Online Seminary Teacher “Help Me With...” Guidebook onlineseminary.lds.org version 1.0 This is a preliminary resource, please identify needed changes in the Faculty Room on the onlineseminary.lds.org site. Table of Contents UNDERSTANDING THE ONLINE SEMINARY PROGRAM 4 REASON FOR THE ONLINE PROGRAM PURPOSE OF THE ONLINE PROGRAM WHAT THE ONLINE PROGRAM IS NOT! AND WHAT IT IS! PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR STUDENTS HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS FOR THE STUDENTS PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR TEACHERS HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK FOR THE TEACHERS? THE WEEKLY CLASS SHOULD: HOW DOES ATTENDANCE AND COMPLETION WORK FOR THE 4 DAYS OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION? HOW DOES ATTENDANCE AND COMPLETION WORK FOR THE WEEKLY CLASS? RECOMMENDED CLASS SIZE IS 7-‐15 STUDENTS 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 DAILY TEACHER TASKS 7 HELP ME WITH DAILY MONITORING AND GRADING ROUTINE HELP ME WITH TAKING ATTENDANCE AND DECIDING ON CREDIT. HELP ME WITH GRADING LESSON ACTIVITIES HELP ME WITH GRADING A STUDENTS ESSAY HELP ME REVIEWING AN ONLINE TEXT ASSIGNMENT HELP ME WITH REVIEWING CHOICE ACTIVITIES. HELP ME SEE HOW TO EASILY VIEW AND GRADE A STUDENT’S WORK AND WHO GOT BEHIND A FEW DAYS. HELP ME KNOW HOW OFTEN A STUDENT LOGS IN DURING A WEEK. HELP ME CHECK TO SEE IF STUDENTS COMPLETED PAST WEEK’S OR DAY’S WORK. HELP ME CHECK TO SEE IF STUDENTS WATCHED DEVOTIONALS 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 11 WEEKLY TASKS 11 HELP ME KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO WEEKLY: HELP ME WITH OPENING OR CLOSING THE AVAILABILITY OF THE LESSONS: HELP ME ADD A WEEK-‐LONG SOCIAL CLASS DISCUSSION HELP ME MAKE A WEEKLY PLAN TO DO ALL THAT I NEED TO AS A TEACHER: HELP ME KNOW HOW TO HELP STUDENTS WITH MAKE-‐UP WORK: 11 12 13 14 15 STUDENT INSTRUCTIONS 17 HELP ME TEST MY INTERNET SPEED HELP ME CREATE AN LDS ACCOUNT HELP ME CHANGE MY LDS ACCOUNT PASSWORD HELP ME WITH LOOKING AT MY ACTIVITY REPORT HELP ME KNOW HOW TO LOOK AT YOUR ATTENDANCE DETAILS: HELP ME WITH EDITING YOUR PROFILE HELP ME KNOW HOW TO SEND A MESSAGE: 17 18 18 18 18 19 20 HELP ME KNOW WHAT MY TEACHER CAN SEE: HELP ME WITH NAVIGATING THROUGH ONLINE SEMINARY HELP ME WITH WATCHING A RECORDED MEETINGPLACE CLASS: 20 20 20 YEARLY START-‐UP TASKS 21 BEFORE THE CLASS YOU SHOULD: ADMINISTRATIVE WORK BEFORE THE SCHOOL YEAR STARTS 6. HOLDING AN ORIENTATION MEETING TO START THE YEAR 7. HELP ME ADD AND ENROLL STUDENTS TO MY CLASS: THINGS TO DO ON THE ONLINE SEMINARY SITE BEFORE SCHOOL SETTING UP THE ONLINE SEMINARY ATTENDANCE TOOL 21 22 22 23 25 25 MEETINGPLACE INSTRUCTIONS 26 HELP ME ATTEND A MEETINGPLACE CLASS: HELP ME WITH SCHEDULING A MEETINGPLACE CLASS HELP ME WITH WATCHING A RECORDED MEETINGPLACE CLASS: 26 27 28 TECHNICAL TIPS 28 HELP ME ADD AN APPROVED VIDEO TO YOUR LESSON FROM THE CRS HELP ME CONTROL HOW MUCH EMAIL I GET FROM THE SITE: CLEARING CACHE AND COOKIES 28 29 29 TEACHING IDEAS 29 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF START THE WEEK OUT STRONG 29 30 Understanding the Online Seminary Program Reason for the Online Program 1. Average home-‐study completion rate has been 49.2% compared to 71.1% and 78.4% in early morning and released time programs respectively in the United States. 2. Due to the under supervised nature of home-‐study, most students invest less than an hour a week instead of the recommended 45-‐50 minutes per day studying the scriptures. 3. Despite its weakness, traditional home-‐study seminary has provided the possibility of a seminary experience to those students who otherwise would not have had any seminary at all. Purpose of the Online Program 1. Increase enrollment, attendance and completion among those who have traditionally been in the home-‐study program or those that haven’t had a seminary experience. 2. To define what role technology could play in providing a more meaningful seminary experience for students in extenuating circumstances who are unable to attend a regular daily seminary classes. 3. Provide a more accountable program for students and teachers to have a daily experience in the scriptures for 45-‐50 minutes a day. 4. Help students and teachers feel more connected through the use of technology allowing for students to explain, share, and testify with one another throughout the week. What the Online Program IS NOT! And what IT IS! 1. It is not an independent study program that students do on their own time. It is a class based course where attendance is taken and based on timely daily completion of learning activities, along with a weekly class. 2. It is not a program that is being developed to compete with daily or released-‐time programs. It is a offering designed for students whose Priesthood leaders feel it is a better option than other available programs because of distance or other extenuating circumstances. 3. It is not a log-‐in, look at a few web pages and get credit for the day. It is a class that requires students to log-‐in daily, participate in a devotional, open their scriptures, read, look for answers, and write responses resulting in a sequentially guided scripture study. 4. It is not an easy calling for a called teacher because it is an “online class” they can do it at home. It is a class that requires teachers to log-‐in daily, review the lessons, review students answers, moderate discussions, and write responses – resulting in students feeling accountable and connected to their seminary experience. Program Requirements for Students 1.
High speed internet (dial–up isn’t feasible with the current design of the course) [As per S&I policy, students and parents sign a parent permission form to allow the teacher to communicate electronically with students who are minors. We encourage our teachers to communicate through the course site where all messages are searchable and can be saved for documentation purposes if necessary.] 2. Access to a computer each day for about 30-‐45 minutes. 3. Attend a weekly live class either face-‐to-‐face or virtually. 4. Download and use Firefox browser on their computer. How the Program Works for the Students 1. Students log in 4 times a week to complete the assigned lesson for the day, usually lasting for 30-‐45 minutes. 2. To get credit each day, students must complete all the lesson activities for each day. When done, they are marked present for attendance. Students have flexibility of doing the lessons within the week when it fits in their schedules; however, it should be done daily. 3. In addition to the 4 days online, a student must attend 80% of a weekly class. The weekly face-‐to-‐face or live virtual class is prepared and taught by the locally called teacher. The class can be done face-‐to-‐face if the class can meet in one location or it can be held online using MeetingPlace, a web conferencing tool where all the students meet online together at the same time. Program Requirements for Teachers For teachers to carry out their responsibilities in the program, they need: 1. To interact well with the youth, outgoing enough to reach out to the students they do not physically see often. 2. Computer literacy skills, including uses of email, sending and receiving attachments, and website navigation (these skills are not optional). 3. A computer with high speed internet. 4. Willingness to spend the same amount of time each day as an early morning/daily seminary teacher (approximately two hours). 5. Willingness to learn new computer skills. They should be teachable. 6. Be willing and able to teach a weekly class whether it be face-‐to-‐face or virtually. 7. Firefox browser on their computer. How Does the Program Work for the Teachers? 1. A teacher logs-‐in daily to review the lesson, review their student’s work, respond to forums and other activities to encourage their students, and ask questions to enhance their thinking. 2. For a class of 10-‐15 students, the teacher can expect to spend 2 hours a day online. 3. A teacher shepherds the students by tracking daily attendance and completion to help students get into the habit of doing seminary daily. 4. Daily: A teacher takes attendance, looks at the day’s assignments, and sees who finished the lesson. 5. Daily: A teacher reviews and comments on essays and forum posts. 6. Daily: A teacher contacts students that haven’t been online in the last day or two or contact parents if needed. 7. Weekly: A teacher prepares for and teaches the weekly class covering the scripture block. 8. Weekly: A teacher updates the website for announcements and closes the availability of past weeks lessons to encourage students to stay caught up. 9. Weekly: A teacher contacts parents and priesthood leaders to shepherd students. The Weekly Class Should: 1. Try to include all people in the class together. If it’s not possible to physically meet, the web conferencing tool should be used. 2. Look like a normal seminary class beginning with a devotional and prayer. 3. Cover the block of scripture studied in the week of online lessons during the week. 4. Provide a warm and loving environment for the students to get to know one another to share insights and feelings – leading to meaningful interaction online during the week. 5. It could also include time for scripture mastery and basic doctrines activities. How Does Attendance and Completion Work for the 4 Days of Online Instruction? 1. For the online instruction, students are marked either “present” or absent.” 2. Students are marked “present” or have attended class for that day if they complete all of the activities for that day. 3. Teachers can modify or change the lessons to meet the student’s needs. How Does Attendance and Completion Work for the Weekly Class? 1. For the weekly instruction, students are marked either “present” or absent.” 2. Students receive credit for attending 80% of the online and weekly lessons. 3. Attendance is based on daily attendance. Completion is based on the total days a student has attended classes online and weekly. Recommended Class Size is 7-‐15 Students •
•
•
Classes are generally held on a stake basis rather than on a ward basis. No more than 15: The work load for the online teacher per student is 5-‐10 minutes per day to adequately shepherd them one by one. 15 can be too many for new teachers. If more than 15 students are participating, a class could be split into two classes with two teachers. No fewer than 7: There needs to be enough critical mass to create the feeling of a class. Too few students makes it very hard to have an environment of love, respect, and purpose. More students allow for a better social experience as a class. Daily Teacher Tasks Help me with Daily Monitoring and Grading Routine 1. Get out your personally designed daily Student Activities and Attendance record 2. Create an additional tab by going to the top of the Online Seminary homepage, upper left area, and right click “Online Campus.” Select “Open Link in New Tab.” You will notice a new Online Seminary website tab appears at the top so you can easily click back and forth between two places in the site. You can make more if you like for easier navigating. Click on the newly created tab and click through the steps of getting to your Online Seminary homepage again. Click on “Take Attendance,” so you can tab back and forth between student activities/essays with one tab and the attendance page on the other tab to easily post attendance as you check student’s work and make notes about needed make up. 3. Go back to the first tab home page and click on Participants. a. Scroll down while viewing the “Last Access” column to see when each student last logged in. b. Go back to the Online Seminary homepage and click on the assignments that should have been completed in days prior to the previous day to see if any students who were behind got caught up. Contact students (and parents if needed) who are lagging behind in their assignments. 4. After that is completed, go back to the same home page and click on each previous day’s assignment to see which students completed them. 5. While in each assignment’s site: a. Click on the Activity Reports tab and note their completed assignments in your records. b. Click on Grade Essays. Read, comment if you would like, and grade them. 6. Go back go to the Online Seminary homepage and click on “Forum/Discussion Posts” and reply to student’s comments and rate them. 7. To check on Work Completion a. Go to homepage b. Look in left hand column and click on Reports c. Select the categories you want to see d. Click Get These Logs a. View reports b. You can also click on each student’s Profile then click on Activity Reports. Scroll to the current lessons to determine, on an individual basis, if they completed their assignments. 8. Checking to see if Students Watched Devotionals a. Go to homepage b. Look in left hand column and click on Reports c. Select Activity: “Devotional” d. Select the day you want to check the devotionals e. Click Get These Logs f. View report 9. Go back to the homepage and click on Reading Check for that day. Note how many students read, then record the total number of students who read. At the end of the month, report the total days students read during the month to your OSS. 10. Go back to the homepage and click on Take Attendance under the “Attendance” category on the left side of the page (or click on the second tab you created for attendance). Mark their attendance for the appropriate days by clicking the Green Dot. Make notes for students who need to do make up. 11.Send personal encouraging notes to students from time to time during the week. Help me with taking attendance and deciding on credit. First, let's see who logged into the course yesterday? 1. Click on Participants on the left hand side of your course home page. 2. Look in the column "Last Access" and see when the last time they logged on was. ANY STUDENTS that haven't logged in in 3-‐4 days should be a concern for you one great way to show this is to email the student. 3. Look through and take note of those who haven't logged in the last couple of days and plan on contacting them or their parents by phone today. 4. For each student on the list click on their name and go to their profile. 5. Once on their profile page click on "Activity reports" 6. Scroll down to the current week, in this case each "Topic" is a week. For example Topic 15 is Week 15. 7. Look at the day number for Monday in this case it is 15-‐1. See if the student completed each activity with 15-‐1 at the beginning. 8. See if they completed each activity for that day. 9. If there are any lesson activities that you need to review and score go ahead and do it now. 10. If there are any forums go ahead and look at the students post and respond if you feel it would be helpful. 11. Mark in your roll book whether or not the student is present. (You can keep a roll book just by using paper and pencil but you should use the online Attendance tool that will be discussed later. 12. Go back to the participants page and go to the next student. Help me with grading lesson activities 1. Go to the lesson 2. Click on the activity (activities have an icon with three squares) 3. Click on the Reports tab to see which students did the activities and the percentage of time they took on the activity 4. To grade essays, click on Grade Essays tab 5. Red lettering means the essay has not yet been graded 6. If you click on a particular student’s assignment in red color, you are taken to a place where you can read the student’s essay and make comments (it’s not practical to always make a comment; usually short comments work well). 7. Grade the activity 8. Click Email Graded Essay to email the student’s essay and grade. The lettering on that assignment will change from red to grey. Help me with grading a students essay 1. Go to the lesson 2. Click on the activity (activities have an icon with three squares) 3. Click on the Reports tab to see which students did the activities and the percentage of time they took on the activity 4. To grade essays, click on Grade Essays tab 5. Red lettering means the essay has not yet been graded 6. If you click on a particular student’s assignment in red color, you are taken to a place where you can read the student’s essay and make comments (it’s not practical to always make a comment; usually short comments work well). Help me reviewing an online text assignment In a lesson the online text assignment has an icon that looks like a clipboard 1. Click on the text assignment in the lesson 2. You are taken to a screen where you can see which students did the text assignment 3. If they had written you will see a notation and a button to the right that says “Grade.” If the assignment was not done you will see “Update” 4. If a student has not done that assignment, go to “Attendance” and make a note stating the exact assignment the student needs to complete (Make sure you have created additional tabs on top of the web page so you can easily navigate to the attendance section 5. If the student completed the assignment, click Grade 6. You are taken to a page where you can provide feedback about their thoughts. They, in turn, can respond to your remarks 7. Then go to the top right hand corner and apply a grade from a drop down box 8. Make sure the box on the lower left part of the page saying Send Notification Emails is checked to update the students about the grade 9. Then click Save Changes. If you click Save and Show Next, you will automatically be taken to the next student’s text record. This works well when you start at the top of the list. 10. You will notice the grade you gave will be noted in the right column on the row of the student’s name 11. When a student did not complete all a day’s activities make sure he is marked absent with a note of what he has yet to do Help me with reviewing choice activities. A “Choice Activity” has an icon that looks like a bubble and a question mark They are graded automatically for you 1. When you click on the Choice Activity you can see the choices students made and the grade 2. When you click on Responses, you will see on the bottom of the page how many students chose one way or the other 3. Click the Reading Check part of the lesson. You will see which days students read their scriptures 4. Then go to Attendance and double check your entries, whether students get credit or not, if not, what they need to do to get credit, and if all is correct, click OK Students can look at the top left of their screen and see the “Attendance” box. They can see if they have any days to make up. If they click on Detail, they will see the assignments they need to complete. Help me see how to easily view and grade a student’s work and who got behind a few days. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
On homepage, click Participants Scroll to the student you want to check Click their name, which pulls up their personal profile In their personal profile click on the Activity Reports tab Scroll down to the current week and look at their work record Record their work such as reading, devotional, and scripture mastery in you notes Click on the assignments where they made discussion or essay entries and grade them as you see fit 8. Mark the completion of those assignments in your notes so you can post their attendance Help me know how often a student logs in during a week. 1.
2.
3.
4.
Click Participants Click Activity Reports Click on All Logs Examine the data to see how long students took on each activity. If it’s too long, they may have got distracted on Facebook or something else. If it’s too short, that is also a concern. 5. Click on Statistics to see how active they have been in the course as time goes on. Help me check to see if students completed past week’s or day’s work. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Go to homepage Look in left hand column and click on Reports Select the categories you want to see Click Get These Logs View reports Help Me check to see if Students Watched Devotionals 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Go to homepage Look in left hand column and click on Reports Select Activity: “Devotional” Select the day you want to check the devotionals Click Get These Logs View report Weekly Tasks Help me know what I should do weekly: You will need to prepare for each week by doing a few things. This is an overview of what you will be taught today, the rest of the activities will show you how to do these things. 1. Prepare and post a new bulletin board to the classroom to show students you have logged in and are ready to have them start the next week. 2. Early Monday morning open or Sunday night open the availability or “eyeball” for the lesson(s) to the students. Close the availability of the past weeks instruction. 3. You will need to be familiar with the lesson for each day, this means that you go through every lesson, make sure that they work and that you are ready to thoughtfully respond to their work. You can even change or add to the lessons once you feel comfortable enough to do so. 4. To review the online lessons you need to do them as a student, really study the scriptures as if you were the student. Use any other approved manuals that you feel would help you understand what is going on in the scripture block that will help you to understand and teach the content and context of the scriptures. 5. Plan and prepare weekly for weekly class, then teach the weekly class. a) When you go through the lessons you become aware of what principles that have been taught and as you personally read those chapters you can see what needs to be taught or emphasized in your weekly class you have with them. b) Read the scripture block for the week, taking note of important principles and doctrines you'd like to teach in your weekly class. c) Prepare PowerPoint or other presentation to be used in class. 6. You should review the attendance and participation of your class and make the phone calls or emails needed. a) Write personal encouraging notes to students b) Check and work with students who need make up c) Communicate with students and parents as needed specifically making phone calls. Help me with opening or closing the availability of the lessons: It is imperative that you help the students stay caught up in Online Seminary. Students will respond positively to and stay caught up if they know there is a deadline to their work. All students/families are busy, all students whether early-‐morning, release time, home-‐study or online all need to make seminary a DAILY priority. Seminary needs to become a priority along with all the other activities that the youth can be involved in. Leaving several weeks open will leave the students falling behind and the teacher frustrated not knowing what is needed to be reviewed and how to mark credit. Teachers should counsel with priesthood leaders and coordinators when deciding when to open and close the availability of the lessons. Leaving one week open at a time: 1. Turn editing on 2. Locate the “eyeball” in the top right-‐hand corner of the of all future weeks of instruction and click on the “eyeball” to close the availability of all future weeks. 3. Locate the “eyeball” in the top right-‐hand corner of the of all past week of instruction and click on the “eyeball” to close the availability of all that previous week. 4. Locate the upcoming week of instruction and locate the “eyeball” in the top right-‐hand corner and open the next week of instruction. Leaving one day open at a time: 1. Turn editing on 2. Locate the “eyeball” in the top right-‐hand corner of the of all future weeks of instruction and click on the “eyeball” to close the availability of all future weeks. 3. Locate the “eyeballs” next to each activity besides the day you would like to leave open. Close all of the other eyeballs for each individual activity. For example, leave all of the Monday “eyeballs” open for all the first day of the week, then late Monday night or early Tuesday morning close the “eyeballs” for Monday and open Tuesday’s . Note: If closing the previous days instruction do not close the class discussions from prior days so that students can go back and read the comments made to their posts to promote sharing among students. Help me add a week-‐long social class discussion 1. You will have to train students where to find the class discussions and go to them every day to participate 2. Turn on editing 3. You will see to areas called “Add a Resource” and “Add an Activity” 4. Click on Add an Activity 5. Scroll down the pop up window and click on Discussion 6. Next to “Discussion Name” type in the title or the question you want to ask to start the discussion. 7. Then make sure the “Discussion Type” is A Single Simple Discussion 8. Scroll down to the area where you type and enter your thoughts or explanation behind the discussion. Ask students to explain or elaborate. Ask the question in such a way they can just answer Because or Yes or No. Be sure to tell them to hit the Reply button on the lower right corner to start. 9. Scroll down further to the option called “Read Tracking for this Forum.” Select the option On 10. Then go to the bottom and click on Save and Display Ideas for Class Discussions 1. Tell us about something you had to do that you felt was way to hard and beyond what you thought you could do 2.
How many times do you laugh each day? Discussion 3.
How to beat the heat?! Discussion 4.
Which parent are you like? Discussion 5.
Why is summer your favorite season? Discussion 6.
What is your favorite color? Discussion 7.
How was your summer? Discussion 8.
If you could visit anywhere in the world WHERE would you go and WHY? :) Discussion 9.
What is your favorite candy bar? Discussion 10. What is your favorite color and why? Discussion 11. What is your dream vacation? Discussion 12. What kind of super powers do you wish you could have? 13. If you could only choose one, what kind of animal would you be? Help me use class discussions to create a seminary environment online 1. Make sure editing in turned on. 2. In the bottom right-‐hand side of your bulletin board click on "add an activity" and scroll down to where is says "Discussion" and click on it. 3. In where it says Discussion Name type your question that you thought of, make sure it is fun, relevant, and catchy. 4. The next item down says "Discussion Type", click on the arrows on the right-‐hand side of the box and select "A single simple discussion". 5. In the HTML editor type in the question or introduction to the class discussion. 6. Below the HTML editor, select the second option, it says it "optional", change that to say "on". 7. Once you are done typing in what you want to, scroll down to the bottom and then click on "save and display". Look over your finished forum and make any changes using the steps above. Help me make a weekly plan to do all that I need to as a teacher: Sample Online Seminary Teacher Schedule Here’s the plan that one teacher uses to make sure she got everything done to make online seminary work. Mix in “shepherding” each day, which is contact with students via phone, face to face, email through the course, prayer, receiving inspiration and more. Be sure to watch for students that need extra attention as they begin seminary. Getting them started on the right track is so important. Monday 1. Post/respond in today’s class discussion – check it 2-‐3 times today 2. Check the previous week that all student essays and assignments are graded and emailed to them 3. Update attendance if needed Tuesday 1. Grade and email essays from Monday 2. Post/respond in today’s class discussion and respond in Mondays – check it 2-‐3 times today Wednesday 1. Grade and email essays from Tuesday 2. Post/respond in today’s class discussion and respond in Mon & Tues – check it a 2-‐3 times today 3. Be thinking about Meetingplace class preparations, theme, scripture mastery fun etc. Thursday 1. Grade and email essays from Wednesday 2. Post/respond in today’s class discussion and respond in Mon, Tues & Wed – check it 2-‐3 times today 3. Prepare Meetingplace class Friday 1. Grade and email essays from Thursday 2. Teach the Meetingplace class 3. Take attendance in the course 4. Send an email message to students that attendance has been updated 5. Post/respond in class discussion for Thursday Saturday – Rest from your labors and enjoy your family!! Sunday 1. Create a new bulletin board and change the week and the date to reflect the new week starting Monday 2. Close the eyeball on the current week Sunday evening or whenever you have told your students that will happen 3. Open the eyeball for the new week sometime Sunday evening, ready for Monday Other items that need doing: • Enter attendance in CSTAR • End of the Month Priesthood Leader Email – copy & paste the CSTAR attendance report • Notes to parents and students of their attendance report every few weeks (especially at the beginning of the year and at the end) or monthly if all is going well. Help Me know How to Help Students with Make-‐up Work: Online Seminary Make Up Guidelines We suggest if a students gets way behind 3+ weeks in Online Seminary that the teacher meets one-‐on-‐one with that students to (1) help them set a daily plan to stay caught up and not accrue any more make-‐up days and (2) find an appropriate way to help the students make-‐up their work using the Student Study Guide or other ideas suggested by the coordinator and Area Director. We have found that doing make-‐up using the online program (with one student who is way behind) hard for a teacher to open the availability of those weeks etc. just for that student. Here are the general guiding principles of make-‐up work that we should be aware of and try to support the students, parents, and priesthood leaders as we work to help the youth: I offer an explanation of the principles we try to honor and a few things to consider when we coordinate makeup work and see if that helps answer specific applications that you may face. I’ll try to be brief but still cover the points and the frequently asked questions on the subject. As you know, the requirements that the Brethren have set for students to receive credit for seminary is a minimum of 80% attendance and no flagrant tardiness. As we communicate the requirements for makeup work with our students, we want to be sure that we don’t foster an adversarial relationship, but that they understand that we are on their team. The requirements for graduation are not set by you or by me, but by the Church Board of Education. Help the students understand that you are not trying to stand between them and graduation by imposing makeup work, but rather are standing by their side, trying to help them meet the necessary requirements. The objective or purpose of makeup work is to do our very best to try and recreate what a student misses when they are absent from seminary. You realize that it is nearly impossible to do that, but makeup work should be designed to try to accomplish that as much as possible! There are some guidelines that help us accomplish that. S&I policy regarding makeup work states: “When makeup assignments are required, they should be given to bless and not punish the student. Specific assignments are determined by the teacher and should generally be related to the work missed. The assignments should be meaningful, reasonable, and individually suited to the needs and abilities of the student.” (Policy Manual for Stake Seminary Teachers, 2011, p.8). Let me explain what some of those terms mean so that you will understand how makeup work should be handled: 1. “Related to work missed.” Makeup work should come from the same book of scripture (and, if identifying it is possible, from the same chapters) the student was studying when they incurred the absence. Activities such as watching general conference, attending a fireside, bringing a friend to class, etc. are all great and important things for members of the church to do and I encourage students to do them, but our purpose with the makeup work assigned is to get the students into a study of the scriptures that you missed when you were absent. 2. “Meaningful.” It is hard to create a makeup work assignment that doesn’t just feel like busy work! Makeup work should encourage students to have a meaningful experience with their scriptures, but their effort will be the key to that. It is hoped that as they complete this, they will ponder and reflect on the principles and what they intend to do with them. 3. “Reasonable.” When students have missed many days, they sometimes feel like the amount of makeup work required of them is so much that it is unreasonable to expect that they will complete it. They have incorrectly interpreted the meaning of this passage and thought that “reasonable” meant that makeup work shouldn’t be too hard. In reality, “reasonable” means that the required makeup work should be as much like the real thing as possible. This helps us decide what you should be expected to study and how long it should take you to complete it. 4. “Individually suited to the needs and abilities of the student.” We do encourage teachers to consider students individually and work with them. Teachers would be wise to not just hand students a giant stack of papers and tell them to get it done, but to help them take bits at a time and to provide them with feedback and assistance as needed. Again, this is not a license to water down requirements in an effort to not overwhelm the students, but rather an invitation to consider how you communicate with the student. Often students will want to try to pound out makeup work in a series of marathon sessions. Please help students understand that this doesn’t accomplish what we are looking for. In seminary, our approach is not “flood irrigation” but “drip line irrigation.” We encourage you to have students complete a 45 minute makeup work assignment a day, each day until completed– just as they would have experienced the blocks of scripture had they been in attendance. This day-‐for-‐day and time-‐for-‐time approach will not only provide them with a much more reasonable and realistic experience, it will also help maintain the integrity of the program so that fellow students who have made the effort to attend seminary consistently will not see a student complete his course of study in a couple of weeks. Please encourage students doing makeup work to sincerely try to have the attitude and effort needed to have a meaningful experience with their scriptures. Then, as you read the insights they gain and record, provide them with good feedback as you would if they were sitting in class with you. Student Instructions Help Me Test My Internet Speed Internet Speed Test Run an internet speed test on the computer that will be used to do lessons for Online Seminary. Please go to the following site to run the test. Internet Speed Test: www.internetfrog.com/mypc/speedtest/ Help Me Create an LDS Account Each student must have his or her own LDS Account User Name and Password to get into the Online Seminary web site. To obtain this you will need to submit your birthday and LDS membership number (you can get that number from your ward clerk.Please go to the following site to set up your personal LDS user name and password: http://ldsaccount.ldschurch.org Important note: The Online Seminary website only accepts user names with letters and/or numbers. It will not accept usernames that have capital letters , underscores or any other characters. Help Me Change My LDS Account Password If a student needs to change their password to their LDS account they need to do the following: 1. go to http://ldsaccount.ldschurch.org
2. log in with their current user name and password.
3. Click on edit my account in the upper right hand corner. It is in blue text.
4. Once the page reloads, make the required adjustments to the account
5. Click on submit when finished.
Help me with Looking at My Activity Report 1. Click on your name in the top right hand corner of the page (it won't appear if you are in a lesson activity): Once you click on your name it will bring you to your profile. 2. There are several tabs below your name on your profile. Click on the tab that says “Activity reports.” 3. Once clicked, it will show list of all the "Topics" or "Weeks" and the activities for each week. Look for the week you are trying to see if you are caught up and complete. 4. Look at each of the activities and make sure that there is a time-‐stamp next to each activity as well as a grade next to each lesson activity. 5. If there is not a time-‐stamp or grade, go to that activity and make sure you have completed all of the tasks. 6. Some grades will not be shown immediately, such as essays and Online Text assignments. Your teacher needs to be given time to grade those activities. Help me know how to Look at Your Attendance Details: 1. Look for the Attendance tool in the left side column of your course main page. 2. In that box you will find the number of days you were marked present, absent, or that you have made up. 3. Clicking on “In detail” will give you the detailed information as to what days you were marked absent and what needs to be made up. 4. If you do not see the details as to why you were marked absent get in contact with your teacher via the in site messaging system and ask her or him to help you know what you need to work on. Help me with Editing your Profile Step 1: Scroll to the very top of the course homepage and click on your name in the right-‐hand corner of your screen. Step 2: This will bring up a screen with your name and eight tabs across the top. Click on the tab that says, "Edit Profile". Step 3: Scroll down through the different options that are available. Here, you can change your password anytime you want to. You should also make sure that Forum Tracking is set to "Yes, highlight new posts for me". Step 4: Keep scrolling down until you get to the City/Town entry. Please put your city and state/province in this line. Then select your country right below that line. Step 5: Select the language pack you want to use-‐-‐English (en) for British spellings and English (en_us) for North American spellings. Step 6: Fill in the description box with appropriate details about yourself that you want others in the class to see. This might include things like favorite foods, sports, subjects, vacation spots, hobbies, etc. Step 7: Upload an appropriate picture of yourself by clicking on the "Browse" button in the picture box. Find the picture you want to use on your computer and upload it. Step 8: Fill in the list of your interests separated by commas (i.e. swimming, hiking, dynamite juggling, painting) Step 9: Be sure to scroll to the bottom and Click on the "Update Profile" button or none of your changes will be saved. Finished! Now you can look at a few of the other student’s profiles and get to know your classmates a little better. You can update your profile as many times as you would like during the year if you think of other things that you would like to add or take away. Help Me know how to Send a Message: 1. You need to find the profile page of the person that you want to send a message to. You can access a person’s profile page from the list of class "participants" or "participant pix" section. Just click on their name or their picture. 2. Once you have found their profile page click on "send message" at the bottom of the profile page. 3. Type the message. Make sure what you type would be appropriate to say out loud at church. Keep your conversations in line with the For Strength of Youth standards. 4. Click on "Send Message." Help Me know what my Teacher Can See: •
•
•
•
When you have been on What you have done Where you have clicked Even how much time you have spent in each activity. Your teacher will be able to report to your parents your progress and be able to relate the real work you are doing. Help Me with Navigating through Online Seminary •
•
•
On the course home page you can go to the Section Links box at the upper left part of the page and click on a number. Each number represents a week in the course. If you want to go to week 15, you would click on the number 15. If you want to get out of week 15 and go to week 16, push the back button or arrow and then click 16, and so forth to any other week you want to see. When you get into a particular week you will see a small box on the right hand side. It’s called the “jump box, ” although you won’t see that name, just the box. If you click on that box it will take you to that entire week’s group of lessons. At the bottom of the screen you will see a new menu with the words “Jump To” in it. If you click on “Jump To” a scroll bar will appear showing the other weeks you can jump to. Thus you can jump from one week to another once you are viewing a full week just as you can do by using the Section Link to jump from one week to another. So the Section Link and Jump Box are two tools that can help you navigate quicker through the Online Seminary web site. Help me with watching a recorded MeetingPlace class: 1.
2.
In your internet browser go to: meetingplace.ldschurch.org In the Meeting ID Type in the top left hand corner of the screen next to "Meeting ID" 3.
Then Click on "Find Meeting" 4.
If you are a teacher or full-‐time employee type in your information right hand side using your LDS account, if you are a student, just type your name it. 5.
Once you have entered your log-‐in information or name, click on "Find Meeting" 6.
Under "Meeting Search" come and click on "past" 7.
Change the Date on the "From" category to before when the meeting occurred. 8.
This meeting search should bring up "Past Meetings" below the Meeting Search details 9.
The Past Meetings should come up with information in several columns, in the third column from third column over to the right should be red meeting ID numbers. 10.
Click on Recordings and Attachments in the top right corner. Then click on the small icon of the computer to watch the meeting in its entirety. Yearly Start-‐Up Tasks Before the Class you should: 1. Be set apart. 2. From your Coordinator you can get the following resources for your study (you were already given the links for the electronic versions of these manuals): Teaching the Gospel: A Handbook for S&I Teacher and Leaders, The Objective of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion, The Teaching and Learning Emphasis Document, Seminary "Basic Doctrines" Document, The Charted Course in Church Education (J. Reuben Clark Jr., rev. ed. [1994]) 3. Begin a personal study of the text of the course. 4. Mark and master the scripture mastery passages. 5. Obtain a username and password for the S&I Website: si.lds.org 6. Identify potential students participating in the Online Seminary Program and get the students and parents to sign the permission slips. 7. Get to know your students by learning their names and something about them. 8. Establish ways to communicate with parents and students. 9. Make a calendar for the school year, refer to the local school calendars for holidays. Schedule lessons using the pacing guide so you can finish the allotted assignments allowing students to stay caught up. 10. Obtain a schedule of in-‐service training meetings from your S&I coordinator. Find out from your OSS when you will meet monthly and plan to attend. 11. Be an active participant with your online seminary supervisor and the other teacher in your area, talk with them, share ideas, ask how they do things to help you do your best! Administrative Work Before the School Year Starts 1. Identify Your Potential Students by contacting Your Stake Supervisor and Local Seminary and Institute Coordinator 2. Once you have identified your potential students contact the Parents and Students teach them about the program, share student expectations, and explain technological requirements. You should get them excited about Seminary and talk about what you think they will like about the Online Program . Priesthood leader and stake supervisors should help with this process. 3. Have the family test their Internet Speed: Before the students commit to participate in the Online Seminary program they, with their parents, should run a internet speed test from the computer they would use to participate in Online Seminary. 4. Gather the Following Information on Each student 1. First and Last Name 2. Email Address of Parents and Phone Numbers to Contact Parents 3. Email Address of Students (You will need to teach them to use their email!) 4. Email Address of their Bishop/Branch President and Phone Number 5. LDS Account Username City, State 6. Birthday 7. Ward, Stake 5. Gather the Signatures You Need: Parents sign a "Student Internet/Privacy Agreement". Since you are an adult and will be communicating with a minor you will need to have these signed. 6. Holding an Orientation Meeting to Start the Year One thing that can be done to start the year off right is to hold a meeting as a class with the students' parents. We realize this might not be feasible in some areas and leave it up to you how you can get the important information to the parents and students. You should contact your Priesthood leaders and share with them the following reasons that they might consider to hold one. Here are the reasons to hold a meeting, and what to cover: Reasons to have one: 1. You need to create a feeling of class, help the student know one another physically so they will interact with one another virtually! 2. The parents need to know exactly what is expected of their youth and their teacher so they can appropriately support their child! We are here to help them, so the more they know about the program, the more support they will give you! 3. You need to set the expectation for DAILY participation up front and often! 4. There is lots of information to get passed to the students to start successfully, and having this meeting will greatly help this process. See if you can schedule this meeting close to the beginning of the year, when all the youth in the stake/district are invited to an already scheduled activity and ask them to come an hour early or stay an hour later to increase the chances they attend! What to cover: 1. Explain the Purpose of the Online Program 2. What it means to be involved in a Pilot Program 3. Program Requirements for Students 4. How students get seminary credit and what they are expected to do 5. What students are supposed to do online 6. What students are supposed to do about the weekly class 7. What the teacher will do to help the students succeed 8. What can parents do to help 9. Explain, when, where the weekly class(es) will be 10. Show log-‐in basics 11. If using MeetingPlace show how to log in. To help you in preparation for such a meeting the following PowerPoint presentation might be used to help you prepare. If you use this presentation YOU MUST insert your own information; it is merely a template. 7. Help Me Add and Enroll Students to My Class: Once have gathered all the information you are ready to do the two-‐step process of getting the students registered and enrolled in the right class for this year. First you will need to register the student on the site (for ALL students; students' accounts from last year have been archived and all students will need new accounts). Second, you will need to add them to your course so they are ready to go. This video is 8 minutes long and will walk you through the process. It can be a little tricky so watch the video more than once if needed. The steps are also written below for instruction. Hello all. Step 1: Registering the Students on the Site 1. On the Campus Home Page (onlineseminary.lds.org) click on the folder labeled "Users." Once you click on "Users" a new folder named "Accounts" will appear. Click on "Accounts," then click on the option "Add a new user." 2. A page with several fields of information will appear. This is where you will enter the information you have gathered. 3. Click on the "show advanced" button in the top right hand side of the page. 4. In the first open field next to "Username" enter the student's LDS Account Username. 5. Next item down is called "Choose an authentication method" click on the dropdown box to reveal different types of authentication. Click on "SAML Authentication" (if you can't see the option to change the authentication type you may need to go back to step #3.) 6. The next two items talk about a password. The students will never use this password but you MUST ENTER one, so you could type in "temp" or "pass", it doesn't matter what is there, it just had to have something! DO NOT click on "force password change" 7. Enter the student's First Name, Last Name, and Email Address. 8. Down three items (don't change the email display, activated or format) Find the next item down that says "Email Digest Type" and change it from "no digest (single email per forum post) to "Complete (daily email with full posts)". 9. Next item down is called "Forum auto-‐subscribe", make sure that says "Yes: when I post, subscribe me to that forum" 10. Next item down is called "Forum tracking" change that to say "YES: highlight new posts for me" 11. Skip down to the City/town space and enter the city and state (ex.: Salt Lake City, UT; Paducah, KY; or Duncan, BC). 12. Enter your country of residence. 13. Scroll down to the very bottom and click on "update profile" 14. There may appear an error, but don't worry about it. This is a bug in the process, as long as you entered the information correctly and clicked "update profile" it has worked. 15. REPEAT THE SAME PROCESS FOR ALL THE STUDENTS IN YOUR COURSE Step 2: Enrolling Students in your own course (you have registered them on the site, now you need to put them in your course.) 1. Go to your own course homepage where you are the teacher. 2. Find the "Administration Block" in on the left-‐hand side and click on the "Assign Roles" option. 3. Scroll down the list of roles until you find "Students" and click on that option. 4. A page with two boxes, one on the left and one on the right, below the one on the right type in the last name or first name, or first part of the students email and click on search. 5. The students name should appear in the right hand side, click on their name in the right box and then click on "add" in the middle of the two boxes. 6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 for every student registered. 7. Once you have listed all the students you want to add to your course in the left box click on "Assign roles in Course: [Your Course Name]." This will take you back to the main "Assign Roles" page. 8. Check the list of participants to make sure you have added all the students. Now that you have created accounts for your students and enrolled them in the course, you need to email them with instructions on how to find your course on the website. Here is a SAMPLE email that you could copy and paste and insert the appropriate information that is individual to the student. Things to do on the Online Seminary Site Before School 1. Update the bulletin board and add dates to the course. (See Training for Help) 2. Add the attendance days or sessions to the Online Seminary attendance tool in your bulletin board. (See Training for Help) 3. Enroll your students into Online Seminary on the site (See Training for Help) 4. Add information to: Week 1 Day 1 “Meet Your Teacher” and Week 2 Day 3 Teacher Testimony (See Training for Help) Setting Up the Online Seminary Attendance Tool The attendance tool is a huge help. It is a central place for students to see their attendance and a central place to get information that can be transferred to C-‐STAR. Before you Begin: Obtain a school calendar. With the guidance of your stake leaders and coordinator, decide which days will be seminary days and which will not. 1. Click on “Online Seminary Attendance” in your bulletin board. 2. There are several tabs below where it says: “Attendance for the course::Name of Class” 3. Click on the tab that says “Add”. You are going to add your class sessions or the days that your students are going to have seminary. 4. Check the box that says “Create Multiple Sessions” so you can create all the days for the year. 5. In the first “Session Date” set the date (Day, Month, Year) to the first day of the school year. Don’t worry about the two other boxes to the right of the year. 6. Leave the line that says “duration” 00 and 00 7. In the “Session End Date” select the last day of school for the year. 8. In the “Session Days” check the boxes for Monday through Friday. 9. Leave the “Frequency” at 1 week 10. Type in exactly “Week # Day #” in the Description box 11. Click on “Add Session” 12. Click on “Continue” 13. It will come back to the “Add session” page. Click on the “Sessions” tab next to the “Add” tab 14. This will bring up all the sessions you have added in this case we have added 200 days. 15. The next step is to go and delete the 4 weeks to get to the 180 days of material. 16. Check the boxes in the “Select” column on the right hand side of the days you would like to not have class. 17. After you have checked the boxes scroll to the bottom of the page and find the box in the right hand corner that says “With Selected:” then there is a dropdown box, there are two options, select “Delete” then select OK. 18. It will then ask you if you are “absolutely sure you want to completely delete these sessions? Double check that you are deleting the right dates, then click yes. Click continue when it says you have successfully deleted the sessions. 19. Now you need to go in and give a name to each of the class sessions. Monday-‐Thursday and your live class, yes that is right you should take your attendance here on the online site. 20. Click on the edit button in between green ball and red x in the “Actions” settings. 21. In the bottom option where is says “description” it should say “Week # Day #” Change that to say “Week 1 Day 1” by replacing the # signs with the actual numbers. Ten click on “update” then click “continue” and repeat. On the one day that you have your live class, rather than just saying “Week # Day #” enter in Week # Live Class. The other four days will be Week # and days 1-‐4. 22. Do this for every date, yes it will take awhile but it will be worth it to get this right! Once you have entered Week 36 Day 4! 23. You will need to decide what you want to do with the additional holidays that your area take off from school. Plan to tell parents which days you are not having seminary, even for the ones you won’t be asking them to do seminary online. MeetingPlace Instructions Help me attend a MeetingPlace class: 1. Go to MeetingPlace: https://meetingplace.ldschurch.org 2. Type if the Meeting ID of the class you wish to attend and click on “attend meeting” 3. If you are a teacher or full-‐time employee type in your information right hand side using your LDS account, if you are a student, just type your name on the left side then click “attend meeting”. 4. This will bring you to the “connect me page” you will be connecting your phone and your computer to the MeetingPlace class. a. Make sure that both boxes “Join the Web-‐Conference” and “Have MeetingPlace call my phone” have been checked. b. Enter in the correct phone number you want MeetingPlace to call (the system will call you) i. If you are using a US number please type using the following format: 91areacodephonenumber for example 918015555555 ii. If you are calling internationally us this format: 9011countrycodephonenubmer for example 90114474539437. If you normally use a 0 in front of your phone number internationally, please do not enter that number in. For example if my number were 44 077439555 I would enter 90114477439555 in the box to call my phone number. 5. Once you have entered your phone number correctly click on “Connect”. When you do this your internet browser will be minimized and the MeetingPlace console will open on your computer. If prompted to download a plug-‐in or add-‐in please do so. Your phone should also be ringing, pick up the phone and follow the instructions to connect to the meeting. 6. If your computer or your phone doesn’t connect, close the MeetingPlace console and go back to your internet browser that should still be on the “connect me” page, go to step 4 above. Help me with scheduling a MeetingPlace class 1.
2.
3.
4.
Go to MeetingPlace: https://meetingplace.ldschurch.org Click on Schedule a Meeting Log in using your LDS Account user name and password When the next page comes up, enter the name of your Online Seminary in the top left box 5. Leave “Meeting ID” blank, unless you want to insert a 4 digit number you can easily remember. Otherwise, MeetingPlace will assign its own meeting ID number. 6. Schedule the dates you will hold your weekly meeting with the students 6.1. Click on the calendar and choose the first day of the first a Live Class will be held 6.2. Click in the next box and set the time of day 6.3. Set the length of time you plan on holding the class each day. It’s suggested we set it to 90 minutes to give ourselves some elbow room 6.4. Click on the Recurrence, which opens another box, 6.5. Click on the drop down box change it from “once” to Weekly 6.6. Next to Number of Occurrences type in the number of weeks in the seminary year, like 36 or 40 6.7. Click on Report conflicts 6.8. Click on Done and you will be taken to the previous page 7. The Meeting Template section should be Collaborative 8. Do not enter a password 9. In the Number of Phone Connections section, leave the number at “0.” This will allow an unlimited number of people to join in such as Online Supervisors or other visitors. 10. Click on More Options on the right side of the screen 10.1. Go to Meeting Extension and change it to Yes, just in case your class goes overtime and you want MeetingPlace to continue recording 10.2. Go to Automatically Start Recording and click Yes so students who missed the class can go back and watch 10.3. Go to Access Meeting Attachments/Recordings and click Anyone 10.4. Then click Submit 11. Make sure your correct name and email address is in the box at the bottom of the page under the headings Name and Email 12. Click Schedule to schedule your meeting. A warning will come up saying you have more than 10 participants. Just click OK. MeetingPlace will let you know when a participant leaves 13. The click Schedule again 14. A new page will come up showing the assigned 4 digit number that will be used for all your meetings on the scheduled day throughout the seminary year. Make a record of that number. 15. At this point you are done 16. If you desire to change the details of a meeting immediately after you schedule it, before you leave the MeetingPlace site, click on Meeting Details then make the changes. 17. When MeetingPlace sends an email letting you know the Meeting ID number along with the date and time, forward the letter to your students so they will know how and when to join in your live classes.
Help me with watching a recorded MeetingPlace class: 1. In your internet browser go to: meetingplace.ldschurch.org 2.
In the Meeting ID Type in the top left hand corner of the screen next to "Meeting ID" 3.
Then Click on "Find Meeting" 4.
If you are a teacher or full-‐time employee type in your information right hand side using your LDS account, if you are a student, just type your name it. 5.
Once you have entered your log-‐in information or name, click on "Find Meeting" 6.
Under "Meeting Search" come and click on "past" 7.
Change the Date on the "From" category to before when the meeting occurred. 8.
This meeting search should bring up "Past Meetings" below the Meeting Search details 9.
The Past Meetings should come up with information in several columns, in the third column from third column over to the right should be red meeting ID numbers. 10.
Click on Recordings and Attachments in the top right corner. Then click on the small icon of the computer to watch the meeting in its entirety. Technical Tips Help Me add an approved Video to Your Lesson from the CRS 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Turn on editing Go to Add a Resource Click Compose Web Page Make up a name for the presentation and enter it Scroll past the text entry area under “Summary” to the text editing area under “Compose a Web Page” 6. Paste in the presentation code such as: ##video_training_meetingplace_basics_login## 7. If you desire a different video, scroll back up to the text entry area under “Summary” 8. Click the three colored squares located on the right side just above the text area 9. Search for the video you desire 10. Then copy the name of the video on the left of the screen such as: “meetingplace_powerpoint” 11. Past into the text area below “Compose a Web Page” 12. Then add: ##video_training_ on the left of the title you pasted. Make sure all whole words in the title are separated with an underscore then add ## on the right so it looks like this: ##video_training_meetingplace _powerpoint## If the video is not a training video, see if you can find out its type and try entering it instead of “training_video.” 13. Click Save and Return to Course 14. Test the link to make sure it takes you to a video icon that starts playing when you click on the arrow Help Me Control How Much Email I Get From the Site: If you are getting too many emails from the online seminary site, you can change that. 1. Go to onlineseminary.lds.org 2. sign in using your LDS log in 3. Go to the class in your area 4. Find on the left "participants" 5. Click on your picture or name to get to your own profile. 6. Click the "edit profile" tab at the top 7. Change the email digest type to "complete (daily email with full posts). 8. Scroll down and click update profile at the bottom of the page. Now, you will get one email with class discussion posts, stead of one email per post. Hope that frees up your email box Clearing Cache and Cookies (Add Robyn’s PDF) Teaching Ideas Questions to Ask Yourself Remember that great teachers teach by modeling good habits, as well as looking for and making connections with students. Here's a few questions to ask yourself each day, and especially important during the first few weeks of seminary. 1. Did I connect with each student today, by phone or message through the course? (It's a great practice to do all year long, but be especially vigilant in the first week or two of class) When you see a student is online, message them. If they're not online -‐-‐ message them. A fun message makes students feel like they belong. It can be as simple as . . ."Hey Joey, Great to see you here in Seminary!! I'm looking forward to reading your work. See ya . . . " 2. Did I show through the course that I was present and engaged, by adding to and responding in the class discussions? and grading essays? (when in the day's activities) Make it very obvious to students that their teacher showed up for seminary today. Start the Week out Strong When students are absent, mark them absent. Describe what's missing in the attendance description. Keep attendance daily, so students can see their updates each day. . . . it's motivating for them. When we guide and lead students in this way, it is a preparation for future success, on the part of teachers and students. Great Shepherding will result in happy shepherds and happy sheep, now and later. During the first week or two, you may want to make phone calls when students haven't clicked through all the pages of an activity. They'll catch on and you'll be glad you got them into the habit of completing an entire activity and an entire day. Below is an image of what a student can see on main page of your course. You may remember it from the training. You can't see it even if you change your role to student. If students can't see this, chances are they are NOT in Firefox browser. (for sibling groups, both Firefox and chrome will show this attendance update.) MeetingPlace
Advanced Guide
MeetingPlace is the Church’s solution for audio
conferencing and desktop sharing. It replaces the
Audio Bridge, WebEx, and LiveMeeting tools.
With MeetingPlace, anyone with a workforce LDS
Account (such as employees, General Authories, and
Church-service missionaries) can schedule and host
meetings with participants all around the world.
All meetings include an audio bridge and, if desired,
the ability to share screens. To connect to the audio
bridge, you can either dial a phone number or have
MeetingPlace call you.
Meetingplace.ldschurch.org: The Web interface for MeetingPlace
Scheduling a Meeting
Table of Contents
You can schedule a meeting in three ways: through Outlook, through the Web,
or through a Church operator. Only Church employees can schedule meetings
through Outlook, but anyone with a workforce LDS Account can schedule a
meeting through the Web. Scheduling meetings through a Church operator is
restricted to General Authorities only.
Three Ways to Schedule a Meeting
Scheduling A Meeting ................ 1
Joining A Meeting by
Phone ............................................................................ 3
Joining a Meeting by
Computer ............................................................. 4
Joining a Meeting As A
Moderator ....................................................... 5
Recording A Meeting .................. 6
Sharing Screens, Chats,
Polls, and Whiteboards ......... 7
Troubleshooting and
Reference ............................................................... 8
How MeetingPlace
Defines “Meeting”
MeetingPlace uses the term
meeting to refer to both audio
bridges and screen-sharing
sessions.
Outlook
Use the
MeetingPlace
plugin for Outlook to
schedule meetings.
The Web
Use the
MeetingPlace Web
interface (if you don’t
have Outlook).
An Operator
Call an operator and
request a meeting to
be set up (General
Authorities only).
1
The steps for creating an audio
bridge are exactly the same as the
steps for creating an audio bridge
with a screen-sharing session.
When users join a meeting from
a computer, they decide whether
they also want a “web conference,”
which allows them to share screens.
Web conference is MeetingPlace’s
term to describe meetings that
include a screen-sharing window.
© 2009 Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Schedule Through Outlook
Schedule Through the Web
Scheduling a meeting through Outlook closely
matches the way you create other meetings in Outlook.
To schedule a meeting:
If you don’t have Outlook, you can also schedule
meetings through the Web. To schedule a meeting:
1.
Download the MeetingPlace Outlook plugin by
going to http://meetingplace.ldschurch.org and
clicking Download Outlook Plugin in the sidebar.
Then install the plugin.
2.
In Outlook, create a new meeting as usual.
3.
Complete the basic meeting details, including the
Subject, Location, Start/End time, and Attendees.
4.
On the toolbar, click MeetingPlace.
5.
Select Yes, make this a MeetingPlace Meeting.
6.
Complete the following:
•
Subject: The meeting name (auto-filled).
•
Meeting ID: A numeric identifier. If left blank,
the system creates one. (If you type an ID, use
a unique number to avoid duplication.)
•
•
•
7.
1.
Go to http://meetingplace.ldschurch.org.
2.
Set your correct time zone by clicking Account in
the upper-right corner and then selecting your time
zone (in Utah, select MST7MDT).
3.
Click Schedule Meeting.
Note: When scheduling a meeting on the
Web, you can also create an “Immediate
Meeting.” However, if you create an Immediate
Meeting, you cannot password-protect the
meeting nor ensure more than five spaces.
4.
Sign in with your LDS Account and complete
the details of the meeting. For definitions of each
field, see step 6 in the previous section, “Schedule
Through Outlook.” (Field names vary slightly.)
5.
To add invitees, do the following:
Number of participants: The number of
meeting attendees (this reserves spaces).
•
Internal invitees: Type the person’s last name
or first name in the Add Invitee box (but not
both the first and last name together). Select the
correct name from the list that appears. Then
click Add.
•
External invitees: Type the person’s e-mail
address in the Invitees field and click Add.
Tip: Instead of typing the first or last name,
type the person’s alias (such as johnsonth).
Template: The interaction level of the meeting.
Leave Collaborative selected unless you want
to restrict speaking privileges of participants.
Meeting password (optional): A password
for the meeting (preferably numbers only, no
letters). The password will not be included in the
meeting details sent to invitees, so you must send
the password separately. To include the password
by default, see “Include the Password in Meeting
Details” on page 8.
On the toolbar, click Appointment, and then click
Send.
6.
To give an internal invitee moderator privileges so
he or she can type phone commands, such as Mute
All (#81) or Lock Meeting (#41), select Moderator/
Speaker from the drop-down menu under
Permissions. Instruct moderators to join the meeting
from their computers (see p. 5 for details).
7.
Click the Schedule button.
Schedule through an Operator
General Authorities can also schedule meetings through
a Church operator. To contact the operator, dial (801)
240-1000. The operator will ask you for the necessary
details to set up the meeting.
Invitees with workforce LDS Accounts receive both
an e-mail message and a time-zone-appropriate
appointment in Outlook. External invitees receive only
an e-mail notification with meeting details.
2
Joining a Meeting
You can join a meeting either from your phone or computer. Alternatively, someone who has already joined
the meeting can dial out by pressing #31 to bring you in or can have the system call you. Joining a meeting
from a computer has numerous advantages, as explained on the next page.
Meeting
in
Jo
Jo
Join from your phone by dialing either
a Utah or US Toll Free number.
in
— OR —
JJoin
i from
f
a Ph
Phone
Default
Commands
When you join the meeting from a phone, you must
initiate the call rather than having MeetingPlace call
you. To join from your phone:
1.
Join from your computer, having the
system call you.
Description
*
Begin. Stops the music
and starts the meeting.
Dial one of the following phone numbers:
•
Local (Utah): 1-801-240-2663 (or 2-CONF)
#5
Mute/unmute your
phone.
•
US Toll Free: 1-877-453-7266 (or 1-8774LDSCON). Available only within the U.S.
#2
Attendance. Hear a
participant total and the
name of the last person
speaking.
#21
Roll call. Hear a list of
names of everyone who
has joined the call.
#31
Dial out. Allows you
to dial out and bring
another person into the
meeting.
#33
Get missing invitees.
Has the system
automatically dial all
missing invitees to bring
them into the meeting.
2.
When prompted, enter the meeting ID number,
followed by #.
3.
If required, enter the password, followed by #. If
the password is a word, you must convert it to the
corresponding numbers by referring to the letter
equivalents on your telephone keypad.
4.
Record your name and press #.
5.
While on the phone, you can use the commands in
the table on the right.
Note: You can have more phone command
privileges by joining the call as a moderator.
Phone commands available to moderators
include the ability to mute all participants at
once (#81), record the call (#61), and lock the
meeting from additional participants (#41).
For more information, see page 5, “Joining a
Meeting as a Moderator.”
3
Join from a Computer
Advantages of Joining a Meeting
From Your Computer
Joining a meeting from your computer has several
advantages: you can have MeetingPlace call you
(reducing phone costs), you can share your screen with
others, you can have access to moderator-only phone
commands, you can see who is talking, and more.
Have the system call you
See who is speaking
To join a meeting from your computer:
1.
Share your computer screen
In Outlook (or in the e-mail message you received),
double-click the appointment to view the details.
Note the meeting password, if there is one.
Use moderator commands
2.
In the top section, next to “Click to Attend Link,”
click the link to attend the meeting.
at window
Talk in a chat
3.
When prompted, log in with your LDS Account user
name and password; then click Attend Meeting.
4.
If prompted for a meeting password, enter it.
Draw on a whiteboard
Create pollss
Note: If the Connect Me screen does not
appear, you’re trying to join the meeting too
soon. You can only join a meeting up to ten
minutes prior to the start of the meeting.
5.
6.
MeetingPlace also launches a window for sharing
screens.
To share screens with other participants, or to see
who is talking, select the Join the web conference
check box (see the image below). Leaving this check
box unselected gives you an audio conference only.
8.
Follow the phone prompts to join the meeting.
Each attendee is announced by a beep. When an
attendee exits the call, you hear a beep followed by
the exiting attendee’s name.
To have MeetingPlace call you, select the Have
MeetingPlace call my phone check box (see the
image below).
9.
After joining the meeting, you can use the phone
commands listed on the previous page. For
information on sharing your computer screen, see
“Sharing Screens, Chats, Polls, and Whiteboards” on
p. 7.
Tip: You can bring others into the meeting by
clicking the phone
icon at the bottom of the
Participant List on the left of the screen-sharing
window. Or you can press #31 on your phone
to dial out and bring in an invitee.
Note: General Authorities can also connect to
a meeting by calling a Church operator at (801)
240-1000.
7.
Click Connect.
MeetingPlace calls you. If it has trouble, see
“Troubleshoot Connections“ on page 8.
If you selected “Join the web conference,”
4
Joining a Meeting as a Moderator
The default role for meeting participants is Presenter.
Another role, Moderator, provides additional
functionality as shown in the image on the right.
Moderator Privileges
Lock the meeting (#41)
Note: If you both schedule the meeting and
later join the meeting from a computer, having
the system call you, MeetingPlace automatically
identifies you as the moderator.
or
modera
t
Designate a Moderator
Make sure you’re set up as a delegate for the person
in Outlook.
2.
Schedule the meeting on behalf of the person,
following the steps in “Schedule Through Outlook”
on page 2.
Mute all (#81)
End the meeting (#89)
If you’re setting up the meeting on behalf of someone
else, and you want to designate that person as a
moderator, do the following:
1.
Record the meeting (#61)
M d
Moderator
Commands
By default, the person who organizes the meeting (in
this case, the one you’re a delegate for) is automatically
designated as a moderator for the meeting.
If you aren’t a delegate in Outlook, you can designate the
moderator through the Web interface
(http://meetingplace.ldschurch.org). First find the
meeting by clicking the Find Meeting button, and then
change the role in the list of invitees. Only people with
workforce LDS Accounts can be moderators.
#41
Lock/unlock the meeting. This
prevents additional people
from entering your meeting.
If your meeting is already
password protected, locking it
may be unnecessary.
#43
Disconnect the last meeting
entrant. If someone stumbles
into your meeting by accident,
you can cut their connection.
#61
Start/stop recording the
meeting. This allows you to
record the entire meeting for
later playback. The recording is
stored with the meeting details
on the Web interface. See
“Recording a Meeting” on p. 6
for details.
#81
Mute all participants except
yourself. Note that, unlike
most buttons, this is not a
toggle. Each participant must
press #5 to become unmuted.
#82
Boost your volume.
#83
Lower your volume.
#89
End the meeting. This closes
the meeting and frees up
MeetingPlace spaces for others.
Join the Meeting as a Moderator
After you designate a moderator for the meeting,
the moderator must join the meeting from his or her
computer (see “Join from a Computer,” p. 4).
Joining from a computer prompts you to log in with
your LDS Account, which allows the system to recognize
your identity. MeetingPlace cannot identify moderators
through phone numbers.
Note: The moderator cannot directly join the
meeting by phone as a moderator.
5
Description
Recording a Meeting
Play Back Recorded Meetings
Reasons to Record Meetings
Meeting
x
Absences. People
who missed the
meeting can still
attend it virtually at
a later time.
Review. If you’re
giving software
training, attendees
can watch the
training multiple
times to review what
they learned.
1.
Go to http://meetingplace.ldschurch.org.
2.
If prompted, log in with your LDS Account.
3.
Cick Find Meeting.
4.
Click the Past option. All finished meetings are
listed on the screen. You can use the meeting ID or
the date selectors to limit the meetings shown.
5.
In the Meeting ID column, click the meeting link.
6.
If the meeting is password protected, you must
enter a password to view it.
7.
In the sidebar, click Attachments/Recordings.
8.
Choose one of the playback options.
Record Meetings
You can record all of your meetings and retrieve the
recordings from the Web interface for later playback.
When you record a meeting, both the audio and screen
are captured.
To record a meeting:
1.
Make sure you’re either the one who organized
the meeting or that you’re designated as a
moderator for the meeting. (See p. 5, “Designate a
Moderator”).
2.
Join the meeting from your computer. (See p. 4,
“Join from a Computer”).
3.
To start recording the meeting, press #61.
Alternatively, in the screen-sharing window, go to
Meeting > Record Meeting. Either method records
both the screen and audio.
4.
When finished, stop the recording by pressing #61
again, or by pressing #89 to end the meeting.
Tip: Right-click the MP3
icon and select
Save Target As. Download the MP3 to your
computer and drag it to a portable device or to
a playlist on your iPod.
The recording is stored on the Web interface.
6
Sharing Screens, Chats, Polls, and Whiteboards
Chat with Other Participants
All MeetingPlace meetings include both audio and
screen-sharing components. The screen-sharing
window that launches when you select the Web
conference gives you a variety of interaction tools.
1.
In the MeetingPlace window, type a message in the
Chat field (see the image below).
2.
Click the Send Message
Share Your Screen
1.
Follow the steps to join a meeting from your
computer (p. 4), making sure you select the Join
the web conference check box (step 5).
button.
Create a Poll
2.
After the MeetingPlace screen-sharing window
loads, under “What do you want to share?” click
My Computer Screen.
1.
In the MeetingPlace window, go to Tools > Poll >
New Poll Tool.
2.
Type a question in the Question field.
3.
Type answers in the Answers box (each answer
must appear on its own line).
4.
Click Open Poll. Each participant in the meeting
can see and vote on the poll.
5.
When finished, click Close Poll and select
the Broadcast Results check box to enable all
participants to see the poll.
Share a Whiteboard
3.
In the Start Screen Sharing dialog box, select what
you want to share: your Desktop, Windows, or
Applications.
4.
To stop sharing, click Stop Sharing in the lower-left
corner of the screen.
1.
Under “What do you want to share?” (see the
image on the left), select Whiteboard and then click
New Whiteboard.
2.
If the tools are hidden, click the Tools
button.
Note: Although you can also share files, the
files must be Oﬃce 2003 Word or PowerPoint
documents only (not Oﬃce 2007). It’s usually
easier to just open the file on your computer
and share your computer screen.
7
Troubleshooting and Reference
Troubleshoot Connections
4.
Under Notification Options, next to Include Meeting
Password, select Yes.
This section contains troubleshooting tips when
connecting with MeetingPlace.
5.
Click Submit.
By default, MeetingPlace pulls your phone number
from LDS Account (http://ldsaccount.lds.org), but it
may not always appear in the correct format, especially
if you’re located outside the U.S.
Get Help
For help with MeetingPlace, contact the Global Service
Desk at (801) 240-4357.
If MeetingPlace has trouble calling you, make sure your
phone number appears exactly as it would need to be dialed
from Church headquarters to reach you.
If you’re located outside the U.S., the number should
be written 9 011 <country code> <city code> <number>.
9 gets an outside line, and 011 gets out of the U.S.
Then enter your real phone information in place of the
bracketed information. Note: If your city code starts with
a 0, remove the 0 from the city code.
Tip: For more information on MeetingPlace,
see https://at.meetingplace.net/refcenter.
Notes
Within the U.S., the number should be written
1 <area code> <number>.
If you need help figuring out the phone number,
contact a Church operator at (801) 240-1000. Church
operators have access to every country and city code in
the world and know how the numbers should appear.
If you still can’t connect ...
Use the chat section of the screen-sharing window and
ask someone in the meeting to do one of the following:
•
Press #31 to dial out and bring you in to the
meeting.
•
Click the phone
icon and then click Connect
New User to bring you in to the meeting.
Include the Password in Meeting
Details
By default, if you set a password for the meeting, the
password is not included in the meeting details sent to
invitees. However, you can change your MeetingPlace
settings so the password is included by default in the
meeting details. To include the password by default:
1.
Go to http://meetingplace.ldschurch.org.
2.
Click Account in the upper-right corner.
3.
Click the Meeting Preferences button in the
upper-right corner.
8