Publisher Content, Lesson Creation, SmartBoard & Collaboration Log In URL: https://lv.bcsd.com Log in to Learning Village, using your district email log in information. Exploring the Dashboard: Top-level navigation contains the major divisions of the Learning Village application. The tabs across the top include: Dashboard / Home Page Content Calendar Discussions Reports News and Notifications 1
Publisher Content: To view the Publisher content within BCSD Learning Village, Click on the Content tab located on the tabs across the top of the Dashboard page. You are now in the Content Library. The Content Library is where all Content Items are housed. Viewing a Content Item in the Content Library: A content item can be viewed by clicking on the title hyper link for the desired content item. All items/lessons located in this hyper link will load and the titles are available on the right hand side of the screen. 2
Customizing Your View in the Content Library: Items per Page Use the Items per page dropdown menu to select the number of items you want to display on a page. You can choose to display 10, 25, or 50 content items at a time. If there are enough items in the list, the items may continue on more than one page. To navigate between pages, click the Change Page links just above the Items per page drop-down menu. Page Layout To change the width of the left and right sides of the Content Library, or the height of the top and bottom portions of the left-hand pane, click and drag the bar between the two panes. Opening a Content Item from the Content Library: Click on the title of the desired content item you wish to open. You may also navigate to Content Items through District Folders. The content items are placed in grade level folders for your convenience. To navigate to this view, click on District Folders. 3
Browsing District Folders: Learning Village 2.0 Site Map To view content items inside a folder: Click the plus sign next to a folder to expand the folder and see a list of the folders within it. When clicked, the plus sign will change to a minus sign. Click the title of any content item you want to view. The item will open in a new window. When you are done, close the window to return to the District Folder. Click the minus sign next to a folder to collapse the folder. Managing My Folders: The My Folders page is divided into two sections. The left side of the page displays the hierarchical list of folders and subfolders you have created. The right side of the page displays the subfolders or content item links in a selected folder. 4
New Folder Learning Village 2.0 Site Map You can add new folders to the My Folders hierarchy. There are two ways to create a new folder. In the folder list on the left, use the right mouse button to click on the folder in which you want to create your new folder, and then select New from the popup menu. The second way is to highlight the row that contains the folder in the list on the right, and then click the New Folder button at the top of the list. On the New Folder page that opens, type a Title and Description of the folder. The title is required, but the description is optional. Click the Spelling... link to check the spelling of your new text if you want. Click OK when you are done. 5
Delete Folder You can delete a folder from the My Folders hierarchy. There are two ways to delete a folder. Use the right mouse button to click on the folder in the folder list on the left, and then select Delete from the pop-up menu 6
or highlight the row that contains the folder in the list on the right, and then click the Delete button at the left top of the list. Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the folder. Copying/Editing Publisher Lessons & Content: You may copy a Publisher Lesson Plan or other content to make personal additions. For instance, you may want to add a SmartBoard Resource or manipulate the lesson in someway. To Copy an Item: Select the content to be copied, open this content item by clicking on the title. Click the Copy Item button. This will create a duplicate of the content item, which will be identical to the original item, except the word Copy will be appended to the title. The copied Content Item will appear automatically in the same folder the original appears. Bookmark this item to your My Folder. Click Create Bookmark in the left top tool bar. A Bookmark Item box will appear. Highlight the desired folder in User Folders and click OK. Your copy of the content item has now been saved to MY Folders. 7
To make changes to the item, click the Edit Content button. On the Edit page that opens, you can change any of the content or attach a file to the content item. To Attach Files and Documents: Users can attach files and documents to a Content item. To attach a file to a content item, Click on the Attach File icon in the upper right corner. A browser will appear at the bottom of the template. You will be able to browse your computer files and documents. Click OK to upload the file. 8
To Attach a SmartBoard, Powerpoint or other Resource: Users may use the above process to attach a SmartBoard, Powerpoint or any other Resource that has been created and saved to a desktop (Please refer to the next section on how To Create a SmartBoard, Powerpoint or Other Resource in Learning Village.) Users may also attach a SmartBoard, Powerpoint or other Resource that appears in the SmartBoard, Powerpoint or K-5/6-8 Resources in Learning Village to a Content Item (lesson). Choose the desired Lesson, click on Edit Item. At the bottom of the template, a Resources box will appear. Choose the desired Resource in the drop down menu. Click on Add Content Items. Use Search by typing in title and clicking on Search, or simply click Search and all available Resources will appear. Check the desired resource and click Save Content Item. 9
To Create a SmartBoard, Powerpoint or Other Resource in Learning Village: Log in to Learning Village, using your district email log in. Click on Content Tab. Click on the desired resource: Resources-SmartBoard K-5/SmartBoard 6-8, Resources-Powerpoint K-5/Powerpoint 6-8, Resources- K-5/Resources- 6-8 for all other resources not SmartBoard or Powerpoint. Click on the actual words. For example, Resources- SmartBoard K-5 or SmartBoard 6-8 Click NEW 10
Enter Title (**Very Important! Remember to use the correct naming conventions with proper spacing) o For SmartBoard Resources: SB (Grade) (Subject) (Topic) Example: SB 04 Math Compare and Contrast SB 00 K Math Solid Shapes o For Powerpoint Resouces: PP (Grade) (Subject) (Topic) Example: PP 08 Math Powers and Exponents o For Resources- K-5 & Resources 6-8: (Grade) (Subject) (Topic) Example: 01 Math Adding With Zero 00 K Math Counting 1 to 10 Add the Grade level and Subject clicking on Add Keywords under each heading. You are now ready to attach your resource. o Click Attach File o Click the BROWSE Button. o Locate your file, it maybe on your desktop or on your jump drive, which you can access from My Computer o Click OK. 11
A box will appear alerting you to bookmark your item. o Click on the name of your folder and Click OK. Click Close when you are completed. To access your resource: o Click on My Folder. You can now locate the resource. To Share a resource: o Open the item, and click SHARE, your item will now be shared out for all teachers to view. 12
Creating Your Own Content Item/Lesson: Navigate to the Content Library. To locate the Content Library, click on the Content tab from the Dashboard. You will automatically be brought to the Content Library. Once a Content Item Template is built, as long as you have the correct permission you can add a new Content Item using that Template from the main Content Library page. To do so: o Select the template on the left side of the screen for creating your content item. Currently, you are permissioned to create lessons in the BCSD 6-8 Lesson Plans and BCSD K-5 Lesson Plans. o Click the New button on the right side in the browse list. o The New Item page opens and displays a blank template for the content item you want to create. The template may include some or all of the following fields. Note that a red asterisk indicates a required field. Field Type Different types of fields allow users to enter different types of information. Fields added based on predetermined Keyword lists contain a drop down from which users select information appropriate to the Content Item they are created. Grade, Course, Subject, Standards, etc., are typical fields containing Keyword drop down lists. 13
Other field types include Free Text fields allowing users to type in or copy and past text-based information. This field has functionality similar to a word document. Below are fields common to Content Items created in Learning Village: o Title Type the title for the content item. This is a required field that identifies the item in the Content Library. o Standards To associate your content to local, state, or national standards, click the Add Standard(s) button. In the Select Standard(s) window that opens, click the check box next to each standard you want to associate with your Content Item. Click the Add Selected button. The standards you have chosen will appear in the box in the lower part of the window. Click the Save button when you are done. o Grade Content items may be grade-specific, or may be appropriate to a range of grades/levels. To associate your item with a grade/level or range of grades/levels, click the Add Keyword(s) button. In the Manage Keywords window that opens, click the check box next to each Grade/Level keyword you want to assign to your Content Item. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page when you are done. o Subject Content items may apply to multiple subject areas. To associate your item with one or more subjects, click the Add Keyword(s) button. In the Manage Keywords window that opens, click the check box next to each Subject keyword you want to assign to your Content Item. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page when you are done. 14
o Course Content items may apply to multiple subject areas. To associate your item with one or more subjects, click the Add Keyword(s) button. In the Manage Keywords window that opens, click the check box next to each Course keyword you want to assign to your Content Item. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page when you are done. o Text Fields Enter and format your content in each text field, including tables and bulleted or numbered lists. Add hyperlinks and insert images as needed. Click the icons at the bottom of the field to view your content in three different ways: Design mode, HTML mode, and Preview mode. o Spell Check After you have entered your content, you may run a spell-check. To do this, scroll back up to the top of the page and click the Spelling Submitting Content Items (Lessons) to Certification Team: In order for a lesson to be shared or viewed by the whole district, the lesson must be submitted to the District Certification Team for Best Practice status. (Remember your are currently permissions to create and submit lessons from the BCSD K-5 Lesson Plans and the BCSD 6-8 Lesson Plans.) Once a lesson has been created and saved, the following information box will appear, Click Submit to Certification. 15
Click on the drop down arrow to select the Certification Team (as of June 2009, there is only one choice). Click Update. Your item will now go to the Certification Team. Your item will now show a status of Submitted For Certification and a notification will be sent to each member of the Certification Team. This process will ensure lessons meet the district guidelines for best practice. Once the lesson has been submitted for Certification the View Votes button appears. Click the View Votes button to review the status of votes for each of the team members. The lesson status will change to Best Practice and the lesson will be shared to the district in Learning Village, if it meets the best practices guidelines set forth by the district. School & Grade Level Collaboration Teams: Each school and school grade level will be given a separate log in and password. These unique log ins will allow you to collaborate on lessons to be presented to the Certification Team for best practice status, the process which will allow these lessons to be shared with other BCSD members through Learning Village. The team will create lessons as stated above in the section entitled Creating Your Own Content Item/Lesson. With the other team members having the same log in, the team will be able to collaborate and edit these lessons. 16
Calendars Exploring the Calendar (Today s Events) : The Calendar makes it easy for you to keep track of important events, such as school activities and personal appointments. Using the personal, public, and shared calendars keeps you organized and lets you coordinate your schedule with others. Depending on your permissions and subscriptions to public or shared calendars, you may have access to multiple calendars that can be displayed at once for easy reference and scheduling. The user also has the ability to attach lessons found in Learning Village to a calendar. Users can access the calendar from two places. From the Dashboard, click View Calendar or select the Calendar tab. 17
Learning Village Calendar Viewer: The left side of the Calendar page lists all of the calendars you have access to. The calendars are organized into three categories: Personal, Public, and Shared. Click a plus sign to expand a calendar list; click a minus sign to collapse the list. Clicking the check box next to any calendar in the list will display the events it contains on the right side of the page. To view the events in more than one calendar at a time, click the check boxes next to the calendars you want to view. In the calendar view, use the left and right arrow buttons in the upperleft corner of the calendar to navigate backward and forward between time periods. Use the scrollbar on the right of the calendar to scroll through the hours of a day or the weeks of a month, depending on your view. The calendar days/events are color coded using the following colors: o Green Non instructional days o White Instructional days o Blue Events from Personal Calendars o Yellow Events from Shared/Public Calendars 18
Personal Calendar-Created and owned by the individual user. A user may maintain and delete appointments that exist on this calendar. Public Calendar- A public calendar can be viewed by subscribing to one that has been previously shared by another user. The logged in user must have been given rights to view a calendar to subscribe. Shared Calendar- Calendars that are available for viewing by one or more SharePoint groups. Users must have proper permission to create Shared Calendars, or to view them. A shared calendar can be viewed in a merged view with the personal calendar. Subscribe to Calendars: From the Dashboard, click View Calendar or navigate from the Top- Navigation bar click on Calendar. Right click Public Calendars. Click Find Shared Calendars. 19
Select the correct Calendar. Click Subscribe. This calendar will now be found in your public calendars. Personal Calendars: Personal Calendars are private and can be viewed only by you. Use a personal calendar to keep track of your own appointments, meetings, or events. To create a Personal Calendar: o Use the right mouse button to click the title Personal Calendar in the calendar list, and then select Create Personal Calendar from the pop-up menu. 20
Click on Create Personal Calendar, enter the following information: o Name Type a title/name for your calendar. o Description Type a short description of your calendar. o Use Instructional Calendar Click the check box if you want events that occur outside of school hours to be modified to fit the school calendar. Click OK, your Personal Calendar will be available only to you. To create a calendar that other users can see, you will need to create a Public or Shared Calendar. You must have specific permissions from your administrator to create a Shared Calendar. To view a Personal Calendar, click the check box next to the calendar you want to view. Entering an Event on your Personal Calendar: To Enter an Event on your Personal Calendar: o Double click on the day you wish to enter the event. A box will open and ask for the following information: Subject, Description and Time. If you have more than one calendar, identify which calendar this event is taking place on. o 21
o Recurring Appointment If your appointment occurs repeatedly on a regular schedule, select this option. Additional fields will appear in the lower part of the form where you can specify how often the appointment will recur, and how many times. o Float If Use Instructional Calendar is selected on the calendar, any events that occur on a non-school day will be moved to the next school day. o Trim If Use Instructional Calendar is selected on the calendar, any events that occur on a non-school day will be deleted. o None If you do not want to use the Float or Trim options, select None. Click Insert. Adding Content to an Individual Day or Event: To Add a Content Item to an Individual Day: o Double Click on the Day. Enter the Subject, Description, and Time. Be sure to select the Calendar you want to add the content to. o Click ADD CONTENT ITEMS. o The Select a Content Item box will open which allows users to search for the content. Click Search. 22
o Select the checkbox of the Item to Add to Calendar. More than one item can be added to each event/day. o At the bottom of the box, Click Save Content Items. Click Insert. Viewing Content Items from Calendar: o To View a Content Item added to a Calendar: o Select the Calendar you would like to view. 23
o Double Click on the event in the calendar day and the blue message box will open. Scroll down and locate the link(s) of the Content Item(s). Double Click to launch the item and access content. 24
For any additional Learning Village Questions, please contact: Dana Johnson johnsonda@bcsd.com 631-4778 ext. 14778 25