1. Overview
2. Lessons
3. Resources

1. Glossary
2. Collaborate
3. Messages
4. Discussion
5. Calendar
6. Notes
7. Calculator

1. Internet Connection
2. Usernames are Shared
3. Security
4. Graded Homework
5. Reset Course Button
6. Features
7. Bugs

To run the Learning Conductor software, double click on the "Learning Conductor" shortcut which has been placed on your desktop by the installer (there should also be a shortcut in your Start menu, in the "Distributed Learning Workshop" program group).

You will see something like the following screen:

The login screen of the Learning Conductor

Select your username from the drop-down list, type your password in the password field, and click the "Login" button.

If you are enrolled in more than one course you will be taken to a course selection page:

The course selection page of the Learning Conductor

This brings you to the main screen of the Learning Conductor.

The main screen of the conductor after login looks similar to the following:

The main screen of the Learning Conductor after login

The Learning Conductor environment consists of three main areas: Portfolio, Lessons, and Resources. Only one of these three areas shows on the screen at a given time. These areas will be covered in depth below. In addition to these three areas, there are persistent toolbars at the top and bottom of the screen. Navigation tabs labeled "Portfolio", "Lessons", and "Resources" are found on the left-hand side of the top toolbar. The top toolbar also includes the name of the course, school, and professor, as well as buttons which bring up the "Collaborate", "Messages", "Discussion", and "Calendar" tools, and a "Tools" menu which allows you to bring up the Notes or Calculator tools. On the left hand side of the top toolbar, there is a pop-down menu for navigation within each of the three main areas.

The bottom toolbar includes the student's name and a "Logout" button; in the Lessons area, it also contains forward and backward navigation buttons and the audio volume button. The region of the screen between the top and bottom toolbars is where the content of the Portfolio, Lessons, or Resources area appears.

On the right hand side of the overview page is a communications synopsis, which tells you how many messages are in your Inbox, shows the subjects of the most recent discussion postings, provides a link to the collaboration area, and displays a mini-month-calendar for the current month.

The Overview area contains other pages as well. To access these pages, click on the pop-down menu on the left hand side of the top toolbar (labeled "Overview", if you are on the overview page). These pages contain other information about your course, such as grading policy information, or any other information your instructor wishes to provide. (In this demo version, there is also a page with information on how to contact The Workshop to provide feedback or obtain technical support.)

The Portfolio pop-down menu

If you leave the Overview area by clicking on the Resources or Lessons tab, the computer will remember what screen in the Overview you were viewing; then when you click back on the Overview tab again, you will return to the same screen where you left off.

The Lessons area looks like the following:

The Lessons area

You can also get to the Lessons area by clicking on the name of a Lesson from the Overview page (in the Overview area), which will take you to the specific lesson you clicked on.

The CMI content for a lesson is made up of a Lesson Overview page, and a sequence of individual "concepts". When you first go to a lesson, you will see the Lesson Overview page. This page contains information about the lesson, and links to lesson materials. When you have not yet started the lesson, there will be a "Start Lesson" button which will take you to the first concept of the lesson. After you have started the lesson, if you come back to the lesson introduction page, there will be a "Continue Lesson" button which will take you back to the concept you most recently visited, and there will be a "Restart Lesson" button which will take you back to the first concept of the lesson.

On the left hand side of the top navigation bar, there is a pop-down menu labeled with the number and name of the current lesson. For example, if you are viewing the CMI materials for Topic Module 1, Lesson 2, and the title of that lesson is "Histograms", then the menu will be labeled "1.2 Histograms". Clicking on the label reveals a menu of concepts; clicking on a concept name will take you to the CMI for that concept.

The Lessons pop-down menu

Some pages have a button labeled "Continue". At certain points, the "Continue" button appears, and the page pauses and waits for you to click "Continue" before proceeding. This allows you to go through the material at your own pace.

Each concept is made up of a sequence of pages. Each page will contain some text, as well as graphics and, in some cases, interactive tools. The pages may also contain audio which reads the text to you aloud. You can silence the audio by clicking on the speaker icon in the bottom toolbar; however, in some cases the pages contain animation sequences which are synchronized to the audio, so you may want to leave the audio on.

A concept page in a lesson, showing a "Continue" button

At the end of an page, the right-arrow in the bottom toolbar will blink. Click on the right-arrow to go to the next page. (If you are on the last page of a concept, then the right arrow will take you to the first page of the next concept.) If you return to a page that you've previously completed, the forward arrow will be enabled immediately, so that you can move through pages more quickly.

Clicking on the left arrow will take you back to previous page. (If you are on the first page of a concept, then it will take you to the previous concept). Clicking on the "restart" button restarts from the beginning of the current page.

The forward, backward, and replay arrows for navigating through a concept

You should be aware that if you are in the middle of a page and you tab to the Resources area or to the Overview area, the lesson will be silent, but it will not stop. The animation sequence will keep going until it reaches either the end of the page or a "Continue" button. If you do this and then want to repeat the page to see what you missed, use the "restart" button mentioned in the previous paragraph.

The Learning Conductor keeps track of your progress through the instructional materials. There is no need for you to worry about 'saving' your progress - it's done automatically every time you go to a new page. Therefore the most you should ever lose (in the event of your computer crashing or a power-outage, for example) is one page's worth of progress.

Many of the resources are not currently available. Do not be alarmed if some of the links do not go anywhere.

If you are browsing a particular resource, and you want to return to the main resources page, pull down the "Resources" menu on the left-hand side of the top toolbar, and select "Resources Home".

The Resources page

There are two ways you can access each homework assignment. Either click the link on the overview page, or the link on the lesson introduction.

Once at the homework, you may either complete it at the time or print it for reading over elsewhere. If you do this, be sure you log back in and turn it in before the due date.

A view of some homework

If you begin to do it on the computer and then run out of time, you may click "Save homework". This will preserve your progess so that you can continue the next time you log in.

When you're done with the homework, click the "Turn in homework" button. Make you that you only do this when you're really ready, because you can only submit each homework assignment once.

Normally, the student will see a message confirming that the homework has been recieved, and showing them the score they recieved for all computer graded questions. They will have to wait until immediately after the due date to see the homework solutions. This is to reduce cheating among students. In this demo version, however, we are showing you the graded homework immediately for your convenience.

Graded homework with feedback

The content of an item is shown below.

Type text in the single blank line at the bottom, and press the Enter key or click the "Send" button to transmit your message to the other people in the collaboration area. Your message will appear in the text area just above the single blank line.

The real-time collaboration tool

You can also draw on the whiteboard (the large white canvas at the top of the collaboration window) and your drawing will automatically be shared with the other people in the collaboration area. The buttons down the left hand side of the collaboration window allow you to control the shared whiteboard. The top button means "undo"; the other buttons allow you to choose a tool. The available tools are: text, freehand, straight line, rectangle, and oval. There is also a color picker on the left hand side.

The text area at the lower right hand side of the collaboration window tells you the names of all the people in the collaboration area. Below this there is an "exit" button, which hides the collaboration window.

Messages

The messaging system allows you to privately exchange personal messages with other students in your class, as well as the instructor and teaching assistants. To access the messaging system, click on "Messages" in the top toolbar. A window will come up displaying the index for your message inbox. This index shows the dates, subjects, and authors of the messages you have received. The index shows only 10 messages at a time. You can use the right and left arrows in the upper left of the messaging window to show the next 10 or the previous 10.

The message tool, showing the message index

The upper right of the messaging window contains "Get & Send", "New Msg", and "Exit" links. Clicking "Get & Send" will check for new messages, and send any outgoing messages. Clicking "New Msg" will allow you to compose a message to another student or instructor. Please note that when you send a new message, you must first click the "Post now" button on the screen where you write the message, then click "Get & Send" to actually transmit the message. This allows you to compose your message while offline, then go online and click "Get & Send" to actually send your message. Clicking "Exit" hides the messaging window.

Reading a message

To remove a message from your inbox, first click the checkbox for that message in the "Del" column of the message index. Then click "Delete Selected". A dialog box will confirm that you want to delete the message. If you click OK, an 'X' will appear where the checkbox had been, to indicate that the message has been marked for deletion. The message will disappear the next time you click "Get & Send".

Composing a message

To read the full text of a message, click on the subject of the message in the index. The messaging window now shows the full text of the message in addition to its date, subject and author. The left/right arrows will go to the previous/next message in the inbox. There is also an "Index" link in the upper right which takes you back to the message index page.

Discussion

The discussion forums allow you to read and post public messages which are viewable by every student in your class, as well as the instructor and teaching assistants. To access the discussion forums, click on "Discussion" in the top toolbar. A window will come up displaying the index for a discussion group. This index shows the dates, subjects, and authors of the messages that have been posted. The index shows only 10 messages at a time. You can use the right and left arrows in the upper left of the discussion window to show the next 10 or the previous 10.

Your class may have more than one discussion forum. The name of the discussion forum you are currently viewing appears in the upper left-hand corner of the discussion window. Clicking on this name will bring up a pop-up menu which allows you to select which discussion forum you would like to view.

The upper right of the discussion window contains "Get & Send", "New Post", and "Exit" links. Clicking "Get & Send" will check for new messages, and send any outgoing messages. Clicking "New Post" will allow you to compose a message to be posted to the current forum. If you want to post to a different forum, first switch to that forum by following the directions above. Please note that when you post a new message, you must first click the "Post now" button on the screen where you write the message, then click "Get & Send" to actually transmit the message. This allows you to compose your message while offline, then go online and click "Get & Send" to actually transmit your message. Clicking "Exit" hides the discussion window.

To read the full text of a message, click on the subject of the message in the index. The discussion window now shows the full text of the message in addition to its date, subject and author. The left/right arrows will go to the previous/next message in the forum. There is also an "Index" link in the upper right which takes you back to the message index page.

Calendar

The calendar tool allows you to schedule appointments or reminders to yourself for particular dates. Access this tool by clicking on "Calendar" in the top toolbar.

The calendar has several different views. The default view is the "day view". This view shows a miniature month-calendar on the left hand side of the window, and says "Calendar for [a given date]" on the right hand side, with a list of the items which occur on the given date. You can click on the subject of an item to view the full contents of that item.

The calendar, showing the day view

The miniature month-calendar in the day view allows you to click on a date -- this will take you of the day view for the date you clicked on. Clicking on the left arrow or right arrow will take you to the day view for the date one month back or forward from the date you are currently viewing (For example, if you are currently on the day view for April 7, the right arrow will take you to May 7). Clicking on the name of the month (at the top of the mini-month-calendar) will take you to the "month view".

The calendar, showing the month view

The month view shows you a large month-calendar. Inside the square for each day appear the subjects of any items for that day. You can go to the day view for a given date by clicking on the number of the date. The left and right arrows in the upper right take you to the month views of the previous and next months.

In the upper right of the Calendar window are some links: "Get & Send", "Add item", and "Exit". However, the "Add item" link does not appear when you are in the month view.

The "Get & Send" link synchronizes your calendar with a central server, so that if you log in from a different computer, you will see all the same calendar messages. (The "Get & Send" button does not send your calendar items to anyone else.)

The "Add item" link allows you to add a calendar item for the day you are viewing. So, for example, if you want to add an item for May 3, you should use the mini-month-calendar to navigate to May 3, and then click "Add item".

Viewing a calendar item

When adding a calendar item, you get to specify the time of day, as well as the subject and description of the item. When you click on the "submit" button, you will return to the day view for that day, and the item you just added will in the list of items. Remember to click "Get & Send" also, so that you will be able to view the note when logged in from other computers.

Adding an item to the calendar

To remove a calendar item, first click the checkbox for that item in the "Del" column of the day view. Then click "Delete Selected". A dialog box will confirm that you want to delete the item. If you click OK, an 'X' will appear where the checkbox had been, to indicate that the item has been marked for deletion. The item will disappear the next time you click "Get & Send".

The "Exit" link hides the calendar window.

Notes

The notes tool allows you to write notes to yourself. Access this tool by pulling down the "Tools" menu in the top toolbar and choosing "Notes".

The tools menu

The index view shows the subject of each note. Click on the subject to view the entire content of the note. The note index shows only 10 messages at a time. You can use the right and left arrows in the upper left of the notes window to show the next 10 or the previous 10.

The notes tool

In the upper right of the notes window, you will find "Get & Send", "New Note", and "Exit" links. The "Get & Send" button synchronizes your notes with a central server, so that if you log in to the system from some other computer, you will be sure to see the same notes. (The "Get & Send" button does not send your notes to anyone else.)

The "New Note" link will allow you to write a new note to yourself. After clicking the "Post Now" button on the note composition page, you will be able to see the new note listed on the index page. Remember to click "Get & Send" also, so that you will be able to view the note when logged in from other computers.

To remove a note, first click the checkbox for that message in the "Del" column of the note index. Then click "Delete Selected". A dialog box will confirm that you want to delete the note. If you click OK, an 'X' will appear where the checkbox had been, to indicate that the note has been marked for deletion. The note will disappear the next time you click "Get & Send".

The "Exit" link will hide the Notes window.

Calculator

To show the Calculator tool, click on the Calculator icon in the lower right, on the status bar as shown below.

The calculator provides standard arithmetic operations as well as common trigonometric functions.

The calculator

Click on the "Close" button to hide the calculator.

Special Issues for the Beta Version

Internet Connection

The Learning Conductor is designed so that students can work on multiple computers. For example, a student may do some work in a studio on campus in the morning and continue where s/he left off that evening at home. What this means is that you must be connected to the Internet whenever you log in to the Learning Conductor. After logging in, you may disconnect from the internet if you wish; but for best results, you should re-connect before logging out.

If you log in to the Learning Conductor, and it takes you to a place in the lesson other than where you left off, it is probably because somebody else has been working on the system with the same username.

The security implemented for this version for the shared server is minimal. For example, we have given the same username and password to many people. Security will be improved for the final release.

Try placing the Learning Conductor CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive, wait a minute, then try again. If this solves your problem, then your Learning Conductor software has been installed in such a way that the Learning Conductor CD must be in the CD-ROM drive whenever you run the application.

If this does not solve the problem, then it is likely that some of the Learning Conductor application files have been moved or removed from your system. If this is the case, it is probably best to re-install the Learning Conductor.

The other reason is that you might be logged in twice as the same user. (In the demo release, more than one person may have the same username, e.g. "Ohio One", so this may happen sometimes. Try logging out, then logging back in as a different user, e.g. "Ohio Two".

There are many reasons why the sound might not be working, but if the Lessons section also never shows you more than one paragraph on a page, then the problem is probably that your sound card is not installed properly.

If you do not have a sound card, or you do not know how to fix your sound card, then click on the volume icon in the bottom toolbar of the learning conductor so that audio is turned off. This will allow the Lesson to show you all of the text on the page.