Taskmanager
From DB Primary Wiki
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Task manager allows a Teacher to set up tasks in a community and assign them to members of a community. Tasks can be especially useful for setting homework.
When a task is assigned to community members, it will display on the What's On area of the pupil's homepage for quick and easy access.
Creating Tasks
Creating the task
Login as a teacher
Navigate to a community or create a new one.
Click on the Tasks
Click on New Task
Give the Task a name and choose the type of task you want to create.
Click the Green Tick
Adding Members to the task
Select pupils you would like to be assigned to the Task. You will be shown the pupils from the current community.
To select all the pupils from the current community, simply click on the Select All text.
Adding extra users to a task
You may decide later that you wish to add more users to the task you created. To do this:
- You can navigate to the task by either by clicking on Tasks on your community front page, then clicking on the task name:
- You can also access the task from the task area of your teacher homepage.
- In the Configure Task view click on Progress:
- To add single participants, place your cursor in the New Participants field and start typing the name of the user you wish to add.
- Choose from the suggestions given by the auto-complete and click on add to add this user to the task:
- To add more than one participant to the task at a time, click on browse.
- On the next screen you are given a list of the members of the community who have not already been added to the task.
- Select one or more user and click on add to add them to the task.
Setting task details
Type in your instructions or description. The length of the task will be set to a week from present as default. You can amend this period of time as you wish.
You also have the option to set the task to repeat weekly, for example if you want the children to comment on their learning at the end of the week or write about what they have got up to on the weekend.
Once you are happy with the task, either choose one of the pre-set images or upload your own image to represent your task then click Next.
Important: If you click on 'save' at this stage you will miss the opportunity to add any self-evaluation or assessement criteria.
Clicking on 'Next' will take you to the assessment section.
Attaching files to a task
Any file can be browsed for in your gallery or uploaded from your computer to be attached to your task. Use the following steps to do this:
1. Click on the 'link' button:
2. Click on 'browse' to search for the file:
3. When a child opens the task they will be presented with a link which will take them directly to the file:
Embedding a video or application from a website
If you would like embed some media with the task such as an animation or video, use the following steps:
1. Copy the embed code of the media you would like to embed:
2. In the editor of the instructions window, click on the embed media button:
3. Paste the copied embed code into the dialogue box that appears:
4. When the pupil opens the task, the media will be shown within the task dialogue window:
Embedding a video or other media files from the community gallery or from your server
You may also like to embed media located on your computer or in the community gallery. To do this use the following steps:
1. In the editor of the instructions window, click on the embed media button:
2. Click on 'Browse Server':
3. Any file type that can be embedded is now shown.
4. As well as the files displayed, you also now have the option to embed the following:
- A video clip recorded through DB Primary (Select 'Record Video')
- An audio clip recorded through DB Primary (Select 'Record Audio')
- A file from your computer or server (Select 'Upload')
Marking
There are 5 types of marking scales to choose from in the drop down menu. Choose the scale you would like to use for your Task.
Options
This will allow you to free type different marking options. Press Enter or click on the dropdown to enter each option and click Add When you have finished
Enter a self assessment prompt and specify the options pressing Enter after each one followed by Save Task to save and move on.
NC Level
This will allow you to choose National Curriculum level
Enter a self assessment prompt and specify the options pressing Enter after each one followed by Save Task to save and move on.
Number Range
This will allow you to enter a number range. Enter your from and to values and click on Add
Enter a self assessment prompt and specify the options pressing Enter after each one followed by Save Task to save and move on.
Grade Range
This will allow you to enter a grade range
Enter a self assessment prompt and specify the options pressing Enter after each one followed by Save Task to save and move on.
P Scale
This will enable you to assign a P scale from P1 through to P8 to the task:
When you have finished entering the assessment data, click on Save Task
New Task Marking & Self Evaluation options
Traffic lights and Smileys have been added as both self assessment and teacher assessment options in the Task Marking area.
Many schools use 'Traffic Lights', Smileys as follows:
Traffic Lights:
Red (too hard, didn't do well)
Amber (ok)
Green (found easy, did well)
Smileys:
Smile (found easy, did well etc,)
Flat mouth (ok)
Unhappy face (too hard, didn't do well)
When they have been used as teacher assessment, the icons will appear in the Marked Work section of the pupils' homepage.
Smiley
Traffic Light
You will now be taken to the application you chose which will be one of the following:
Available Applications to set as a task
Answer a quiz
Answer a survey
Start Forum Topic
Forum Reply
New blog entry
Write Document
Draw Picture
Record a video clip
Record a sound clip
Wiki contribution
How a pupil sees their tasks
When a pupil logs into their account, they will see any tasks which have been assigned to them on the Things to do page. This can be accessed by clicking on the left navigation arrow on their 'my desk' page.
Hover the mouse over each task to see its title and click on it to go to the activity.
The icons for tasks will display in different sizes, the bigger the task, the sooner it is due. For example if a task is due today, it will show bigger than a task due next week. Any task without a due date or which is past its due date will show as a large icon.
How a pupil completes a task
Log in with pupil username and password.
Click on the task at the top of the homepage under Things to do
You will be taken to a summary screen which displays the title, the person who set the task and the number of questions.
Click on the Start button. On the example above the task is a quiz so the start button is Start Quiz.
For certain tasks, children will have the option of saving their work to return to and finish at a later time:
For tasks except surveys, quizzes, drawings, video & sound clips, children must click on the 'Finished' button to notify the teacher that the task has been completed:
Once the task is completed it will disappear from the students homepage.
Completed tasks will show on the pupils homepage under Things to do
Once the teacher has marked the task, an email will be sent to the pupil with the teacher's comment.There will also be a link in the email to take them directly to the task:
Viewing progress as a teacher
Log in with your teacher account and navigate to the community containing the task.
Click on Tasks from the left hand side.
You will now see the tasks for that community with progress indicators.
Click onto the task you want to look at followed by the Progress tab.
You will now see a list of people assigned to the task and their status. Click on the person you want to view.
You will now be taken to the marking section. You can view an individual question by clicking the grade on the results page.
The self assessment comments from the student will be displayed at the top and you can also leave your own comments.
Click on the green tick to save. This will send an email to the pupil with your comment, if any, and a link to the task.
Emailing task participants
Clicking on 'Mail All' in the progress screen of the task opens up an email with the task title as the subject and all task participants added to the 'to' field. This may be useful if you need to send a reminder or notify participants of some further information about the task.
The Task Markbook
The Task Markbook provides teachers with an easy way to check the performance of their pupils. It can be found in the task management page of a community.
On the task management page click on the Markbook tab.
You are provided with a table of all tasks set within that community and marks awarded.
Pupils who are NOT allocated to a Task are now shown without a cell border
Hovering your cursor over a particular child will highlight all tasks and marks given by that child as shown below:
Hovering over the title of a task will show a tool tip with some more information about that task including the marking schema and range for that task:
In the case below for example, Jayden has completed two of his tasks, receiving a NC level of 2C for his story and a 5/5 for his drawing. Farah has not completed either task yet. The View entry for her tasks signifies that a task has been started but not finished and submitted yet. Click on any of the grades or View to take you to the child's work.
It is possible to use a filter on the table to view only the marks given under a particular marking schema:
As default, this is set to Any which shows the marks given for all marking schemas.
If you have a number of tasks, they will not display on one page, but you will be able to scroll though them by clicking on the newer and older buttons on the markbook:
Exporting the Task Markbook
If you wish to export the markbook to a csv spreadsheet, just click on the Export button and you will be prompted to download the spreadsheet to your computer.
Setting Tasks for Teachers
In order to set a task for teachers , first create and save the task. Visit the task again from the front page of your community by clicking on the task icon:
Next click on the progress bar:
In the New Participant entry box start typing the name of the teacher you would like to add to the task. The name should auto-complete. Choose the appropriate name and click on add:
