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17 June 2009
Posted in
FAQs -
Technical Support FAQs
This article contains responses to common questions to the Start of Year (SOY).
Q. Do I need to disable my export of data to Fronter prior to the SOY?
A. No, Fronter recommend that you do not disable the export of data to Fronter.
Q. Do you recommend I disable my import of data in Fronter prior to the SOY?
A. Yes, During the summer term a number of schools will be in the process of updating their MIS system to prepare for the next academic year.
To ensure that the Fronter does not reflect those changes in advance of September, Fronter strongly advise disabling the
import of data until such time as a school wishes their next year’s rooms to be created.
To help avoid this scenario Fronter has put solutions in place to try and detect when data is being sent prematurely. If
Fronter detects a possible premature export of data, Fronter will stop the import and send an email to the email address
registered in the integration setup form, informing them of the potential error. Schools can override this security measure
by sending a full export of data.
If schools choose not to disable their import to the MLE they should ensure that their MIS team is informed of the effect
prematurely promoting groups to the next academic year will have on room memberships in Fronter.
Q. Are there tutorials to support the SOY process.
A. Yes, a large number of in depth tutorials have been added to the help system in Fronter. A link to the tutorials is also present when you go to activate a room.
To access them via the inbuilt help system:
-Click "Help" at the top right of your screen
-Click on "Courses"
-Scroll to the bottom to access the tutorials
Direct links to the tutorials are below:
Video 2 Properties of archived rooms
Video 3 Fronter internal room export
Video 4 How to activate a room
Video 5 Start using this room as a blank room
Video 7 Import content and structure from a zip-file
Video 8 Move the members into a room
Q. What happens if someone visits my room before i have activated it?
A. The end user will be told that the room has not been activated. Once the room owner has activated the room they will be able to access it as normal.
Q. Where do the archived rooms sit in the structure?
A. The rooms when archived remain in the corridor that it was in while active but it is hidden and only accessible via the “Archived rooms” tab.
Q. When rooms have forums, how do the forums get copied when using the ‘copy from room’ option?– will the old contributions be visible to the new students, will the names of the original contributors still be visible or will they copy across as anonymous?
A. When a room is copied via the corridor it will retain the initial discussion threads, but it will not retain the responses to the discussions. The reason for this is that when you copy the Room it will be used by another class so you would not want to have answers to questions or previous comments included.
Q. If the full new year export creates a new room set, but the actual room name remains as it was before, and the old room had been archived. Will the new room created have a tag to differentiate it or does the school need to rename one of the rooms? If it requires a manual rename what is best, rename the new room or the archived room?
A. Archived rooms will only appear in the archived rooms tab and active rooms will only appear in the “Choose room” Drop down.
If a room is un-archived it will have the text “Un-archived” appended to the beginning of the room name to prevent confusion of having 2 rooms with the same name. The room can then be renamed if required once active.
Q. In the list of archived rooms, the creation date visible – does this refer to the original room creation date or date the room was archive? (original room creation date)
A. The creation date remains the same as this was the date the room was initially created so will not be updated.
Q.When was a room archived?
A. It is currently not possible to know when a room was archived, However we will consider this for an improvment for next year.
Q. Why can’t we take actions on an archived room e.g. rename the room whilst archived or delete/close a room directly within the archive
A. The purpose of an archived room is to be a historical “Frozen” copy of the room and to not allow editing. If users were to be given the ability to edit files, upload work or change comments this would effect the portfolio information and make it in-accurate.
Q. Why can’t we have an option to bulk activate new rooms where we want to apply the same option in each case?
A. The room activation is designed to be done by the teacher themselves, each teacher may want to use each room differently and depending on the purpose of the room this will change from person to person. As a result of this implementing a bulk activation feature would create risk as each teacher may want to use their individual class differently. As you prepare your physical classroom for the next year you need to do the same for each class in Fronter.
Q. If we are going to copy to portfolio (copy to final assessment)to ensure security of student records, is there a way to ensure students cannot delete items from their final assessment?
A.The final assessment portfolio is an area that the student can select their best work. As a result of this students will be allowed to add/delete from their final assessment portfolio to choose their best work.
If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the local support team.