School Resources and School Documentation

School Resources and School Documentation

Overview

School Resources and School Documentation are nearly identical modules in terms of access and capability, but they are stored in different places and have different names to allow the school to use each module for different purposes. The modules allow staff members at the school to upload or create documents or links to websites on Compass, which can be accessed by staff, students, and parents. 
 
Both modules accommodate the uploading of files, including PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, mp3 files, Excel documents, and much more, as well as linking to other websites or creating a document directly through Compass.

School Resources is located under the Teaching and Learning menu (pencil icon) and is generally used for storing Curriculum and internal documentation including Learning Tasks.  

School Documentation is located under the Community menu (people icon) and is generally used to store school documents or information for parent and student access such as School Policy documents, archived newsletters etc.

The primary functionality difference between the two modules is that documents and tasks uploaded to the School Resources module can be pushed down into Subject/Class Resources, whereas items in School Documentation cannot.


Permissions

There are two Administrative permissions for managing School Resources and School Documentation.

SchoolResourcesAdmin - Admin access for the School Resources and School Documentation module - can edit, create, delete and manage permissions for any nodes.

SchoolResourcesPower - Allows user to administer School Resources and School Documentation within nodes that the SchoolResourcesAdmin group has chosen.

Content Permissions

Each folder and item within School Resources or School Documentation has it's own permission matrix.   Staff with the SchoolResourcesAdmin permission can set which user types can view, edit or manage the item/folder.  To set the permissions, right click the folder or item and select 'Permissions'.
   

   

View - When ticked, the user type can see the content.

Edit - When ticked, the user type can edit the content item or add items to that folder. 
(Note: parents/student cannot be given Edit access to any item/folder)

Manage - When ticked, the user type can adjust the permissions for that item/folder. 
(Note: Parents/Students cannot be given Manage permission for any item/folder.  General staff cannot be given Manage permission for any item/folder)

Staff with the SchoolResourcesAdmin permission for a folder or item can give staff with the SchoolResourcesPower permission to manage the access permissions by ticking the Manage column associated with Resources Power. 

Inherit Permission Settings - Checking 'Inherit Permission Settings' will apply the permissions of any parent folder to this particular folder or content item as well.

  
Apply to all child resources - Checking 'Apply to all child resources' will apply the permissions of this folder to all resources contained within.

When content in School Resources is set for Staff to 'View' only, staff (staff without the SchoolResourcesAdmin or SchoolResourcesPower permissions) will be able to access the item and push it to their class or subject.  For staff to be able to add content (create Learning Tasks, link documents etc) in School Resources, the folder they are attempting to add content to needs to have both the 'View' and 'Edit' setting ticked for 'Staff'.


Accessing School Resources and School Documentation

School Resources

School Resources can be accessed under the Teaching and Learning Menu (pencil icon) in the toolbar, by clicking 'School Resources' from the drop-down menu.

     


School Documentation

School Documentation can be accessed under the Community Menu (people icon) in the toolbar, by clicking 'School Documentation' from the drop-down menu. Note: Active and future parents can access School Documentation.
 
     


Viewing School Resources / School Documentation

When Compass Administrators access either the School Resources or the School Documentation page they will be able to see all the files that exist on the system.  Parents, students and general staff members will only see folders/items that have been made visible to them.

The table on the page is split into two columns - the far left column displays all School Resources, nested under the primary root folder. To expand a folder and view all that is contained within it, click on the small plus '+' icon to the left of it (if there is no plus '+' icon, this means that there is nothing contained in the folder).
 

When you click on an item in the left-hand column, this will then display in the column on the right-hand side. If this is a folder, you will see the contents of this folder on the right-hand side; if it is a Learning Task or a page created within Compass, all information contained within will display on the right-hand side; if it is a web-link or a word or pdf document you will see a link to open this using the appropriate program.





Please Note - Staff with the SchoolResourcesAdmin permission will have access to the 'Audit Log' option for resources.  Right clicking a folder or item in School Resources or School Documentation opens a menu that includes the 'Audit Log'.
     

When selected, the Audit data for that item will display.
     


Adding School Resources

There are several ways to add content in School Resources.
 
1. Right click on the folder that you want the item nested under, then select 'Add Content,' then select the type of content you wish to add.

2. Click the folder you want your new content nested under, then click Tools > 'Add Content' and select the type of content you wish to add.

3. Click the folder to highlight it, then click the 'Add Content' button in the top right-hand corner and select the type of content you wish to add.

     

In order to add content to School Documentation you will go through the same process.

Please note you cannot add Learning Tasks, Rubrics or Learning Tasks From Template within School Documentation, these two items can only be added in School Resources.
 
Content types that can be added to School Resources are: Folders, Pages, Files, Links, Rubrics and Learning Tasks. More information on each of these follows below.

Adding Folders

If the content you have chosen to add is a folder, you must first enter the name of the folder and click 'Save'. Once the folder has been saved it will appear within the parent folder to which you have chosen to add it. You will be able to add content to this folder by following the instructions above, and if you choose you can rename the folder later using the 'Edit' button in the top right-hand corner.




Adding Pages

Creating a Page on Compass allows you to create content very much like a Word Document but it is done directly in Compass.

Clicking 'Add Content' > Page, will bring up a new 'Add Page' pop-up. Here you give your page a title, and then add content in the large, lower text box. See the example below for features that can be added when creating a page. There are a number of built in editing tools which easily allow editing and formatting text to your liking. Simply hover your mouse over any of the buttons to see details of its exact function.



Once the Page has been saved it will appear within the parent folder.



Adding Files

When adding a file to Compass you must choose a name for the file, which will appear on Compass. You will then use the 'Browse' button to select the location of the file on your computer. Clicking 'Save' will begin the upload process. When a file is added to Compass the file path of where the document was stored on your computer is never displayed, but the actual file name of the document as it was saved on your machine will be displayed when a user downloads it.


 
 
You can upload a variety of files to Compass.  The file size cannot exceed 200MB. 

Different file types will display a different icon; to indicate what sort of file it is. The image below shows some of the various icons that are used to denote popular file types.


When you add a link, enter its name as you wish it to appear in Compass. This is the name which will appear in the tree on the left-side of the table, however the hyperlink will still be displayed on the right-hand side as well.


 
Users will be able to access the link by clicking the 'Open Link' button available on the page.




Adding Learning Tasks

Learning Tasks can be created in School Resources. These are not aimed at one particular class,  but are available for teachers to push down to their Subject/Class Resources and use for their own classes.
   
 
Setting up a Learning Task in this way is almost identical to setting one up for a class.  The Learning Task will not be associated with a subject/class, it will remain in School Resources ongoing.  When needed for a subject/class, it can be pushed to the specific subject/class from School Resources.

   
 
For more information on Learning Tasks please refer to the Knowledge Base Article titled "Learning Tasks".

Rubrics

You can add a Rubric to a folder, for details on this please refer to the 'Rubrics' article from our Knowledge Base.

If you would like the Rubric function enabled for your school please contact our Support Team via support@compass.edu.au.

If your school uses Google Drive or Office 365 you can choose this option to add content from your files. 

Note: If you would like Google Drive or Office 365 integration enabled for your school please contact our Support Team.


Learning Task from Template

Selecting 'Learning Task from Template' allows you to create a Learning Task from one of the templates available at your school.  


   

The template will have key aspects of the Learning Task already in place and is an efficient way to create Learning Tasks that have  a regularly used structure. 

Selecting this option will open a window to display all the available templates (created by your school) that you can choose to use for your Learning Task. Once you have selected the one you require, click on the 'Create Learning Task' button.


 
The Learning Tasks edit window will then display.  This window will be prepopulated with information. You can then amend the details of the Learning Task as required for the assessment. When complete, click 'Save.'
    
Learning TaskTemplates are set up within Tools menu (cog icon) > Administration Tools > Learning Task Templates and can be created with default grading components and layout, which can be altered as necessary. Staff will require the LearningTasksAdmin permission to create/edit Learning Task Templates for use at your school.

For further information, please refer to Knowledge Base article "Learning Task Administration" 


Pushing Content to Subject or Class Pages

Items located in School Resources can be pushed to the resources for any subject/class.  To do this, highlight the resource you wish to push, click the 'Tools' button, then click 'Push to Subjects/Classes' (or right-click the resource > 'Push to Subjects/Classes'). 

   

This will display the 'Push Content to Subjects/Classes' window where you can choose the subjects or classes you want to push the resource to. You're able to push content to either a class page or a subject page. Pushing content to a class page allows teachers to independently control the resource in their class. You can also select multiple classes to push a resource to whilst still allowing staff to manage the resource independently to the class.

   

Pushing a resource to subjects will mean that the resource must be managed from a subject level. Whilst the resource will appear on a class page as well as a subject page, any modifications to subject-wide tasks will affect the resource in all classes within the chosen subject. When pushing to subjects, you can only select a whole subject, you can't choose some classes within a subject.

Please note: any modifications to a subject-wide Learning Task will affect ALL classes within that subject. Therefore, deleting a subject-wide task from a class will delete the task from all of the classes in that subject.

   


To push a resource, you will need to tick the box next to class/classes or subject/s you wish to push to and then click 'Push Content.' This will send the resource to the class/subject of your choosing, where you will be able to view it under the Resources tab and Learning Task tab (if pushing a Learning Task).

The original resource item will remain in School Resources and a 'copy' will go to the selected subject/class.  Any edits made to the resource at the subject/class level will not affect the original resource item in School Resources.  Likewise, any edits made to the original resource item will not affect any classes/subjects that have that item already pushed to them.  

This feature facilitates collaboration between staff members, as multiple staff members can work on a document which is saved in School Resources and then can each push it down to their own classes from Resources. It is also useful in streamlining tasks to ensure that all classes within a subject are covering/meeting equivalent criteria and for Learning Tasks, it is a great way to keep the school's grading and marking criteria consistent.

Note: When pushing Learning Tasks to subjects or classes, you will have the option to have all students who are currently enrolled in the selected classes/subjects enrolled into the Learning Task being pushed out. 

     

You will still have the option to adjust the enrolled students within the task from the subject/class page.
     

 

Importing Content to Class Resources

It is also possible to pull content from School Resources to the Resources tab on a Subject/Class page. Click on the 'Tools' button and select 'Pull from School Resources'.



Select the folder or document you wish to import and 'Pull Selected Content.'



Exporting Content to School Resources

For staff with either the SchoolResourcesAdmin or SchoolResourcesPower permission, it is also possible to push content from the Resources tab on a Subject/Class page up to School Resources for future use.  

To do this, go to the Resources tab on the Subject or Class page where the item is located.  RIght click the item and choose 'Push to School Resources'.

   
 
Select the folder you wish to push to and then select 'Push Content'.

   



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