PLATO FOR DUMMIES
TO LOGIN ON THE COMPUTER:
USER PASSWORD student (or johnrmott) student (or johnrmott)
TO START PLATO:
1) Click on the Start button in lower left corner 2) Choose PLATO icon off the list
TO LOGIN INTO PLATO:
1) Type in the PLATO name. Make sure that the spaces are correct and that the upper and lower case letters are correct. 2) Click Continue. 3) Type in the password. It is case sensitive. 4) Click Continue.
As an ADMINISTATOR (logged in using your username), the main icon you need to use is the USER MANAGEMENT. The others will not be used as much. Click on the USER MANAGEMENT icon to do the following things: TO CREATE A STUDENT USER:
Click on Create Make sure that the “Role” is Learner. This is the default so it should automatically be in the box. Type in First Name. Tab to next box. You can ignore the middle name. Type in Last Name. Tab to next box. The PLATO name will automatically appear and it will be the First and Last Name of the user separated by a space. You CAN change this if you like. 6) Click on Set Password. You can make this what ever you would like. Type it in twice to confirm. If you leave it blank, the student will be able to create his or her own password. 7) Click Next. 8) When it asks about demographics, click on the No and click Next. 9) When it asks about classes, click on the No and click Next. 10) When it asks about individual assignments, you have a choice. a. If you have a group of students who are doing the same assignment, click No and create a class later. b. If you are setting up an account for an individual, click Yes. It will automatically take you to the next screen. At this point you can set up an initial assignment. This can be changed later if necessary. Highlight the Curricula in the left hand box and click the single arrow to move it into the right hand box. Do this for as many assignments as necessary. 11) Click Finish when you are done. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
TO CHANGE (OR RESET) A STUDENT PASSWORD:
1) Highlight the student. 2) Click on Properties. 3) The tab marked General will automatically be pulled up. a. To change the password, click Change in the password section. Type in the new password twice to confirm. b. To reset the password to allow the student to pick his or her own, click Reset. 4) Click either Apply or OK.
TO CHANGE AN INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT:
1) 2) 3) 4) Highlight the student. Click on Properties. Click on the Enrollment tab at the top. To add assignments: Highlight the Curricula in the left hand box and click the single arrow pointed right to move it into the right hand box. Do this for as many assignments as necessary. 5) To take away assignments: Highlight the Curricula in the right hand box and click the single arrow pointed to the left to move it into the left hand box. Do this for as many assignments as necessary.
6) To put the assignments in the order you want the kids to see them in, highlight the assignment in the right hand box and use the Move arrows to move things up and down. The order of the assignments in the right hand box is the order that the students will see. 7) Click either Apply or OK.
TO UNLOCK TESTS:
1) Highlight the student. 2) Click on Performance. 3) Double click on the activities in the left hand box until you reach the activity you want. Mastery tests are the most specific assignments, so this may take several clicks until you get there. 4) Highlight the activity you want. 5) Click on the Change button on the right. 6) On the next screen, change the choices to: Mastered Locked Exempt 7) Click OK. NO NO NO
As an ADMINISTATOR (logged in using your username), you can create, edit, and delete classes, which are assignments for groups of students. Click on the CLASS MANAGEMENT icon to do the following things: TO CREATE A CLASS:
1) You must have student users to choose from. Make sure that you have gone through this process first. 2) Click on Create. 3) You will get a message that says: “a new class for your name”. Click OK. 4) Type in the name of the class. You can call it anything you like. Click Next. 5) The message will say: “Do you want to assign users…?”. Mark Yes. The next screen will appear. 6) To add users: Highlight the student in the left hand box and click the single arrow pointed right to move him or her into the right hand box. Do this for as many users as necessary. 7) To take away users: Highlight the student in the right hand box and click the single arrow pointed to the left to move it into the left hand box. Do this for as many users as necessary. 8) Click Next. 9) The next message will say: “Do you want to create an assignment…?”. Click Yes. The next screen will appear. 10) To add assignments: Highlight the Curricula in the left hand box and click the single arrow pointed right to move it into the right hand box. Do this for as many assignments as necessary. 11) To take away assignments: Highlight the Curricula in the right hand box and click the single arrow pointed to the left to move it into the left hand box. Do this for as many assignments as necessary. 12) Click Finish when you are done. You will be taken back to the screen that has your name and a list of classes that you have created. Click close to return to the main menu.
GENERAL TIPS AND HINTS:
1) Always have the students work on assignments from the “top down.” It is easier to manage what the students are doing compared to if they skip around. 2) Use the curricula that says “…with Assessments” when possible. This will give the students the opportunity to test out of things they already know how to do. 3) Many of the tutorials have audio where the computer “says” what is on the screen. If the kids want audio, have them bring in headphones. If you do not want audio, have them shut it off so that things download faster. To turn off the audio in a tutorial: a. After the tutorial has been selected as is downloaded, Click on Preferences (at top of screen) b. Select Audio Off c. Click Close. 4) Students can unlock Mastery Test by going back into the tutorial. If they have completed the tutorial already, they can quickly unlock the Mastery Test by going into the tutorial, doing a couple of questions, and then exiting out. This is a way to cheat, but it is a fast way to unlock stuff. Use your own discretion! 5) Double check spaces and capital/lower case letters when logging in to PLATO if you get a login error message. 6) If a student exits out of a mastery test before finishing it, they will be locked out of the test. Be sure to time the mastery tests so that you do not run out of time. 7) 8) 9) 10)
TO CREATE AN ADMINISTRATIVE (teacher) USER:
Log into Plato as an administrator. The Username is: administrator. The Password is: admin. Click on User Management. Click Create. The first box will says: “Choose a role for this user.” Use the down arrow to change the role from Learner to Administrator 5) Type in First Name. Tab to next box. You can ignore the middle name. 6) Type in Last Name. Tab to next box. 7) The PLATO name will automatically appear and it will be the First and Last Name of the user separated by a space. You CAN change this if you like. 8) Click on Set Password. You can make this what ever you would like. Type it in twice to confirm. If you leave it blank, the student will be able to create his or her own password. 9) Click Next. 10) When it asks about demographics, click on the No and click Next. 11) When it asks about classes, click on the No and click Next. 12) When it asks about individual assignments, click No and click Finish 13) Exit out of Plato and return to the login screen. 14) Log back in using the username and password. 1) 2) 3) 4)