Information Technology in Science Instruction

1. Information Technology in Science Instruction http://itsi-portal.concord.org ITSI Portal ITSI material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI-0624718

2. Overview The ITSI Portal is the main entry for teachers and students • The Teacher Signs Up at the Portal • The Teacher sets up classes and selects activities to use in those classes • Students Register for the classes • Students sign in and run activities • Teachers view reports on student work

3. The Portal as a Teacher Go to the ITSI Portal at: http://itsi-portal.concord.org/ Click on the “Sign up as a Teacher” link

4. The Portal as a Teacher Fill out the simple registration form. If your school is not yet on the list, please select “Other” and add it.

5. The Portal as a Teacher Sign-up is Complete — Click to return to the sign-in page

6. The Portal as a Teacher Sign in using your new username and password.

7. The Portal as a Teacher • When you first sign in, your home page will show you that you have neither classes nor students. We will remedy that shortly. • Please note the “My Info” section near the bottom. Click the “Change this Information” link to update your password, probe interface, email address, etc.

8. The Portal as a Teacher • Start by Clicking on the “Add a new class” link near the top of the page

9. The Portal as a Teacher • Enter a Class Name on the Left and a Sign-up Word on the right. The Sign-up Word is used by students when they register to ensure that they are placed in the correct class. • The Sign-Up Word must be unique within the system so you may want to add your own name or some other indicator to it.

10. The Portal as a Teacher • Select the activities that you wish to use with your classes by clicking on the checkboxes. • You can view a particular level of classes by clicking on the names to the left. • A running total of activities is listed above the activity selector. • Clicking on the information icon will show a description of the activity. • Clicking on the picture icon will show a web preview of the activity. • Clicking on the green arrow will launch the activity in testing mode.

11. The Portal as a Teacher • Click on the “Save this Class” button to continue. • You will be reminded of your sign-up word and then be given several possible next steps. • You can edit the class if you decide to add or remove activities. • You may wish to make a copy of the class to save time if you teach several similar courses.

12. The Portal as a Teacher • For now, click on Return to my Home Page • You will see that you now have a class where it was empty before. • Holding your mouse over any of the icons will show a “tooltip” indicating their function. • Click on the gear icon to edit the class, the two sheets of paper icon to copy a class, the bar chart icon to view reports, the sheet of paper with an arrow on it icon to view a class roster, and the red X to delete a class.

13. The Portal as a Teacher • Now we can add a student. Click on the “Add a new student” link

14. The Portal as a Teacher • Enter the student’s first name, last name, password, class and probe interface. • The students could also sign-up themselves using the Sign-up Word specified for a class, thus saving the teacher some data-entry time. In the case of self-registration, a student is assigned to the probe interface used by her teacher.

15. The Portal as a Teacher • Click on the “Continue” button to continue. • You will be reminded of the student’s username and password. • You can edit the student if you decide to change his name or password. • For now, please click on the “Return to my Home Page” link.

16. The Portal as a Teacher • You can now click on the Class Roster button to see a list of all the students in your class. • The Class Roster shows usernames and passwords for an entire class. It is very helpful in situations where students lose their passwords. • Click the “Home” link from the left navigation to go back to your home page.

17. The Portal as a Teacher • Click on the reports icon next to your class name. • You will see a summary report for each student in the class on each activity in the class. (Please note: this feature is not yet available to the public but will be so shortly after completing its testing phase).

18. The Portal as a Teacher • Similarly, you can click on the reports icon next to a student’s name • You will see a more detailed report for the selected student (Please note: this feature is not yet available to the public but will be so shortly after completing its testing phase).

19. The Portal as a Teacher • Creating Activities - Click on the Create link from the left hand navigation. • You will be presented with a activity selector similar to the one for selecting activities for your classes. • Either click on the Create a new activity link to make a completely new activity, or on any of the gear icons to copy an exisiting activity, making your own custom version of it. • The other icons work the same as in other areas of the portal.

20. The Portal as a Teacher • Please Note: Activities for the ITSI Project are created in the Do-It-Yourself or DIY system. The Concord Consortium is currently working to better integrate the two systems. • You should be automatically logged into the DIY site after clicking on an icon on the activity creation page. • If you are not logged in automatically, please try using your same account on the main DIY site at: • http://itsidiy.concord.org/

21. The Portal as a Student • If you click the “Sign Out” link under your name at the top left of the screen, you can try signing-in as a student. • Students have a very streamlined view of the portal, allowing them easy access to run the activities you have selected. The simply need to click on the green arrow from their home page.

22. The Portal as a Student • Students can also update their name, password and probe interface by clicking on the “My Info” link on the left side bar. • Students can also create their own activities in the Do-It-Yourself system. • The Concord Consortium is currently working on integrating teacher and student authored activities into the ITSI portal.

23. Information Technology in Science Instruction ITSI Portal Bob Tinker (bob@cocnord.org) Scott Cytacki (scott@concord.org) Carolyn Staudt (carolyn@concord.org) External Evaluator - Sig Abeles (siga9738@sbcglobal.net) http://itsi.concord.org ITSI material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI-0624718