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Teacher Authoring Tool

Teacher Authoring Tool (TAT) enables you to create anything from a single lesson, project, quiz, or test to an entire course. TAT also enables you to assess student comprehension using OdysseyWare’s Flex and CRx features. Once created, these assignments can be part of a course authored completely by you or integrated in a course you create using existing OdysseyWare content. The Teacher Authoring Tool works independently, but in conjunction with the OdysseyWare Custom Course feature.

Teacher Authoring Tools

o Just as in a standard OdysseyWare course, there are four assignment types available: o Project o Lesson o Quiz o Test.

o Each assignment type corresponds to the weighted assignment type as in all OdysseyWare courses.

o Options vary by assignment type selected (Quiz and Test are the same.) o Lessons, Quizzes, and Tests have four question types available:

o Essay o True/False o Multiple Choice o Multiple Select

So how does this work?

Creating a Custom Assignment

1. Starting on the Courses page, click the Custom Assignments tab. All custom assignments created by teachers and admins using this URL are available here.

2. Click the Create Assignment button

( ). 3. Choose the Assignment Type (Lesson,

Project, Quiz, or Test) 4. Enter a Title for the assignment. (You can

change this as you edit.) 5. Click the Create button to open the Edit

pane.

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Let’s pause for a moment and take a look at the fields on this screen. Remember, there are slight differences based on the assignment type selected. Let’s start with a lesson. Examples of Quiz/Test and Projects are found starting on page XX.

Immediately below the Page Title in the bar at the top of the page, you see a small gear icon with an arrowhead beside it (circled in yellow above). This allows you to see the type of assignment you selected, the current status of that assignment and how the Edit Permission is currently set. You can change the Edit Permission here by clicking the gray circle beside your choice. The default, Admin-Only, is currently selected in our example.

Remember, you, as the creator of the assignment, can always edit a custom assignment or course you create, even if you select Admin-Only as the Edit Permission.

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On the right-hand side of that same bar, you see two drop-down lists, the first, Lesson Pool, is enabled. The second, Go to question #1, is not available to you until you add at least one question. As you add questions, the Lesson Pool drop-down allows you to determine if the question is for the lesson, a quiz, the unit test, an alternate unit test, a semester test, or a final test. These pools are for use when creating custom courses using Flex and Flex CRX. (See page 9 for more information on the question pools.) Once you have added at least one question, the Go to question drop-down list allows you to go directly to a specific question.

The title you entered in Step 4 (page 1 above) appears at the top of the page. You can edit this Title. Simply highlight the text to change and type the new text.

Below the Title is the Content pane. At the top of this area is the functions bar. Use the various icons to format text, embed images, tables, and media from other websites, flash videos, hyperlinks, and special characters. Position your mouse over any of these icons and let it hover there to see what function they represent. (See Appendix A for a description of each button on the functions bar)

The format button allows you to select the same paragraph and heading styles used in standard OdysseyWare courses giving your custom courses the same look and feel of the standard courses. There is a 5MB limit to the Content pane, so we highly recommend using links to embed media into your assignments. This helps ensure you can create the assignment you want without bumping up against this limit.

The Content pane is where you create your assignment. The width has been increased to give you a better idea of what the final layout of the assignment will look like. Use the arrow in the lower right-hand corner to resize the length of the pane to see more of your assignment.

At the bottom of the Content pane you see a place to enter a File name (or Browse to a specific file.) If you have already created a file with the content of the assignment, simply browse to that file to use it. Once a file has been located and included, you have the option to clear it, by clicking the Clear File Selection link. Just remember these files must be available on the internet for students to access them.

The Content pane is NOT a required field. You can leave it blank. You do not need to use it for quizzes or tests, but it might be a good place to add instructions or a note to your students. You can also use it to embed a picture or video to motivate your students or get them thinking about the assignment.

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Below the Content pane in lessons, quizzes, and tests you see the + Add Question button

( ) and the Save button ( ). Custom assignments require a minimum of one question. Projects are created with an essay question already in place; Lessons, quizzes, and tests let you choose the types of questions you want to use from the available question types (True/False, Multiple Choice, Multiple Select, and Essay).

When you click the +Add Question button, you see the Add Question page where you select the type of question you want to add to the assignment. If you know you are going to add more than one question of a certain type, use the How Many? drop-down list to increase the number of that question type. You can move the questions into a different order when you are done entering them, if you wish. You can also add additional questions of any of the four types at any time.

Once you enter a question you can place your mouse over the bar with the question number (above the question format bar) to see 2 arrows display. Use these arrows to move the questions up or down in sequence. Click the small red circle icon on the far right-hand side of the question bar to delete the question.

Click the +Add button when you are ready to add questions to your assignment. The template for creating the selected question type opens for you.

Every lesson, quiz, or test MUST have at least one question added for you to be able to save the assignment. A reminder appears at the top of the page if you forget.

Examples of each begin on the next page.

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True/False

Enter the question in the box below the format bar, and then click the circle beside the correct answer. This enables OdysseyWare to grade this question for you automatically. Notice all of the functions available to you as you entered a lesson are also available to you as you create questions. You can embed media and tables, as well as use the formatting tools.

Click either Save or +Add Question when you are finished with this question. We strongly recommend you use the Save button often! (Anytime you preview the assignment, it is automatically saved, so save and preview regularly!)

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Multiple Choice

Enter the question in the box below the format bar, and then enter the first answer option in the textbox beside the circle below the question box. Continue entering each answer option in a separate text box. Click the +Add Options button to add more answer lines. Click the circle beside the correct answer when you are finished. Again, Multiple Choice type questions are automatically graded for you. Click Save or +Add Question when you are finished.

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Multiple Select

Multiple Select questions are very similar to Multiple Choice. The difference is you can have more than one correct answer. Otherwise you create them the same way. Enter the question in the box below the format bar, then begin entering your answer options in the text boxes below the question box, beside the checkboxes; one answer per textbox. Click the checkbox beside each correct answer and OdysseyWare automatically grades the student’s answer. Click the +Add Option to add more answer textboxes.

Essay

Much as you do today, enter the question or instructions in the box below the format bar. Use any of the options on the format bar. These are teacher-graded question types, just as they are in a standard OdysseyWare course.

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Below is an example of an assignment after questions were added.

You can see the Go to question drop-down list is now enabled, so I can go directly to any question. I can also Delete the Draft of my assignment, Add additional Questions, Preview my assignment, Save it or Publish it, making it available for use in a custom course.

You cannot save your work until you have entered at least one question if you are creating a lesson, quiz, or test. OdysseyWare prompts you if you are missing any required fields. Once you successfully save your work, you see several other buttons appear on the bottom row.

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Click the close button, when you are ready to leave the assignment.

Until you publish your assignment, you have the option to erase all of the work you have done to this point. Just click the Delete Draft button and the entire assignment is deleted. Once you do publish the course you can only perform a limited set of edits to it, so make sure you have addressed everything before you publish, including adding quiz and test pool questions, if you ever plan to use the assignment in a Flex Assessment course.

Click + Add Question to add additional questions to the assignment. Click the Preview button to see the assignment as your students will see it. The preview of your assignment opens in a separate browser window, so if you have pop-ups blocked, you may have to allow them for the OdysseyWare site. Click Save to retain any changes or edits you have made and click Publish when you are ready to make the assignment available for use in a custom course.

Once you publish an assignment, you can no longer:

• Add questions • Change answer options • Add additional answer options • Change the assignment title • Delete the assignment

You can still update the material in the content pane (add media or additional text). You can also correct typing errors in both the content and the question panes and clarify wording in the question pane. To make more substantial changes to your custom assignment, copy it. You will then be in draft mode for the copy, where you can make any changes you want. You will have to give the assignment a new title. You are then able to add the edited custom assignment to a custom course. Students already assigned that assignment, will not see the new assignment unless it is included in another course. If the original assignment has not been added to a course with students enrolled, you can archive the original assignment.

Question Pools

One of the powerful features of OdysseyWare is the Flex suite, Flex Assessments, Flex Skipped, and Flex CRx. Flex Assessments creates quizzes and tests that adapt to the material that preceded them. If you add or remove a lesson from a flex enabled custom course, the questions associated with that lesson are added or removed from the associated assessment assignments.

Flex Skipped automatically skips quiz and test questions associated with a lesson you skip in an already assigned course.

With Flex CRx students are only assigned a lesson in a unit when they miss the questions corresponding to that lesson on the alt test.

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To use the power of Flex with the Teacher Authoring Tool, we created six question pools. Think of these as empty swimming pools. Instead of being filled with water, they are filled with the questions you want to ask for that specific assessment. For example:

Lesson Pool is the default pool. The questions you create for this pool are seen by your students when they attempt your custom lesson.

Quiz Pool questions are seen in the flex quiz following this custom lesson.

Unit Test Pool questions appear on the test at the end of the unit which includes the custom lesson.

The questions for the Alt Unit Test pool are used for the alt test allowing you to use this lesson as part of a custom course in Flex CRx mode. The Alt Test becomes the Unit Pre-Test, just as in a standard OdysseyWare course. When the custom lesson is added to a course assigned in CRx mode, if the student fails the Pre-Test and misses the questions corresponding to the custom lesson on thePre-Test, the custom lesson is then automatically assigned, just as it would be for any standard OdysseyWare course assigned in CRx mode.

Questions assigned to the Semester Test Pool or the Final Test Pool would automatically be used if the custom lesson is included in a custom course with a semester or final test.

Other Assignment Types

Now, let’s take a quick look at a quiz/test. Other than the title, the format you see for a quiz custom assignment is the same as the one you see for a test assignment. The difference between a lesson and quizzes/tests is primarily that the Lesson Pool drop-down is not there. You only see the Go to question drop-down list in the upper right-hand part of the page. The Content area is still there, even though you may or may not include anything there. You still have the ability to use an already existing file and you must still add a minimum of one question to save the assignment. Once you have saved the quiz or test, the Go to question drop-down list is enabled and you can then Delete it, Add more questions, Preview, Save or Publish the assignment.

NOTE: You can add a custom quiz or test to any custom course you create. It is important to note that you cannot use a custom quiz or test in a Flex Assessments enabled custom course. These courses automatically create the quizzes and tests from the quiz and test question pools in the lessons of the Flex Assessment enabled course. Custom quizzes and tests are for use in custom courses that are NOT Flex Assessment enabled.

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Now let’s go to the next page and take a look at a Project.

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Just as with a lesson, quiz, or test you can enter text, special characters, tables, an image, media, or weblinks into the Content Pane. Below that you see where you can also upload a file for students to access. If you use the Browse button, think of this as attaching a document to an email message. Just locate the file you want to use on your computer and upload it. (See Appendix B for additional information about uploading files.)

NOTE: It is important to remember that whenever you use a link or any type of media in your custom project, it MUST reside on an internet website to be accessible by students when working on the assignment.

The biggest difference between a project and lesson is that you do not need to add a question. The project template is created with one essay-type question already included. All you need to do is create the instructions for the student.

Be sure to click Save to keep your work or Publish when you are finished and ready to include it in a custom course.

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Adding Media (Images and Videos) to New Assignments

You have the ability to add images and videos to any of your custom assignments. We’ll walk through the steps for each type of media in the appendices.

Note: See Appendices B and C for further instructions on specific aspects of creating custom assignments. Appendix B contains information about using the Browse button to upload files into assignments.

Appendix C contains instructions to add various forms of media to your assignments.

Once you have completed your custom assignment it appears in the list on the Custom Assignments page and the list of custom assignments in the Units and Assignments section at the bottom of the left-hand side of the Edit Course page.

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Once the custom assignment is published, you can add it to a custom course the same way you add any other assignment to a custom course. Click the assignment you want in the Units and Assignments section and drag it over to the unit in Course Structure section of the right-hand side of the Edit Course page. See the “Create a Custom Course Guide” for more information.

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Appendix A - Text Format Options ICON ICON DESCRIPTION

Select the paragraph style

Bolds highlighted text

Italicizes highlighted text

Underlines highlighted text

Allows you to strike through highlighted text

Makes selected text subscript

Makes selected text superscript

Removes formatting from selected text

Selects all on the page

Shows Blocks

Aligns text to the left margin

Centers text

Aligns text to the right margin

Select color for highlighted text

Select color for background

Creates a numbered list

Creates a bulleted list

Enables use of block quotes

Insert an image

Insert a table

Insert a link

Undo a link

Insert a Horizontal Line

Insert a special character

Add embedded media content

Insert Flash media

Embed Content

Undo and Redo

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Appendix B – Using the Browse Button to Upload Files

To upload a file for your students to use:

1. Click the Browse button at the bottom of the text entry box. 2. Browse to the location of the file you want to use. 3. Select it and click the Open button.

The file is now uploaded to the assignment. You can see the file name. Click the Clear File Selection button to remove the file.

A few things to keep in mind when you choose to upload a file:

• Only one file can be uploaded per assignment. What this means for you is, when the student downloads the file, works on it, and then uploads their version; it overwrites the file you originally created. OdysseyWare cannot version this document, so any time you choose to upload a new file, it overwrites the previous file.

• A variety of file types is supported. If you try to upload a type that is not supported, you receive a notification to choose another file type. Most of the commonly used file types (doc, docx, csv, ppt, pptx, pdf, slx, xlsx, jpeg, txt, rtf, pub, etc.)are accepted. If you are unsure, try to upload a file of the type you want to use. You will be advised if the application doesn’t support that file type.

• Files must be 10 MB or smaller. Larger files will not upload.

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Appendix C - Adding Media

Adding Media to Custom Assignments

You have the ability to add various types of media to your custom assignments. There are a few things to keep in mind as you choose the media to include:

• There are a variety of options for adding media to your custom assignments. These tools allow you to link content from the web to your assignments.

• You should only use content from the public domain or for which you have copyright clearance. • There is a 5 MB size limit for media added to the content area of your assignment and a 100KB

limit to media added in each question body. Because of this we STRONGLY recommend that you use links to embed your media content.

Let’s take a look at how to use the different methods to include media in your custom assignments.

Adding Pictures or Other Images

1. Find the picture you want to use on the web. 2. Right-click and select the option to copy the URL for the image. (Each browser says

something a bit different. One example says, “Save Image Location”. 3. Select the image icon on the Custom Assignment toolbar.

4. Paste the URL of the image in the URL textbox. 5. You have the option to add alternate text to appear with your image in the Alternative

Text box. 6. You can also change the

dimensions (width, and height) and the alignment of the image.

7. Once you have added the image to your assignment, if you need to change the size parameters, right-click the image and select Image Properties.

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Adding Video, Audio, and Other Media

Adding videos, audio files, or other forms of media to your custom assignments is just as easy to do.

1. Locate the media you want to use on the internet. 2. Copy the URL for the item. (Many sites offer a “Share” option that gives you the URL.) 3. On the Custom Assignment toolbar click the Embed Media Content icon.

4. Paste the URL of the image in the URL textbox. 5. Click the OK button.

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Embedding Media

The Embed icon allows you to insert HTML to embed a variety of media, such as slide shows. Many websites offer an embed option to copy this code. There are many third-party sides that allow you to host your content and then provide the embed code for you. If you are interested in doing this, we recommend that you explore these options on your own or contact your Regional Educational Consultant or Customer Experience Manager.

Once you have the Embed code you need:

1. Click the Embed button on the Custom Assignment toolbar

2. Paste the code in the box below Paste Embed Code Here. 3. Click the OK button.

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Adding a Link to a Website

To add a link you want your students to access from a custom assignment:

1. Click the Link button on the Custom Assignment toolbar

2. Select URL in the Link Type drop-down list. 3. Copy the URL you want to use into the URL

textbox. 4. Click the OK button.

Warning: Some of the images and videos you find on the internet are the property of others who may not wish to allow unauthorized use of this property. It is not possible to utilize all videos you locate on the internet as part of your custom courses. Use of media posted on the internet is available, ultimately, at the discretion of the owners.