March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. Here at School Island, we are starting spring with a roar. Thanks to your incredible suggestions, School Island IS the best study and review experience around! In this issue, learn about all our new features/updates. Also in this newsletter, get the latest conference new as well as answers to some of your most frequently answered questions.

Different Style of Tabs

A cosmetic change has been made to the tabs found on various School Island pages; the labels themselves on those tabs have not changed.

Home Page - E-mail Address at the Top of the Home Page

The e-mail address now displays on the Teacher's Home page as well as on the Student's Home page; both appear at the top of the page just below the Greeting. As in the past, students and teachers can set or change their e-mail address on the Profile page. School Island uses this e-mail address when e-mailing the School Island ID and password in the event a student or teacher forgets them while at home.

Cumulative Report: Report Option

Cumulative Reports now have a Report Options section at the top of the page. Options include:

• Time Period, which allows students and teachers to specify the number of weeks back for inclusion of sessions in the report. "All" may be selected to include all sessions since the start of the school year.
• Scoring Threshold, allows students and teachers to specify a score for determining whether a score displays with a blue bar or a red bar. Values of 50 - 85 are available in increments of five. The default value is 65. If a score is greater than or equal to the defined scoring threshold, then a blue bar displays for that item; otherwise, a red bar displays.

After changing an option, be sure to click Refresh Report to redisplay the report with the new options.

Text Style Selection

A newText Style Option is located near the bottom of the Short Answer, Constructed Response, and DBQ Question pages. This option allows students to select and use alternate fonts and text sizes for question-related information on these pages. Students may choose from two fonts with three sizes for each. School Island remembers the last selected value for this option and uses it the next time one of these pages displays.

DBQ Review Activity

DBQ Review activities are now availabe for two courses - US History & Government and Global History & Geography. Each DBQ consists of:

• Directions - when selected, this link displays directions for the DBQ in a separate pop-up window.
• A number of documents - each document contains one or more constructed response questions.
• Essay - which is a written assignment to be worked on using paper or a computer rather than within School Island. For more information, check with your teacher.

DBQs may only be accessed when assigned by a teacher. Teachers can provide a score for each question answered. Optionally, they may also write a comment to the student.

New Feature: Self-Assigned Assignment with Modes

The Assign to Self pages for Short Answer, Constructed Response, Flash Card, and DBQ assignments now allow teachers to set an assignment mode (Open, Lock, Review A Quiz, or Open From/To) for added flexibility. Self-Assigning assignments are useful for a couple of reasons:

• It allows teachers to see how the assignment looks from a student's point of view.
• It allows teachers and students to view or answer questions together in the classroom using a large monitor.

Note: When assigning or reassigning an assignment to yourself, the Assignment Mode is set to Open by default. This mode can then be changed to one of the other available modes.

Remember ... to view a self-assigned assignment, select the Student Home page option from the Teacher Home page, then find the assignment.

Assignments: Modified User Interface for Assigning an Assignment

The user interface for the Assign To Students and Quick Assign pages have been modified. Assign options now display in a box along with an Assign button for assigning assignments to students or an entire class who have been checked (selected).

Assignments: Publishing an Assignment as a Public Question Set

Teachers can now publish a Short Answer assignment as a Public Question Set, allowing these assignments to be accessible to all teachers in the school or district. To publish an assignment:

1. Select and check the assignment you wish to publish.
   Note: Only one can be checked.
2. Click the Publish link A separate pop-up window displays, allowing a teacher to change the name of the new Public Question Set.
3. Modify the name of the assignment that is to be published, if desired.
4. Click Publish.
   Note: If another teacher has published a Public Question Set with the same name, then you will have to choose a different name.

Duplicating Assignments

To make a reassignment easier, a Duplicate link is now available, which allows teachers to create a duplicate copy of checked assignments. These assignments are identical to the original, but with have "Retake: " pre-pended to its name unless it already is part of the assignment name.

Note: Duplicate assignments are not automatically assigned to any students.

Deleting Assignments

The delete assignment function has been streamlined. Previously, this function required a teacher to check a check box then click the Delete link below the table of assignments. Now, the teacher only needs to click the Delete icon associated with the appropriate assignment.

Note: Assignments that are currently assigned to one or more students cannot be deleted.

Assignment: Folder Column

When displaying a table of assignments with the folder set to "any folder", a Folder column now displays indicating the name of the folder where the assignment resides.

Personal Content Sets - Basic Editor No Longer Available

When developing Personal Content Sets, only an editor with advanced features is available. Previously, teachers had the option of two editors: a Basic Editor and an Advanced Editor.

Assignment: Browse Pages Use the Term "Done" Instead of "Exit"

The Exit link found on the Browse Question pages for Short Answer and Constructed Response has been renamed Done.

Share Assignment Allow Multiple IDs to be Specified

The Share Assignment feature now allows teachers to enter multiple School Island IDs into the ID field, with the ID field allowing entry of up to 100 characters. This allows teachers to share an assignment with multiple teachers at the same time. When specifying multiple teacher IDs, be sure to separate each ID with a comma or a space. Checked assignments are shared with each specified teacher(s).

Class - Session Details Page Shows Assigning Teacher's Name

When a session is assigned by a teacher, the Sessions Details page (located off the Classes page) now includes a column indicating the name of the assigning teacher.

Edit Assignment - Question Properties Show Hint and Reason

When selecting the Question Properties option on the Edit Assignment page, the question's hint and reason display in a separate Properties pop-up window.

Assignment Cumulative Report: Report Option

Cumulative Reports - available from the Assignment pages - now have a Report Options section at the top of the page. Currently, this section includes the following option:

• Scoring Threshold - which allows students to specify a score for determining whether a score displays with a blue bar or a red bar. Values of 50 - 85 are available in increments of five. The default value is 65. If a score is greater than or equal to the defined scoring threshold, then a blue bar displays for that item; otherwise, a red bar displays.

After changing an option, be sure to click Refresh Report to redisplay the report with the new options.

Suffolk ASSET - 9th Tech Conference - Huntington Hilton - March 19, 2007 - 7:45 AM - 2:35 PM

The School Island team will be able to answer your questions at the 9th annual Suffolk ASSET Technology Conference. The folks from William Floyd Public Schools, led by a 45-minute workshop with Tricia Interrante, Educational Technology Specialist, can share with you their first-hand experience using School Island.

ESL Meetings – Long Island - March 12-14, 2007

Prof. Bill, our educator in residence and president of the company, will be meeting with ESL teachers and administrators from Valley Stream, Freeport, Long Beach and William Floyd to explore ways in which School Island can address the critical needs of your ESL population. There are many tools that the ESL educator already can use on the website, but there is always room to improve. Bill started working with ESL educators in December. His series of scheduled March meetings will continue his dialogue with experienced educators who know the needs of their student’s best. If you have some thoughts about ESL, please participate in this information, planning stage by writing him at billi@schoolisland.com.

How do I add my own questions to a School Island assignment?

School Island provides teachers with the ability to create original questions using Personal Content Sets then import them into assignments. Think of a Personal Content Set as your own "cache" of questions from which you can draw upon to complement or supplement material from the School Island database when creating an assignment. You can even upload and insert graphics to illustrate your questions, hints and reasons!

First, here is how to create questions in a Personal Content Set:

1. Click Personal Content Sets from the Teacher Home page .
2. Under the "Create a new Content set" heading, enter the name of the new set.
3. Select "Short Answer Questions" from the Content Type drop-down list.
4. Click Create New Content Set. The Questions page displays.
5. Click Add a Question link under Question Set Options. The Edit Question page displays in a separate window.
6. Fill in the Question, Answer, Hint, and Reason.
7. Click Save when done.
8. Add additional questions as desired.
9. Click Home when done.

Now, here is how to select these questions and add them to an assignment:

1. From the Teacher Home page, click the Assignments link.
2. Create a new assignment as you would for the desired course. Consult Online Help if needed. The Question page displays.
3. Click the Import Questions link under the Assignment Options. The Import page displays.
4. Click to select the Personal Content Sets tab.
5. Locate the set created above.
6. Click its Import link.
7. Review and select the desired questions.
8. Click Import Checked Questions.
9. Add or import additional questions as desired to complete the assignment.
10. Consult Online Help in the Personal Content Editor for assistance with features such as formatting, text styles, and inserting special symbols or graphics.
11. Remember to use the numbered list feature to create the numbered list of answer choices in the Question area.

    Note: Please respect the personal and intellectual property rights of others. Honor all copyright restrictions when adding personal content.

If you have any comments, ideas for future articles, or suggestions for a School Island product feature or enhancement, please send it to support@schoolisland.com. We would love to hear from you!