Online learning from the comfort of your own house?  What do you think?

Faculty Responsibilities in Online Learning

eLearningToolBox Newsletter Summer 2009
The Latest in Distance Learning READI Announces Integration with the eCollege Learning Management System eLearningToolBox.com, the provider of READI, is pleased to announce that it has completed a project through which READI can be integrated into the eCollege learning management system.  Students of schools which are using eCollege can now access READI from within their eCollege course without having to re-authenticate into the READI system.  This single sign on capability reduces the number of user names and passwords that schools and students have to keep track of.  A student can also submit their READI report internally through the communication features of eCollege to their instructor for review.  If students and/or their instructors need to access the student’s report at a later date, they may do so through eCollege. eLearningToolBox.com has several client schools which use eCollege and requested this integration.  The next learning management system which is slated for integration with READI is Blackboard.  If your school is interested in learning more about the integration of READI into your learning management system please contact your Account Manager or support@readi.info.  What's New in the ToolBox? Personalized Online Student Readiness Report Are you interested in knowing how your students compare to the national averages of online student readiness? Recently we launched the 2009 Online Student Readiness Report. It included data collected from over 150,000 students at 272 institutions. We are now offering a personalized report that contains data from your students. For a small fee, you can have access to statistical information to help you understand your students' strengths and weaknesses. This data can provide guidance for future course design and insight about remedial tools that you may want to consider in your planning of the online program. To view a sample of this school specific report or for a price quote, contact your Account Manager. The Most Efficient Way to Find Out What Students Really Think It is coming! PostCourse 2.0 will be available next month! It will feature easy data upload with an integrated wizard, intuitive real-time reporting, tiered role-based administrative access, unlimited surveys and much more! Account Managers are setting up demos in August and Setptember to highlight the new features. Postcourse is a web-based tool that will allow administrators to totally manage all data through an administrative control panel. If you would like to find out about how much you save over your current process, contact an Account Manager today at sales@eLearningToolBox.com. Change is Good New Feature Added to READI READI Administrator, do you have a student test taker login group that needs to be inactivated but not deleted? Often times, schools create new login groups and although they want to keep the data in the old group, they do not want students to accidentally login using the old information. We've added a new feature to READI that allows administrators to choose "inactive" for login groups. This allows administrators to continue to view the data in the group but prevents a student from using the old user/pass combo. To access this feature follow the instructions below. 1. Login to http://admin.readi.info 2. Click on "Manage Account" 3. Click on "Admin & Test Taker Groups" 4. Click on specific test taker group 5. Use drop down box to select "active or inactive" 6. Save and close (Notice the login group is now designated with a red button instead of green) Neat to Know How to export READI data Go to admin.readi.info and login to your account Click on "Test Search and Export" Designate preferred filters Once you reach "Data At a Glance" click "Export Data" For more READI tips, visit our tutorials link at readi.info/tutorials Water Cooler Tips to Increase Website Participation for Students 1. Require it; Making assignments optional will generally result in little if any participation. Even those who are motivated to succeed will generally use extra time on tasks they see as most important which are generally "required activities". Requiring participation, helps motivated students to prioritize and unmotivated students to keep up. 2. Play hide and seek. Hide extra credit activites, special notes for the test, create scavenger hunt clues, make it fun, and reward those who follow through. 3. Make it fun by adding new content weekly like a personal top 10 list, music, or a funny slideshow. Do you Tweet? If you want to learn about what's going on with eLearningToolBox first, follow us on twitter. Blog What do we have to say about things? Check out our blog at eLearningToolBox.com/Blog for weekly updates of our two cents.	In this edition: The Latest in Distance Learning What's New in the ToolBox? Change is Good Neat to Know WaterCooler Free Stuff Coming Soon There is Still Time to Cash in on Our FREE Summer Webinar Series! Are you looking for a way to squeeze in some training this summer before school gets started? You've come to the right place! There is still time to take advantage of our FREE Summer Webinar Series. Don't have time or money to travel to a classroom session? No worries, you are invited to our virtual classroom. To register, just click on the session below. All attendees will be entered into a drawing for $50 cash! Thursday, July 30th, 2:00 pm central Academic Integrity in Online Education Featuring - Lori McNabb, University of Texas System TeleCampus Thursday, August 6th 2:00 pm central Tools for Enhancing eLearning Featuring - Dr. Mac Adkins, CEO eLearningToolBox.com Coming Soon! Fall Webinar Planned in late September forREADI Administrators We have READI data but... "What Do We Do With It Now?" This webinar is designed to help you understand the READI data and how to use it. We will also explore ways to use READI data to assist you in your planning process. Key points of discussion will be: What can I learn about my students from the READI data? How can I use it in developing courses for the future? What resources should we be providing based on our READI scores? Who should be looking at the data? How do my students compare to those at other colleges and universities? FREE READI Training Webinars Do you need some additional training on the administrative features READI has to offer? Check out readi.info/webinars to find the complete schedule and register for the sessions that fit your schedule. Looking for someone to teach your online classes? Are you tired of sorting through the stack of paper resumes? Facultyfinder.com can help. Go to www.FacultyFinder.com for unlimited free searches! Search our database of over 10,000 profiles to find the right person for the job. EXTENDED OFFER! PLACE A JOB AD ON FACULTYFINDER.COM FOR JUST $50! NO DISCOUNT CODE NEEDED

eLearningToolBox Newsletter Summer 2009

Do you ever get support requests from your students asking how to use READI?  Have any of your students complained of time out issues or logging in problems?  Did you know the error rate while using READI is .0001%?  WOW!  That's great...but if you are in that .0001% then you may need assistance!

Although we have a full support staff to assist students with any issues they may have concerning READI, we recognize that often times students go directly to their administrators for answers to their questions.  We want to help!  Below is a list of commonly asked questions and steps to alleviate the problem.  Hopefully these will assist you in relieving any frustration and finding a solution for your students. 

Student says - “My computer timed out or I received a page request error.”
Step 1:  Contact READI support via email at support@readi.info.
Step 2:  Check high security settings in your browser. 
In Internet Explorer click Tools > Options > Security then set the security level to medium or low.
Step 3:  Did you receive an email containing your READI PIN?
Step 4:  Try to log back in as a returning user with your email address and READI PIN.
Step 5:  If a student is using Hughes Satellite Internet Service, they may experience problems that we cannot fix.  This issue resides with Hughes and not READI.  If this is the case, we often suggest students try completing READI on an alternate computer such as at a library or a friend’s house.
Step 6:  Wait for READI support to contact you within 24 hours to determine if there were any technical issues on our side.

Student says - “My username and password do not work.”
Step 1:  Check with the school’s administrator or school’s instructions to verify you have the correct username and password.
Step 2:  Verify the correct URL for the READI site to make sure you are going to the correct school’s READI sub domain such as http://sample.readi.info
Step 3:  Don’t forget that usernames and passwords are case sensitive.
Step 4:  Contact READI support via email at support@readi.info

Student says - “My READI PIN does not work.”
Step 1:  Are you logging in under the “Returning Users” box on the right-hand side?
Step 2:  Are you using the same valid email address that you used in the original assessment?
Step 3:  Don’t forget the READI PIN is case sensitive.  Try to copy and paste it in the designated box.
Step 4:  Contact READI support via email at support@readi.info

Student says - “I accidentally deleted the email containing my READI PIN or I did not receive an email with a READI PIN.”
Step 1: Go back to your school’s READI site.
Step 2: Click on “Retrieve a lost or forgotten READI PIN”
Step 3: Type in your email address.
Step 4: Follow instructions and you will receive the READI PIN again via email
Step 5: If you still do not receive your PIN, check your junk/spam email box.  Sometimes emails get stuck there.

Student says - “How do I get back in to see my READI results more than once?”
Step 1:  Go back to your school’s READI site.
Step 2:  Log back in under “Returning User” on the right-hand side with email address and READI PIN provided to student in email from READI.

Most importantly we want you to know that the READI Support Team is available and ready to help you and your students.  Anyone can contact our support team just by emailing support@readi.info.  No matter what the concern, problem, or issue is, we will work to keep things running smoothly. 

READI Support

We would like to clarify a change in version 6.0 that might effect the way  your institution links to READI.  If your intitution linked to the page http://www.readi.info/index.cfm?fuseaction=startReadi, that link no longer is functioning.  One of the great features of Version 6.0 is it's ability to allow multiple login groups (from different institutions) to have the same username.  In previous versions of READI, only one school was able to have a particular username for the students to use.  For example, only one school could use the commonly requested username of "student". 

To accommodate this new function, schools linking to READI must now link directly to their custom URL.  For example, if your schools custom URL is http://sample.readi.info, that is what you would replace the old link with. 

If you  have any questions about this change or need help identifying your custom URL, please contact our help desk.

READI Link Change

We’ve heard our client’s requests for a user’s guide and the READI, Set, Go Tutorial Series is now available!  These short video tutorials (most are less than 3 minutes) will allow the READI administrator to click on a link and view the particular subject needed.  Some examples include how to add a new administrative login group, create a new student test taker login group, and add customized remedial text.  In all there are 13 tutorials to serve as reminders of how to utilize all the features of READI 6.0.  To access the tutorials, visit readi.info/tutorials or simply login to the READI administrative panel with your username and password and click "tutorials" from the main menu.  Happy Clicking!

READI, Set, Go Tutorials