Q: Why does the software log students out sometimes?
A: The software is set to logout any user who has been idle for more than 20 minutes. This is intended to prevent other students for accidentally or otherwise using the wrong account.
Q: Sometimes the sounds fail to play or take a long time to play
A: Web based applications suffer the same network dependant limitations as web pages. Sometimes web pages, or parts of web pages just fail to load. Usually we just hit the refresh button and carry on without thinking about it any further. There are two choices to handle this problem. One is to load all of your files before the program starts, like with Flash games, or to load pieces as you need them, like web pages. The first case takes longer but once you have everything you're good to go. The second case is much faster most of the time but sometimes you have to start over (reload the page). We took an approach somewhere in the middle because our programs are much bigger than Flash games but we didn't want them to take a long time to download. Our solution is to load a students data, the questions and images upfront and to load the sounds, which are generally the biggest files, as needed.
Q: What does the Webservice failed message mean?
A: This could mean a variety of things but the most common is that there was a problem retrieving a file from our servers. This can happen when your local network is being heavily used, when there is internet congestion, and when our servers are experienceing heavy load.
Q: After selecting the program and clicking on show application why does it take long to get to the various activities?
A: In general the initial login pages will load quickly because they are just single html pages with a few images. Once a program is selected then the actual application starts and begins loading the student data and content for the program. This is similar to waiting for a flash application to load, with a significant difference in that our application is loading a lot more data.
Q: Why do we need passwords for the students?
A: Passwords are necessary in order to validate who has paid to use our software. If the software was not password protected then anyone, anywhere, could use our software for free.
Q: I'm having problems running the software with Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer 6.
A: At present the only supported browsers are Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox 6 and Safari 4 - 5 (Safari 5.1 is not supported). Please upgrade your browser if possible. If upgrading is not an option and you encounter an issue that makes the software unusable then please let us know, otherwise it is not necessary to report browser issues.
Q: I wish I could start a student at a particular list within a module. This is helpful for a new student to the school or for when you know the student is at a higher level.
A: Our content is organized internally by module so it would be difficult to provide a finer grain of organization for assignments. For the case of placing students at the correct place in a program this is what the PreTests have been designed for. An assignment is created for a student that starts them at the appropriate place (module) in a program based on the PreTest result.
Q: I would like a way to clear the stars from individual lists.
A: The menu stars are connected to the students marks and as such there is currently no way to clear the stars without clearing the students marks.
Q: It would be nice to have a drop down menu for the students in the class to select their name.
A: We feel this would make it too easy for students to get access to other students accounts, particularily when the are away from school without supervision.
Q: Why do the activities allow two chances for answering a question instead of just one?
A: The second chance is intended to help the student use their first answer to iterate on the problem. For example, a studnet might think to approach sounding out a word to type in a number of ways. When it comes to recording marks though, the first answer is used for determining the activity mark.
Q: How can I access the other classes in the Marks Manager?
A: There is a global class/teacher login and password, supplied at the time you purchase the product, that allows you to manage any class or student.