Teacher Assistant Basics for Secondary Schools

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1 for Secondary Schools Logging into esis Please refer to the document Downloading the esis Icon to Your Desktop for instructions on adding the esis Icon to your desktop. The Loading window stays open in the background while esis is running. If you close the window, you will lose any unsaved changes in esis, and will have to logon again. The esis Password is case sensitive. The Username and Database are not. The Username is usually firstname_lastname. The Username can be typed in either upper or lower case, e.g. jane_doe or Jane_ Doe. Do not forget to type the underscore character as part of your username. See your school esis Security Contact if you have questions or problems with your esis security. The first time you log on to esis, you must change your password. Security in esis is governed by passwords, roles, and read/edit restrictions. Security focuses on providing individual users either no access, read-only access, or full update rights to screens and reports in esis. In Teacher Assistant, a teacher can view demographic information, take attendance, enter marks, and print reports for students who are assigned to the teacher s classes. Logging in requires that you enter your Username, Password, and Database name. Launching esis esis is launched using an icon on your Windows desktop. If you do not have an esis icon on your desktop, contact your Technology Coordinator or the esis contact at your school. After clicking on the icon, you will see a loading screen while esis loads. The first time you start esis, it may take a couple of minutes. Be patient. If you see the Loading Java Applet screen, esis is starting up. To logon: 1. Launch esis. This will display the esis Logon screen, shown below. 2. Type your esis Username. firstname_lastname 3. Tab to the next field and type your esis Password. As you type your password, only asterisks (**) will be displayed, making it more difficult for someone to compromise your password. 4. In the Database field, type in the database name provided to you in class, e.g. Prod. 04/13/ of 11

2 5. Click on the Connect button to log onto esis. 6. When you logon successfully, the Teacher Assistant start screen will be displayed. For assistance with logging on, contact your school s Technology Coordinator or designated esis contact. If you have difficulty logging on, you may need to do the following: Make sure JInitiator is installed. The JInitiator plugin is required for esis. Make sure pop-ups are allowed. esis will not function if popups are blocked. Double-check your logon entry. Make sure that CAPS LOCK is turned off, and that you type your password slowly and correctly. Remember that the password is case sensitive. Please refer to the document Pop-up Blockers and Installing JInitiator for more information. 04/13/ of 11

3 Class Changes Notification When you first log onto Teacher Assistant, the Class Changes Notification screen will be displayed if student schedule changes have been made that affect the class list. This includes students leaving the class and students who are new to the class. Student program changes and student withdrawals will be reflected with a Left Class message. New students entering the class will be reflected with a New to Class message. The Class Changes Notification screen will be displayed every time the Class List is opened as long as there are class changes that have not been acknowledged. To acknowledge a class change: 1. Click on the Read? checkbox associated with the student to acknowledge that the change has been read. This notification will no longer appear on the Class Changes Notification screen. 2. Click the OK button. 3. The Teacher Assistant start screen will then be displayed. 04/13/ of 11

4 Changing Your Password esis contains confidential information. To preserve the integrity of the system, Usernames and Passwords should be protected and not shared with other users. It is very important to inform the esis Security Contact at your school about any changes in your password. The esis State team assigns a default password that you will use the first time you logon to the system. You must change the default password the first time you logon to esis. You should change the password again at any time you feel the password may have been compromised. To change your password: 1. Select Action > My Preferences from the menu bar on the Teacher Assistant Start screen. 2. The Preferences screen will be displayed. 3. Click on the Edit User Profile button in the top right corner of the screen to display the Change Password screen. 04/13/ of 11

5 4. The Oracle Change Password screen will be displayed. Save Exit Password Recommendations: Minimum of 6 characters long Contain at least one number and one letter Begin with an alpha character Cannot contain symbols 5. Type your current password in the Enter your old Password field. If this is the first time you have changed your password, the old password will be the default password provided by the esis Security Contact. 6. Type your new password in the Enter your new Password field. The new password should follow the school s password policy. 7. Re-type the new password in the Verify your new Password field. 8. Do not enter anything in the User Address field. Leave the field blank, since it is not used by the Hawaii DOE. 9. Click the Save icon. 10. A message will be displayed if you successfully changed your password. If you fail to save the new password before exiting, your old password will still be valid. 11. Click on OK to acknowledge the message. Your new password will be in effect the next time you logon to esis. 12. Exit through the blue door until you exit esis from the start screen. 13. Restart esis by using the refresh icon (please refer to the Closing esis section of this document) and log back on with your new password to verify that your password has been changed. 14. Notify the esis Security Contact at your school so that your new password is documented. 04/13/ of 11

6 Navigation Each teacher has access to students within their own classroom. The teacher s primary duties are related to taking attendance and entering student marks into electronic report cards. Menu Bar Navigation for Teachers The menu bar from the Teacher Assistant start screen is shown below: The Teacher Assistant menu bar has been tailored to the needs of the classroom teacher. It provides the following options: Action Includes options for maintaining personal preferences (including changing the password), changing the date for taking attendance, and running reports. My Students Includes options for working with the records of students within the teacher s assigned classroom. My Classes Includes options for managing classroom activities such as an attendance summary. Query Used to quickly narrow the search for a specific record. Lock Temporarily locks the workstation so that others cannot access confidential student information while the user is away from the computer. This function is useful if you will be away from the computer for a short time but do not wish to log off. Once you select the Lock function, you must re-enter your esis password to regain access to the system. Help Launches the online help system created by AAL, the company that developed esis. The Help menu also has an About esis option that displays the version of esis software being used, and describes how you are connected to the esis server. If you experience system problems, select the About option to display the latest revision date, program name, version number, and user name. This information will assist with troubleshooting the problem when you contact the Technology Coordinator for your school. Other menu options are used by technical support staff when troubleshooting problems. Window This option is not used. 04/13/ of 11

7 Navigation on Teacher Assistant start screen is done by clicking on navigation buttons. The main Teacher functions are started by clicking on the following buttons: View Demographics using the Basic Demographics button. Office staff is responsible for updating demographic information. Teachers have read-only access. View Student Attendance summary using Student Absences button. There are 3 tabs: o Period by class o Period by date o Last 4 School Days The Info button to the right of each student s name is a shortcut to Parent/Emergency Contacts information. Take Attendance using the List button. The Summary button provides a summary of the attendance records for all students in the class. The Condensed Att. Entry button allows users an optional screen to record absences and lates. Access Reports related to classroom activities using the Reports button. Fill in Report Card information using the Mark Entry button. Setup Options button can be used to change the attendance date and user password. The following buttons are not used: Other Features Academic Progress Photo Spreadsheet Single 04/13/ of 11

8 Sample of the Student Demographics (TA) screen. The Alert button will display any custodial or health alerts (if applicable). Navigate from page to page by clicking on the tabs near the top of the screen. The demographic information is available for all students in the teacher s classes. The information can only be changed by the Office Staff. Sample of the Parent/Emergency Contact screen displayed after clicking on the Info button to the right of the student s name. Click on the OK button in the middle of this screen. 04/13/ of 11

9 As an example of the report function, select a student in the classroom, then click on the Printer icon from the Teacher Assistant start screen to display a list of available reports. Select a report in this case, the Attendance Summary and click again on the Printer icon to display a parameter screen. Once parameters have been selected, the report is printed as a PDF file, as shown below. The report can be saved on the local computer, or the report can be sent to a printer directly from the PDF file. 04/13/ of 11

10 Hiding the Taskbar or Dock By maximizing your desktop window, you will be able to see system messages on the browser status bar displayed at the bottom of the screen. To maximize the desktop window: If you are a PC user, you can hide the taskbar: 1. Right-click on the task bar. 2. Select Properties. 3. Check Auto-hide, then click OK. If you are a Mac OS 10.X user, you can move the dock to the side or hide it: 1. Click on the Apple in the Menu Bar. 2. Select Dock and the pull down menu will appear. 3. Choose "Turn Hiding On." Getting Around in esis The Exit icon (also called the blue door ) is used to close a screen after any data on the page has been saved (using the Save icon). If there are unsaved changes, you will be prompted to save the changes before closing the screen, but only if you exit through the blue door. This icon should ALWAYS be used to close screens within esis or to exit completely when you are on the Start screen. Other common icons include the following: Used to print Reports. From the start screen, the printer icon will display a list of available reports for a selected student. From other screens, the icon will hot print a report specific to the currently selected function. Used to Save changes to the information on the screen before closing the screen. 04/13/ of 11

11 Lock Your Workstation Always lock your workstation when you are away from your desk. esis has a Lock function that allows a user to leave their workstation temporarily without logging out of esis. To access esis again, the user must re-enter their password. To lock esis: 1. Click on Lock from the menu bar at the top of the screen. The following screen will be displayed. While this screen is displayed, nobody can access the esis application on your workstation. 2. When ready to use esis again, enter your esis user password and click on the OK button to continue. Closing esis To close esis, click on the blue door from the Teacher Assistant start screen. You will be warned that you are about to exit esis, and given a chance to change your mind. If you do accidentally close esis, there is an easy way to get back in. 1. Locate the Loading screen, which is the Internet Explorer browser screen that appears when you launch esis. 2. Refresh the browser session. This can be done by pressing <F5> or by clicking on the refresh icon in the browser. 3. The esis login prompt will be displayed so that you can logon again. 04/13/ of 11