This is a core module, included in RosarioSIS. Below is a description of the programs that make up the School module, along with screenshots illustrating their functions.
Portal Notes
The Portal Notes program lets administrators publish notes on the portal. Notes have publishing dates to set when the note is visible. No dates mean the note is always visible. They can be limited to certain user profiles. None selected means the note will not be published. The note itself has a title and a description. The description field uses the MarkDown syntax for formatting text. A file can be attached to the note, for example a PDF or any other relevant document. The “Embed link” field allows you to display a YouTube video. Be sure to copy the “embed” link here.
Portal Polls
The Portal Polls program lets administrators create polls for users (students, or any other user profile) to take from the portal. Just like portal notes, portal polls have publishing dates to set when the poll can be taken. The poll itself has a title, and consists of one or more questions. Each question has its own title, the question itself, and options, being the possible answers. Answers are of 2 types: select one from options (radio buttons) or select multiple from options (checkboxes). The poll results will be displayed in the results column in the list. The “Results Display” checkbox, when checked, will display results to users after they have submitted the poll.
Calendars
The Calendars program lets administrators set up calendars for their school. Schools usually have one calendar, but you can create as many calendars as you need, for example for a course having a variable schedule, or a group of students having a special schedule. Calendars are then attributed to courses and students. Green days on the calendar are school days. Days in pink are no school days, and blue days are partial school days with a defined number of minutes. This is also where you can add your school events. To add an event, hover over the day, and click the “+” icon. A popup will show up for you to enter the event’s title and description. To list the events, click the “List events” link at the top of the screen. Upcoming events are also listed on the portal. Finally, you can consult future or past calendar months using the month dropdown at the top of the screen.
Teachers, students and parents can consult the calendar. It will display events but also assignments. Upcoming assignments are also listed on the portal.
Students and users can consult their schedule on the calendar with the Calendar Schedule View plugin.
Marking Periods
The Marking Periods program lets administrators set up marking periods for the school year. Marking Periods are of 4 possible types: year, semester, quarter and progress periods. You can only have one year marking period. You can have as many semesters, quarters and progress periods as needed, but at least one semester and one quarter. Progress periods are optional. The working quarter can be selected in the dropdown from the left menu. Each marking period is defined by its starting and ending dates. If the marking period is actually graded (that is, for an exam period, or final period’s grades, and you want it to appear on report cards), you must also set grade posting dates to set when teachers are allowed to input final grades for the period. The comments’ checkbox, when checked, will allow predefined comments to be added. Free comments can always be added, whether the checkbox is checked or not.
Teachers, students and parents can consult marking period dates.
Periods
The Periods program lets administrators set up the different periods or hours of the school day. It consists of a simple list from which periods can be added, edited or removed. Each period consists of a title, short name, and a length in minutes. The “Block” field lets you create block periods. Block periods are useful for courses with variable schedules. On the course’s calendar, you can select the day(s) on which the period will be actually taught (those days and periods must then also be selected when defining the course period). This is useful for example for monthly courses, or courses that happen only a portion of the marking period, or any other course schedule that does not repeat regularly on a weekly basis.
Grade Levels
The Grade Levels program lets administrators set up the different grade levels offered for students to be enrolled in the school. Some schools prefer to create one “grade level” per group of students or class for easier selection, although the group of students or class can be recorded separately as a custom student field. The program consists of a simple list from which grade levels can be added, edited or removed. Each grade level consists of a title and short name. The next grade field lets you select the next grade level students are promoted to at the end of the school year (when performing rollover).
School Information
The School Information program lets administrators enter basic information for their school such as its name, address and contacts. The “Base Grading Scale” field is the base grading scale value in common for the whole school when calculating overall GPAs. For example, if the base grading scale for the school is 4, and we have course A graded on a scale of 10 and course B graded on a scale of 4, then the average of both courses will be based and calculated on a scale of 4. Finally, other fields can be added to this screen using the School > School Fields program.
Teachers, students and parents can view school information.
Copy School
The Copy School program is a utility program to copy a school and its data to create a new school. When creating the new school, administrators will be prompted for its title, and what data you want to copy. After the school is copied, you can delete it from the School > School Information program. You can also switch from one school to another using the dropdown from the left menu. Having multiple schools allows for school district management, or for example, if you wish to separate the primary and secondary schools. Otherwise, you can have a “school” dedicated to admissions in order to not mix students who apply with enrolled students.
School Fields
The School Fields program is a utility program to add additional fields to the School > School Information program. Fields can be of the following types: pull-down, select multiple from options, text, long text, checkbox, number, date, and files. You can also choose whether the field is required and set its default value. Finally, added fields apply to all schools.
Configuration
The Configuration program is where you configure the system, school options and module options. More details for each option can be consulted in the help. Two additional links at the top of the screen allow you to manage add-ons and core modules or plugins. That is, deactivate a core module or add-on, upload an add-on and activate an add-on. You can also configure plugins from this screen.
Rollover
The Rollover program is a utility program to roll the data and students from the current school year to the next. This program should be used once the school year has ended. Students are promoted to the next grade level or retained, or dropped based on what was specified in their enrollment options. Rollover should be done for each school and can be done various times for the same school. Greyed items in the list have already been rolled over. After rollover, from this same screen, you will be able to set the new school year as default. The school year can be switched using the dropdown from the left menu. For more information about the rollover program, please consult the Rollover Guide PDF.
Access Log
The Access Log program is a security-related program. It logs login attempts to the system for all schools. The IP address, the browser, the username and date of the attempt are listed. This can help spot users having issues logging in, or simply check if users are actually logging into the system on a particular day. You can narrow the dates of the report using the date dropdowns at the top of the screen. Finally, a button lets you clear the log.
