................... 15
Adding and Editing Instructor-Led Training ............................................................................................. 16
Tracking Attendance ................................................................................................................................ 17
Adding Locations ..................................................................................................................................... 17
Adding and Editing Learning Paths ......................................................................................................... 17
Adding and Editing Competencies and Activities .................................................................................... 17
Adding and Editing Equivalencies ........................................................................................................... 18
Bulk Enroll................................................................................................................................................ 18
My Communication ..................................................................................................................................... 20
Managing Forum at the Domain and Course/Learning Path Levels ....................................................... 20
Managing Chat at the Domain and Course/Learning Path Levels .......................................................... 21
Mailboxes................................................................................................................................................. 21
Send Bulk E-mails ................................................................................................................................... 21
Reports ........................................................................................................................................................ 22
Running Reports ...................................................................................................................................... 22
Report Scope ........................................................................................................................................... 22
Standard Reports .................................................................................................................................... 23
Summary Reports .................................................................................................................................... 24
Completion Reports ................................................................................................................................. 24
Comparative Reports ............................................................................................................................... 25
Learner Uptake Reports .......................................................................................................................... 25
Demographic Reports .............................................................................................................................. 26
System Access Report ............................................................................................................................ 26
Scheduling and Distributing Reports ....................................................................................................... 27
Data Mining Report Downloads ............................................................................................................... 28
Page 3 of 29
Getting Started
Welcome to the Thinking Cap LMS training
manual for domain administrators. In this
document and your face-to-face training session
you will learn everything you need to manage your
domain within the LMS. You will learn how to add
courses, learning paths and learners and generate
reports.
If you have any questions during your session
please ask your trainer. If questions arise after
your training, please contact our support line at 1-
800-975-5492/416-977-4675 ext. 2 or email us at
Page 4 of 29
Logging In The first step of entering the LMS is to go to the
URL provided by your administrator and log in.
This URL may be different for each domain so
please take a minute to check with your
administrator.
Enter your email address and password that was
entered when your LMS Account was created.
Again, if you are unsure of your account details,
please contact your administrator. Click on the
Login button to complete the login process and
start using the LMS.
If at any time you have forgotten your password,
click on the Forgot your password? link on the
login screen and your login credentials will be
emailed to the email address associated with your
LMS Account.
For privacy and security concerns, we recommend
that you always log out of the Thinking Cap LMS
when you are ending a session. Click on "Logout"
situated in the top right corner of any LMS page.
Page 5 of 29
Domain Basic Info Domains are the hierarchical representation of
your Center's structure.
View and manage the domain tree-view of your
Center by clicking on administration in the main
menu. The domain listing that appears on the left
of the page can be expanded to show the sub-
domains within your Center.
As your Center's System Administrator, you will be
able to see all of the domains and sub-domains
that your System Administrator user account is
associated with.
Add A New Domain: Add a domain to the first level by right-clicking on
the Choose a Domain at the top of the list or any
domain within the list. Mouse over new and then
click on domain.
Add a sub-domain by right-clicking on the parent
domain. For example, in the diagram, the admin
is adding a sub-domain to the Regional Center
Domain. Mouse over new and then click on
domain. An example of a sub domain would be a
unit or location and will assist in assigning groups.
Every new domain will require the following
information.
Name – name you wish to give the domain
Code – a recognizable code for the domain
that distinguishes it from other domains
Description – written description of the domain
Metadata – pre-defined information that helps
to describe the domain and how it will be used
Dynamic management rules – the rules by
which dynamic courses and learning paths will
be added to the domain (see “Setting up
Dynamic Management section for more
information)
Display options – selecting which course
navigation template will be used, the Center’s
default or a customized template for the
domain
Administrators – admin users that are
responsible for the management of the
domain. (see “Domain Administrators section
for more information)
To edit a domain right-click on the domain you
wish to change and click on edit domain. To
delete a domain right-click on the domain you wish
to remove and click on delete.
Page 6 of 29
To move a domain to a new location right-click on
the domain you wish to change and click on move.
Select the new parent domain you wish the
domain to sit inside and click on the move button.
Each domain is tied to a set of users and e-
learning courseware. Left-click on a domain and
see the right side of the page populate with
everything tied to that domain including users, e-
learning courses, instructor-led courses, learning
paths, objectives, activities, metadata. For more
information on these options see Day to Day
Administration.
Domain Administrators Domain administrators are admin users with
extended permissions over a domain or group of
domains and the users and courseware
associated with the domain.
Domain administrators are responsible for the
following.
Adding, editing, deleting and moving the
domain
Setting up the learner view for the domain
Adding, editing, deleting and viewing reports
on users, e-learning and instructor-led
courses, learning paths and metadata
Adding, editing and deleting objectives and
activities
Adding bulk users
Managing the set-up of the domain’s forums,
chat rooms and certificates
Domain administrators are selected when the
domain is created or edited by selecting the
checkbox(s) alongside each appropriate name in
the domain managers list.
Metadata
Metadata is information that describes the
collections of e-learning courseware and users in
the LMS. For example, metadata about an e-
learning course may include a list of the
competencies assessed in the course, level of
expertise the course was authored for or the
subject matter covered in the course.
Each of these pieces of information is set-up in the
LMS as metadata fields. Metadata can be added
either globally across the entire Center and shared
with all domains or added locally to each domain.
To add a new metadata field to a domain, click on
the domain, then click on the new button at the top
left of the domain’s panel and then click on
metadata.
In the form enter the name of the metadata you
wish to add and select the type of field you wish to
add. You have the choice of:
Text – short free form text (i.e. one line
textbox)
Page 7 of 29
Multiline text –longer free form text (i.e.
multiple line textbox)
Single Choice – a list of specific options where
a maximum of only one choice is allowed
Multiple Choice – a list of specific options
where more than one choice is allowed
Taxonomy – a hierarchical structure such as a
nested list of choices where one or more
choice is allowed (usually used for subject
matter classifications)
The last step is selecting what this metadata
applies to. The more useful metadata will apply to
a combination of users, domains and e-learning
courseware.
Metadata has many uses beyond cataloging
content. See the next section Setting Up Dynamic
Management for one example of how metadata
can make LMS administration more efficient.
To assign metadata to learners and other domain-
specific data edit a learner or other data (see Day
to Day Administration for instructions and scroll
down to Custom Metadata and see the list of
metadata that are applicable. Make your
selections and click on the submit button.
Setting Up Dynamic Management Using the power of the LMS’s metadata can make
managing your learners and content more
efficient. Start by identifying metadata that match
both learners and your content. For example, if
you have learners with a specific job role, such as
manager, and e-learning courses that apply to this
job role. Now you can set up the LMS to
automatically enroll all managers in the courses
that apply to management.
This same concept can also be applied to domains
and sub-domains. For example you may wish to
have a domain populated with all managers.
To automatically add users, courses or learning
paths of specific metadata selections into a
domain follow these steps. Please note that it is
recommended that a sub-domain be created for
these mappings.
1. Select the domain from the domain listing and
click on the edit button in the top bar of the
domain’s panel.
2. Scroll down to the dynamic management field
set. Identify what you wish to automatically
add to your domain.
3. If you chose to add learner automatically,
check the box next to automatic enrollment
options under the Learners heading. If you
chose to add courses or learning paths
automatically, check the box next to automatic
enrollment options under the Courses and
Learning Paths heading.
4. Select how specifically you wish to filter the
matches. If you select all domain metadata
then all selected metadata must match in order
for the user/course/learning path to be
automatically added. If you select some or any,
then one or more of the selected metadata
must match in order for the
user/course/learning path to be automatically
added.
5. Select all of the metadata that you wish to use
to filter the users or content.
6. Under Advanced Options you have the option
to filter by mappings of SCOs (metadata that
applies to one or more lessons within a course)
or objective or activity (metadata that applies to
a learning path’s learning objectives and
activities). If you wish to extend your filtering to
this level check the box next to
Page 8 of 29
SCOs/activities/objectives options and follow
the above instructions for selecting the filtering
rules.
7. When you’ve completed the above steps save
the changes by clicking on the update program
button. This will trigger the LMS to find
matching users or content to add to the
domain.
8. The final step in automatically enrolling these
learners into your sub-domain is to edit the
course and select to auto enroll domain
members. Find the course in the domain’s
panel and click on the edit button.
9. Scroll down to the enrollment field set and
check the box next to the auto enroll domain
members option.
10. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and save
this change by clicking on the update button.
Page 9 of 29
Learner View and Custom Gateway Every domain in the LMS has an optional Learner
View that allows domain administrators to
customize the learner’s interface to the LMS.
These options include the following.
Domain details – the name of the domain as it
should appear to the learners, the URL they use to
access the domain and possible security
certificate.
Content – the sections of the learner view you
wish to hide from your learners:
My Agenda – calendar listing of events and
activities.
My Training – listing of e-learning and
instructor-led courses the learner is either
enrolled in, has completed, or is available to
enroll in.
My Learning Paths – listing of learning paths
the learner is either enrolled in, has completed
or are available to enroll in.
My Learners – for supervisors assigned
directly to learners that shows their learners,
and their learners’ enrollment requests to
approve their addition or removal from courses
or learning paths.
Defaults – default settings for text fonts,
background colors and icons
Masthead – options for customizing the masthead
box that appears at the top of the learner view.
Buttons – text and background color of buttons
that appear throughout the learner view.
Tabs – options for the look of the tabs that appear
throughout the learner view including the
differentiation between the currently selected tab
and other tabs.
Main Menu – setting choices for how the main
menu items are displayed.
Content Boxes – options for how the boxes that
contain the content for each section appear.
Forms – options for the display of the groupings of
fields (field sets) and the title for each grouping
(field set legend) that appear in the forms
throughout the learner view.
Tables – options for the layout of tables within the
learner view.
Footer – optional logo and copyright text that
appears at the bottom of every page in the learner
view.
Page 10 of 29
Learner View Settings Guide Font: Here you can select 3 fonts (1st, 2nd and
3rd choices) that will display to your learners. Tip:
As a general rule you should pick one preferred
PC font, one Mac font and one default.
Background Color: This is the overall
background color of the entire learner view. It will
display on every page viewed.
Size: Use this to set the preferred font size of the
content on your learner view.
Link Color: This color will let your learners see
which text is a link. Tip: make this color contrast.
Heading 1 Font Color: This color adjusts the
“Login” text on the login page.
Heading 2 Font Color: Not applicable
Heading 3 Font Color: Changes copyright color
changes color of reference title (e.g.: book title,
doc title) color details about courses (status, last
accessed, etc.) color details about learning paths
(learning path titles).
Favicon Image: This is the image that displays
beside a URL in browser. Tip: This must be an
.ico file to display in all browsers.
Masthead Background Image: This is an image that you
can place in the masthead area. Tip: This can be
a repeating tile pattern or 929x140 image.
Background Color: This selection creates a
single block of color to be used in the absence of a
background masthead image. This color is also
used as background of large logo on login page.
Border Color: Not applicable
Current Role Tab Text Color: Not applicable
Current Role Tab Background Color: Not
applicable
Other Role Tab Text Color: Not applicable
Other Role Tab Background Color: Not
applicable
Button Text Color: This option selects the text color on
every button in the learner view.
Background Color: Here you can select the
background color of every button.
Tabs Selected Tab Background Color:
Static color on top tabs (logged in as, logout),
resources tabs,static color on course/learning
path tabs (active, completed, expired)Static color
on Forum Tabs.
Unselected Tab Background Color:
Rollover/selected color on top tabs (logged in as,
logout), resources tabs,rollover selected color on
course/learning path tabs (active, completed,
expired)Rollover/selected color on Forum Tabs.
Selected Tab Text Color:
Static text color on top tabs (logged in as, logout),
resources tabs,static text color on course/learning
path tabs (active, completed, expired) Static text
color on Forum Tabs.
Unselected Tab Text Color:
Rollover/selected text color on top tabs (logged in
as, logout), resources tabs, Rollover/selected text
color on course/learning path tabs (active,
Page 11 of 29
completed, expired)Rollover/selected text color on
Forum Tabs
Main Menu Tabs/Menu Bar Background Image: Will repeat
a pattern along bar view as opposed to flat single
color from “current menu item background color”
up to 25x25 pixel image.
Tabs (creates menu items as tabs at base of
masthead).
Text Color: color of menu item text.
Background Color: static menu item tab color.
Border Color: Not applicable
Current Menu Item Background Color:
rollover/selected color of menu item.
Bar (colorizes bar of color at base of masthead).
Text Color: color of menu item text.
Background Color: Bar color across base of
entire masthead.
Border Color: Rollover text color for menu items
in bar view.
Current Menu Item Background Color: Not
applicable in bar mode.
Content Boxes Background Color: Background color for content
area below the menu.
Title Background Color: Header of individual
content areas on main page as well as
communications and collaboration.
Border Color: 1 pixel border of color surrounding
content areas on main page and communications
and collaboration main.
Forms Fieldset Legend Text Color: Text Color for titles
of sections within forms.
Fieldset and Legend Background Color:
Background color for individual form sections.
Fieldset and Legend Border Color: 1 pixel
border surrounding sections of a form (also
changes border on text entry fields).
Tables Table Header Background Color: Background
Color.
Table Sub Header Background Color:
Background Color.
Table Sub Sub Header Background Color:
Background Color.
Table Sub Sub Sub Header Background Color:
Background Color.
Table Content Row 0 Background Color:
Background Color.
Table Content Row 1 Background Color:
Background Color (also background of content
boxes on homepage).
Table Row Dividers Background Color: 1 pixel
divider between rows.
Page 12 of 29
Logos Login Page Logo Image: Logo for login page
(280x220 pixels, jpg. gif. png).
Learner View Logo Image: Logo for all learner
view pages (255x55 pixels, jpg. gif. png).
Text Login Page Welcome Text: Text allowing you to
welcome your users.
Copyright Text: Text that will appear at the base
of every page. Login Page – options to change
the logo that and welcome text that appears on the
login page
Page 13 of 29
My Learners If My Learners is enabled, when a Supervisor logs
in, they will see the My Learners section and will
be able to perform the selected actions for the
users who they supervise. The following choices
are available to supervisors when logged in to
their learner account:
Manually Enroll Learners
Approve Enrollment Requests
Approve Un-enroll Requests
Approve Activities
Proctor Courses
View Transcripts
To enable the "My Learners" section, edit the
Learner View for the selected Domain and make
sure the check box for "Hide My Learners" is
cleared.
To assign a supervisor to a new user added to the
LMS, you must also select the options button next
to the user and check the box next to the
supervisor and select the 'update supervisors'
button. The new user will now appear in that
supervisor's list of learners.
In development is additional functionality whereby
if a user who is also a supervisor is made inactive,
in order to complete the deactivation process,
another user must be selected to replace the
deactivated user as a supervisor. Whomever is
selected will become the supervisor of all the
users that the deactivated user was supervising.
Certificates The LMS provides the option of awarding a
printable certificate to Learners upon completion of
a Learning Path or course. The Thinking Cap
LMS has a default certificate that can be
customized with your Center’s logo, or you may
upload a custom certificate of your own design.
Page 14 of 29
Day to Day Administration
Adding and Editing Users To add individual users follow these steps.
1. Select the domain to add the user to (in the left-
hand domain list on the Administration page).
2. Click on the new option in the blue bar and
select user.
3. Fill in the account details section fill in the fields,
including all required fields (first name, last
name, email address, and password – both the
first field as well as the confirmation-of-
password field).
4. In the preferences section select their language
preference in the drop down to either be the
language of the browser they have logged in
using or a specific language.
5. Under the custom metadata section fill in all that
apply. The options in this section will be specific
to your Center and created by you or your LMS
administrator.
6. In the programs section select the programs you
wish to manually add the user into.
7. In the roles section of this form select the role of
the user within the LMS. By default only 2 roles
are shipped with the LMS: Learner and Admin.
Any additional roles that appear are specific to
your Center and were added by your LMS
administrator.
To edit individual learners first locate the user by
clicking on the users tab in the domain panel. You
can search for the user by entering their name or
email address and clicking on the search button or
by scrolling down through the list of learners in the
domain. Click on the edit button and then following
the steps for adding users from step 3 to the end.
Page 15 of 29
Adding and Editing e-learning Courses Adding and editing e-learning courses is similar to
adding and editing users. First, with the desired
domain selected (the one that you would like to add
the course to) in the left-hand menu, right-click on
your mouse, and select ‘new’; and then ‘e-learning
course’.
The wizard will prompt you through the next 8
steps. When you are finished with any page in
these steps, select next to proceed or save to exit
and return to the process later.
Step 1: Enter the Course code, title, and
description for the new course, as well as the
enrollment process - whether users will be able to
self enroll or be automatically enrolled depending
on selected metadata e.g. job code or department.
the default is self-enroll, however you can restrict
this by selecting with permission from a supervisor.
When the learner selects a course that requires
permission, the message stating the permission is
pending. Courses that are restricted to manual
enrollment only will not be listed in the Learner's
'Available' Tab. Select the dates enrollment will
start and end. Select the date (or numbers of days)
you expect the learner to complete the course.
The default display option is 'no template' which is
used if your course contains all reference materials
and navigation. Classroom template is chosen if
you would like reference materials added outside
the course to be available in the navigation panel
table of contents. Last, Prerequisites are select if
applicable.
Step 2: Select Aggregation allows you to specify
import options. Import from file allows you to import
a SCORM package [must be zip file output created
by the authoring software. Select a PowerPoint file
(.ppt only, not .pptx) for uploading using the
[browse] button and click [next]. The file will be
uploaded and you will be presented with a
confirmation page. Click [next].
Use 'browse to' button and select the file. To add
and assessment or for assessment only courses,
select 'Launch Assessment' Creation tool to create
the content.
Step 3: Select a Moderator. A moderator is the
person who controls the course and can be a
system admin or supervisor. Each Course must
have a moderator.
Step 4: Select teaching Assistants. This step is
optional. Select 'Next' or 'Save'.
Step 5: Communication and Collaboration allows
you to create a Forum or a Discussion Live (Chat)
session for the course and is optional. Select
Page 16 of 29
notifications and scheduling options and a forum
moderator.
Step 6: Reference Materials. This optional step
allows you to include additional resources for
learners that are not included within the course.
Comments can also be added to any reference.
The types of materials are:
Internet Link - Provide a URL
Books - Provide a ISBN
Documents - Provide a title and browse to
the file (e.g. PDF) to upload.
Step 7: Feedback Questions. This optional step
allows you to add course-specific feedback
questions or you could create and use a standard
course evaluation that can be used with any
Course. You also need to add a heading for your
questions.
Step 8: Schedule Reports: Select to have a PDF of
the standard course report sent to the course
moderator(s), supervisor, etc. To set the schedule
of when the reports generated and sent, select the
frequency and day. (see more on types of reports
in the Report section of this manual)
The final screen will include a summary. Select the
back button at the bottom of the page to make
changes to any of the previous steps. If you are
satisfied then you may publish the course to the
LMS via the publish button and the course will be
added to the list of courses in the learners My
Training Tab. While in the Admin View, you will be
able to demo the course by selecting the 'Demo"
button at the bottom of the published page or in the
course list, to view the course as the learner would
view it. You may also edit a course at any time by
selecting the edit button. You can also update the
course SCORM package by selecting 'Update'
from the 'Options' drop down menu.
Adding and Editing Instructor-Led Training Adding and editing Instructor-led training is similar
to adding and editing e-learning courses. First with
the desired domain (the one that you would like to
add the course to) selected in the left-hand menu,
right-click on your mouse, and select ‘new’; and
then ‘instructor-led’. You will be directed to a page
where you will be prompted to enter a code (for
example, BIO101), a title, and a description of the
course. Some of the option will be the same as a
course and there will be additional options e.g.
location.
Whether the class will take place online (for
example, through a WebEx session) or at a
physical location (for example, a classroom), you
will be given the option to set a cap on how many
learners may enroll in a session, and whether or
not a wait list will be in place.
A wait list will allow learners to be enrolled either
manually by an administrator, even after the
maximum capacity has been reached. This
function is useful, as well, in that if additional
learners have interest in the course, another
session can be added to accommodate them.
Page 17 of 29
Tracking Attendance Grade book is another feature of tracking
attendance and test scores for your ILT session.
When creating the ILT, be sure to select record
attendance, score, or comments to track these in
the grade book after the class is over. Select
'Learner Sign in Sheet' under the ILT Options tab to
take attendance at the start of the ILT session.
Then select the checkbox next to the learners who
attended or enter the test scores for tracking in the
learner's transcript.
Adding Locations Instructor led courses will require that you add, edit,
and remove locations that can be selected for each
session. Locations must be added prior to the
adding of the sessions.
With the domain selected in the administration
section right-click and select 'manage' then
'locations. To add a new location, click the [add
new location] button. You will be directed to a new
page. Fill in the provided fields with the appropriate
information: name of the location (this will be how
this particular location instance is identified in the
location pull-down menu when adding a session to
the course) street address:
city
state/province
zip/postal code
country
Click the [submit] button to save the location and
add it to the list of locations available to the domain.
To edit an existing location, click the [edit] button
located alongside the location instance. Make
changes as necessary and click the [submit] button
to save the changes and return to the list of
locations that are available in the domain.
To delete a location, click the [delete] button
located alongside the location instance that you
wish to delete. You will be directed to a
confirmation page. Clicking [cancel] will leave the
location intact in the domain and return you to the
list of locations. Clicking [confirm] will remove the
location from the list available to the domain and
return you to the list of locations.
Adding and Editing Learning Paths With the desired domain (the domain that you
would like to add the Learning Path to) selected in
the left-hand menu, right-click on your mouse, and
select ‘new’ and then ‘Learning Path’.
You will be directed to a page where you will be
prompted to enter a code, title, and description for
the new course, as well as whether users will be
automatically enrolled depending on selected
metadata, whether the course will be accessible to
Learners via the ‘Available’ tab, or whether users
must be manually enrolled by a Faculty member.
Adding and Editing Competencies and Activities Competencies and Activities are used in Learning
Paths to set what activities and courses a user
needs to do in order to satisfy the learning path
requirements. These can be e-learning activities
(for example, taking an online course through the
LMS) or a “real-world” activity (working with an
instructor at a “hands-on” activity).
Competencies are the overall umbrella list of what
the learner must do in order to satisfy the learning
path requirements. For example, 'Meetings with
Supervisor' would be an Objective.
Activities are the actual learning objects or activities
the learner must do in order to satisfy the learning
path requirements.
Page 18 of 29
For example, 'Initial Meeting with Supervisor' and
'Final Meeting with Supervisor' would be two
activities under the 'Meetings with Supervisor'
Objective.
The LMS allows the Learning Path administrator
or Supervisor to determine how the learner will
meet or satisfy the activity or objective to obtain a
completed status. Each of these activities could be
authenticated by the Supervisor or the Learner as
having been completed, thus the Learner would
have met the 'Meeting with Supervisor' objective.
Adding and Editing Equivalencies
On the 'manage tab in the admin view, click the
[series] button. You will be directed to a page
where you will be prompted to enter a code, title,
and description for the new series, attaining a
score that meets/exceeds a score threshold, and if
so, what that score threshold is.
-Set if there is to be a period of time that the
certification will be considered valid, and if so, what
that length of time is.
Set prerequisites that will apply to the series. Set
the rules for the prerequisites: whether all must be
satisfied, or if a portion of them, and if so, how
many.
Set if subsequent recertification will require the
same prerequisites as the initial certification, or
different ones. If subsequent certifications are to
have different rules, set what they are to be.
Click the [submit] button to save the series settings
and add the series to the list on the 'manage series'
page.
Delete Series of Equivalents
On the 'manage tab in the admin view, click the
[delete] button beside the series instance that you
wish to delete. You will be directed to a new page.
Click the [cancel] button to terminate the action,
leave the series intact, and return to the list of
series. Click [confirm] to delete the series from the
LMS and return to the 'manage series' page.
Edit Series of Equivalents
To edit the details and/or prerequisite settings of an
existing series, click the [edit] button beside the
series instance that you wish to make changes to.
You will be directed to a new page, with the series
details present. Make desired changes to the
series. Click the [submit] button to save the
changes and return to the list of series.
Bulk Enroll Sometimes it is necessary to enroll more than one
learner at a time but from different departments
within the domain.
Page 19 of 29
To enroll multiple learners, click [actions] button
beside the Course, ILT, or Learning Path and
Select 'bulk enroll'. Check the checkbox alongside
the names of users that you wish to enroll into the
Course, ILT, or Learning Path.
The list will include up to 1000 Learners. If there
are more than 1000 then scroll to “Show More
Results”. Click the [enroll] button to start the
process of enrolling the selected learners. To find a
specific learner, enter their first or last name or
email address into the 'search' box and click
'search'. To clear any results that are returned, and
return to the entire list of learners, click 'clear'.
Page 20 of 29
My Communication
Manage the interactions of Learners and
Moderators beyond the classroom via Forums,
Chat and Mailboxes. Here you can find these tools
consolidated, making it simple to move from
conversation to conversation across your Center.
Managing Forum at the Domain and Course/Learning Path Levels Collaborate with your learners through forums
where learners and moderators alike can vote on
important conversations moving them to the top of
the list. Views are also tracked to help indicate
popular conversations. Forums can be set-up and
moderated at any level of learning from the course
to globally across the entire LMS.
When you start a discussion or reply to a forum
question, you can upload an attachment for others
to access. You can also zip multiple files for
uploading to a forum. If the forum is associated
with a course or Learning Path, attachments
should be uploaded there so future learners can
easily locate them.
Page 21 of 29
Managing Chat at the Domain and Course/Learning Path Levels Collaborate with your learners live via instant chat
in 'Discussion Live'. Schedule a chat session or
leave a chat room open all of the time. Either way,
speak to your learners directly to provide instant
support and feedback.
Mailboxes Communicate with your learners and moderators
via the LMS mail box. Provide learners with added
privacy through internal LMS web-based email
service instead of sharing external email
addresses
Send Bulk E-mails (Enhanced Feature August 2012) Description:
Emails to individual learners - can be sent by:
System Administrator, Specific Course/Learning
Path Moderator (if the user is enrolled in the
specific Course/LP) Specific Course/LP TA (if the
user is enrolled in the specific Course/LP and is
assigned to that specific TA) Emails sent by
distribution lists of learners - list would be
composed of: All learners (for System
Administrator) All learners enrolled in a specific
Course/LP (for that specific Course/LP Moderator)
All learners enrolled in a specific Course and
assigned to a TA (for that specific Course/LP TA)
below are learner and admin Mailbox details:
Page 22 of 29
Reports
Thinking Cap LMS comes with a series of
configurable reports. These reports can be run
once or scheduled to run on a regular basis. The
reports available include the following.
Standard Reports
Summary Reports
Completion Reports
Comparative Reports
Learner Uptake Reports
Demographic Reports
System Access Reports
For more information on each of these reports,
continue on in this document.
Each of the above reports can be run either as a
one-time report or as a scheduled report that is
automatically run on a requested frequency.
Running Reports To run a report simply log into the LMS and click
on the Reports option from the menu. The page
will refresh showing you a box for each type of
report and a box for the My Reports page.
Choose from this selection of report types and
then configure each to run once or select to have
your reports scheduled to run on a reoccurring
basis and delivered to a list of recipients. Each
report will start with configurable filtering options
that are specific to the type of report.
Once a report has been run it will appear in the My
Reports page. In addition to on-screen and
printable reports you can also download reports in
XML format that include a richer set of data which
you can manipulate in Excel.
Options for each report include the following.
View – click on the view button to see the
report displayed on screen.
Print – click on the view button and after the
report loads click on the print button on the top
right of the report
Download – click on the download button to
download a copy of the report with more data
available than the illustrated ‘view’ version. All
report downloads are in XML format. (For
more information about mining the data inside
a report’s XML download file see the Data
Mining Report Downloads section).
Create Schedule – To schedule the report to
be run on a regular basis click on the 'Create
Schedule' button. (For more information about
scheduling reports see the Scheduling and
Distributing Reports section).
Delete – remove this individual report and the
settings associated with it from the ‘my
reports’ list altogether.
Report Scope A report may cover one or more learners, courses
or learning paths depending on the nature of the
report. All reports require you use the left hand
"Domain" listing to determine the "scope" of the
report. On the right hand panel you are able to
further modify your section selecting one or more
objects within the selected domain. Which
Domains and what objects in those Domains you
can select are governed by your individual Roles
and Permissions.
Page 23 of 29
Sample domain listing selection
Standard Reports The standard report in the LMS provides a
detailed breakdown of learner progress through a
course of learning path. This report can be
targeted to any version of the course released and
can employ a wide range of built in and definable
filters. These filtering options include:
Include only learners who enrolled
between selected dates
Include only learners who started before
or after a selected date
Include only learners who completed
between selected dates
Include only learners who had an overall
score of either less than or greater than a
selected percentage score
Include only learners who had a
completion time of greater or less than a
selected amount of time
Custom metadata selections (filtering
based on custom metadata fields added to
the LMS that apply to the learners)
Sample standard report filters
The report created includes a comprehensive
version by version breakdown of learner progress
starting with an overview of the total learners
versus active learners, number of learners
completed, and the anticipated duration versus the
average per learner duration.
Sample report results showing an overview of a version of a course
The report follows this with a lesson-by-lesson
detailed outline of the learners’ progress including
(if selected and implemented within the course)
the SCORM CMI interactions recording specific
learner interactions with the course.
Page 24 of 29
Sample report results showing an lesson-by-lesson breakdown of a version of a course
Summary Reports Summary reports provide a quick view version of
the progress made in courses or learning paths.
This report can be configured to filter by your
custom metadata fields added to your LMS and
applied to your learners and by selected one, a
selection or all of the courses or learning paths.
Sample summary report filters
The resulting reports provide a series of bar
graphs depicting the following comparisons.
Completion status: not started, in progress
or completed
Success: passed versus failed
Scores: average scores compared to the
passing score
Time spent: average time spent compared
to the anticipated time spent
Sample report results showing a course overview
Completion Reports Completion reports provide a breakdown by
learner, course or learning path of the progress
made. This report differs depending on the
selection of date: learners, courses or learning
paths.
Sample completion report filters
Depending on the focus selected during the
configuration step, this report outlines the
completion status. When learners are selected as
the focus, the report results are grouped by
learner and list the results for each course or
learning path.
Page 25 of 29
Sample completion report results where report focus was selected
Where a course or learning path was selected as
the report’s focus, the results are grouped by the
course or learning path and list the results for each
learner.
Sample completion report results where report focus was selected
Comparative Reports Comparative reports provide a comprehensive
analysis of a course or learning path available
across several domains. Results for these reports
can be configured using the following filters.
Show success results
Show completion results
Show time spent results
Show score results
Custom metadata selections (filtering
based on custom metadata fields added to
the LMS that apply to the learners)
Sample comparative report filters
Report results are grouped by course or learning
path and compare the results selected across
each domain in a series of bar graphs.
Sample report results showing a course completion across multiple domains
Learner Uptake Reports Easily track the speed of learner uptake for
courses or learning paths. Filter the results by the
learners you wish to track and click on the get
report button.
Page 26 of 29
Sample learner uptake report filters
Report results calculate the first course and
learning path to be started and the first to be
completed by each learner from the date they
were added to the system.
Sample report results showing the average uptake and one learner
Demographic Reports The LMS contains a wide range of metadata fields
that provide richer content tagging capabilities
than keyword tags. A series of standard metadata
fields comes with the LMS out-of-the-box and
additional metadata can be added that are custom
to your Center. This report lets you view a
comprehensive demographic breakdown of your
learners by metadata field. You can filter the
report by selecting which metadata fields you wish
to include.
Sample demographic report filters
Results for this report show a bar graph for each
selected metadata to illustrate the number of
learners associated with each metadata option.
Sample report results showing one metadata selection and the number of learners associated to each option
System Access Report How are learners using the system? Are they
coming once in a while or are they constantly
accessing Thinking Cap? Target individuals and
groups with this report to look at system use and
traffic patterns.
Page 27 of 29
These reports can be configured using the
following filters.
One, some or all learners
Learners who have or have not logged
in a selected number of days, weeks or
months
Sample system access report filters
Report results are grouped by learner showing
both the date the learner last logged in and the
number of days since this last login.
Sample report results showing two learners’ system access details
Scheduling and Distributing Reports
Every report in the Thinking Cap LMS can be
scheduled to run automatically with reoccurring
frequency. Once a report has run, you can click
on a create schedule button. From here you are
taken to a page to select the frequency and
distribution details for the chosen report.
Sample report schedule
To schedule the report follow these steps:
1. Enter the name the report into the ‘report
name’ text box.
2. Select the recipients by selecting to
include course moderators, teaching
assisstants and/or domain managers.
Add to this selection any additional
recipients by entering their email
addresses into the report distribution text
box separated by a comma.
3. Select the frequency with which the report
should run by selecting to run the report
each day, week or month. If you select
each day, chose which day(s) you wish to
run the report. If you select each week,
choose which day of the week to run the
weekly report. If you select each month,
chose which day of the month to run the
report.
Page 28 of 29
Data Mining Report Downloads All LMS reports are available for download for
further analysis. To download a report click on the
download button and save the XML file to your
computer. Open Microsoft Excel and then open
the file you saved. Select Use the XML Source
task pane.
A warning message may pop-up saying the
following. Click OK.
The XML structure will appear in a bar to the right
of your worksheet.
Find the information you want included in your
report and add it to the worksheet by clicking on
each item and dragging it into your worksheet.
Excel will create a column for each piece of
information you include.
Once you have selected your worksheet columns,
right click inside the table to import the data into
the report.
Click on XML and then on Import. You will be
prompted to open the same XML file. Browse to
find the file and click Open. The worksheet will
then populate with the report’s data into your
chosen columns.
Page 29 of 29
You can filter your results by clicking on the arrow
to the right of any column header and selecting
one or more of the values to filter by or enter the
text you wish to filter by.
The first time you bring your XML file into Excel
you will need to generate a report template. Once
you have done this once you can reuse this
template for future XML report data files.
