LMS Training

There are many features in the LMS.  There is more training including training videos on the LMS under the Help Menu.

Communities

The community link is found on the top navigation bar of the BISOS LMS Homepage. A community is a group or team of people who get together for a common cause. Some common communities may be student groups or organizations, ministry interests, hobbyists, or any number of others.

Communities may be Public or Private depending on their type. Public means anyone with access to BISOS LMS (any member of the BISOS students, faculty or staff). Private means that you must receive an invitation by the community organizer to join the group.

Grades

Instructors are able to post your grades to BISOS LMS for you to view whenever you like. Clicking the “Grades” icon on the top navigation bar brings you to the Grades page where you can review all of the grades posted by your instructor for each of your courses. Instructors may or may not choose to use this feature, and if you do not see a grade posted that you believe should be, contact your instructor.

Contacts

The contacts section of BISOS works just like an address book; you can add/remove contacts and search for specific contacts with the search button.

Adding Contacts

You can add contacts by clicking on the “Member Directory” link next to the search box or on the left navigation bar. From here, you can either search for a specific name, or browse alphabetically by last name. When you find a contact, click on their name and select their relation to you through the “Add As” drop-down box.

Searching and Sorting Contacts

Once you have added some contacts, you can search and sort them by using the tools on the main, ”Contacts,” page. You can select to only show people of a certain relation you or you can search for a specific name in the search box. You can remove contact by clicking on the “Manage Contacts” button and then clicking “Remove” underneath the contact’s name.

Blog

A blog is a great way to share your experiences and ideas. BISOS LMS offers an internal blogging system that allows you to easily share amongst your instructors and peers and also makes it easy for you to follow along with them as well.

Creating a Blog

After clicking the blog icon on the top navigation bar, click on the New Post link to create a new blog post. This will bring you to the new post page where you can create a new blog post using a standard editor. Before submitting your post, add some tags/keywords to make it easier for users to find your blog. Be sure to also select whether you want your post to actually be published at that moment or saved as a draft for later submission.

Blog Directory

The blog directory is a collection of all the blogs on BISOS LMS. Latest blog posts are displayed on the main page of the directory and you can browse through the current bloggers on the left side of the main window. When you find a post you are interested in, you can comment on the blog posting by clicking on the Comments link at the bottom of the post.

If you liked the post, be sure to add the blogger to your contacts, this will make it easier for you to find more of their posts in the future.

Calendar

The BISOS LMS calendar will display all events that are scheduled through BISOS LMS. Any courses that have posted calendar events will have them all consolidated here. The calendar is a powerful tool to aid in keeping track of a busy schedule.

Navigating the Calendar

To change your calendar view, click on one of the five view options at the top of the calendar window. If there is a specific view that you prefer, click on it and select “Save Current View as Default.” That way, the current view you are using will be what automatically appears whenever you go to your calendar. You can move forward and backward in the calendar by clicking either the << button to move backward or the >> to move forwards.

Adding Calendar Events

To add calendar events, click on the “add” link on the day you would like to add the event to. This will bring you to the “New Calendar Item” page. You can add a title, details, start and end time, and decide whether the event occurs only once or every day/week/month.

Help

If you are having trouble using BISOS LMS, click on the Help button on the top navigation bar. This will bring you to the main student and faculty help page where you will find a wealth of additional information including tutorial videos, suggestions, and helpful resources.

Submit a Help Ticket for BISOS LMS

If you are still having difficulty, a help ticket may be the best option. To open a ticket, click the User Help Desk tool on the Help page and click the New Help Ticket link.

Once you are logged in, you will be on your Homepage

To enter a course page, click the “Courses” link on the Top Navigation Bar. From the courses page you can either search for a course in which you are registered by typing in the search area and clicking the search button, or you may scroll through your courses. Once you find the course you are looking for, click the link to enter the course.

Course Navigation Bar

The course navigation bar links you to all of the tools available in the course. These tools may be arranged in a different order for each course, and may or may not contain all the same tools. This navigation section is designed by the instructor of each individual course. The Home link on this navigation bar will always bring you back to the course home page.

Instructor

The instructor section displays an image of the course instructor if he or she has provided one. You may also click the Profile link for more detailed information about your instructor, or the Contact link in order to send the instructor an e-mail message.

Course Roster

The course roster displays images of the instructor and fellow classmates. You can click on a name or image to view the person’s profile, add them as a contact, view their blog, or contact them via e-mail.

About this Course

If the instructor has designed the Course Home Page to show more information about the course, it will be listed under the About This Course heading. Not all instructors will provide this information

Syllabus

Here you will find a course overview including expectations and attendance policies, test dates, grading policy, require texts, software or other require supplied. In many cases you will also find the complete teaching outline here.

The syllabus is the key to your personal course management.

Here is the summary of various tools that you will find on the BISOS LMS

Discussion

The discussion link allows for course dialog among instructors, teaching assistants and students in a threaded manner. To access discussion from within a course, click the Discussion tool on the course navigation bar, or by opening the appropriate discussion forum from within a lesson item.

Lessons

The lesson tool is used by the instructor to assign the student an action step or sequence of action steps to complete a set of objectives which tie into a unit, chapter, or phase of instruction. These action steps may request the student to perform tasks such as reading documents, viewing video clips, listening to audio files, watching a power point presentation, submitting an assignment, or contributing to a discussion.

Dropbox

The dropbox is the area where students share their digital files with their instructors. The instructor sets up designated dropboxes in one of two methods:

1. One dropbox per student
2. One dropbox per assignment

You can access dropboxes by clicking the dropbox tool on the course navigation bar, or by opening the appropriate dropbox from within a lesson item.

You may also send a note to the instructor with the file(s) you submit by typing in the notes area before clicking Submit.

NOTE:

1. The instructor controls how many submissions you may be allowed per dropbox
2. If the instructor leaves feedback with a submission, you must reopen the dropbox to view the comments.

Resources

Resources are groups of digital information files the instructor makes available for your use. To access course resources, click the resources tool on the course navigation bar or open the appropriate resources folder from within a lesson item.

In order to open resource files, you must have the corresponding program. For example, a .PDF file requires a program such as Adobe Reader. WMV files require a program such as Windows Media Player, or VLC Media Player. If you are having trouble opening a file in your class resources, check its file extension first. Usually a quick search of the extension name can tell you what program is needed to open the file.

Surveys

Surveys are another type of course material your instructor may choose to utilize. They may be accessed by clicking the survey tool or by opening the appropriate survey from within a lesson item. Most surveys are anonymous, if in doubt and you believe your response should remain anonymous, ask your instructor to clarify the settings on the survey.

Wiki / Glossary

The Wiki / Glossary may be used in several ways. You may find this is a resource in which the instructor has loaded course specific terms and their definitions, or the instructor may assign students to develop the course Wiki / Glossary as a portion of their individual or group work. The Wiki / Glossary may be accessed by selecting the Wiki tool on the course navigation bar or by opening the appropriate resources folder from within a lesson item.

Always cite source information properly when adding to the Wiki / Glossary!

Chat

The chat tool offers real-time communication which may be used by individuals in a course if the instructor has made this tool available. To access Chat, select the chat tool on the course navigation bar or open the appropriate link from within a lesson’s action item.

You can review past chat logs by clicking the Chat tool, entering the date of the chat, and clicking the Show Logs button.

NOTE:

1. Chat content does not get removed when users exit the room.
2. DO NOT consider chat private. Logs are kept of all chats.
3. Read the Chat Room Etiquette Resource. DO NOT verbally abuse, attack, embarrass, or threaten anyone else in the chat room no matter what they might say to you.

Groups

The groups tool provides an area used for Group work. Groups may have their own discussions, resources and calendar. These tools allow your group to meet virtually in the discussion area, post shareable digital files with your group and even make sure the whole group knows the deadlines by using the group calendar. Groups can be accessed by selecting the groups tool on the course navigation bar. You may use the discussion and calendar tools in the same fashion as for the course equivalents of these tools.

Tests

To access tests, select the tests tool on the course navigation bar, or open the test as part of a lesson item. If BrowserLock is enabled, you will be unable to begin the assessment without the proper software installed.

NOTES:

• Ensure that you click both the Start Test, and the Confirm Start buttons when beginning your test
• Make sure to read any instructions listed at the top of the test and note the time limit.
• Be sure to save progress often and save if you must leave the test without finishing.
• When you have completed the test, click the Finish Test button
• Make sure to also click the CONFIRM FINISH button to submit your test.