Odysseyware LMS (3rd-6th)

About the Program:

Odysseyware (OW) provides the curriculum for students in grades 3-8. The courses are accessible through the SIS using Staff Dashboard. Take time reviewing how each part of the program works below. Most sections have a video along with resources. And don't worry about having all of this down right away - you may need to refer back to this training as you work with students in OW. Please contact Erin Rineberg with any questions.

This training covers:

Logging In

Navigating Odysseyware

Action Required Alerts & Grading

Using the Gradebook

Creating Student Groups

Using the Dashboard

Using Reports

Creating Weekly Homeroom Progress Reports

Customizing Courses for New Students

Customizing Individual Course Weights & Settings

Customizing, Skipping & Blocking Course Assignments

Assigning & Reassigning Assignments

Additional Odyssyeware Teacher Resources

Logging In

You will need to access OW through the Staff Dashboard in the SIS. It does not matter what scope you use to launch the OW platform.

In the SIS go to the Teachers tab > Staff Dashboard (click twice) and select the Odysseyware icon.

DO NOT SIGN INTO OW DIRECTLY. If you get logged out of OW resign in through the SIS.

Navigating Odysseyware

As a content teacher you will use OW to check action required alerts, grade assignments, and track student progress. You will only be able to see assignment alerts if you are the content teacher for the course.

As a homeroom teacher you will use OW to check student pacing and progress using the dashboard and report features.

Actions Required Alerts & Grading (Content Only)

The Actions Required sections in OW are located on the home screen and Grade Book. This is where you will get assignment grade alerts, notifications about locked quizzes and tests, and retake information.

Only content teachers will see action required items for their courses on the home screen.

IMPORTANT: Once you open a grade alert you must grade the activity. If you close out of the activity before grading it the alert will disappear and you will have to search through the grade book to find it.

Using the Gradebook (Content & Homeroom)

Use the Gradebook to see student performance on assignments, performance on each assignment attempt, if an assignment needs teacher grading, and other grading notes. The Gradebook is also where assignments can be skipped, reassigned, and unlocked.

Important Gradebook Notes:

Assignments that need teacher scoring will be marked 0 until the teacher completes the grading. These assignments will always show up as Completed with a yellow exclamation mark next to the score in the gradebook. It is recommended that students wait to do additional attempts until the teacher grades their answers as they may have passed the assessment.
Changing an assignment from Graded to Assigned gives the student another attempt.
Changing an assignment from Assigned to Graded gives the teacher the option to overwrite the student score.
Changing an assignment from Assigned to anything else and then back to Assigned forces the student to start over and use an additional attempt.
Clicking on attempts shows you the student score and time spent on each attempt.
Clicking on the assignment title will open up the assignment so you can review questions and content.

Part 1

Covers the basics of how to use, navigate and search for students/assignments in the gradebook.

Goes over how to unblock, block, and grade assignments.

Part 2

Covers how to adjust content, pacing, and skip assignments for the student using the gradebook. Use to adjust courses for new students.

Also goes over assignment status and how to reset assignments.

Part 3

Covers how to adjust individual assignment questions for a student. Goes into individual assignments and how to grade.

Entering Live Session, Fitness Log, and Reading Log Grades

At the end of each learning period you will update live session, fitness log, and reading log grades in the gradebook. These items have place markers in the gradebook. To change these grades find the assignment in the gradebook, change the status from graded to assigned to graded again. This will open up a pop up window for you to enter in the new score. Hit save when done.

Live Session Gradesheet templates are available in the Teacher Resource Folder.

Fitness Log grades are calculated for you on the Student Information Sheet. You just need to update them.

Creating Student Groups (Homeroom)

You can create groups in Odysseyware to use in the Gradebook filters and for group progress reports.

Go to STUDENTS
Hit New Group
Name your group
Hit enter in the search for students box to display all students
Hit the plus sign next to the students you want to put in your group
Hit Save at the bottom when done.

Using the Dashboard (Content & Homeroom) - ONLY PLACE TO PULL SCORE TO DATE GRADES

The Dashboard is the best spot to view and export student grades. The Dashboard displays student grades and progress as well as provides the option to view a detailed grade report under the details section.

Access the Dashboard by going to Reports from the top menu options. Dashboard is the default landing page when you click on Reports.

The top part of the Dashboard displays a graph of student completion and current scores. Beneath this is a list of all students with their progress and grades. You can search by class or student in the search box.

The Dashboard is downloadable by using the Export Feature.

The Dashboard updates at 2:59pm and 11:59pm daily. Keep this in mind when pulling the most accurate grades.

A Note About Grades:

Students have 3 grades in OW: Current Score, Score to Date, & Relative Grade. Students can only see Current Score & Score to Date. There is no report to pull Relative Grade. The Score to Date grade is what we use to calculate the student's real grade in the class. This will change up until 11:59pm on the last day of the semester.

Additionally student grades are calculated by averaging the scores in each unit and then averaging each unit together. Weight categories are calculated in each unit instead of as a whole of the class.

Lastly, anytime a student redoes an assignment or the teacher regrades the assignment the submission date will change. Keep this in mind for attendance reporting.

Using Reports (Content & Homeroom)

There are many Activity Report options in OW. The most useful reports are the Student Lesson Plan, Detailed Student Grading, and Student Progress.

The Student Lesson Plan report shows all of the assignments a student needs to complete in their course, due dates, and completion status. This report is helpful for homeroom teachers to see progress and attendance. Pairing the Student Lesson Plan report with the Dashboard report provides a comprehensive view of student performance and is helpful for the homeroom teacher to send in weekly homeroom progress updates.

The Detailed Student Grading and Student Progress reports are useful for seeing dates assignments are completed.

Reports_Reference_Sheet.pdf

Activity-Reports-Guide.pdf

Creating Weekly Homeroom Progress Reports

It is helpful to send progress reports to students each week so they know where they are in the class and their current grades. You will use the Dashboard report and Lesson Plan report to add to your email.

Templates are available on the Teacher Resource Site (Coming soon).

Customizing Courses for New Students (Content)

There's two steps to customizing the courses for new students. It has to be done in this order.

Step 1: Excuse Assignments

Check the assignment calendar here or in OW and find where the student should be. Use your best judgement to excuse assignments up to that point making sure to leave the syllabus and live session grades.
Go to the Gradebook and search for the student.
Expand your class and either hit the skip box to remove an entire unit or expand the unit and choose skipped next to the ones you are removing.

Step 2: Adjust Start Date

Go to Course Enrollments and search for your student.
Hit the check box next to your class and choose Reschedule
Enter in the custom date range for the student using this date format 00/00/0000. End date should be 01/17/2019.
Hit Reschedule in the dialogue box. The student is all set.

Customizing Individual Course Weights & Settings (Content)

By Course

You can adjust the course settings and weights for individual course using the Course Enrollment tab. You will use the Course Enrollments tab to make setting and weight adjustments specific to that course and different from school wide settings.

Click on the COURSE ENROLLMENT tab from the top menu options.
Search for the student or course you would like to adjust.
Under the Actions column hit Edit
Make adjustments in the popup window.
Hit Save to save changes.
Move on to the next student.

NOTE: Whether adjusting one student or an entire course you have to go student by student to make setting changes.

By Student

You can adjust the course settings and weights for individual students using the Students tab. You will use the Students tab to make setting and weight adjustments specific to that student that you want applied to all courses they are enrolled in.

Click on the STUDENTS tab from the top menu options.
Search for the student you would like to adjust.
Under the Controls column hit Edit
Make adjustments in the popup window.
Hit Save to save changes.
Move on to the next student.

NOTE: These setting changes will trickle down into all courses assigned to this student.

A Note About Individual Student Settings:

Do NOT change any student login (name, password, ID, etc.) information.
Personalize Grading and Pacing
- Make sure box next to Personalize Grading and Pacing is checked in order to make changes.
- Threshold = minimum score a student must achieve to pass that assignment category area. Applies to lessons, quizzes, and tests ONLY. No passing threshold for projects.
- Attempts = number of opportunities the student has to reach the passing threshold on an assignment. Once the threshold is reached or all attempts are used the student will be moved on to the next assignment.
- Block Progress = requires teacher review and approval after first attempt if the threshold score was not met.
- FlexCRx = always leave checked. Only reassigns questions the student missed on additional attempts.
Personalize Weights = check the box to make adjustments to weight categories.
Student Resources
- Student Review Test Quiz = allows students to see the results of their graded assessments to see what they got right and wrong. DOES NOT give the correct answers.
- Student Answer Key (ASSIGNMENTS ONLY) = allows students to see the answers to assignment questions after they have used all attempts and whether they passed or not.
- Enable Grading View = marks student answers from their first attempt as correct, partially correct, or incorrect on their additional attempts. DOES NOT give the correct answers. Students only need to correct those answers marked partially correct or incorrect.
- Randomized Questions = question order is randomized on each attempt for lessons, quizzes, and tests.
- Allow Message Send = students can message their teachers directly in OW. CalPac Policy has turned off.
- Allow Student Notes = allows students and teachers to add notes along the left hand column of their OW assignments. Notes can be printed. NOTES must be opened prior to starting a Quiz or Test.
- Overdue Notification = alerts students of overdue assignments in orange on their assignment list.
- Block Term End Progress = prevents students from working in their courses after the semester ends.
- Writer: Provides student feedback on their writing.
  - Spelling and Grammar = provides spell check and grammar check on student written responses. Spelling errors are underlined in red and grammar errors in blue. Students can click on underlines for suggestions on how to fix.
  - Scoring = provides scoring feedback on writing prior to submitting so students can make adjustments as needed.

Customizing, Skipping & Blocking Course Assignments (CONTENT)

There's two ways you can customize assignments. The first is to go into each assignment and skip individual questions and the second is to skip entire assignments. Skipping individual questions must be done on an individual student level. This can not be done at the course level. You also have the option to block students.

Skipping Whole Assignments:

Go to the Gradebook and search for the student.
Expand your class and then each unit to find the assignment you are removing.
Next to the assignment you wish to skip change the Status box to Skipped.

Skipping Individual Questions:

Go to the Gradebook and search for the student.
Expand your class and then each unit to find the assignment you are changing.
Click on the title of the assignment.
Click through the sections and questions until you find the one you wish to remove.
Hit Skip next to the score box on that question. The question should grey out. (Make sure not to hit Skip in the top score box of the assignment. Doing so will skip the entire assignment.)

Blocking Assignments

You can block assignments as a way to slow students down and/or relocking quizzes and tests. This is important if a student accidentally moves ahead while their quiz or test was under teacher review. It is also helpful if you reassign a skipped project and don't want it to show as due immediately for the student.

Go to the Gradebook and search for the student.
Expand your class and then each unit to find the assignment you are blocking.
Next to the assignment you wish to block check the Blocked box.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Reassigning any assignment will change its due date. If you had previously removed a project or other assignment and then reassign it, the due date will change to be due the date you reassigned it.

Assigning & Reassigning Assignments (Retakes, Move Freely Mode, Finals, Etc.)

Use the Assign option next to an assignment to move it up on the student's assignment list and allow them to complete it before they finish prior assignments. This is also a way to put move freely on for students at the end of the semester and assign final exams.

Directions:

Go to the GRADEBOOK
Choose View By Course for making changes to all students or View By Student if only updating one.
Use the search criteria to select your course name and student.
Expand the course and units until you find the assignment you are looking to assign/reassign.
Once you find the assignment go to the Status column and change from either Not Started or Graded to Assigned.
Repeat as needed.

FINAL EXAM NOTE: You will need to assign the final exam to students that are not on pace in a course by changing the exam from Not Started to Assigned.

MOVE FREELY NOTE: At your discretion you can allow students to pick and choose which assignments to catch up on at the end of the semester. Just like the final exam, locate the assignment and change the status from Not Started to Assigned.

Additional Odysseyware Teacher Resources

We have covered a lot of information on Odysseyware in this training to get you started. Additional resources and information is available here. You will need this information later on in the year.

Pause and Review

Do I know how to:

Login to Odysseyware?
Check for student alerts?
Grade assignments?
Use the grade book?
Use the Dashboard and other report features?
Customize courses for students?
Reassign Assignments

Have Questions? Email/Call Erin Rineberg

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