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This guide covers linking to or uploading your SoftChalk lessons into the Schoology learning management system.
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For your instructors, you may want to post the URLs for our guides (see below). As we update the guides, the URLs will remain the same.
Item | Description and URL |
Search our FAQs | |
This web page lists the system specifications for instructors and students. | |
This guide has step by step instructions for linking your SoftChalk Cloud lessons into Blackboard. Please note that scores from SoftChalk lessons can go into your Blackboard gradebook. | |
This Student Guide includes a Troubleshooting section. | |
SoftChalk Create is SoftChalk's content authoring program. It is available in both a web launch version (as part of a SoftChalk Cloud Account - see the section SoftChalk Cloud) and in a desktop version. | |
SoftChalk Cloud is an award-winning, multi-function platform that combines a learning object repository, content authoring, hosting, and management features. https://softchalk.atlassian.net/wiki/download/attachments/129404604/cloudguide.pdf?api=v2 |
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As mentioned in the previous table, SoftChalk Cloud is an award-winning, multi-function platform that combines a learning object repository, content authoring and hosting and management features.
With a SoftChalk Cloud account, you can:
- Create and update your content in one place by logging into your SoftChalk Cloud account whether you are at work or at home. (SoftChalk Create is part of your Cloud account.)
- Link to your content in many places.
- Search for content in SoftChalk Share (SoftChalk Cloud's public content repository) and add it directly to your lessons. You can modify the content you find with a SoftChalk Cloud account.
- Collaborate with other instructors on SoftChalk lessons. For more details, see the section Collaborate with Other Instructors on SoftChalk Lessons in the SoftChalk Cloud Guide.
- Collect scores using the SoftChalk ScoreCenter Feature. Grades from your SoftChalk lessons can appear within the gradebook of your learning management system.
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To take advantage of volume purchasing (or if you plan to purchase a SoftChalk Cloud account with a purchase order), please contact sales@softchalk.com.
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Your institution also has the option to purchase an Enterprise SoftChalk Cloud. Please contact sales@softchalk.com
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A SoftChalk Cloud account is available as a yearly subscription. You can purchase a SoftChalk Cloud account on our Buy Now page. Fill out the information and submit your credit card information.
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Try out a SoftChalk Cloud account for 30 days. Click the Free Trial button (see above below) and fill out the information.
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The web link for this guide is below. As we update this guide, the URL will remain the same. (You may want to bookmark this guide link in your web browser.)
https://softchalk.atlassian.net/wiki/download/attachments/129406952/lms_schoology.pdf?api=v2
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- Create Content: you will use a SoftChalk Cloud account to create and save your lesson in the Cloud (see the SoftChalk Cloud User Guide for additional information about this). After creating and saving a lesson in SoftChalk Cloud, your lesson will be assigned a unique hyperlink that you can use to share your lesson with your students in Schoology.
- Link Your Lesson: you will copy and paste the link to your lessons into your Schoology course(s). Additional step-by-step instructions for adding the SoftChalk link are provided below. A single SoftChalk lesson can be linked into as many Schoology courses as you wish. If you wish to collect scores in your Schoology gradebook, student scores for your lesson will pass into each individual course gradebook.
- Update Content: if you should need to update your lesson, you will login to SoftChalk Cloud, edit your lesson, and save it. Immediately and simultaneously, all courses in Schoology that are using that lesson will be automatically updated.
- Student Access: your students do not need to have accounts on SoftChalk Cloud to use your SoftChalk content in Schoology. Students will login to your Schoology course and click on your SoftChalk lesson links to view your content. To the student, the content is seamless with Schoology and appears to be native Schoology content. If you are tracking student scores, the SoftChalk lesson scores will pass directly into the Schoology gradebook for students to view the same way they view native Schoology gradebook information.
- Collect Scores: Before linking your SoftChalk lessons into your Schoology course, you will decide if you want to collect scores from your students or if you want your lessons to be "practice" lessons and you do not need to collect scores. Each time you link a lesson into Schoology, you can decide whether or not to collect scores. Many instructors use both "scored" and "practice" lessons within a course. NOTE: a single SoftChalk lesson can be linked into multiple Schoology courses simultaneously and can be set to report scores in some courses and set to not report courses in other courses. In other words, the same lesson can be used simultaneously in different ways in different courses.
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See the section Copy the LTI Link for Your Lesson in the SoftChalk Cloud Guide. IMPORTANT: As mentioned previously, be sure to copy the LTI Link and NOT the Hyperlink for the lesson.
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- After copying the LTI Link for your lesson (see the section Copy the LTI Link for Your Lesson in the SoftChalk Cloud Guide.), log into your Schoology account and choose your course from the Courses dropdown menu (see below). You will need admin privileges in your course to add an LTI link (see below).
- From the Add Materials dropdown menu, choose Add File/Link/External Tool (see below). If you do NOT see this Add Materials dropdown menu, you may not have Admin privileges for your course. Please contact your Schoology Administrator for help.
- Select External Tool (see below).
- For the Tool Provider, select SoftChalk Cloud. (If you do not see SoftChalk Cloud listed, please contact your Schoology administrator who can set up this tool for you.) Type in the Title for your item, paste in the LTI link that you copied previously for your SoftChalk Cloud lesson and select Enable Grading (see below).
- Once you select Enable Grading (see the previous step), you will see the additional items below. Enter the point value for your lesson, select a grading category (create a new category, if necessary, select a scale and select a period. Click Submit (see below). IMPORTANT: If you forget to select a grading category, scores from your students will NOT appear in your gradebook. (If you forget to select a category, you can edit the LTI link later and select a category. Then previous and future scores will appear in your gradebook.) Note: FYI, we noticed in our testing, that if you enter 100 points for a lesson that does not have 100 points, for example your SoftChalk lesson has 3 points, then the score for your lesson in the Schoology gradebook will reflect a percentage. For example, if you got 1 item correct, the score would be 33.33 in the Schoology gradebook.
- Your LTI link will appear in your Materials area (see below). (At this point there will also be a column in your Gradebook for this item.)
- Be sure to see the section Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts
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When a SoftChalk Cloud lesson is linked into a Schoology course as a scored lesson, the instructor can use SoftChalk ScoreCenter to view detailed student score results, as well as configure various scoring options for the lesson. Instructors access the SoftChalk ScoreCenter directly in Schoology.
Note that although you can view student scores via the SoftChalk ScoreCenter, the student's grades are also passed directly into the Schoology course gradebook, where the instructor also has access to view and edit individual student grades. The SoftChalk ScoreCenter serves a variety of functions that allow the instructor to:
- Set the Maximum Attempts: Determine how many times a student can access a lesson (unlimited times or a specific number of times).
- Set the Scoring Method: Determine which attempt score is sent to the Schoology gradebook (i.e., first attempt score, highest score, most recent score, or average score).
- View all student attempt details and see how many students have completed the lesson, how many total attempts have been made, average score, etc.
- View individual detailed student scores. All student attempts are saved and are viewable. You can see how many attempts each student has made, how long the student spent on each attempt, start and end dates/times for each attempt, and detailed score data (lesson scores, which questions or activities were attempted, etc.)
- Modify scores. You can update individual student scores, and you can force completion for all students (this closes out a score for any student who has unfinished attempts or no score.
- Clear Attempts and Re-Open Attempts
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An instructor accesses the SoftChalk ScoreCenter in Schoology by clicking on a SoftChalk lesson link that is scored.
- Click on a SoftChalk scored lesson link in your Schoology course.
- The instructor view of ScoreCenter will appear. Once students have accessed the LTI linked lesson, the instructor will see a list of Learner names and will have access to the details of their attempt.
The following sections describe how the SoftChalk ScoreCenter features work.
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At the top of the ScoreCenter, you will see a 'Class average' summary of all learners attempts on the lesson. This summary will include:
- the total number of Learners
- a visual representation of scores obtained
- the overall lesson high and low scores obtained
- total score possible
- Scoring Method and Max Attempts setting for the lesson
The next section will display the total number of attempts that have been made on the lesson. This section will also list Average Score and Class Percentage for the overall lesson and for each scored Activity, Quiz Popper, or Quiz Group in the lesson.
At the top, click to identify which Activity, Quiz Popper, or Quiz Group was scored in the column. The tooltip will also display the 'Question' and 'Possible Answers' for Quiz Poppers and Quiz Group questions. Each interactive will display if the 'Allow Retry' option was enabled, offering Learners another chance at the interactive to improve the score.
Learners that have accessed the lesson will display listed at the bottom of ScoreCenter. Quickly see the number of attempts the Learner made, attempt score, and details of their attempt. An asterisk next to score helps to easily identify scores made on a previous version of the lesson.
| The Learner made the correct answer choice and obtained full credit for the Activity, Quiz Popper, or Quiz Group. |
| The Learner made the incorrect answer choice and did not obtain any score for the Activity, Quiz Popper, or Quiz Group. |
| The Learner obtained a partial score for the Activity, Quiz Popper, or Quiz Group by making correct and incorrect answer selections. |
| The Learner did not make or 'Complete' an attempt on the Activity, Quiz Popper, or Quiz Group. |
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You will need to set the scoring method (i.e. first attempt, last attempt, average attempt or highest attempt) and the maximum attempts allowed (unlimited or a specific number of attempts).
All the student attempts will be collected, and you can view all the attempts for each student for each lesson. You can change the scoring method and maximum attempts at any point. If you want to allow your students only one attempt for the lesson, you need to set that option right away.
- Log into your Schoology account and choose your course (see below).
- Under the Materials area for your lesson, click on the link for your LTI lesson (see below).
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- Select the number of maximum attempts from the drop-down menu and be sure to click Save changes (see below).
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To test the lesson, you need to be logged into your course as a student.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to LOG OUT of your SoftChalk Cloud account when you are taking your lesson as a student to test the ScoreCenter feature. (If you are logged into your SoftChalk Cloud account while logged into Schoology and taking a lesson, then the scores won't be recorded.)
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- Log into your Schoology account and choose your course.
- Under the Materials area for your lesson, click on the link for your LTI lesson (see below).
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A quick check of the Status icons helps to identify learner attempts that successfully completed the attempt by clicking on the Finish button on the last page.
IMPORTANT: Instructors can manually 'Complete' individual and/or all incomplete attempts using the Actions menu. See the section Complete All Attempts for All Students for a Lesson below.
Below are Status icons you may see in ScoreCenter.
| Completed Attempt |
| Incomplete Attempt |
| Changed Score |
| Cleared Attempt |
- Click on an attempt to see additional attempt data (see below).
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- Activity, QuizPopper, and Quiz Groups in the lesson will be listed at the bottom. The
icons let instructors quickly know if the learner received full, partial, or no points for their attempt at each Activity, QuizPopper, and Quiz Group question.
- Notice you can view detailed information about this attempt at the bottom.
- If you need to change the score for an attempt, use the Actions menu to select Change Score from the dropdown.
- Enter a new score and click Change Score (see below). IMPORTANT: An attempt has to be complete before you can change the score.
- Notice that you also have the option to Clear an attempt (see below). If you clear an attempt, it will not count as part of the grade calculation. If needed, you can also Restore the attempt.
- Notice that you also have the option to Complete an attempt (see below). If a student starts a lesson but neglects to click the Finish button at the end of the lesson, then that attempt is incomplete. An incomplete attempt does not count as part of the grade calculation. You can cause the attempt to be completed so that the score for the attempt is part of the grade calculation.
Be sure to click Complete Attempt.
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You have the option to complete all attempts for all students for a lesson. You may find that your students have neglected to complete their attempts (i.e., they have neglected to click Finish on the last page of the lesson – clicking Finish sends a completion status to the gradebook).
IMPORTANT: You may want to do this procedure after the availability of your lesson has expired. After you do this procedure, future attempts can be incomplete.
IMPORTANT: This procedure cannot be undone. (You can change individual scores or re-open individual attempts if you need to.)
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If you use essays in your lesson, you can view the essays within the ScoreCenter area (see the previous section View or Change Scores). Please note the following important information.
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Score an Essay
Essays that you have assigned points to must be manually scored for each student's attempt.
Please read the important information below:
You will go into the gradebook (i.e. ScoreCenter) and evaluate and score the essay. You can also provide feedback to the student on the essay.
For example, you may have a lesson worth 100 points including one essay worth 10 points. (You assigned the points for the essay and other items.) Let's say a student completes everything correctly, completes the essay, clicks the Finish button for the essay and then clicks the Finish button on the last page of the lesson to submit his or her score. At this stage, the student has a score of 90 out of 100 because you will need to evaluate the essay and assign points.
(You may want to explain the above process to your students; as mentioned, you also have the option to assign 0 points to an essay if you like.)
In ScoreCenter, click on a student's name to view a list of attempts they have made on the lesson link. Select one of the attempts to view the Learner Details page. (See the View or Change Scores section above.)
Scroll down and click on an Essay QuizPopper and choose to Grade Essay. Here you can evaluate and score the essay. You can also add feedback for that Essay question here.
When you launch ScoreCenter, a scored Essay will appear with a yellow 'partial credit' icon until graded. A non-scored Essay will immediately appear with the green 'check mark' icon.
Students can launch the lesson link and click on the Feedback and Previous Attempts link available in the initial popup to view the score and any feedback received for each Essay question from their previous attempt.
Here students can view the Feedback from instructors of their overall lesson feedback (from the Actions menu Give Feedback option) or the individual Essay feedback.
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If you go to the Gradebook area in Schoology, you can see that the scores from your lessons (using the LTI Link and external tool – see the previous sections Paste the LTI Link into Schoology and Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts) appear in your Schoology Gradebook. (If you want to view or change scores for individual student attempts, see the section View or Change Scores.)
IMPORTANT: As previously mentioned, be sure to LOG OUT of your SoftChalk Cloud account when you are taking your lesson as a student to test the ScoreCenter feature. (If you are logged into your SoftChalk Cloud account while logged into Schoology and taking a lesson, then the scores will not be recorded.)
- Log into your Schoology account and choose your course.
- From the left menu, select Gradebook (see below).
- You can view your students' scores (see below). If you do NOT see the scores, please check that you have selected the correct grading period (second column below) and the correct category (third column below).
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This section explains how to have your students access "practice" SoftChalk lessons. In other words, you don't plan to collect student scores from these lessons. [You can have items that have points assigned to them within your lesson, but if you want to collect the scores, see the section Scored Lessons (Cloud Users).]
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- From the Add Materials dropdown menu, choose Add File/Link/External Tool (see below). If you do NOT see this Add Materials dropdown menu, you may not have Admin privileges for your course. Please contact your Schoology Administrator for help.
- Select Link (see below).
- In the Link/URL box, paste in the Hyperlink for your SoftChalk Cloud lesson, enter a Title, and click Add (see below).
- If you want the lesson to display in a new window, click the icon to the right of Advanced (see below).
- Your Hyperlink will appear in your Materials area (see below). (The yellow checkmark indicates a link to a SoftChalk item.)
- You can click on this link to view the lesson.
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If you used the LTI Link or Hyperlink to your SoftChalk Cloud lesson, then you can easily edit your lesson within your SoftChalk Cloud account. (You don't have to paste in a new LTI Link or Hyperlink; simply edit your current lesson in SoftChalk Cloud and the LTI Link or Hyperlink for this lesson will still work.)
IMPORTANT: If you edit a lesson that has scored items and you have pasted an LTI Link for this lesson into Schoology, we recommend the scoring for your lesson remain the same if students have started taking this lesson.
- Log into your SoftChalk Cloud account.
- Click My Content/My Lessons and Courses.
- Open the folder that contains your lesson. Click on the name of your lesson.
- Scroll down to the bottom right under Lesson Actions and click Edit Lesson in SoftChalk Create.
- Make changes and choose File/Save to SoftChalk Cloud. (If you click the Save icon, you are saving your lesson temporarily to your local computer.)
- Double-check that you lesson is selected in the file tree at the right. Click Save. Click OK at the screen saying your item will be replaced. Click OK at the screen saying your lesson was saved to SoftChalk Cloud. Click Close. Choose File/Quit if you want to quit SoftChalk Create. (For more details on editing, see the section Edit a Lesson in the SoftChalk Cloud Guide.)
- Your lessons will be automatically updated with any changes in all linked instances within Schoology.
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You can collaborate with other instructors to create your SoftChalk lessons using a SoftChalk Cloud account (or a trial SoftChalk Cloud account). Within SoftChalk Create, you can publish your lesson to your SoftChalk Cloud account. Another instructor [also using SoftChalk Create and a SoftChalk Cloud account (or a trial SoftChalk Cloud account)] can access and edit the lesson you published.
IMPORTANT: Simultaneous work in the same lesson is not supported. In other words, one person should be working on the lesson at a time. (If two or more people are making changes to the same lesson at the same time and saving the lesson to the Cloud, they may end up overwriting each other's changes.)
For more details, see the section Collaborate with Other Instructors on SoftChalk Lessons in the SoftChalk Cloud Guide.
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When copying a course that has LTI links in Schoology, be sure be sure to select the Material name and Add to Course.
To copy a course in Schoology, navigate to your Schoology course. Click Materials from the left navigation menu. Click the gear icon to the right of the course material or folder you would like to copy. Select Save to Resources from the drop-down menu. Click Save Copy.
To import the material, click RESOURCES from the top menu bar and navigate to the copied material. Click the gear icon to the right of the course material name and then click Add to Course. Place a check mark next to the course to which you want to add the course material. Click Add and Save Changes.
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The steps below are for your Schoology administrator to enable the LTI/ScoreCenter feature for your Schoology server. For details on the LTI/ScoreCenter feature, see the section Scored Lessons (Cloud Users).
As a Schoology administrator to use the ScoreCenter feature, you need to register with SoftChalk and configure the ScoreCenter for your system.
- Please contact help@softchalk.com and provide the following information to register with SoftChalk and receive authentication credentials (i.e. an OAuth Consumer Key and an OAuth Consumer Secret). If you have a test server and a production server, you may send us two LMS URLs and we will register both of them. (You will receive a separate email with a unique key and secret for each registered URL.)
- Your institution name
- LMS URL
- First Name (optional) of the person registering with us
- Last Name (optional) of the person registering with us
- Email for this registration (the email can be a specific person's email or a generic email such as lmsadmin@myinstitution.edu)
- After registering, you will receive an email from SoftChalk with information to enter into your Schoology system (see the steps below).
- From your home page, select System Settings at the left (see below).
- Select Integration (see below).
- Click the External Tools tab and click Add External Tool Provider (see below).
- For the Tool Name, enter SoftChalk Cloud. Paste in the Consumer Key and Shared Secret information that you received in an email when you registered with SoftChalk (see the previous step 1 in this section). For the Privacy, select Send Name and Email/Username of user who launches the tool. For the Domain/URL, enter https://www.softchalkcloud.com. Click Submit (see below).
- Test an LTI Link to see that grades go into the Schoology gradebook by following the steps in the section Scored Lessons (Cloud Users). IMPORTANT: As previously mentioned, be sure to LOG OUT of your SoftChalk Cloud account when you are taking your lesson as a student to test the ScoreCenter feature. (If you are logged into your SoftChalk Cloud account while logged into Schoology and taking a lesson, then the scores will not be recorded.)
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If you are testing out your own graded LTI linked lessons in an LMS to confirm the gradebook connectivity, there are a couple of things to be aware of as the Cloud account owner/course instructor:
- If you are logged into SoftChalk Cloud, you will not be able to establish a connection to ScoreCenter. The two sessions interfere with one another, and you need to ensure that you have logged out of your Cloud account to produce a valid test. (Using the SoftChalk Link Selector will automatically log you into your Cloud account.)
- If you are logged in as the 'Instructor' role in the course, you will not launch the 'Student' view of the LTI lesson, and it will not connect to ScoreCenter in such a way that it will pass any grades. Be sure to log in as a test student or impersonate a student user enrolled into the course.
- If you are logged into the LMS 'Admin' account and attempt to access an LTI link, it will likely fail. LTI is only intended to work with users assigned 'Faculty' or 'Student' roles in an LMS. Oftentimes an admin is also enrolled into the course as the instructor, but it is best to test things with an instructor account if possible.
To test the Schoology as a student and confirm the grade has passed to the Schoology grade book:
- Add your SoftChalk Cloud lesson LTI link to your Schoology course using the steps shown in this guide beginning on page 6.
- Open another web browser tab. Navigate to https://softchalkcloud.com and click Log out next to your SoftChalk Cloud account username in the upper-right corner. Close the tab.
- Impersonate an enrolled student in your Schoology course or log out of your Schoology course as the instructor and then log into your Schoology course as an enrolled student.
- Navigate to and click on the SoftChalk assignment in the Schoology course.
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- Students will see the connection to ScoreCenter message (with instructions to click Finish) when they access the lesson (screenshot below):
- Students will see the Finish button at the end of the lesson.
- Students will receive the successfully completed message after clicking on Finish (screenshot below):
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Issue | Description/Resolution |
I have pasted the LTI link for the assignment. I receive a 'lis_person_name_given' error. What should I do? | Confirm the SoftChalk Cloud tool provider Privacy option is set to Send Name and Email/Username of user who launches the tool as shown in Step #6 under the 'Schoology Administrator' section above. |
I am the Instructor. I used the SoftChalk Link Selector to add my lesson but scores are not collected in the Schoology gradebook. What could be wrong? | Be sure to copy the LTI link for your SoftChalk lesson. Adding the lesson's plain Hyperlink will not capture scores in the Schoology gradebook. |
I am the Instructor. I don't see a 'Finish' button on the last page. What should I do? | When testing out graded LTI linked lessons in an LMS to confirm the gradebook connectivity, there are a couple of things to be aware of as the Cloud account owner/course instructor:
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Some students report they do not see a 'Finish' button on the last page. What can I do? | If there is a record for a student's attempt in ScoreCenter, the course instructor can 'Complete' a student's attempt and push the score to the grade book. |
A student's name is not listed in ScoreCenter. What should I do? | If a student is not showing in the ScoreCenter gradebook, their submissions to ScoreCenter did not come across and SoftChalk does not have a record of their work |
Some students receive an Empty Attempt ID error when accessing the lesson. What should I do? | This error is intended to display when there is an issue detected during the LTI launch, a missing Attempt ID value, which would prevent the student from successfully completing the ScoreCenter attempt and posting a score to the LMS gradebook.
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IMPORTANT: Within your lesson in SoftChalk Create, be sure to assign points to each QuizPopper and Activity. (In the main editing window of your SoftChalk lesson, right-click on the QuizPopper or Activity and choose Modify QuizPopper or Modify Activity. Go to the Options tab and use the Points dropdown menu to assign points.)
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Within SoftChalk, you can package a lesson in a .zip format. Then upload this .zip file into Schoology and unzip it. See the steps below.
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- Start SoftChalk Create. Within your lesson in SoftChalk Create, choose File/Package Lesson. Under Package type, choose Standard Zip. Under Track score using choose None (see below).
- If you are using SoftChalk Create, select the area where you want the .zip file saved such as your Desktop. Then click OK. By default, you would save to your Documents area. With earlier versions of SoftChalk, the .zip file is saved within the lesson folder.
- Your packaged file has your lesson name with a .zip extension (see below). If your file extensions are not showing, you will not see the .zip at the end of the filename. Look for a folder with a zipper or package icon with your lesson name.
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- Log into your Schoology account and choose your course from the Courses dropdown menu (see below). You will need admin privileges to add a packaged lesson (see below).
- From the Add Materials dropdown menu, choose Add File/Link/External Tool (see below). If you do NOT see this Add Materials dropdown menu, you may not have Admin privileges for your course. Please contact your Schoology Administrator for help.
- Click Web Content (see below).
- Click Attach File (see below).
- Navigate to your zip file. Click on your .zip file to select it (see below) and click Open. (If your file extensions are not showing, you will not see the .zip at the end of the filename. Look for a folder with a zipper or package icon with your lesson name.)
- You may need to wait a few seconds while your package uploads (see below).
- Once your package has finished uploading, you can click Edit Details to give your package a title (see below).
- Enter a Title and click Submit (see below).
- Your packaged lesson now appears in your Materials area. Click on it to view your lesson (see below).
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IMPORTANT: You cannot overwrite a SCORM lesson. If you put up a second SCORM lesson, there will be a separate column for the SCORM lesson in your gradebook.
- In SoftChalk, edit and save your lesson. Package the lesson (see the section In SoftChalk: Package a Lesson).
- In Schoology, delete your lesson folder or SCORM item.
- Upload your lesson again (see the previous section In Schoology: Upload a Zip File.)
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