KET Technology Reference Guide - Back

Introduction

Welcome to the KET Distance Learning Technology Guide. We are confident that you and your students will find our courses, coupled with the Internet technologies an exciting and effective learning experience.

We have written this manual primarily for the facilitators of Distance Learning classes; however, the information contained herein may be of assistance to students and technology coordinators as they work in the schools with the KET technology.

In addition to this on-line manual, we have prepared two other resources for your use. If you are a new facilitator, you should find, in the Distance Learning Tool Kit, a videotape entitled: KET Technology Resource Guide. This tape provides detailed visual instructions on the use of many of the Internet tools that we offer on the web. We have also made available in the kit a printed version of this document.

This guide is organized into several sections for your convenience. The first few sections deal with the hardware required for your DL classroom. The next describes the routine use of the Internet for facilitators and students. The tape "Position" after each title corresponds to the KET Technology Resource Guide videotape.

Course Video Delivery (This section does not apply to Latin III or Latin Literature.)

KET provides our Distance Learning instruction primarily via video through your television. Even though integrated into this television course is major use of the Internet, the primary vehicle for educating and for lectures will be through video. We deliver video through 3 methods. The most common method is through videotapes. These can be ordered for a nominal charge by calling KET at 800.333.9764. For some courses, the video is delivered using CD-ROM discs, DVDs or even directly from the Internet.

All schools using the videotapes, require a television sized appropriately for the number of students in the classroom. For all but the fewest number of s tudents, KET recommends a 25" or larger TV in the classroom.

Telephone in the Classroom

Even with the advent of Internet communications, KET continues to require a telephone line in the classroom, capable of making a toll-free call. Using this phone, students and facilitators can contact their television instructor with questions or call to request technical assistance. For KET's German language courses we further require that the phone in the classroom be a speakerphone for use in oral tutoring. We recommend a Panasonic Easa-Phone, available at minimal cost at stores across the country.

All technologies occasionally fail to function correctly. A fax machine located in the school can sometimes resolve the problem of a broken printer or temperamental Internet connection. This option is available only in extreme or emergency situations, and cannot replace the Internet in the classroom. If you have fax capabilities in your school, we need the number.

Computers in the Classroom

KET has designed a set of technical specifications for classroom computers powerful enough for the Internet related activities of our courses. Please refer to this chart when planning the computer(s) for your Distance Learning classroom.

When dealing with the Internet and similar technologies, several platform issues arise. In addition to the PC Windows systems listed above, Macintosh Power PCs with equivalent configurations will be supported whenever possible. However, several pieces of software used by our instructors are not available in Macintosh versions. Wortgefecht for the German courses, Lingua Latina for Latin courses and the Physics Vernier products are only available for Intel/Windows based machines.

Browser

KET recommends the use of the latest release of either Netscape Communicator (Navigator) or Microsoft's Internet Explorer. We construct all pages to work with IE, yet we do still test against Netscape/Mozilla. Internet Explorer is typically installed with a new PC or schools may download the latest verison of the browser directly from the Microsoft web site. Our primary testing is against the Windows platform.

Browser Plug-ins

In addition to the basic browser, KET courses make use of other Internet software called plug-ins. These are available at no cost to the school. Two plug-ins are required by all KET instructors, RealPlayer and QuickTime, which may be downloaded from their web sites. Some course require other plug-ins.

Internet in Your School

For some KET Distance Learning schools, our web presence is the most important educational reason they have to be connected to the Internet. We have some guidelines that will hopefully help as you work with the Internet. KET courses require a reliable and reasonably fast connection to the Internet. The few technical problems schools have reported in the past few years have, almost universally, been a problem of unreliable and/or over saturated Internet connections. Some schools have found good success even using modem connections, but as a general rule, we do recommend a direct, high-speed connection. It is the schools' responsibility to ensure that the connection is available in the classroom on a daily basis. Schools that are unable or unwilling to have appropriate Internet connected computers in the classroom, should understand that their students are placed at a severe disadvantage when they have to move back and forth between a classroom and a lab, or the library to complete their assignments.

Facilitator Activities

Beginning of the Year Registration Confirmation

All schools should have registered through the KET Distance Learning toll-free number (800) 333-9764 or via enrollment forms on our web site.

You must call KET to confirm your registration status and to receive the facilitator password necessary to access the web site for the first time.

Only registered schools are given full access to KET's Distance Learning web site. This is for the protection of your students' privacy, to honor educational copyright restrictions and to ensure the integrity of educational materials such as tests and quizzes.

Please be prepared with several important pieces of information before calling:

• The school's name, mailing and shipping addresses, voice and fax phone numbers
• The Facilitator's name, address, e-mail address, phone number and course(s) facilitated
• The classroom phone number
• The time of day your school will be taking the class

We will confirm your registration, activate your Facilitator ID and call you back as soon as possible with the facilitator ID and Password.

Once you have received the ID Number and password, proceed to the KET page for your course: http://www.dl.ket.org

From this page, choose: Login or Teacher Area as appropriate.

When prompted, type the seven-digit ID and the password and click on the Login button. Subsequent logins from the same machine will require only the password.

The KET web pages make extensive use of a secure tracking system known as cookies. If prompted to accept a cookie while on the KET site, you must answer OK for the software to operate correctly. Your browser should be set to always accept cookies.

Once logged-in you are presented with the Facilitator Net area of our web site. A menu of facilitator functions is listed at the top of the page.

Beginning of the Year Roster (Entering Student Info)

Once the facilitator has entered their login information, there are several tasks that need to be handled immediately. The first is entering the students' names and information into the student roster.

Before beginning this process, you should have on paper a list of all students enrolled in the course, including the proper spelling of their name, their gender, birth date and any other related information your school may collect.

From the Facilitator Net page, choose the icon or button for student [Roster].

From the roster page, click the button labeled [Enter a new student] to begin. Enter the information you have for each student into the form. If you don't have some info, don't despair, you may come back at a later date to fill in the gaps.

When you have finished entering the requested info, click on the button labeled [Enter!] to save your entry.

If you take longer than four minutes to enter the data for a specific student, you will be asked to re-enter your password. Don't worry, the information you entered has been saved.

Press [Enter a new student] for each student to be added to the course.

If you find you have made an error, or need to make a change or addition to a student's information, from the roster page, click on the student's name, and use the [Edit Student Information] button at the bottom of the next screen to be returned to the entry / edit screen.

You may drop or add students from the roster screen by highlighting the student's name and clicking on the appropriate button.

After you have entered all students for a course, call Linda again for the list of student ID numbers and passwords. Please make every effort to keep passwords secure. Never share a facilitator password with any student. Students should not share their passwords. If a password is compromised, call KET for assistance.

Beginning of the Year Information and Calendar Entry

If you are enrolled in more than one KET course, the school calendar must be entered for each course.

If you are unable to complete the calendar entry, please fax your school calendar, indicating starting and ending dates, all holidays, and end of grading period dates. We will enter the information for you.

Beginning of the Year Information and Release Form

To honor the privacy of our students we permit only registered students, their facilitators and KET staff access to names, info and photos of Distance Learning participants. Even with these safeguards, we still require a signed release form before any photographic likeness of students is made available on our pages. The release is included as part of the Information Form. Please assist your students in getting the forms completely filled out (including signature), a photo attached, and returned by mail as soon as possible.

Daily Student Agenda Check

   (Paragraph 3 does not apply to Latin III or Latin Literature.)

For each lesson that our instructors present, there is a corresponding agenda (or bulletin board). Students and facilitators should visit the KET web pages daily, using the [Next] button at the top of each agenda page to advance to the appropriate lesson (or class/instructional day) that their classroom is currently beginning. To review an earlier agenda, users may click the [Previous] button, or the [Previous Work] button.

Schools begin their academic year anytime between the first of August to after Labor Day. Therefore, KET courses are set up in such a way that there is no specific lesson your class should be "on" for a specific date.

Many of the lessons your students are receiving from KET have been previously recorded. Teachers may update the material presented add new assignments or enrichment activities, or issue special instructions on the web. Therefore, it is very important that both you and your students visit the web page every day to see what new information the teacher has added. For example, the video may instruct your students to complete questions 1 through 15, but more specific instructions on the web may permit students to only turn in the odd numbered questions.

The KET instructors also use the agenda to track your progress in the course through your position within the agendas. Please keep your agenda displaying the lesson on which you are currently working, to permit us to better serve your classroom, and be aware of where you are in the curriculum.

Daily Facilitator Bulletin Check

In addition to the public agenda visible on the course front page, there is a private agenda/bulletin area for facilitators only. This area can be found at the top of the page labeled Facilitator Net, immediately after a facilitator login. KET Instructors use this area to post information and/or instructional materials that are intended for facilitator eyes only. This may include announcements, links to assignments or enrichment activities the teacher wants you to follow, notes to be sent home to parents, as well as tests and quizzes to be printed out and administered.

Daily Message Center Check

Because many students and facilitators have limited access to an Internet e-mail address, KET has created a web-based messaging system available only to our students, staff and facilitators.

A waiting message for anyone at a school will cause an icon to appear in the agenda section of their course front page. The name of the person to whom the message is addressed also appears to the side of the icon.

Clicking on the mail waiting icon prompts the user for their password. Once entered, the program displays a list of messages on the screen. Click on the subject of the message you wish to read to display it on your screen. Messages received may be replied to, deleted, or saved, by pressing the appropriate link below the message.

From the Message Center within Facilitator Net, facilitators may send private messages to KET staff members, or other facilitators. Students are currently restricted to sending and receiving messages from their instructor and corresponding KET staff assistants.

Student Grading Program

   (This section does not apply to Humanities.)

The one area of Facilitator Net you will be using more than any other is the Grading Program. Within Facilitator Net, after you click on Grade Book, there are three links that relate to student grades: [Enter Grades by Assignment], [Enter Grades by Student] and [View Grade Reports].

The [Enter Grades by Assignment] link permits a facilitator to enter scores for a specific assignment. Pull down the menu labeled [Select an Assignment], and choose the assignment for which you wish to enter scores, and click the [Enter Grades] button.

You again see the summary information for the assignment at the top of the screen, such as title, points possible, as well as the category. As you scroll to the bottom of the screen you see a list of all of the students enrolled in your classroom, and a column titled "New Score". From this screen you simply type in the score in the box for each student and press [Submit]. If you go back to the same assignment, you will see that the scores just entered are recorded in the current score column.

Two special features are available to facilitators as they enter scores into the grading program. If, instead of a numeric entry, a facilitator enters the word OMIT into the "New Score" field, that particular student is excused from that assignment. The single letter I entered in place of a score indicates an Incomplete. In this case the student is not excused from the assignment, and a score of 0 (zero) is calculated into their grade.

The [Enter Grades by Student] screen permits the facilitator to enter grades for a specific student across many assignments. Use the pull down menu to select a student in your class and press the [Enter Grades]button. The entry of grades from this screen is the same as from the assignment entry screen.

Don't forget to click on the [Submit] button after entering scores to ensure the grades are recorded.

The Grading Reports available from Facilitator Net are flexible and powerful. You are first prompted for a day (or lesson) range. Enter the days over which you want the report to cover. For example, if the first grading period covered the first nine weeks (or 44 days), you would enter 1 and 44 for the day range.

You are next asked for the categories to be included. With this option, you can restrict a report to include only tests, or only homework.

Several check-boxes are available to change the look of the report. The [Include Assignment Descriptions] box will include or exclude the list of assignments, which are be printed at the top of each report. The [Raw Scores] are the scores that each student receives for specific assignments; excluding them will report only the category summaries and the final numeric grade for each student. The [Summaries] box controls the category subtotals and final grade. Unchecking the bottom two buttons would produce a report with only the assignment descriptions listed, and no individual student data.

The last option is to permit the facilitator to print a report for a single student. This option is helpful in creating detailed reports to hand out to students or parents at the end of a grading period or the semester.

As a semester progresses, you may find that a grade report for all categories over a broad range of dates for all students will be too wide to print on your printer. There are several potential solutions; the easiest of which is to run a separate report for each student using the last option on the screen. Other options would be to exclude the raw scores or print for a narrower window of days.

If an assignment is marked "Optional", then that assignment's points possible will not be reflected in the subtotal, unless that student has actually completed the assignment and a score has been entered.

Some grading slots are locked, so that a facilitator can not enter the grade. These slots are for assignments that are to be sent to KET for grading or for scores assigned by the teacher or staff at KET.

Quiz System

There are two types of Quizzes available on the KET web site: graded and ungraded. Graded quizzes are initially unavailable to the students. Before they may take the quiz, the facilitator must go in and unlock the quiz.

From Facilitator Net, click the button labeled [Quizzes]. From this screen you will find a pull-down menu of quizzes. The description of graded quizzes will be preceded with either [OPEN] or [CLOSED]. Initially they will all be closed. Choose a closed quiz and click OK.

You are now presented with a Quiz summary page which displays the title of the quiz, the ID, date range, status and operation buttons. To unlock the quiz, click the [Open Quiz] button. You will see the red closed icon change to a green open icon. At this point the quiz is available for students to take and review their answers.

Facilitators may also use the [Take] button on this page to print out a copy of the quiz on paper for review or distribution. The [Key] button is self-explanatory. The [Review] button permits facilitators to see a summary of how their students have answered questions on the selected quiz.

Attendance System

KET has made available an attendance system for our facilitator's use in tracking student absences. Click on the button labeled [Attendance] to enter the program. You are presented with a one-week calendar, with a line for each student, and an entry box for each day. There are four codes you can use in the attendance system: P=present, A=absent, U=unexcused, and N=no school. Buttons at the top of the screen permit you to move to previous weeks, and generate attendance reports.

KET would like to have some additional information about your school. What are your school colors? Mascot? Do you have any famous graduates? Is your school named after a person we should know about? Have your sports or academic teams done particularly well in recent years? Does your school have a web page? Press the button labeled [Edit My School Info] on your school's page of the Yearbook to enter this information. The facilitator password is required to edit the school info in the yearbook.

Student Activities

Beginning of the Year: Student Information Form

Student and Facilitator Information Forms are distributed to each school via paper as part of the KET Distance Learning Tool Kit. All enrolled students and facilitators are requested to complete the form, attach a photo, get it signed, and return it to KET (via mail if with photos, or fax) as soon as possible.

All facilitators, students and staff are requested to submit a current photograph with their information forms. These are used in the yearbook and for other special uses limited to registered users of KET's web site. If possible, a digital photo is appreciated, a color print or slide is also acceptable. When you take the photo, it should be a head and bust portrait, not a full-figure shot. Group photos should be taken as close to the faces as possible.

On the reverse side of the Information Form is the Consent Form. To honor the privacy of our students we permit only registered students, their facilitators and KET staff access to names and photos of Distance Learning participants. Even with these safeguards, we still require a signed release form before any photographic likeness of students is made available on our pages.

Beginning of the Year: Logging On

Once facilitators enter basic student information into the system, KET provides them with generated ID numbers and passwords for each student. Students will not normally need their ID number, as most logins can be accomplished with the student's name and password only. However, were a student to need access to the KET site from a PC outside their classroom (such as from home), they will be asked for their seven-digit ID number during their first logon.

Beginning of the Year: Familiarization

Each student should plan to devote an hour or two during the first days of class familiarizing themselves with the design and layout of their course's web pages. Many KET instructors will assign scavenger hunts or other exercises to encourage the exploration of the web site.

Daily: Bulletin Board / Agenda / Assignment Check

   (Paragraph 2 does not apply to Latin III or Latin Literature.)

For each lesson that our instructors present there is a corresponding agenda (or bulletin board). Students should visit the KET web pages daily, advancing to the appropriate lesson (or class/instructional day) that they are currently beginning.

Lessons you receive from KET over the satellite or via videotape may have been recorded weeks or months before you view them. But as our instructors have updates to material presented on the tape, the changes will be in the agenda on the web. For example, the tape may ask you to complete questions 1 through 15, but more specific instructions on the web may require students to only turn in the odd numbered questions.

In addition, KET tracks your progress in the course through your position within the agendas, so please keep your agenda displaying the lesson on which you are currently working, to permit us to better serve your classroom.

Daily: Sending Messages

Because many students and facilitators have limited access to an Internet e-mail address, KET has created a private, web-based messaging system available only to our students, staff and facilitators.

To send a message to the instructor or another staff member associated with your class, log in from the front page of your class, then click on [Send messages] or [Mail]from Student Net. From the drop down menu choose the recipient of your message, fill in the other boxes and click on the send button. The recipient will be able to reply to your message through the same internal message system.

Daily: Notes to Teacher

If you do not have an ID and password yet, you may click on the button labeled [Notes to Teacher] on the course front page. Please fill in all boxes and press the [Send] button. This will send the webmaster an e-mail, which will then be forwarded to the instructor. They will only be able to reply to you if you include an e-mail address in the appropriate box before sending.

At any time you may abort the sending of the message by clicking on the [Back without Sending] Link located on the same page.

Daily: Messages - Reading Messages

A waiting message for anyone at a school will cause an icon to appear in the agenda section of their course front page. The name of the person to whom the message is addressed also appears to the side of the icon.

Clicking on the mail waiting icon prompts the user for their password. Once entered, the program displays a list of messages on the screen. Click on the subject of the message you wish to read to display it on your screen. Messages received may be replied to, deleted, or saved, by pressing the appropriate link below the message.

Students are currently restricted to sending and receiving messages from their instructor and corresponding KET staff assistants.

Daily: Forum Check

Many teachers have set up forum areas in which linear written discussions may take place on topics of the instructors' choosing. Forums are available from each course's front page. Click on the icon to display a list of forum areas. Topics which are open have a status [open] indicator after the name of the forum. There is also a summary of each forum on this page.

You may enter the specific forum by clicking on its title. From the forum page you may read and contribute to the messages arranged in an oldest to newest order. At the bottom of the screen you will find a short form for entering your own comments. Click on the [Enter] button to add your message to the forum, and you will be prompted for your user name and password. Once the submission is complete, you will be returned to the forum and your message will be added to the bottom of the list.

Contributions to a public forum require a password, but posts can be read by members of the general public, so personal information (including what school you attend) should never be posted. Only registered users (students, facilitators and staff) may add a post to a forum. The messages in each forum include the name of the writer, time and date they were posted, as well as their comments.

The forum areas are moderated by KET staff, but participation in the forums is a privilege which can be revoked for inappropriate postings. This action has not been necessary due to the responsible use of the system by all participants.

Regularly Check Link Libraries

Each of the teachers maintains an extensive library of Internet resources organized for easy access by students.

These "Links" to other sites are an invaluable resource as you begin to work on special projects within your course work. They are located in each course behind an icon or button labeled [Links].

The Links pages are categorized by topic into many sections and sub-sections. Simply click on the topic of interest to request more info in that subject area. Keep clicking until you reach a destination site.

Regularly Check Yearbook

KET makes available for students and their instructors a yearbook of Distance Learning schools and participating students and facilitators. An icon on each course front page will load the yearbook program. From the yearbook, participants can view information ad photos of their classmates in schools across the country. Searches can be made by state, school, course or student.

From their own screen, students may click [Update my Profile] to fill out an on-line questionnaire disclosing typical teen trivia, hobbies, activities and/or a short biography. A signed release form must be received before this information is made available to the students' classmates. Facilitators can approve the content of the student remarks by clicking on the [Approve Entries] link at the bottom of a student's page.

KET Site Search Utility

A search engine for any word in a document on the Distance Learning web site (excluding tests and other protected documents) is available from the [Site Search] button on the home page or the [Search] button located on each course front page.

The search engine is powered by Google. It is a very fast and efficient search engine, which we think will benefit everyone who is looking for information from the KET Distance Learning web site. You can search for words or phrases either by going to the Distance Learning Web page or to individual course pages. Searches begun from a course page will give results from only pages within that course. For help, use the button labeled [Search Tips].

In addition to the Google search, there is a [Search Lessons] button at the top of each course's agenda page that allows you to search that course's bulletins for keywords. You may choose a lesson range and category appropriate for your search.

KET Information Areas

For all Distance Learning courses an up-to-date package of information is maintained on the Internet behind an icon labeled [Info] on each of the course's front pages.

This section includes web ready versions of the Students' and Facilitators' guides, a document on Using the Internet, and a Glossary of Internet Terms.

On the KET DL Home Page general information regarding all of the courses is also available.

KET Staff Information Areas

Photos and brief biographies of KET staff are available from the [Staff] button on each course front page. A complete list of all Distance Learning staff can be found on the DL home page behind the [DL Staff & Teachers] link.