Notice: Currently updating this How To page so some links may not work temporarily.
Click on "contact us" in the top right of the home page menu, or click here [15].
If you are an assessor, these are the things you need to do to get started:
To get an account for the Markbook site you will need to talk to the Principal Assessor at your centre. The Principal Assessor can set up accounts for colleagues that have the experience and background to assess particular qualifications. TLM has to set up a centre account and a Principal Assessor account for the centre first.
When you log in to the Markbook site, you will see a button on the right side of the Menu Bar. Once you click here, you will see the following screen with tabs on the left side of your browser. On the Summary tab, you will see all the details about you.
You can find a learner's id from the certification site in the
section. In the Groups tab choose edit for the group and the group will be listed with their ids. If you set up an account on the learning site
and ensure that your e-mail address is the same on both sites, the system will find any learners associated with your groups on the markbook site and you can generate accounts for your learners automatically including a letter to each learner with a username, password, and id so they have something specific for reference.
We provide an on-line version and odt version of the handbook for download. These are here. [19] You can get a professionally published version from Lulu.com [20].
You will receive an email with additional instructions, including how to login for the first time and setup a password.
If you lost your password, see How do I get a new password?. To change your password, click on on the right side-bar. Then click on "Edit" at the top of the page. Scroll to the password field. Enter your new password and submit. Use strong passwords. Words that can be found in a dictionary are not good for passwords by themselves. Add numbers and characters like 75% or £23 or 89$.
If you lost your password for the learning site and need a new one, follow these steps:
The computer does not actually send you a new password. It sends you a link which you can use to login to your account. You can only use this link to login once. As soon as you are logged in, change your password to something you'll remember (How do I change my password?).
The Ingot site is based on Drupal which has many possible themes. Unfortunately not all themes work fully predictably so for the time being we have omitted this feature. We may reinstate this in later versions of the site.
This site uses a "rich-text editor". It lets you create and edit HTML pages in an environment that feels similar to a word processor (How do I use the rich-text editor?).
The rich-text editor is enabled by default, if you wish to get raw html again then simply click either the button in the top left-corner OR cick the
link underneath the text area. Using this is a good way for beginners to become familiar with HTML tags and how they work.
The procedure is to go to http://awards.theingots.org [21] and at the top right click the sign up link. This will produce a web form to fill in. We will collect the minimum data from you in order that we can aggregate your data and give you useful contextual feedback. Once the account details are set up we will check and approve them – this is to eliminate spam and/or bogus sign ups that could contaminate the data collected. Once your account is approved you can upload the pupils to take the test using a csv file exported from your MIS system. The structure of this file needs to be as follows:
forename <eg John>
surname <eg Smith>
gender <Male or Female>
DOB <eg 26-04-1994>
ULN <This field might be blank as ULNs are not normally issued until age 14 but it needs to exist>
UPN <This helps ensure pupils are uniquely identifiable>
Once your account is authorised you will get an e-mail with the text below. (A lot of school filters and security prevent automated e-mails getting through. If you don't get an e-mail pretty well instantly after sign up e-mail ian dot lynch at theingots dot org and we will set up your password etc manually. We have reproduced the procedure here with screen shots and also as a video [22].
See also here [13].
The Baseline Test is taken via our Learning Site, but this site automatically pulls students and groups from the Markbook Site once they are created. Since the Markbook Site is the site to track all of the assessment and progress, this makes the most sense. The instructions for adding learners to the Markbook Site are here [7].
The instructions for creating groups are here [7]. For the Baseline Test, it is good practice to create a group to reflect the nature of the assessment. Therefore, a group name such as ComputingBLTest-7 (Computing Baseline Test, Year 7) will make it easier to track should you have multiple groups and subject assessments in your area.
The instructions for adding learners to groups are here [7].
Once you have added the learners to your account on the Markbook Site in order to track their progress in general terms, you can now move across to the Learning Site which is the site which holds and administers the Baseline Test. Create an account for yourself on this site [11] .
NOTE: You must have the same user name and password on both the Markbook Site and the Learning Site
When your account has been created and verified on the Learning Site, you can now log in to see your groups.
Select a group from your list as shown above and click next to the group name n the test required. In this case, the Online Test link.
The Online Test option is hyerlinked as shown above. Click the link to open the options for the test process.
You can see above that you have the option for the selected group to register for Online Tests. In this instance we are registering for the Baselin Test which will be an option in the dropdown menus.
At the time of writing we have Test 1 as shown. There will be additional tests every 6 months which will allow you to check the prgress of your students against the school average or national average. Once you have selected the test from the dropdown options, you then can set a date for when you would like the students to be able to access the test online and press the Register button. That is now done and your group is registered to take the test on the date you specified. You can see below the date and the students rregistred for the test.
Once you are happy with the date of the test and the correct groups taking it, you can click on Start Test to begin the process.
By starting the test, the system will automatically register all the stuents for the correct test and date and will also generate a letter for you to send to your students as a reminder. Go back to your groups by clicking the link in the top left of the screen and click on the link
.
The system will generate a series of letters for each pupil in the group which will include all of their login details, some general guidance to the test and an AUP.
At the bottom of the page (it may be very long if you have a large group), you will see icons for options to print the page directly, r to download it as a csv to be able to email it with some other advice or information.
After you have completed the registration and group enabling process above, you will have generated login details for your students as well as created the date and time of the test for them to take. Students can now use these details to log in to the Learning Site. When they login for the first time, they will need to accept some details such as an AUP for the site. Once they have completed this and are in to the site, they should see their learner dashboard. On this dashboard, they will see a tab for Online Tests.
The students will see this table and will see that there is a column with Test Status.
Once all students are at this point, you will need to explain the rules of the test and explain that there will be some security measures built into the test to stop any bad practise. Students can now click on the Start link. They will see the following set of instructions and guielines to which they need to agree.
They need to click the acceptance box and then click to start the test.
They will see a green menu screen with the questions per page, with a drop down for each question. They need to make their choices per question and then click Next. If they move the mouse outside of the green window, there will be an audio and visual warning to alert them and the invigilator.
Once they have complted and checked all 50 questions, they MUST click the finish button.
When the students have completed their exam, you can go to your Groups and look at the Online Test tab and then look at the Finalised Test to see the results.
All results will also be pushed to the Markbook Site.
The most common problem is pupils coming out of the test before clicking the finish button. They can not rejoin the test until the supervisor unblocks them from the on-going on-line test list in the right hand menu block on the home page of the web site . Once this is done they can login and resume from where they left off. If 15 days passess they will have to start again.
Simple tick the box next to the names of the students who are having problems, and click Unblock.
Contact TLM [18] at least 6 weeks before the exam is to be taken. Tell us if the exam is to be a "mock", "real exam" or "resit" and provide an estimate of the number of candidates. This is just so that we know you intend to set up groups to take the exam and we can support you in any way needed.
You will have carried out many of the processes below if you conducted the Baseline Tests. This set of instructions, however, is specific to regulated exams.
Go to the Markbook and create a group called eg 6006688X_21st_December_2014_mock and copy the learners who are to take the exam into that group. (This tells us which subject it is using the unique qualifications number without slashes, the target date, and purpose of the exam.) If you don't know the QAN number, you can find it on the Ofqual register at http://register.ofqual.gov.uk/ [23]searching for qualifications with TLM in the organisation field.
See also How do I create groups for exams.
On the learning site [24], go to register on-line tests and choose the exam you created as shown in the example above, i.e. 6006688X.
Click the on-line radio button if you want pupils to take the exam on-line and paper if you want it as a paper exam (see above graphic). Put in the date of the exam in the exam date field and click register. The centre must have paid the exam fees before the exam date otherwise it will not be considered registered and it will not get marked. The 6 week period is to provide time for this to happen and to be able to pay the exam markers promptly.
If it is a paper exam we will e-mail the principal assessor with the pdf of the exam shortly before the exam date. You can then print the exam and give it to the students under suitably controlled conditions. You must keep the examination paper secure and all candidates in this sitting should do it at the same time under normal controlled conditions with seating arrangements that will minimise any likelihood of copying between candidates. At the end collect the papers, make a photocopy of all of them and send the originals to us using registered post. Keep the copies in a secure place until the marks and grades have been finalised and then destroy them with a shredder.
If it is the on-line exam, TLM will approve the exam request and when the date of the exam arrives, click the start button and then get candidates to login and start the exam. The start button will only appear if TLM has approved the request. If it is not there and you think it should be, contact us [18].
The most common problem is pupils coming out of the test before clicking the finish button at the end. They can not rejoin the test until the supervisor unblocks them from the on-going on-line test list in the right hand menu block on the home page of the web site. Once this is done they can login and resume from where they left off. If 15 days passess they will have to start again. Supervisors of regulated exams must ensure that no candidate gets an unfair advantage from coming out of the exam without clicking the finish button. Normally the exam session should be completed for the whole group at the same time. If technical problems prevent a candidate from obtaining a result they will be allowed to resit as if they had not previously taken the exam but it will be a different version of the exam so that they do not gain any advantage.
When the exam is completed and marked the result will be presented on the Markbook in the Assessment section in the exam unit. The assessor should check this list and notify TLM if there are any unexpected results. eg a very good candidate with an atypically low score or a weak candidate with an atypically high score. We will investigate any such cases before finalising the results. You can then select the candidates for whom you want to claim the qualification and click the request awards button . Once this is done the candidates with the qualification awarded can not retake the exam for at least 6 months. Those not selected can be put in for one resit before the result is finalised.
The "Mock", "Real", "Resit" triage is designed to prevent the waste of public money through many blanket resits while reducing the chances of candidates getting unfair marks because of illness or uncharacteristic performance in the exam. If a school has a cohort of 200 pupils and is unsure whether they are ready to take a grading exam they can provide a "mock". This exam is one of the real exams and it will be treated in exactly the same way as the real exam but the marks and grades obtained from it will not count and can not be used for final grading. If the school took a sample of weak, middle and high attaining candidates, say 20 of the 200 it will give a good idea of how well the cohort will do in the real exam. On-line this will cost £120. Once the school is sure that the cohort is ready, they can take the real exam and the great majority shuld then obtain their predicted grades with reasonable certainty. If one or two candidates still under-achieve eg for reasons of health or other issues they have an opportunity to re-sit. We think this is a better approach than simply banning all resits or allowing unlimited blanket resits. At present the best grade from this process will count towards the school's performance figures but we can't be certain that the DfE will not change the rules. That is unlikely before 2018.
Once approved the certificates will be available from the school management section in the Markbook using the Print Awards Tab. You must use the official templates available from TLM to print all certificates. This is part of the agreements signed when gaining access to the Markbook site.
Select the candidate(s) and click Print Selected.
A blog is composed of multiple "blog entries". These are just web pages that have particular properties to help in their organisation. Each blog entry is a separate page. A blog displays those pages starting from the most recent. To start a blog all you do is create your first blog entry (How do I create a new blog entry?).
To create a blog entry, first login to the site and then click on "Create Pages" under the Users > Learners pull down menu as shown above (main manu on the page). Then choose "Blog Entry". Type in a title and the body text of the blog. Note:
On the right side-bar, click on . This page lists all your blog entries in reverse chronological order (i.e. most recent first). If the blog entry is long, you might only see the first paragraph or two. Click on the entry title to see the entire entry.
On the right side-bar click on to get a list of all your blog entries. Scroll down until you find the entry that you wish to edit or delete. Click on the title of the entry. This takes you to the page for that particular entry. Now you should see an
link at the top of the entry. Click on the button. If you wish to make edits, make the changes and re-submit the page. If you wish to delete the entry, scroll to the bottom of the page and click
.
There are two ways you can find somebody's blog:
Navigate to the page you wish to edit and click on Edit.
The rich-text editor provides a user interface similar to a simple word processor. It has many of he standard buttons that you see in a word processor (bold, italic, lists, undo/redo, etc). But it also provides some functions that are geared toward HTML editing:
The rich-text editor comes with a basic hint to what the icons do, hover your mouse over each icon to see what it does. This is a third-party application called CKEditor. It is Open Source and integrates with the Open Source Drupal content management system. You can visit its website [25].
This is the guidance for learners wanting to organise their pages to create an e-Portfolio.
How it will look in a web page | HTML tags that the web browser uses to change the style |
Section 1HelloSection 1.1Section 1.1.1 |
<h1>Section 1</h1>
Hello <h2>Section 1.1</h2> <h3>Section 1.1.1</h3> |
How it will look in a web page | HTML tags that the web browser uses to change the style |
|
<ol> <li>Put eggs in a pot with water.</li> <li>Boil for 5-10min.</li> <li>Remove from heat.<li> <li>Remove the egg shell.</li> <li>Enjoy.</li> </ol> |
How it will look in a web page | HTML tags that the web browser uses to change the style |
|
<ul> <li>Red</li> <li>Green</li> <li>Blue</li> </ul> |
<h1>e-Porfolio Index Page</h1> <h2>Silver Ingot Work</h2> <ul> <li><a href="/community/blog/12">My Ingot blog</a></li> <li><a href="/community/node/342">My project proposal</a></li> </ul> <h2>My Art Work</h2> <ul> <li><a href="/community/node/435">My paintings</a></li> <li><a href="/community/node/463">My final project</a></li> </ul>
For designing illustrations we recommend Inkscape [29]. It is free and open source and there are some good tutorials on You Tube or here [30].
Lastly, you need to upload your image and put it on your page.Sometimes you write a page and you lose the URL. There is an easy way to find all the pages you've created:
This will give you a list of all the pages you have created, starting with the most recent.
Find the page you wish to edit (How do I find my pages?). Once you have arrived at the page you wish to edit, click on at the top of the page. If you wish to make edits, make the changes and re-submit the page. If you wish to delete the entry, scroll to the bottom of the page and click
.
W3Schools provides a good tutorial [31]. What follows is an overview of a few of the tags that are used most often. You can learn these tags as part of your e-Portfolio:
Pargraphs<p>This is a paragraph. A paragraph is made of many sentences.</p>Headings
How it will look in a web page | HTML tags that the web browser uses to change the style |
Section 1HelloSection 1.1Section 1.1.1 |
<h1>Section 1</h1>
Hello <h2>Section 1.1</h2> <h3>Section 1.1.1</h3> |
<img src="https://theingots.org/community/sites/default/files/uploads/u12/myPicture.png" alt="descriptive-text" />The "src" attribute ("source") contains the Internet address where the image is located. Usually, that will be a file you have uploaded. Please see How do I insert an image on a page?
Please visit <a href=”https://theingots.org”>The INGOT</a> website.The "href" attribute ("hypertext-reference") contains the Internet address you want to link to. You can link to another web page or to a file you uploaded. See How do I let people download a file?.
How it will look in a web page | HTML tags that the web browser uses to change the style |
|
<ol> <li>Put eggs in a pot with water.</li> <li>Boil for 5-10min.</li> <li>Remove from heat.<li> <li>Remove the egg shell.</li> <li>Enjoy.</li> </ol> |
How it will look in a web page | HTML tags that the web browser uses to change the style |
|
<ul> <li>Red</li> <li>Green</li> <li>Blue</li> </ul> |
See also: How do I upload a file?, How do I use the rich-text editor?, How do I write HTML?
Every user has a personal directory with sub-directories to which you can upload and organise your files. All your files are kept here. To access your files, or upload new files, do the following:
Here you can see your personal files directory (graphic above). From here you can upload files, delete old files and preview image files. To upload a file, click on Upload at the top, a new box will then appear, click on Browse, select a file and click on Upload. The upload takes one step, its simple, and all your files are in one place. To delete a file, click on the file you wish to delete and then click the word "delete" at the top of the page next t Upload. To preview a file, click on the file name. A preview appears on the second half of the window.
If you wish to include large files in your pages, please consider the following alternatives:
Google Apps is free and it will run in any web browser so your audience does not need to buy MS Office or download special software to view your work. It's good to learn to be efficient with storing and using files and to learn to use the internet flexibly. If you are smart you don't need masses of space and all the tools you need are free on the internet.
Click on the Forum link under the RESOURCE pull down menu as shown above. You should be logged into the forum automaically. If you are not, you can login using the same user name and password you use for the main site. The forums are divided into several broad categories. Each has a short description explaiing what discussions belong there. Click on the category you are interested in. Forum discussions are divided into "topics". You can start a discussion about a new topic or you can post to an existing discussion topic.
In most case the test will already be set up and linked to a unit on the Markbook site. This tells you how such a test is created.
There are two main types of assessment used in TLM qualifications although there could be some variations due to specific circumstances. The two main types are:
It is up to the Centre to decide how it gathers and provides learner evidence. This description assumes that this will be using the TLM Learning Site. This has the advantage of being highly integrated with the online Markbook.
Learner submits evidence through their account. There is a video explaining this here [34].
As you can see from the above linked video on managing learner evidence, if you and your students use the Learning Site, the system will automatically have a record of their actions and progress, and any scores listed against units or criteria which they are registered for will show in a graph if selected. The students will be able to see their own progress by clicking the Tracker tab on their profile page.
The students can see their progress against pre-set IEP targets, by criterion, unit or by assessor reports.
They can then select the appropriate criteria to display as shown here. The system will automatically create a graph which they can download for reference.
The above graph is from a demo account, so actual student graphs will be far more accurate as to their actual progress.
Links
[1] https://theingots.org/community/node/19098
[2] http://theingots.org/community/node/13345
[3] https://theingots.org/community/howto#assess
[4] https://theingots.org/community/node/5515/#where-to-login
[5] https://theingots.org/community/node/5515/#howto-contact
[6] https://theingots.org/community/addlearner
[7] https://theingots.org/community/addlearner#2
[8] https://theingots.org/community/addlearner#3
[9] https://theingots.org/community/addlearner#4
[10] https://theingots.org/community/addlearner#5
[11] https://theingots.org/community/createanaccount
[12] https://theingots.org/community/node/5915
[13] https://theingots.org/community/Baseline_testing_info
[14] https://theingots.org/community/creatingpages
[15] https://theingots.org/community/contact
[16] https://theingots.org/community/sites/default/files/uploads/user4/My%20files/other%20files%28PDF%29/TLM_Handbook2_final_2.2.pdf
[17] https://theingots.org/community/certification
[18] http://thelearningmachine.co.uk/contact/
[19] https://theingots.org/community/handbook
[20] http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fListingClass=0&fSearch=International+Grades
[21] http://awards.theingots.org/
[22] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSZqH7eMoQ0
[23] http://register.ofqual.gov.uk/
[24] http://www.theingots.org
[25] http://www.fckeditor.net/
[26] https://theingots.org
[27] http://gimp.org/
[28] http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/
[29] http://inkscape.org/
[30] http://creativenerds.co.uk/tutorials/inkscape-tutorials/
[31] http://www.w3schools.com/HTML/
[32] http://youtube.com/
[33] http://www.flickr.com/
[34] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jDi_Rrdu2s&list=UU0Qc5AI6ck1e8gSAMZPAGlg&index=26&feature=plcp