Visionlearning FAQ

These Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) come from Visionlearning users and are posted here to help you possibly answer some of your questions. If you do not find an answer here please use our HelpDesk.

General

Technical

Administrative

General

What is Visionlearning?

Visionlearning is an innovative new resource for interdisciplinary science education funded by the National Science Foundation. Our site contains a library of peer-reviewed teaching modules that have been shown to be more effective than traditional resources such as textbooks. These modules combine text, interactive animations, assessment resources and other tools to provide a complete learning environment. In addition, the modules integrate concise text-based lessons with links to news stories, scientific biographies and research papers to provide historical and topical context in science education. These modules can be completely customized to individual needs in our MyClassroom system. For more information about this unique resource, visit the About Us section.

What are the privacy policies of Visionlearning?

Please consult our policies page.

How do I access Visionlearning lessons?

All of the lessons can be accessed through the Visionlearning library. Lessons can also be accessed, and customized by teachers, in our MyClassroom section. To access MyClassrooms and lesson features such as quizzes, you must first register.

How do I find the that quiz I am supposed to take?

All of our quizzes are linked to from the bottom left Resources menu of our modules. Once you have logged in to your teacher's classroom, simply visit the module that you were assigned in class, scroll to the bottom of that module, and you will see a link to all quizzes in the the left-hand box titled Resources.

How do I change my password?

Click on My Profile, located in the top menu bar, and then visit the change your password link.

How do I direct my students to my MyClassroom?

Once you create a MyClassroom and submit it for approval, your classroom will appear in our public list . From here your students can search for the appropriate State and find your specific classroom. They will then need to complete a free registration for our site and 'register' for your classroom individually.

I do not receive email in my AOL account from my instructor via MyClassroom.

Unfortunately, some email providers have spam filtering software that improperly filters email sent in this fashion. You might considering establishing a new email address using a different service.

Can copies of Visionlearning animations be obtained?

We are not offering our animations offline at the moment but you are welcome to link to them from your web site. Thanks.

Is it possible to obtain the answer keys to the Visionlearning quizzes?

Quiz answer keys can be found at the back of the Visionlearning textbook. In addition, teachers have access to an "Answer key" link immediately to the right of the quiz link in the Resources section of the modules or in the "Quizzes" section of their left menu. Students can obtain answer keys from their instructors.

Is it possible to purchase the textbook directly from Visionlearning?

Textbooks can be ordered directly through the publisher. For more information, visit http://visionlearning.com/books.php.

Were Visionlearning resources designed for High School?

The site is designed for College level, non-major students. However, we have found significant interest at the High School and Middle School level. To aid teachers in these schools we have correlated all of our modules with the National Science Education Standards (http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?c3=&mid=78&l=).

Can I use your site as a reference in my teaching?

All our lessons are freely accessible and open to everyone. You can try our MyClassroom feature, where you can combine all of your course materials including a syllabus, our modules, and other web sites in one location. Or you can simply link to any of our modules in the public library.

How is Visionlearning funded?

Major funding for Visionlearning is provided by the National Science Foundation. If you would like to contribute to our goal of improving science education, please visit our support page.

Technical

I am a teacher trying to make a new MyClassroom. When I hit submit, I am taken to a processing page, not my classroom.

The MyClassroom "submit" button forwards you to a processing page where you can find a link to enter your classroom. Once you enter your classroom you can add modules with a link on the left menu. If this does not answer your question, please specify what submit button you hit and what processing page you are taken to.

I have registered for the site but cannot log in. After I enter my username and password I continue to see the login button.

Try several things: 1. Make sure your username and password are correct. 2. Make sure cookies are enabled in your browser. The MyClassroom system uses cookies to identify each user to customize your experience. For more information about cookies, visit Yahoo's cookie page. 3. If you are trying to connect through a school network, make sure your Proxy server or firewall is not blocking access to our site.

Will the students in my class be able to use this site if I have it linked to a document?

All of the materials in your classroom will be accessible by your students. External documents must be loaded to a school or private web server. Once on the web, teachers can link to these materials in the "Additional Resources" of the "Course Info" page. Students will then see these links on the bottom of the left menu.

How would students log on to the Visionleaning through a hyperlink on my web page?

All of your students would have to register individually with the site and create their own usernames and passwords. You can place a link to your classroom on your web page that will direct registered students to your MyClassroom site.

Can a teacher monitor students' quiz grades?

Teachers have access to a "Quizzes" area on the left. This page allows you to view quiz grades sorted by subject or by student. We will soon be adding a feature to allow you to download grades to a spreadsheet file.

I autopopulated the syllabus, then added events. When I subsequently clicked on autopopulate to update the syllabus with new lessons, I received a message saying that my syllabus entries would be erased if I proceeded. I don't want to throw away all the work I did adding events.

If you have added custom events to a syllabus, subsequently auto-populating the syllabus will erase those custom events. If you need to add new lessons to the syllabus, or change the order of lessons, you can reorganize your syllabus manually. In other words, don't auto populate it, add new lessons through the "Add Event Below" option.

I am a teacher and would like to know how can I link to my "Chemisty Help Page" from the new site?

There are several ways to add links to your custom pages. You can link to it as your MyClassroom homepage, syllabus or as additional resources by using the "Course Info" page. Simply input the URL of your site. In addition, any URL entered into the text of the yellow "Teacher Comments" sections of the modules will serve as a link to that page.

I am a teacher. Why doesn’t my classroom appear in the list of registered classrooms?

You did not submit your MyClassroom for approval. If you visit your MyClassroom, you will see a "Get Authorized" link on the left menu. Submit your classroom for authorization and we will approve it for public access within 48 hours.

As a teacher, can I purge accumulated student scores?

Yes, when you access the "Quizzes" link in the left menu of your MyClassroom, you will see a "Delete" button next to each score. The "Delete" function will allow you to purge student’s quiz scores.

Is it possible for a teacher to send a single email to all students at once?

Yes, teachers can send notes to students individually or collectively. If you visit the "Students" link in your left menu, you will see a list of registered students with a "send note" link. At the bottom of this page you will find "Send Note to All" link, which will allow you to send messages to all students simultaneously.

Why do I get a message that says "This site is forbidden"?

Our site is publicly available to all users. Some school networks prevent access to all sites that contain a .com extension. Your network may be preventing access to our site for this or for another reason. You may want to contact your network adiministrator to correct this problem.

How do students create passwords and log in?

Students simply need to complete our online registration (http://www.visionlearning.com/reg/new_user.php) and select a username and password. Once this step is complete, they can register for individual instructor's MyClassroom sites by visting the MyClassroom area (http://www.visionlearning.com/library/myclassrooms.php).

When students take a quiz, will the results be sent to their teachers automatically?

When your students log in and take a quiz, the results are not emailed to you, however, they are posted in the teacher "Quizzes" section. We will soon be adding the ability to download quiz scores to a spreadsheet file.

How do I remove myself from your new events mailing list?

Visionlearning occasionally sends email to users regarding new site features. To remove yourself from this mailing list simply log in to the site, visit the MyProfile page and uncheck the box at the bottom that says "Please send me periodic e-mail messages about new modules, features and events."

How do I remove my address from your mailing list?

To remove yourself from our periodic updates simply log in to the site, go to "MyProfile" and uncheck the box at the bottom that says "Please send me periodic e-mail messages about new modules, features and events."

A teacher who I do not know wants to join my classroom and I do not wish to share my site.

Thank you for your inquiry. As you stated, you should not grant a person that you do not know co-teacher access to your site. If the person has requested co-teacher access, you will see a link on the left menu of your MyClassroom that says Teacher Requests Pending. Click on this link and a page will load on the right side that gives you two options, simply choose the DENY option to refuse this request. If a person has joined your classroom as a student and you would like to remove that person, simply click on the Student link in the MyClassroom, find the person in the student list, and click REMOVE. Finally, if you would like more security in your classroom, you can click on the left Course Info link and turn ON student screening. However, if you do this you will have to approve any student that wants to register for your classroom. Please contact us if we can provide any additional help.

Administrative

Why is there an age requirement on your site?

All of our site content is educational and is screened carefully for appropriatness. However, the "Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule" requires Web sites that collect personal data (name, etc.) from children younger than 13 years of age to take specific steps, including verified parental consent and parental access to student data, that we are not currently equipped to address. As a result, we request that only individuals that are 13 years of age or older register for the site. If you are younger than 13, or have students that are younger than 13, you may want to ask a parent or other adult to complete the login registration.

Is any information about teachers or students such as quiz scores distributed publicly?

No, teacher and student information is kept private according to our privacy policy. In order to improve the resource for our users, we do look at collective quiz scores (not individual scores) for research purposes, such as to determine if certain questions need to be improved.

Is there a way to get students a password without them completing the registration?

This issue has come up with students who are under 13 years of age. At this point, we do not accept registration from individuals under 13 years of age due to the requirements of the "Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule". However, we do allow a teacher or parent to complete a registration for a particular student and then allow that student to access our materials through that 'guest' account.

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