There are two ways to create a presentation, you can make a quick, private presentation on the Dashboard or you can create on in the presentation section. Both are guided processes that make it easy to create a presentation.

By going into the presentation section, you are able to classroom presentation with a rubric attached, a due date and can limit the sharing ability of students within the class.

You can also add tags to presentations to allow more efficient searching and can begin to set up the file share for the class. The file share is where you can upload documents, pictures, videos, audio and more to a central space where everyone in the class can use those files.

Also within the presentation section, is the ability to view all presentations, both published and in progress. You can also edit your biography by double clicking on the cell.

Creating a rubric

If you are using EdCube Connect as an assessment tool, you will need a way to grade the work a student has submitted.  The rubric within EdCube Connect allows a teacher to quickly create a rubric that will guide the students in their development of the presentation.

The EdCube Connect Rubric Editor allows teachers to create an unlimited bank of rubrics that are stored on the teacher’s profile. When a class has been assigned a new presentation, the teacher can simply assign a pre-existing rubric or create a new one in a matter of minutes.

To create a new Rubric, simply go to the Rubric section in EdCube Connect, type in the title of your rubric and click ‘create & edit’. From there you will be taken to the editing page. Here you can add a description to your rubric, change the status of the rubric from draft to published and can begin entering in the text that will make up the criteria.

You can edit a column or row by double clicking on the cell. Each column is assigned a grade and you can add what marks are assigned to which grade. Each grade can be given a colour for when the rubric is being used to mark a presentation. Within the Rubric Editor, the changes you make automatically save so there is no need to click a save button. After the content has been added it can look like this:

Once assigned to a presentation, the student or teacher can always view the published rubric in the presentation’s workroom. The results from a marked presentation are also available in the workroom.

1.     Class import

To import a list of classes into EdCube, simply import your CSV data using the following headers and column order. Please note it is important to import your class data using the exact format below including the column header.

A sample CSV document is available from within the import data menu accessible from the EdCube Settings page or by emailing support@edcube.com.

2.     User import and class allocation

To import student or teacher users into EdCube, upload the user CSV file with the headers below. Please also note it is important to import user’s data using the exact format and column order below, including the column header.

User columns include:

1. User type (student or teacher)
2. Username (if using LDAP to login, please ensure username is the Active Directory user login)
3. User password(default login password if LDAP is not enabled)
4. User ID or Student Number
5. Title/Salutation
6. First Name
7. Last Name
8. Email
9. State
10. Country
11. Year Level
12. Class or Student ID

For student, Class ID will automatically allocate this student to this CLASS ID

For teacher, specify the class ID for this teacher

User import (users account only)

Use this process if you wish to import users without automatically allocating them to any classroom.

For example, you may wish to import a few trial teacher users before your entire school user list.

To achieve this, you can import users from Manage Users menu, click on the button, select Teacher user type and upload the CSV file from the sample below. Please note you must use the exact format below to successfully import your user accounts.

1. Student Number or User ID
2. First name
3. Last name
4. Gender – M for male, F for Female
5. Date of Birth – DD/MM/YYYY
6. Year level – for example, Year 1
7. Email
8. Username – Active Directory user if using LDAP
9. Password

Creating a new class manually

To create a single class manually, click on Manage Classes from the main menu, and enter the class details as given in the following example:

As a classroom must have an allocated teacher, please ensure you have imported at least one teacher account into EdCube.

Active Directory login with LDAP

Once users are imported, they can login using their Active Directory credentials once configured. Simply go to Edcube Settings, and click on Active Directory sub-menu on the left side.

1. Enable LDAP
2. Enter your school’s Active Directory host
3. NETBIOS Name. This is automatically appended on the login screen. For example, if users login using “mydomain\user1”, then enter “mydomain” in this field.
4. Username. User’s login user
5. Student and Teacher Base DN.

Data Purge

Edcube also allow you to purge all user’s data. This is used to clean us your Edcube database at the beginning of each school term. Here you will be able to purge data from the following items:

1. Classroom
2. Student users
3. Teacher users
4. E-portfolio
5. Messages

From the Edcube settings page, click on the Purge Data sub-menu on the left side, select the items to purge by clicking on the checkboxes, and click on the  button.

Once your school purchases EdCube Connect, or the school signs up for a free trial, you will receive an email with login details, as well as, an activation key if you are starting a trial. You head to the website, either demo.edcube.com (you can also register for a trial here) or the customised URL that is given to your school after purchase. Once you get to the page, it is as simple as typing your username and password and into the world of EdCube Connect we go.

As soon as you log in, you will be taken to your Dashboard.  This is where all your presentations, network, messages and classrooms are centralised. You can view all of your presentations, the presentations you have tagged and can even create a quick presentation all from the Dashboard. You can see a quick description of the presentations and you just click on the link and you are can view, edit or comment on the presentation.

The most up to date messages are also displayed on the Dashboard, ensuring that any messages or alerts students or other teachers have sent you don’t get lost or overlooked.  As well as, access to all the users within your network, teachers and students alike. The familiar look and feel of a social media profile ensures that teachers and students will be comfortable navigating EdCube Connect and all its features.

The latest workroom activity gives you an insight into what is happening in all the presentation workrooms you are a part of. New comments are shown here as are new discussion points and the responses. We will look further into the function of the workroom in a couple of weeks.

Another important section for getting started is the Account page. By clicking on the Account word on the top right side of the screen, you will be able to change a selection of options. From here, you can edit your biography, update your password and upload a profile image to allow you profile to have a bit of personality.

This is the end of this week’s how-to but next post will show you the essential skills to create a presentation and create a rubric for the presentations to be assessed by.

Create Easy to use wizards have been enabled to allow teachers to create new e-Portfolios and rubrics quickly and effectively.  Once a class has been added to the e-Portfolio, students can start using their Mind Map to explore the topic and add pages to further their exploration. Images, videos and audio can also be easily uploaded to further enrich the student’s learning journey and their e-Portfolio.

Collaborate A key feature of EdCube Connect is the ability for teacher, parent and peer review. Teachers can allow students to comment on other students e-Portfolios.  This starts a conversation between peers that will allow them to take on feedback and create a more complete presentation.  To ensure no cyber bullying is occurring, there are safe guards in place for students to report inappropriate comments. Teachers are notified immediately and can take the appropriate action.

Reflect Once peers and teachers have commented on a student’s work, students can take on board the comments and think more deeply and completely about a topic.  This will result in students having a greater understanding of the concept the teacher first presented them with.  Once complete, the e-Portfolio can be published as an e-Book, website or stay as an open ended portfolio for students to share with their teachers, friends and parents.

Watch this space for weekly How-To guides to maximise your experience with EdCube Connect.

For a free demonstration webinar visit http://www.edcube.com/events or call 1300 791 997

In addition to using EdCube to manage your student ePortfolios, the software can also be used by teachers to create curriculum e-Books.

EdCube Connect allows teachers to build curriculum e-Books by creating a range of topics that relate to the curriculum theme.

Teachers can create a range of content pages on each of these topics.

Publishing Curriculum e-Books

The topics and sub-topic pages create the dynamic menus for the curriculum e-Book. Learn about how mind mapping tools help this process.

Multimedia content is then added to the sub-topic content pages to create rich curriculum resources that support learning in the classroom.

Completed curriculum e-Books can be published on the EdCube network and delivered as a resource for students to access.

Teachers use the software to compile and publish interactive curriculum resources to school networks.

The software also enables teachers to automatically publish websites and CD-ROM versions of the interactive resources.

Teacher e-Portfolio Ideas and Opportunities

The EdCube e-Portfolio software provides teachers with invaluable publishing tools to create a range of resources including using EdCube Connect to:

• Create personal e-portfolios that may include a log of their training and professional development achievements and certificates.
• Create curriculum resource e-portfolios.
• Upload images, text, video, audio and documents into the software and save the work as a digital resource.
• Publish folios that can be saved on a school network or uploaded into an online learning platform.
• Compile curriculum resources and export the finished work as a website or CD-ROM for sharing and distribution.

To learn more about how EdCube Connect can manage the development of Group e-Portfolios in your school, please register for a free online trial.

Contact EdCube on Free Call 1300 655 066 for more information.