Welcome to the ATutor General User documentation. The information found here is applicable to both instructor and student accounts.
Following Registration, a user may login to the system using the Login Name and Password entered during the registration process. Logging in will allow users access to Protected courses, enroll in any course, and participate in all course areas.
In order for a user to login to the ATutor system, a unique system account needs to be created. Use the Register link in the main navigation to access the registration form. Enter all the required feels, and optional data if desired, and use the Submit button. The login and password entered during registration can now be entered into the Login screen.
Note that if a system administrator has specified users to be checked against a list of allowed Student IDs and PINs (for example), these must also be entered during registration.
Addtionaly, confirmation of the account's email address may be required before logging in.
The Browse Courses page lists all available courses presently on the ATutor system. The first column of the Browse Courses screen provides a list of course categories, the second displays a list of courses within the selected category, and the third column shows details about the selected course (or 'All' courses) and a link to enter into the course.
If a course is Public, it may be accessed without logging in first. Protected and Private courses require that you be logged in and therefore using the Enter Course link will redirect to the Login page. Protected courses are accessible to all logged in users (with some features not available, such as tests and forums), and Private courses are only available to enrolled users.
If you have forgotten your password, enter your email address into the Password Reminder screen. The login and password information for that address will be mailed immediately.
This section is where one can manage their ATutor account and is the main page one is presented with directly after logging in. It allows users to browse existing or create new courses, edit their profile, and preferences.
All enrolled and pending enrollment courses are listed here.
To enroll into a public or protected course, use the Course Browser to find then enter the course and use the Enroll Me link located beside the course title. If the course is private the user will be directed to the request enrollment page. The user will be allowed to enter the private course only after the instructor approves the request.
Only Instructors may create courses. Students are given the option of requesting instructor accounts. View the Instructor Documentation on creating courses.
This section allows a user to change their password, email address, and other profile details.
ATutor can be personlised to each user by changing the account's preferences.
The Inbox is used for privately messaging other ATutor users. Use the Inbox Notification preference to receive emails when a new Inbox message is received.
There are a variety of student tools available when inside a course. A few of them are explained here as they may be a little tricky for new users. Other tools are fairly straight forward and should be intuitive to use.
The Export Content feature creates a "Content Package" that can be downloaded and viewed offline in the viewer included with each package. If an instructor has turned this feature on, it can be accessed from the home page and/or the main navigation. Choose which section you wish to download as a content package and use the Export button. Export Content is also linked from top level content pages or all content pages (depending on what the instructor has set) in the Shortcuts box. Using this link will package the page you are on and all of its sub pages into a single "zip" file, and prompt you to download the file.
The downloaded file can be unpacked with a common archiving application (e.g. WinZip, PKZip, Unzip). Unzip the file into an empty directory then open "index.html" to open the viewer. A list of topics appears in the left frame of the viewer, and the content itself appears on the right. Choose a topic from the list to display its corresponding content.
If instructors have included SCORM compliant Sharable Content Objects (SCOs), they will be avilable for viewing from the Packages section. Note that the RTE requires the Java JRE 1.5 to function properly, as well as LiveConnect, which is enabled by default in the JRE 1.5.
External content packages can be downloaded from the TILE repository by entering a search term and using the Search button. Use the Preview link next to a search result to open the TILE content browser, or use Download to retrieve the content package from the TILE repository. Once downloaded, the file can be unpacked with a common archiving application (e.g. WinZip, PKZip, Unzip). Unzip the file into an empty directory and browse the package's content.
Visit the TILE web site for more information about using the repository.