ANGEL� 7.1 Student Quickstart Guide 7601 Interactive Way, Suite 100 Indianapolis, IN 46278-0435 www.angellearning.com Copyright � 2006 ANGEL Learning, Inc. Last Update for Version 7.1 � March 2006 Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 4 What�s New in ANGEL 7.1............................................................................................................ 4 System Requirements .................................................................................................................. 4 Conventions Used in This Manual................................................................................................ 5 Public Home................................................................................................................................... 6 System Navigation........................................................................................................................ 7 Public Information......................................................................................................................... 7 Search and Help ........................................................................................................................... 7 Personal Home............................................................................................................................... 8 Navigation..................................................................................................................................... 8 Courses and Community Groups ................................................................................................. 9 New Mail ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Toolbox ......................................................................................................................................... 9 Wikipedia ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Preferences ................................................................................................................................ 10 Instant Messenger ...................................................................................................................... 10 Help............................................................................................................................................. 11 Course Overview ......................................................................................................................... 12 Course Screen............................................................................................................................ 12 Course Navigation ...................................................................................................................... 12 Calendar Tab................................................................................................................................ 13 Lessons Tab................................................................................................................................. 14 Resources Tab............................................................................................................................. 15 Communicate Tab........................................................................................................................ 16 Report Tab.................................................................................................................................... 17 Common Tasks............................................................................................................................ 18 How to Log On............................................................................................................................ 18 How to Forward Course Mail ......................................................................................................18 How to Take a Quiz .................................................................................................................... 19 How to Post to a Discussion Forum ........................................................................................... 21 How to Post to Live Chat ............................................................................................................ 21 How to Send Course Mail........................................................................................................... 22 How to Read Course Mail........................................................................................................... 22 How to Submit a Drop Box Assignment ..................................................................................... 23 How to Create a Homepage ....................................................................................................... 24 How to Use the Fast!page HTML Editor..................................................................................... 25 To Create a Hyperlink within Your Document ............................................................................ 27 To Insert an Image Within Your Document ................................................................................ 27 3 Introduction Welcome to the ANGEL 7.1 Student Quickstart Guide. This guide is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of ANGEL and its collaborative tools. ANGEL is a web-based course management and collaboration portal that helps educators manage course material and communicate quickly, easily, and effectively. ANGEL is designed to be used as a complement to traditional courses and for distance learning. With ANGEL, you can take surveys, quizzes and tests, send and receive course mail, post to threaded discussions and chat rooms, upload assignments using drop-boxes, and more. Students can check their progress and grades at any time during the course and can create groups and teams for project or committee work. A significant part of ANGEL�s power is its ability to be tailored to specific institutional needs. Please note that because your institution determines which tools are made accessible, some segments of this guide may not apply to your use of ANGEL. Contact your institution�s support desk for questions regarding ANGEL. What�s New in ANGEL 7.1 ANGEL's powerful new features have been enhanced with a streamlined user interface that simplifies navigation, as well as rich, new tools. Grades presents your grades in the class and the class average. Games engage students with interactive learning opportunities such as the Crossword Puzzle and Quiz Show game options. Instant Messaging (IM) provides personalized interaction and collaboration for today's student communication style. System Requirements ANGEL is designed to support the widest variety of client-side operating systems and client-side browsers through its limited use of client-side technologies. While ANGEL products generally function well in many browsers, the following are formally supported and tested: � With PCs running Windows OS: Internet Explorer, Firefox and Mozilla � With Macs running OS X: Firefox and Mozilla Testing is performed on the latest generally available versions for the above platforms and browsers with each General Release of ANGEL products, ensuring full support at that time. For additional information on browser support please visit http://support.angellearning.com. Conventions Used in This Manual ANGEL� 7.1 STUDENT QUICKSTART GUIDE Document Icons Icon Icon Meaning Tip � a tip is a type of note that helps the users apply the techniques and procedures described in the test to their specific needs. A tip suggests an alternative method that may not be obvious and helps users understand the benefits and capabilities of the item. Note � Notes call the user�s attention to information of special importance. Reference � Refers the user to another source of information. Caution � Caution advises users of actions that could potentially cause problems. Public Home Public Home functions primarily as the logon screen and starting point for each ANGEL session, while also providing public access to a variety of resources including; the ability to search for courses, communities, and people; participate in public surveys and polls; and more. System Navigation System navigation is represented by icons along the left frame. These icons are available on the Public Home page and while in a course or group. Icon Name - Description Home � returns you to your Home page Log Off � logs you out of the ANGEL environment Help � displays ANGEL online help, guides and resources Public Information Public Home offers a variety of public resources for instructor and students. These resources are also available to users on the Personal Home page under the Toolbox > Public Resources. To access a resource, simply click the hyperlinked title for the resource that you want to access. The resources available at your institution may not include all of the following resources and/or may contain additional customized resources. Use Public Information to access your institution�s library resources, such as electronic journals, catalogs, and databases. The Event Calendar provides quick access to your institution�s public calendar, including events, significant academic or training dates, and other entries. The In the News resource keeps you up-to-date on your institution�s latest news. Participate in public surveys and discussions using the Public Surveys and Public Forums links. Search and Help With the Course Search, Community Search, and People Search resources, you can search for and view any course, group, or user profile that has been made viewable to the general public. Log into ANGEL before performing this search to view a larger selection of courses, groups, and profiles including those that have been made viewable only to authenticated ANGEL users. Click the Help link to access documentation or to request help from your institution�s support desk. Take the Guided Tour to view highlights and features of the ANGEL application. Personal Home When you log into ANGEL, you are presented with your personal page - Home. Home provides you with access to all courses and groups for which you are enrolled and to a variety of tools to assist you with your coursework. The selection and display of these tools can be customized using the Edit Page hyperlink in the Home menu bar. Navigation System navigation is represented by icons along the left frame. These icons are available on your personal Home page and while in a course or group. Icon Name - Description Home � returns you to your Home page Log Off � logs you out of the ANGEL environment Help � displays ANGEL online help, guides and resources Preferences � opens access to your user settings such as your personal information, change password, theme selector, system settings and PDA agent. ANGEL IM � opens the online ANGEL instant messenger Courses and Community Groups The Courses and Community Groups sections of your home page gives you access to all the courses and groups for which you are enrolled. Click the Edit button in the Courses or Community Groups title bars to hide specific courses or groups or to customize the additional information displayed for each. New Mail New Mail displays the number of new mail messages. The course or group in which this mail message belongs is displayed after the number of messages. Toolbox The Toolbox offers several useful tools designed to increase your productivity and further customize your ANGEL environment. The Bookmarks tool allows you to add your favorite webpage links to your personal page for easy access and to sort them by categories. You may optionally set permissions on individual bookmarks to provide access to other users. Create folders and files and upload images and documents to the Files tool for storage purposes or to publish content on the World Wide Web. The built-in HTML Editor allows you to create new web pages or edit existing ones with an easy to use word processing-style interface. Calendar allows you to keep track of important personal events. To add a personal item: 1. Log into your ANGEL course and click the Calendar Tab. 2. Click the Add hyperlink (located on the left side of the toolbar). The Event Settings form appears. 3. Type the title of the calendar event into the Title field. 4. Select the event category from the Category drop-down list. 5. Select the Date, Time and Duration from the appropriate drop-down lists. 6. Click the Save button. The Calendar screen appears, with your calendar entry listed. Public Resources takes you to the Public Home page to access the Public Information resources and the Search and Help resources. To access the mail messages, click on the hyperlinked name of the course or group. This takes you directly to the Communicate tab within the course or group to read your course/group mail. Wikipedia Wikipedia is a hyperlink to an online, editable encyclopedia, dictionary and books. To use the Wikipedia, type in the word(s) and click the Search button. To use the Wiktionary, select the Wiktionary option, type in your word(s) and click the Search button. To use Wikibooks, select the Wikibooks option, type in your word(s) and click the Search button. Preferences The Preferences icon ( ) allows you to personalize your profile and course, change your password (if applicable), set system settings, and more. The Personal Information allows you to specify who can view each piece of personal information you enter. Access the Change Password utility to change your ANGEL password. As a precaution, the Change Password utility requires the user to provide their current password and confirm their new password before applying the change. The Theme Selector allows you to select different ANGEL themes or even create your own to change how the environment looks when you login. The System Settings allows you to specify local media drives to allow instructors to map online course material to CD-ROMs or other media for enhanced instruction. Customize your mail settings to configure ANGEL to send a copy of all course mail to your favorite email account. The PDA Agent allows you to download your lessons, unread course mail, or forum messages to your PDA for offline viewing. Use of the PDA Agent requires a free service called AvantGo� (www.avantgo.com) which ships with most PDAs. Instant Messenger ANGEL provides an instant messenger tool that can be accessed from the Instant Messenger icon ( ) on the left power strip. Communicate online in the modes of today�s learners � in real time. To access Instant Messenger, click the messenger icon . To converse with an online user, select their name from the To: drop-down list, type your message and click the Send button. Help Online help is available by clicking the Help icon . Online help provides a searchable Student Quickstart guide as a reference. The Guides hyperlink provides access to the Student Quickstart Guide in PDF format. This guide can be downloaded and printed as a reference. The Resources hyperlink provides access to your institution�s resources. Information available under Resources can be added by your institution�s ANGEL Administrator. Course Overview The course or group space within ANGEL is the heart of the ANGEL environment. It provides the instructor and student with an array of collaborative tools that enhance the instructional experience. Course Screen The first screen that appears upon entering any course is the Course page. Your instructor uses this page to post course announcements, news, and question polls. The Activity-at-a-Glance shows your progress in the course � course logons, mail messages, discussion posts and submissions. Your course grade along with the class average is also displayed. Course Navigation Click the Guide icon ( ) located at the top of the icon navigation to display the Course guide which includes the Map, What�s New, Tasks, and Search. The Map provides a course-at-a-glance view one-click access to all course content. Click the What�s New hyperlink located at the bottom of the guide to display a list of new mail messages, calendar items, content items, etc. for the course. The Tasks hyperlink displays Milestones, Personal Tasks, and Unread Mail as task items to be completed. Search hyperlink provides the ability to search calendar, content, mail or roster entries. Course tabs allow you to navigate to a specific area of the course. The tabs consist of Course, Calendar, Lessons, Resources, Communicate, and Report. As you navigate through the course tabs, the Breadcrumbs update to provide hierarchical context for the current content item or tool. Calendar Tab The Calendar tab allows you to view course specific schedule items for the day, week, month, or year. To change your calendar view, click the Day, Week, Month, or Year hyperlink in the toolbar located near the top of the page. Your instructor can post personal calendar events that are viewable only by you and the instructor(s). To view only personal items, click the Personal Entries hyperlink in the All Entries box at the bottom of the calendar. Use the Next and Previous toolbar hyperlinks to navigate to the next view (Day, Month, or Year) or click Today to bring up the current day�s events. Lessons Tab The bulk of your instructional material is located under the Lessons tab. Your instructor can use the Lessons tab to create lecture notes, links, quizzes, discussion forums, drop-box assignments, and more. Click the My Notes hyperlink (located in the toolbar) to create or view personal notes for specific content items. The Previous and Next hyperlinks (located in the toolbar) allow you to navigate through the lesson content. Resources Tab The Resources tab provides resources that are important to your course. The Course Syllabus is available on the Resources tab Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. The Wikipedia also provides access to the Wiktionary which is a free wiki dictionary including thesaurus and lexicon in every language. The Wikibooks section provides access to a collection of free textbooks, manuals and other texts that are written collaboratively on the website. Google search tool is available to search the web. Course Resources are resource links provided by your instructor that assist you in your course studies. Institutional Resources are resources provided by your institution. These may include links to your institution help desk, academics and libraries, events, etc. Communicate Tab The Communicate tab provides access to the course�s communication tools. The Send Course Mail and Read Course Mail tools allow you to communicate with your instructor and classmates. The Sent Mail folder provides an archive of all course mail messages you have sent in the course. The Roster section displays the class roster and provides access to the profiles for each member. Information available under the user profile is limited to what the user has elected to share. The Team Files utility provides a space for you and others in your team to upload and share project files and other documents. The Team Projects section provides a page describing the requirements for the team project and is made available by your instructor. Live Chat allows communication online in the modes of today�s learners � in real time. Participate in peer-to-peer chat reinforcing concepts and building community. Instant messaging is available through the Instant Messenger icon ( ) on your left power strip. Live Office Hours provides a virtual office allowing you online communication with your instructor. The link to access the office hours appears during the scheduled office time. The News and Events section allows you to check out the Announcements, News, and Polls hyperlinks catching the latest announcements and news or to take or review course polls. Post your thoughts to a threaded discussion list under the Discussion Forums section of Communicate. Class discussion forums can also be accessed online with your lesson content under the Lessons tab. Report Tab The Report tab includes common course tools to help you track your course progress, grades, and more. Click Learner Profile to see an analysis of your activity, submissions, and grades and compare them with the class average. Your learner profile also includes a place to store personal notes about the course. Grades allows you to check your grades for all assignments (both online assignments and off-line) and provides a cumulative grade at any point of the semester. Milestones allow you to track your progress on key course objectives and assignments. Common Tasks How to Log On To log into ANGEL: 1. Type your Username and Password in the appropriate fields. 2. Click the Log On button. If you are on your personal computer and want ANGEL to remember your password every time you access the login page, check the Save my password checkbox before clicking the Log On button. Click I forgot my password hyperlink to request a reminder email or click Request an account hyperlink to request a username and password for the system. The password reminder and account request options are not available at all institutions. For information regarding how to request an ANGEL user account, contact your institution�s support desk. How to Forward Course Mail By default, users must log into ANGEL to send or read course mail messages. Users can optionally configure ANGEL�s course mail forwarding settings to automatically forward course mail to an Internet email address. Course mail forwarding is a global setting. Therefore enabling course mail forwarding forwards all course mail messages received in any course or group for which you are enrolled. To forward your ANGEL course mail to an Internet email account: 1. Log into your ANGEL course and click the Preferences icon ( ) located in the left navigation. The Preferences page appears. 2. Click System Settings in the General User Settings area. The System Settings Manager appears. 3. In the Forwarding Address field (located in the Mail Settings section), type the email address where you want your course mail to be forwarded. 4. Select a forwarding mode from the Forwarding Mode drop-down list. 5. Click the Save button. How to Take a Quiz Your instructor can create online quizzes, tests, or surveys which may include images or other multimedia elements and various question types such as multiple choice, essay, fill-in-the-blank, etc. The following steps apply to taking a quiz, test, or survey. To take a quiz: 1. Log into your ANGEL course and click the Lessons tab. 2. Navigate to the quiz you want to take and click the icon or title of the quiz. 3. Click the Take Quiz hyperlink. The quiz appears on the screen. If your instructor has imposed a time limit on the quiz, a pop-up message displays to inform you of the amount of time you have to complete the quiz. 4. Select a choice or provide a response for each question. ANGEL attempts to automatically grade fill-in-the-blank question types based on an instructor-provided answer key. It is important to answer fill-in-the-blank question types as concisely as possible. 5. When you have finished all of the questions, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button. A pop-up message asks you to confirm you have answered all of the questions. If the instructor had imposed a time limit on your quiz, you may receive a pop�up warning message when your time limit is near. If you do not submit the quiz before your time expires, a message appears asking you to submit the quiz. If the instructor has requested the quiz to auto-submit when time expires, the quiz automatically submits upon clicking the OK button. 6. Once you have verified all of the questions have been answered, click the OK button to submit the quiz. A results/confirmation page appears on the screen. Your instructor determines the amount of information that appears on the confirmation screen. This may include any combination of questions, responses, answers, score, instructor comments, and more. How to Post to a Discussion Forum Threaded discussion forums allow you to post, reply, and search messages from the instructor and other students. To post a message to a discussion forum: 1. Log into your ANGEL course and click the Lessons (or Communicate) tab. 2. Navigate to the discussion forum you want to post to and click the icon or title of the board. The discussion forum appears on the screen. 3. If the discussion forum has existing postings, you can click the title of each posting to review the posted message. 4. Click the New Post hyperlink (in the toolbar located in the top frame) to post a new message or click the Reply hyperlink (in the toolbar located in the bottom frame) to reply to a particular posting. 5. Type a subject for your message in the Subject field. 6. Type your message in the Message field and click the Post button. Optionally click the Check Spelling hyperlink to check the spelling of your message before submitting. The HTML Editor allows you to format your message with an easy-to-use editor. Click the Attachments button to upload an attachment with your message. For more information on the HTML Editor, see the How to Use the HTML Editor section of this document. How to Post to Live Chat Live Chat supports real-time communication between students and instructor. If enabled, users can view a log of previous chat conversations by clicking the View Logs hyperlink located below the hyperlinked chat room title. To post to a chat room: 1. Log into your ANGEL course and click the Communicate tab. 2. Navigate to the Live chat you want to participate in and click the hyperlinked title of the Live chat. The Live chat interface appears on the screen. 3. Type a message in the empty text box (located at the bottom of the screen) and click Send. To send a private message, click on their name in the Online Users frame, type your message, and click Send. 4. Click the Options hyperlink to adjust the font color and message scroll options. When complete, click the Save Options hyperlink. How to Send Course Mail The Course Mail tool allows students and instructors to correspond with each other without requiring the use of an internet email account. The Course Mail tool provides access to the HTML Editor and Spell Checker utilities, supports adding attachments, forwarding to internet email addresses and allows the sender and recipients to monitor who has and has not read a message. To send a course mail message: 1. Log into your ANGEL course and click the Communicate tab. 2. Click the Send Course Mail hyperlink. The Compose Message interface appears on the screen. 3. Select the intended recipient(s) from the To select box. Press and hold the Control key on your keyboard (or the Apple key on a Macintosh) to select multiple recipients. 4. Type a subject for the message in the Subject field. 5. Type the message in the Message field. Click the Attachments button if you want to add an attachment to your message. Select the Do not disclose recipients checkbox if you want to bcc (blind carbon copy) or hide the identities of the recipients. Select the Send a copy of this message to recipient�s Internet email account checkbox to send a duplicate message outside the ANGEL environment to the recipients' email address. 6. Click the Send Message button. A message appears stating that the message was successfully sent. 7. Click the OK button. How to Read Course Mail To view a course mail message: 1. Log into your ANGEL course and click the Communicate tab. 2. Click the Read Course Mail hyperlink. Your Course Mail Inbox appears on the screen. New/Unread messages appear in bold. Once the message has been opened, it appears non-bold. Messages with attachments display a floppy disk icon located to the left of the message subject. To delete a message, select the checkbox located next to the message and click the Delete button. Deleted messages are moved to the Trash folder. To completely delete a message, you must delete the message from the Trash folder view. To select all of the messages listed, click the Select All button. To deselect all of the messages listed, click the Unselect All button. To move a message to another folder, select the checkbox located next to the message, select a folder from the Move To drop-down menu and click the Move To button. You can optionally create a new folder before moving the message by clicking the New Folder button. To view a different folder, select a folder from the Select a Folder drop-down menu and click the Folder button. Click the Compose button to send a new course mail message. Click the Exit Mail button to exit Course Mail and return to the Communicate page. Click the Preferences button to configure your ANGEL account to forward all course mail messages (for all courses and groups in which you are enrolled) to an Internet email account. 3. Click the hyperlinked name of the sender or the subject of a course mail message to display the full message. The course mail message appears on the screen. How to Submit a Drop Box Assignment Uploading electronic files to a drop box is a convenient way to submit assignments to your instructor. The Drop Box accepts virtually any type of electronic file including word processing documents, images, web pages, and more. When uploading electronic files from a Macintosh computer, it is important to add the proper file extension to the file name (e.g. .doc, .jpg, .htm, etc.) before uploading the file. To submit an assignment to a drop box: 1. Log into your ANGEL course and click the Lessons tab. 2. Navigate to your drop box and click the drop box title or icon. 3. Click the Browse button, locate the file you want to upload, and click Open. 4. Type a title for the file in the Title textbox. 5. Click Upload File. A File Upload Successful page appears on the screen. 6. Click the OK button. How to Create a Homepage ANGEL allows you to publish your own web pages on the World Wide Web using the Files section of your personal page. ANGEL�s HTML Editor allows you to create web pages without knowledge of Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). To create a homepage, perform the following steps: 1. Log into ANGEL. 2. Click the Files hyperlink (located under the Tools section of Home). 3. Click the Add Content hyperlink (located in the toolbar). 4. Click the Create a File hyperlink or icon. 5. Type index.htm in the File Name text box. 6. Click the HTML Editor hyperlink. The HTML Editor opens in a new window. 7. Type or paste your web page content in the HTML Editor. Use the HTML Editor tools to add images, create hyperlinks, and format your text. For more information on using the HTML Editor, see the section in this document titled How to Use the Fast!page HTML Editor. 8. When you have finished editing your page, click the Accept Changes button. Notice the HTML Editor has created the HTML code required to properly display your page�s formatting, hyperlinks, images, etc. This code is visible in the File Contents text area. 9. Click the OK button. Your new page lists under My Files. 10. Click on the filename or icon of the new file you created. Your new page opens in a new window. Note the web address of your new page (located in your browser�s Address Bar). You can share this web address with your friends. It is accessible by anyone who knows the web address and does not require the viewer to have an ANGEL account. In many cases (depending on server configuration), your web address may work without including the filename (index.htm) as part of the web address. To edit your new page, click the Edit hyperlink located below the hyperlinked page title. How to Use the Fast!page HTML Editor The Fast!page HTML Editor is a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor that allows users to quickly create or edit formatted online content without knowledge of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). The Fast!page HTML Editor is available wherever a text area is found within ANGEL. For example, to access the Fast!page Editor click the Files hyperlink in your profile, click the Add Content hyperlink (located in the toolbar), click the Create a File hyperlink or icon, and click the HTML Editor hyperlink (located under the File Contents text area). The Fast!page HTML Editor supports Windows and Macintosh operating systems using Internet Explorer 6, Netscape 7.1, and Mozilla 1.4. The HTML Editor hyperlink does not display on unsupported browsers. When you have finished editing your document using the Fast!page Editor, click the Accept Changes button to return to the ANGEL editor page. Notice the Fast!page Editor has placed HTML code in the content text area. With the Fast!page HTML Editor, you can perform common word processing tasks including the following: To Create a Hyperlink within Your Document 1. Select the text or image you wish to become a hyperlink and click the Create Hyperlink icon. The Link Inspector appears at the bottom of the HTML Editor window. 2. Type a fully qualified URL in the URL textbox. Optionally click the Browse icon to link to an uploaded file or click the Course/Group Content icon (only available when accessing the HTML Editor from within a course or group) to link to an existing tab, lesson item, or tool within a course or group. 3. Select a setting from the Target drop-down list if you prefer the linked page to be displayed in a non-standard manner. Selecting new window causes the linked document to open in a new browser window. Selecting parent frame causes the linked document to open in the parent frame (one step up in the frame hierarchy), replacing the ANGEL course navigation bar. Current frame is the default target for all hyperlinks. Selecting current frame causes the linked document to open in the same browser window or frame as the source document. Selecting current window causes the linked document to open at the top level of the browser window, replacing the ANGEL environment. Type a frame/window target name if you prefer the linked document to open in a specific window or frame. 4. Click the OK button to save. To Insert an Image Within Your Document 1. Place your cursor in the location you want to insert the image and click the Insert Image icon. The Image Settings window appears. 2. Click the Upload Image button (located at the bottom of the Images Settings screen). The Upload Image window appears. 3. Click the Browse button. A Choose file dialog box appears on the screen. 4. Locate and select the image you want to insert and click the Open button. 5. Click the Upload button. 6. Select the uploaded image from the image preview frame. 7. Type an alternate text-based description in the Alternative Text textbox. 8. Select a setting from the Alignment drop-down menu to adjust how the picture is viewed within a body of text. By default, the image displays on its own line, without text wrapping around it. 9. Type a numerical value in the Border text to add a black border around the image and specify the thickness of the border. The border of hyperlinked images appears in the browser�s default hyperlink color (often blue or purple for visited links). 10. Type a numerical value in the Horizontal and Vertical textboxes to add space between the image and any surrounding text. This feature is very useful when used with the Alignment options. 11. Click the OK button.