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Frog VLE Update Quick Start Guide

June 2013

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Frog VLE Update: Quick Start Guide

Contents

New Features ............................................................................................................................. 1 Feature Enhancements ............................................................................................................. 2 New Features Overview ............................................................................................................ 3

Google Drive .......................................................................................................................... 3 Learn Centre .......................................................................................................................... 3 Random Name Selector Widget ........................................................................................... 7

Feature Enhancement Overview ............................................................................................. 10

Text Editor Enhancements ................................................................................................... 10 Groups ................................................................................................................................. 21 Quick Launch Icons ............................................................................................................. 27 Learning Styles Improvement (Teachers) ........................................................................... 27 About Us ..............................................................................................................................29

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Frog VLE Update: Quick Start Guide

We are pleased to announce that we have updated your Frog VLE to enhance the functionality and features. The changes to your Frog VLE are outlined in this guide. This Quick Start Guide will provide you with all the information you need to get started using the new features of your Frog VLE. For a more detailed overview of the new features and functionality please go to the Learn Centre.

New Features Overview

Google Drive Google Drive link added to the Quick Launch menu. This opens a new browser tab containing your Google Drive.

Learn Centre New Learn Centre application gives access to comprehensive help guides and video tutorials.

Random Name Selector Widget When placed on a site, the Random Name Selector widget randomly selects a user from a group list.

My Child’s Work A Parent can now view the progress of their children’s assignments.

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Feature Enhancements

Text Editor Improvements The Text Editor has been redesigned. In-line editing now allows text to be edited directly on the page with all new formatting options.

Groups The Groups application has been redesigned with the ability to duplicate groups.

Quick Launch Icons Icons in the Quick Launch menu have been re-arranged to make navigation easier. Applications that also appear in the Resource Manager have been removed.

Learning Styles Improvement (Teachers) The Learning Styles Report now allows teachers to filter results either by name or Form.

About Us About Us has been added to the Frog Head menu.

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New Features

Note: Not all features listed are available to all users.

Google Drive

Available to: Teachers, Students, Parents and Frog Admin What is Google Drive? Google Drive is a personal cloud storage service from Google that helps you store and share digital content across computers, laptops and mobile devices. How do I start using Google Drive? Click on Quick Launch in the FrogBar.

And then click on Google Drive.

Google Drive will then launch in a new tab in your browser.

Learn Centre

Available to: Teachers, Students, Parents and Frog Admin What is the Learn Centre? The Learn Centre contains pages of help and videos to ensure you get the most out of your Frog VLE. Whether you are a teacher, student or parent, you will find everything you need to get you using your Frog VLE quickly and efficiently.

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How do I access the Learn Centre? Click on Quick Launch in the FrogBar.

And then click on Learn Centre.

The Learn Centre will then launch in a new tab in your browser.

As the Frog VLE contains different features and tools for different users you must first select the type of user that applies to you (teacher, student, parent or admin). This will ensure the help and videos displayed are relevant and accurate.

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My Child’s Work

Available to: Parents What is My Child’s Work? My Child’s Work is an application that allows parents to view any assignments that have been given to their children. They can view the date the assignment was issued and due, the name of the teacher and the assignment instructions. How do I access My Child’s Work? It is important to remember that if you have children that attend different schools, as a parent, you will need to log in to each school VLE separately. Click on Quick Launch in the FrogBar.

And then click on My Child’s Work.

The Assignments window will appear and the name of your child will be displayed in the top right corner.

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You can choose to view only the assignments for a particular subject. To do this, select the subject from the subjects drop down list.

To view the instructions the teacher has given to your child, click on the assignment name in the list. Please note, you will be unable to view the assignment itself; only your child will see this when they log in to the VLE.

The Due Date column displays the date the teacher has set when the assignment has to be finished by.

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The Date Completed column displays the date your child completed (handed in) their assignment. The assignment cannot be changed once a date appears here.

Once the teacher has closed the assignment you will need to click on the closed tab to see it listed.

Here you can view the overall mark and any comments given by the teacher for the assignment.

Random Name Selector Widget

Available to: Teachers and Frog Admin.

What does the Random Name Selector widget do?

The Random Name Selector widget allows you to select a group and then randomly select a user from that group. This may be so that you can pose a question in a lesson and then have your Frog VLE randomly pick a name of a student to answer the question.

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How do I use the Random Name Selector widget?

First you need to drag the widget onto a page. This can be in a site or it can be on your Dashboard.

Next you need to specify a Group from which the widget will select the names from.

Start typing in a group name, suggested groups will appear as you type. Select the group you want use from the menu that appears below. Note: If you don’t know any groups you may need to create a group first. Only Frog Admin users can create groups.

Click on Save Changes to ensure your page is saved. Click on X to close the Editor.

Now you are ready to select a random name from the group. Click on the Randomise button to start spinning through the names.

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After about 4 seconds the spinning will stop, the lights around the border will flash and the chosen name revealed.

If there is more than one person in the group with the same name, it is possible to identify which one was selected by hovering your cursor over the name which will reveal the YesID/username of that individual. Click the Randomise button again to select a new name. Please note, it is possible that the same name will be displayed again.

To choose a different group, click on the arrow button to enter a new group name. The widget is now reset ready for you to type in a new group.

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Feature Enhancement Overview

Text Editor Enhancements

Available to: Teachers, Students and Frog Admin How has the Text Editor changed? There has been a change in the style of the text editor used in the Frog VLE. Text is now edited directly on the page. The following Widgets will be affected:

• Text Activity • Phrase of the day • Text • School Notices • Notes

Will my existing text be affected? No. Any text that you have in existing sites will not change. When you come to edit that text, however, this will now be done with the new style editor. How do I use the new style Text Editor? When using the Phrase of the day, Text, School Notices and Notes widgets, text can be edited directly on the page. Areas of the text can be highlighted and then formatted using tools located in the Content Panel on the left of the page. To see an example of the Editor, drag the Text Widget onto a Dashboard or Site.

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Text can be typed directly onto the page.

To use the text formatting tools, first highlight the text with your cursor.

Then select one of the formatting buttons on the left.

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The selection you make will affect the text on the page.

Formatting Tools of the text editor

Paste from Word

Undo / Redo

Remove Format

Text Colour

Background Colour

Bold / Italic / Underline

Paragraph Format

Font Name

Font Size

Align Left / Centre / Right / Justify

Number list / Bullet list

Increase Indent / Decrease Indent

Search Pin-Point

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Insert Image

Insert Table

Insert Horizontal Line

Insert Special Character

Insert external web link / Remove external web link

How do I add an image?

It is possible to add an image to accompany your text. There are two ways of inserting an image. One is to use the Search Pin-Point tool and the other is the insert Image tool. Note: If only an image is required please use the Media Widget. The Search Pin-Point Tool Use this option when you would like Frog to search for an image. The results, however, are more limited than searching for an image on the internet yourself, as not every image found on the internet will be listed in Pin-Point. To insert an image, place the cursor where you want to place the image and then click on the Search Pin-Point button.

A window will appear prompting you to type in a short description of the image you are looking for.

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Type in some text and click the search button.

Place your cursor over your chosen image and click on the Use button.

The image will be inserted on to your page. You can double click on the image to change the size and other properties for the image.

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The insert Image Tool Use this option when you have found an image on another website and would like to use it on your page. To insert an image, place the cursor where you want to place the image and then click on the insert Image button.

A window will appear prompting you for the URL location of the image file.

Copy the URL of the image. Here is an example of how this is done: Once you have found your image, right mouse click and select copy image URL.

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Next, click back on the Frog VLE tab to go back to the Frog VLE. Right click on the URL input box and select Paste.

Any text entered in the Alternative Text box will be displayed on the screen when the image is hovered over by the user.

You can change the image size here.

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Click on the OK button to add the image.

The image is placed in your page. Double clicking on the image allows you to go back and change any of the Image Properties.

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How do I add a Table? It is possible to add a table to your text. Tables can be really useful when you want to arrange text and images on you page into rows or columns. To insert a table, place the cursor where you want to place the table and then click on the insert Table button.

A window will appear prompting you to enter the number of Rows and Columns for your table. Click OK continue.

The table will appear on your page with the number of rows and columns specified. Click and type your text into the cell. Remember you can mix text and images in cells.

To access all the editing options available for the table, place your cursor in a cell and right mouse click. A menu will appear allowing you to copy, paste, insert, delete, merge and split cells. You can also Insert and delete rows and columns and delete the table using this menu.

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Inserting an external link in the text editor The text editor allows you to create a link within the text that when clicked on will re-direct the user to an external website. To insert an external link, place your cursor where you would like to insert the link and click on the Link button.

A window will appear prompting you to type (or paste) the URL into an input box. The URL is the web address of the site or page that is normally displayed at the top of your browser.

The URL will be placed within your text displayed in blue. When the user places their cursor over the text an underline appears indicating to them they can click on the link. Doing so will cause a new tab to open on their browser where the website or page will be displayed.

Note: If you highlight some text first, before clicking on the Link button, the selected word(s) become the link and the URL is hidden to the user.

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Copying text from a Word document into the Text Editor Because of the security settings in your browser, the editor may not be able to access your clipboard data directly. Should you encounter such problems you can use the Paste from Word feature. To do this, place the cursor where you want to insert the content and click on the Paste from Word button.

A window will appear prompting you to paste your selected content into an input box.

Pressing Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V if using an Apple device) will paste the content into the input box. Click on OK continue.

The text will be placed on your page.

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Groups

Available to: Frog Admin What is the new style Groups? There is a new style Groups application in the Frog VLE that replaces the previous one.

Only the Frog Admin user has access to Groups. A group is a collection of users in the Frog VLE that makes it easier to distribute assignments, share sites and manage your calendar events.

To access the Groups application, click the Resource Manager on the Frog Bar.

In the Resource Manager window, click on Applications.

Click on the Groups application Icon. You may need to scroll down to find it.

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Creating a New Group To add a new group click the New Group button.

Enter the name of the group to be created.

Select which group type from the drop down menu.

Click on to save your new group.

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Adding or Removing users from a Group Click on the group name from the list to select it.

Click on the Edit button.

Type in a few characters of the name of the user you want to add and then click on the name when they appear in the list.

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They will now appear in the list on the left. Repeat the process to add more users to the list.

Click on the cross if you wish to remove users from the group list.

Click on Save to save your group.

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Deleting a Group Begin by clicking on the group to be deleted.

Warning: Deleting a group will remove all related data and cannot be undone. Any resources or sites that are shared to a group will no longer be visible once the group is deleted. Please ensure it is the correct group you are deleting before proceeding. From the Settings drop down menu select Delete group.

A pop up window will appear asking you to confirm the deletion. Click Delete Group to continue.

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Duplicating a Group Instead of creating a new group it may be quicker to duplicate an existing group. You can then add or remove users from the duplicated group. Begin by clicking on the group to be duplicated.

From the Settings drop down menu select Duplicate group.

A pop up window will appear prompting you to type a new Group name for the duplicate group. If you don’t specify a name ‘Copy of ….’ will be added to the beginning of new group name. You also have the option to change the Group type here. Click on Save to create the group.

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Quick Launch Icons

What are the changes to the Quick Launch menu? The icons displayed in the Quick Launch menu have been streamlined making it easier for you to find the ones you use the most. Any applications that are available from the Resource Manager menu have been removed. To view all applications click on Applications in the Resource Manager menu.

Learning Styles Improvement (Teachers)

Available to: Teachers What has changed in the Learning Styles Report? The Learning Styles Report now has the ability to filter the list of students and export as a CSV file. Note: The Learning Styles application for students has not changed.

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How do I use the Filter? To begin using the filter feature, click the button.

You can now type the whole or part of a student’s name (can be upper or lower case) in the name box which appears below.

You must now click on the Filter button to filter the list.

Only names which contain the characters specified will be displayed. The more characters you enter the shorter the list will get. The same rules apply when using the User ID filter. To display the full list again, click and then click again to update the list. How do I export as a CSV file? To export the list of students in a CSV (comma separated values) file, suitable to be loaded into a spreadsheet, click on the Settings menu and select Export CSV.

The file will be saved to your computer to a folder specified in your browser settings.

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About Us

Available to: Teachers, Students, Parents and Frog Admin What is the About Us menu option? In here you will find information regarding the Personal Data Protection Policy, the Frog Acceptable Use Agreement and contact details for General Enquiries.

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www.frogasia.com