The Registration and Menu System

Users access individual lessons through a menu system. The menu system presents a list of possible choices. When a user selects one of the items on the menu it leads directly to a lesson or to another list of choices.

Users are registered on the system and given unique identification codes and secret passwords. This ensures that each user's data is kept separate from other users and that no user can alter another user's records. Users come in three different flavours:

Students

Students select the next activity to take from a menu. When the activity is done, the menu is presented for the next selection.

Instructors

An instructor can select the same activities as a student. In addition, the instructor has authoring capability; that is, the power to make changes to the course subject matter. Finally, the instructor registers and supervises students.

Master

One user id code, MASTER, is reserved for the system supervisor. The Master has access to everything available to students and instructors. Additionally, Master is responsible for registering instructors and for making changes to the menu structures and menu items.

Signing On

A user begins with a screen that requests an identification code. This code is assigned when the user is registered (by an instructor for students, by MASTER for instructors) and is unique to the user.

When a valid student identification code is entered, pressing the Tab key moves to the password entry field. The password is not shown on the screen while it is being entered. In the screen below, the identification code AT96003 has been entered and the password PWORD is being typed in. When all fields are complete, the user should click on the Login button or simply press the Enter key.

The server name should be preset for you. Normally you will not have to change this, in some cases it will be greyed out or not shown depending on how the system was set up when installed.

Typing errors can be corrected with the backspace key.

The process of signing in is the same for all users, and requires that the user know both the identification code and the secret password.

The Windows Interface

The CAN-8 system for windows consists of several screen objects that may be used in different ways. At the top of the screen, there is a menu bar. For the 3 different types of users, there are slight differences in the options available.

The student menu bar only has three top level options. The controls available in the menu bar duplicate functions elsewhere and will be discussed at that time.

The instructor and MASTER menu bars have six items to choose from. The available choices for instructors and MASTER are slightly different and will be discussed as they are applicable to system operation.

These buttons represent the Exit function. This allows users to sign off the system or the current lesson. Users may also exit by selecting the File and Exit options from the menu bar, by closing the menu window, or by pressing F9 on the keyboard.

Using Menus

A menu presents a list of choices to the user. When the user moves the highlighted bar to a choice and presses the Enter key, (or clicks on the choice with the mouse) the appropriate lesson is entered. Some choices, however, lead to other menus.

You may use the mouse to navigate through the menus in the following way. By clicking once on a non-selected item, that item will highlight in the menu and appear as selected. By clicking a second time on the selected item, that item will be entered into. In some cases, you may wish to only select an item but not enter into it.

You may also use the keyboard to navigate the menus. The following keys are active in the menu:

Cursor Down

Moves the selection down one line in the menu.

Cursor Up

Moves the selection up one line in the menu.

Pg Down

Moves the menu down by 15 lines if there are lines to display.

Pg Up

Moves the menu up by 15 lines if there are lines to display.

Enter

Enters into the currently selected menu item.

Tab

Cycles through the displayed menus in the order they were selected.

Student Menus

Registering Users

Students first have to be registered by an instructor. Students registered by an instructor "belong" to that instructor. Subsequently an instructor can alter only the students who belong to that instructor.

The instructor sees a menu similar to the one shown on the right. Selecting the first option shows the next menu.
The registration menu enables an instructor to create a user ID, delete the user, change an already existing user, and list the users who have been registered by the instructor.
When the instructor selects the option to register a user the form shown below is displayed. This form is also used when changing a user ID. The following fields on the form can be filled in:

The User ID is the identification code that the student signs on with. It must be unique to that student. Any combination of letters and numbers with no spaces can be used. A maximum of 18 characters is supported.

The User Name is the student's name. When listed, the names are sorted beginning with the first letter. It may be desirable to enter the names surname first. A maximum of 30 characters is supported.

The Initial User Password is the password to be used for the user to sign on. The default is set to PWORD and the user may change it at any time using the Change Password option. A maximum of 8 characters is supported. The password text does not display when being changed or entered.

The Initial Menu is the starting point of the user in the menu system. The default for students is called STUD. The default for instructors is INST. Other menu names may be created by the Master on a site specific basis.

The student can be enrolled in a number of classes. Each of the classes is listed by class code in the form. The classes must have been created prior to enrolling students into them.

The Menu permission attributes can be filled in with any of the system defined attributes. The student will see only menu items that have been assigned one of these attributes.

Clicking on Student Interface Attributes allows the instructor to modify the look and language of the student's screen and function buttons. The instructor can choose the appearance of function buttons (none, iconic, text, legacy iconic), the Player display background (white background/black text or black background/white text), the menu text (small/medium/large serif/sans serif), and the language of the text buttons depending on the preference of the users.

Function buttons, can be:
Text :	Small icons:	Large icons:	Legacy icons:	or have none at all.

The style of the Player display can be: or

Menu text can be: Serif: Sans Serif:

The background image can be altered by using the Set Image button. Clicking on the Set Image button will open a planner screen of the backgrounds previously registered by the MASTER. Simply highlighting the first letter of the file name with the blinking cursor. Then exiting by clicking on or pressing F9 without moving the position of the blinking cursor.

The default setting for the display appearence is determined by the settings for the instructor. Any student an instructor registers will have the same, icons, font and background display by default, as that instructor unless otherwise specified.

It is also possible to create students using import files.

Delete a User

This option will ask for the User ID of the user to be deleted. Only the instructor who registered the user or Master can delete a user. To delete users using an Import file, see Appendix A.

Change a user

The form presented after this option is selected is the same as the one used to register a user. However, the fields are pre-filled with the current information for the user. If no change is necessary, the instructor presses the Cancel button. Otherwise the instructor makes the desired changes and presses the OK button.

When changing a user, all aspects of the users registration information may be changed except for the user ID code. To change a users ID code you must create a new user and delete the old one.

A user's registration can also be modified at any time by selecting Edit from the menu bar and the option for User.

Display user information

The following example shows the display format. Only the students originally registered by the instructor are displayed.


The displayed columns are: user name, user ID, initial menu and user number.

Browsing

If you select the Browse button in either the delete user, or modify user options, you will observe a list that is the same as the one above. You may then select the user to modify or delete by simply double clicking on their name.

Class Functions

When Class Functions are selected from the instructors menu, the menu shown on the left is presented.
A class is identified or referred to by its Class Code which is an eight character field containing letters and numbers. When the instructor selects the Create/Modify class option, the system asks for the Class Code. If the code has already been used, the information for that class is presented as shown in Figure 9 below. If the code is new, the same form is presented and must be filled in.


The form is filled in by typing information into the entry fields. Backspace and Delete keys can be used to erase characters. The Tab and Shift + Tab skip forward to the next field and back to the previous field respectively. The mouse can be used to position the text cursor at an input entry field.

The following fields are used:

Class Name

This name is the descriptive name used to tell the student which class is currently active. It may contain anything to a maximum of 40 characters.

Class Code

The Class Code is used as a unique name for the class. This code is used to register students for a class. The Class Code must be entered when students are added to or removed from a class. This code is required to access the Create/Modify form. The class code may be up to 8 characters in length.

Term

The Term field is a descriptive field. Any descriptive information may be entered, or it may be left blank. The term field may be up to 8 characters in length.

Instructor

The Instructor field is descriptive. When a class is created, the field is pre-filled with the name of the instructor who created the class. It may be changed to anything at all, maximum 30 characters.

Times

The class schedule allows for two start times for a class in each day of the week. The initial contents of these fourteen fields is HHMM. To set a start time for a day of the week, the instructor must enter the hour and minute of the beginning of the class. Hours are specified in 24 hour format. Two o'clock in the afternoon is entered as 1400. Each scheduled class begins at its start time and continues until a different class begins or the specified day ends. By setting the class times, the system can alter the attributes and menu selection of students who are enrolled in multiple classes, depending on what time it is. This can simplify the display for a multiple class student.

Schedule timing is meant to ease the navigation and simplify menu layouts. It is not meant to prevent students from accessing certain menus outside of class time. Indeed if a student is only a member of one class, that student will have access to all the menus and items attributed to that class regardless of schedule.

Attributes +

The attributes with which a student is registered determine which menu items are available to the student. Allocating attributes through class membership is perhaps the most efficient way of managing student access to the system
If the Class grouping has the schedule timing defined. It is possible to alter the a When a class is active, the attributes that are in this field are available to the student in addition to the ones the student was registered with. In effect, while the class is active, special menu items can be made available to the student. Attributes must be selected from the list of defined system attributes created by Master.

Attributes -

The attributes in this field are made unavailable to students while this class is active.

Add student to class

The system asks for a student ID and a Class Code. The student is added to the class specified. The provided Browse buttons will display lists of students and classes respectively.

Remove student from class

The system asks for a student ID and a Class Code. The student is removed from the class. The provided Browse buttons will display lists of students and classes respectively.

List Classes

When selected, this option displays a list of all classes that currently exist in the system as follows:


The columns are class code, class name, number of students in the class, and the instructors name.

List Students in Class

This option provides all the information available for the specified class as follows:


The information provided is all the supplied information from the class creation form along with a list of students that are in that class.

Modifying and Monitoring Student Material

The instructor can access the items in the student menu in the same way as a student. The highlighted entry can be moved with the cursor up and cursor down keys to the desired selection. Pressing the Enter key will select that item. The desired item is also selected when the mouse is clicked on the item name. The PgUp and PgDn keys can be used to access items that do not fit on the screen menu, or the mouse can be used with the scroll bars.

However, when a menu entry is an EAASy II item, the instructor has a choice of whether to access it as a student, or access it as an instructor. The alternate entry to a lesson as an instructor allows supervision of students or authoring of subject material.
To access these additional functions, the instructor has a choice of two methods. They may use the mouse and the right mouse button to click on the desired item in the menu. A small popup menu will appear and then using the left button on the mouse, they may select their choice of either the tracker or the planner.

Alternatively, if the desired menu item is already selected the instructor may access the File option from the menu bar at the top of the screen. This presents a similar list of options to access the tracker or the planner as the popup menu does.
For further information regarding the use of the tracker or the planner you should refer to the chapters on those options.

Some items in the menu do not have the option to be authored or tracked, in which case, an error will be displayed should the instructor try and do so.

Assignments

Assignments may be made for a class or for a single student. The system will ask for the class code if a class assignment is selected. If a student assignment is selected, the system will ask for the student ID code.

To create an assignment for either a class or student, the instructor selects the Assign option from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
The system will prompt for a user ID or class code depending on the option selected.
Once the user or class is selected, the displayed menu will turn to a purple colour indicating that assignment mode is active. An assignment consists of marking items on the student menu as unavailable. These items are not presented to the student. Consequently, the student must select from the remaining items that would normally be visible.

To select items from the menu to be modified as part of the assignment, the instructor would highlight the menu entry they wish to modify and then by clicking the right mouse button, they may access a pop-up menu that allows them to change the assignment state of the highlighted item.


Selecting Un-assign item, disables that item and prevents the student or class from accessing it.
These same options may be selected from the menu bar at the top of the screen if desired as shown on the left.


To re-enable a previously disabled item, you would select Assign item from the menu.


Example 1
In the assignment displayed in Example 1, the first and last items in the menu are available to the student.

Once the assignment is complete and to the instructors liking, it must be saved in order to restore the menu system back to its normal state and to make the assignment available to the students.
If an assignment is not needed anymore, it may be removed by selecting Assign and Remove Assignment from the menu bar at the top of the screen. The system will prompt for the user ID or class code that the assignment exists for and will then remove it without further question.

Report Functions

Detailed and Summary Reports are two internal functions of the CAN-8 software. They come by default in the system administrator's and instructor's menu.

Creating a Detailed Report menu entry

To create an entry in another submenu, follow the steps described below:

1. As system administrator, enter the editing mode.
2. Insert an item where you wish to have the report link located.
3. In the menu item window, select Internal in the type list, then type detailed report in the Internal field.
   
   
4. The menu item and attributes fields should be completed as well, at your choice and in function of your system's organization.
5. Save the changes to the menu.

Creating a Summary Report menu entry

Follow the steps described above until step 3, then as below:

• In the menu item window, select internal in the type list, then type Summary report in the internal field.
  
  
• Procede with steps 4 and 5 from above.

Detailed vs Summary Student Progress Reports

The detailed report provides information on a sessions-by-session basis and includes dates and times of user login, IP address, and what actions the user took during that session. Each selected item from the menu is displayed along with the time it was done. At each login the report shows an elapsed time during the session, along with a duration for each lesson item selected by the user.

This report is suitable to trace user activities and to determine where the most time is spent by a student. It is also helpful to diagnose unusual activties such as the registration of unknown users and other system level changes.

The summary report provides only a total of time spent by users on the system. It also includes their last login date. This function is more suited to creation of reports regarding student attendance and if they have spent enough time on the system to complete the assigned work.

Using the Report Options Window

When selecting Display Detailed Student Progress Report or Display Summary Report, you are presented with a Report Options window.

You may enter the starting and finishing date you wish to view a report from by typing the appropriate dates in the START DATE and the END DATE fields. The date format, for these fields, is YYMMDD.

If you do not enter any date in these fields, the report will start from the first date an entry for that user was recorded.

For Selection

You have three options in this part of the window:

1. All Users Owned.
   
   If you choose this option, you will have a detailed report of the activities of all the users that were created under the user ID the user loged in with. Since the system administrator only creates instructors, the report will show the activities of all the instructors during the time frame specified in the DATE fields.
   
   

   If the option Show Students Also is selected, the report will show all activities recorded for the instructors and their student in an alphabetiacl order. If the option Report by class is also selected, as above, the instructors and their students records will be listed, but will be listed by classes instead of alphabetical order.

   
   Note: If a link to the report function is added to the instructor menu, the options Show Students Also and Report by Classes will not appear on the Report Options window since instructors can only display the records of the users they have created, implying only students.
   
   
2. User
   
   If this option is selected, you may either enter the User ID in the User field or select Browse and choose a User ID from the user list. The report will show the activities from that user, for the time frame specified in the date fields or from their first entry recorded in the system if no dates were specified.
   
   
3. Class
   To view a class report, or activities recorded for all users (including the instructor's) belonging to a specific class, select Class, enter the class code or click on Browse to select a class from the class list.

Saving the reports

The report that you requested might be too long to be meaningfully displayed in a small window. If such is the case, the system will let you know that the report can not be displayed in its totality.


When you click OK, the system will display only the first portion of the report, from the earliest dated record to the maximum length possible. The rest of the report will not be displayed.

To save it and view the entire report

In the top left corner of the List Display window, select FILE -->SAVE AS... In the following window, select the folder you wish to save the report in, then enter the name and extension of the file (text file).
Once the report is saved locally as a text file, you can open it with a text editor to view or print it in its totality.

How to read the Detailed report

Header

The top line gives the name and user Id of the person whose records are being displayed. The second line gives the starting date of the records detailed beneath it.

Records

• first line: details the login time and the IP address of the station the user signed in from.
• 1st column. Gives you the absolute system time at which the action took place.
• 2nd column: describes the action taken by the user and the position in the menu as follows:
  • MENU: Name the menu the user accessed at the time specified in the previous column, or details any edition to the menu:

    MENU: MASTER Menu	Accessed master menu
    MENU: INSTRUCTOR Main Menu	accessed Instructor menu
    MENU: STUDENT Main Menu	accessed student menu
    MENU: ESL ** Create Menu Item: (serial 24) : ESL2 **submenu: esl0001 **create Menu Item (serial 3): Level 1 **EAASY - Item Path: SVI\LEVEL1 Finished Item	-accessed ESL menu -edited the menu. Created item named ESL2. The system assigned the serial # 24 to this item The item created was a submenu. The submenu's code is "esl0001" -Created a menu entry named Level 1. The system assigned the serial # 3 to this item. -The item created was a Lesson. The path to that lesson is SVI \ level1 -The menu was saved.
    MENU: Report functions	accessed the Report Functions submenu

    
    
  • ITEM: Describes the function or lesson chosen in the menu specified in the line above.

    ITEM: Access Student Main Menu	user signed in as Master or Instructor and accessed the Student Menu item from the system supervisor's or the Instructor's menu
    ITEM: Access Instructor Main Menu	user signed in as Master and accessed the Instructor item from the system supervisor's menu
    ITEM: Register a User *Create User: Bob	The user loged in created a user with ID Bob
    ITEM: Item name not available: serial 00024	The Item that the user accessed no longer exists in the menu (it has been deleted or edited). The serial number at the time of its creation was 24 (With this information, you will be able to find the name of the item)

    
    
  • INSTRUCTOR ITEM: Describes an action taken as an instructor such as using the Tracker or Planner.
  • Stars (* character) located in front of an item indicate that the following action modified the user database, the lesson plan or the Tracker screen.
    • One * only indicated that it was done at the instructor level
    • two ** indicate that it was done at the System Administrator level.
  
  
• 3rd column: Gives the time of the action relative to the starting time as well as the total session duration.