Instructor User Guide for EconPortal Modern Principles of ...courses.bfwpub.com/help/cowentabarrokecon2/Instructor/QuickStarts/... · Instructor User Guide for EconPortal Modern Principles

For technical support call 1-800-936-6899.

Instructor User Guide for EconPortal Modern Principles of Economics,

Second Edition

Cowen/Tabarrok


Table of Contents

Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 1

Online Help ............................................................................................................................... 1

System Requirements .............................................................................................................. 2

Adopting EconPortal ................................................................................................................. 2

Directing Your Students to Access EconPortal ........................................................................ 3

Logging in to the Course .......................................................................................................... 4

The EconPortal Home Page..................................................................................................... 5

Customizing Your Home Page and Course Environment ............................................................... 6

Adding a Course Description.................................................................................................... 6

Adding Contact Information, Syllabus and Profile .................................................................... 7

Customizing Your Home Page Layout ..................................................................................... 8

Setting the Time Zone .............................................................................................................. 9

Tab Setup ................................................................................................................................. 9

Quizzes and Assignments ............................................................................................................. 10

Using the Calendar ................................................................................................................. 11

Creating and Assigning Quizzes ............................................................................................ 11

Changing Possible Points for Test Bank Questions .............................................................. 14

Adding and Assigning Your Own Course Materials ............................................................... 13

The EconPortal eBook ........................................................................................................... 18

Customizing Your eBook with Notes ...................................................................................... 19

Rearranging eBook Chapters and Sections ........................................................................... 20

Student and Instructor Course Materials ................................................................................ 20

Gradebook ..................................................................................................................................... 21

Gradebook Export .................................................................................................................. 21

Course Mail .................................................................................................................................... 22

Getting Started with EconPortal for Cowen/Tabarrok

Modern Principles of Economics, 2e

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Overview

Welcome to EconPortal for Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok’s Modern Principles of Economics, Second Edition. EconPortal combines an array of instructor and student content with numerous assessment and course management tools. In this guide, we have outlined steps you can use to set up your course and get started quickly.

This guide is designed to get you into the course software, introduce you to the main features, and leave you comfortable enough to begin working in EconPortal on your own. After reading this guide, you will be able to:

Add a course description and contact information

Publish your syllabus

Design your home page

Set your course time zone

Assign a EconPortal resource

Create a quiz assignment

Create and assign additional course materials

Customize the eBook by adding notes, reordering chapters, and removing sections

Access EconPortal instructor resources

Use the EconPortal gradebook

Manage course mail

Online Help

For more details on using the many EconPortal features and tools, click the Help (?)button in the lower-left corner of the

EconPortal window. (Note: this online help system is available after you’ve logged in to EconPortal.) Want live help and training? Visit us at http://bfwtraining.webex.com/ to sign up for a live, Web-based training session. Sessions take about an hour and a trainer walks you through all of the tools and options below.

http://bfwtraining.webex.com/

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System Requirements

The following Web browsers are formally supported and tested for use with EconPortal:

Windows: Internet Explorer version v6.0 or above and Firefox version 1.0 or above.

Mac OS X: Firefox version 1.5 and above.

In addition, some EconPortal resources require Adobe Shockwave Player, Adobe Flash Player, Apple QuickTime (5.0 or above), RealPlayer (10 or higher), Java, or Adobe Acrobat (version 6 or above). The latest versions of these plug-ins can be downloaded free of charge from Adobe, Sun, or Apple Web sites.

To see which plug-ins you have installed and to find installers, go to the online help system and select the System Check link from the System Requirements section or go directly to http://courses.bfwpub.com/syscheck/ .

Note: To view some features of the Portal, you may need to turn off your browser’s pop-up blocker, and any pop-up blocker(s) in third-party toolbar(s) you may have added to your browser, such as the Google or Yahoo toolbar.

Adopting EconPortal

If you don’t yet have access to your own EconPortal course, take the following steps to begin your course activation process: 1. Go to the EconPortal

login page at http://courses.bfwpub.com/cowentabarrokecon2e.

2. Click the ADOPT EconPortal link. A form will pop up. Fill in all the requested information.

3. Click the Submit button at the bottom of the screen

4. Once you have completed these steps, the course will be delivered to you (via email) within 48 hours. You will receive all of the necessary information and instructions by email.

http://courses.bfwpub.com/syscheck/

http://courses.bfwpub.com/cowentabarrokecon2e


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Directing Your Students to Access EconPortal

Once you’ve set up your course, you will need to make sure your students know how to register and access your course. To get access to EconPortal, your students have two options:

1. Purchase an access card for EconPortal at the campus bookstore (either packaged with a printed textbook or by itself). Then go to http://youreconportal.com and select the Register Your Access Code link under “Students” towards the bottom left of the screen.

2. Purchase instant access to EconPortal online. Go to http://youreconportal.com and select the Purchase Online Access link under “Students” towards the bottom left of the screen. Find your course on the page and click the Purchase link next to it. Follow the directions on the screen.

We can provide you with an electronic handout/syllabus insert and PowerPoint slides to help explain the registration process to your students. We’ve also included the directions below for both options.

After Purchasing, Follow these Steps 1. Find the book you are using in

your course (listed below). 2. Click on “Register your Code”

beneath your textbooks title. NOTE: Be sure that you are registering for the right course (selecting the right textbook)! The textbook you select should match your access code cards.

3. Fill in the requested personal information to register for the course. When you registering, it’s always best to use your school (college/university) email address. This will better enable your instructor to communicate with you about assignments, announcements, etc.

4. During registration you’ll also be asked to follow the on-screen instructions to find your course. Start by selecting your school’s state/province, the school name, then your course/instructor, and/or selections. Make sure you are selecting the right course/section! The course title should list the class meeting times you use to verify that you are selecting the right course/section.

http://youreconportal.com/


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5. Click “Next” at the bottom of the page; confirm the information on the following screen, and click “Create Account” to complete the registration process. REMEMBER to write down your password! You’ll need to use this password every time you log-in.

Note: Students won’t be able to change their email address once they’ve registered, so they must choose an address that will be valid for the duration of the course.

Logging in to the Course

Both you and your students should go directly to http://courses.bfwpub.com/cowentabarrokecon2e to login to the EconPortal course. Supply your email address and password and click LOG IN. You can also always find your course by going to http://youreconportal.com.

If you or your students have trouble with a log-in id or password, call 1-800-936-6899 or contact technical support via email at [email protected].



5


The EconPortal Home Page

Once you’ve logged in, you will arrive on the home page. From here, you can access all the information, tools, and resources in EconPortal. As the instructor, you can customize this home page to match the needs of your class, as described below. If you customize the home page and/or other aspects of the Portal, they will not exactly match the screenshots you see in this guide.

From the home page, you will be able to:

Many parts of EconPortal look different to your students than they do to you as an instructor. To view your course from a student’s perspective, click the view as button in

the upper-left corner of the window. To subsequently return to your normal instructor-eye view of the course, click the view as button again.

Use tabs to go to specific pages of

the EconPortal course.

View info about you and your

course.

Add, edit, and view course announcements.

Jump to the gradebook,

course roster, and other course work

related pages.

Jump directly to a chapter of the eBook.

Search the entire Portal for a topic, or jump to a page or section.

Display online help.

Edit your user profile, forward course mail and

set system settings.

Log out.

View your course from a student’s

perspective.

Switch to a different section.

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Customizing Your Home Page and Course

Environment

EconPortal offers a number of tools for customizing your course environment. For example, you can enter a course description to appear at the top of the home page, upload or link to your course syllabus, customize the “components” available on your home page (in addition, some components are themselves customizable), and set the time zone for your course. We’ll cover these customization options here. For more options, check the online help.

Adding a Course Description

To add a course description that will appear at the top of your home page: 1. From the home page, click Customize Your Portal in the top-left corner of the window. 2. Click the link for Course description. 3. Enter your course

description. You can use the toolbar to format text, add links, and add pictures.

4. Click Submit Description. Your new description will be displayed. If you see a mistake, follow the same steps outlined above to make edits.

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Adding Contact Information, Syllabus and Profile

The Course Info component on your home page allows you to enter details about your course. Follow the steps below to set up your Course Info component. 1. From the home page, click the Edit icon for the Course Info component (see image below). 2. Supply or edit your course name, course/section code, your name, your contact information,

and your office hours. You can enter as much or as little information as you wish. 3. If you’ve posted

your syllabus on another website, you can enter a link to the syllabus in the Syllabus Link field or click the Upload button and follow the subsequent instructions to upload a syllabus document (e.g. a Word file) that your students can download.

4. Click the Update button back in the Course Info component when you’re done entering information.

When finished, your Course Info component display will be similar to the one shown to the right. The Preferences button on your home page allows you to personalize your Profile. An instructor’s profile is available to students when they view the roster of course users. Follow the steps below to set your user profile.

1. From your home page, click the Preferences button on the bottom of your screen.

2. Select the link for Personal Information from the Preferences screen.

3. Supply your Nickname (if you have one), internet home page (if you have one), your contact phone number and a descriptive About Me paragraph. You can also add a photo if you like.

4. Click the Save button when finished.

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Customizing Your Home Page Layout

You can customize the “components” available to you and your students on your course home page, depending on how you plan to use the Portal. Available home page components include:

Class Reports: This component allows you to display class statistics in a graphical format. You can display activities for mail messages, logins, grade distribution, recent discussion posts and submissions.

Course Info: This component contains information about your course, including your contact information and syllabus.

Course Work: This component includes links to access your course roster, manage students’ grades and record attendance, access the calendar, and other course work-related functions. Again, click the Edit button to change the available links.

Communicate: Includes links to the course mail tool and other communication tools (blogs, discussion forums, chat rooms, etc.) you plan to use in your course. To edit the links that show in your Communicate component, click the light gray Edit button in the upper-right corner of the component.

Announcements: Allows you to post class notices.

QuickStart: A quick introduction to your students on how to use EconPortal.

Assignments: Lists assignments due in the next 7 days.

Economist News Feed: Displays headline links to latest Economist News articles.

And many more: There are more than 20 available components. Try them out and see what you find useful for your course.

To add, delete, or change the arrangements of your home page components: 1. From your home page, select Customize Your Portal In the upper-left corner of the screen. 2. Select Home page layout from the Customize Your Portal page. 3. To add a component to your

home page, select it in the list and click the Add Component button. The item’s position defaults to the bottom of Column 1.

4. Drag and drop component(s) to rearrange the display on the home page. The number of columns is controlled by your placement of the components.

5. To remove a component, click

the small “ ” to the right of the component name in the layout.

6. Click the Save button when you’ve made your desired changes.

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Setting the Time Zone

The time zone function affects due dates, calendar dates, and other settings in the portal. By default, Portal courses are set to US Eastern Time. Follow the steps below to set the time zone for your course. 1. From your home page, select

Customize Your Portal. 2. Select Time zone settings from

the Customize Your Portal page. 3. Use the radio buttons to indicate

your time zone. 4. Click the Submit button to

complete the setting.

Tab Setup

At the top of the portal window are named tabs that jump to significant pages of the online course. You can modify these tabs and even create a new tab that links to a Web site. Options are also provided to control which tabs will be available to students. 1. From your home page,

select Customize Your Portal.

2. Select Tab setup from the Customize Your Portal page.

3. Click the about link for a description of the tab’s function.

4. Click the checkboxes to include or remove tabs from your course.

5. Rename the tabs by changing the text in the input fields.

6. Use the yes/no radio buttons to indicate whether or not each tab should be available to students.

7. Reorder the tabs using

the up down Move arrowheads.

8. For Custom tabs, you will be asked to supply a URL or content item to link to from the tab.

9. When you're done, click the Apply Changes button at the bottom of the page.

10. Click the Revert to Default Settings button to abandon changes.

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Quizzes and Assignments

In EconPortal, you have a wealth of activities, quizzes, quiz questions, and eBook content you can access to shape your course. You can also create assignments using your own content, which you can add to the course. Here, we’ll walk you through assigning an eBook chapter and creating a quiz. Note that anything in EconPortal can be assigned, using the procedures outlined here. 1. Select the

ASSIGNMENT CENTER tab at the top of the Portal. This takes you to the EconPortal Assignment Center.

2. From this page, you can set or reset due dates for quizzes and any other assignments you have specified. Note that EconPortal includes a “Lessons” folder in Course Materials with course materials organized around a typical course outline. If you choose to follow the basic course outline they would simply need to assign due dates to the items in the weekly lessons.

3. Click the Add an assignment button. 4. From the option to Assign an existing content item, select eBook & Study Center from the

content item drop-down and click go. (We’ll cover creating new assignments below.)

5. From the subsequent list, click the checkbox for the chapter you want to assign. You can actually select more than one chapter to assign, or click a chapter name to assign a specific item from the chapter, but we’ll keep it simple for now.

6. Click the Continue button at the bottom of the screen.

7. When the Add Assignment screen displays, set your desired due date. If you are not sure, approximate the date – you can change it later.

8. Click Save when finished. 9. Check back on the Assignment Center and you will see that your assignment has been

posted and will be visible to students.

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Using the Calendar

One convenient feature of EconPortal is that your assignments automatically appear on the Calendar: 1. From the Assignment Center, select the

link in the upper-right corner of the window to Go to calendar. (There is also a link to the Calendar from the Course Work component on the home page, and you can add a tab for the Calendar if you like.)

2. Locate and click on the assignment you want to look at. Note that you (or your students) are then taken directly to the assignment.

3. Return to the Calendar. 4. Hover your mouse over the assignment.

As the instructor, you can use the pop-up menu to edit the assignment.

5. Select Edit.

You will be directed into the settings for the selected assignment. There are many options available here. For example, you can send your students a reminder via Course Mail about the assignment 24 hours before it is due. Additional settings are described below; see the online help for complete information on item settings.

Important Note: You can also edit assignment settings by rolling over the assignment’s title in the Assignment Center and clicking the settings link that will appear there. Additionally, from the assigned content item itself, you can click the change settings link just under the item title.

Creating and Assigning Quizzes and Homework Question Sets

EconPortal comes with various sets of chapter question banks that can be used for quizzes and homework question sets that students can complete online. You can use the Assignment Center (accessed by clicking the “ASSIGNMENT CENTER” tab) to assign these and other assigments. You can add due dates for these quizzes, change gradebook settings, or modify delivery settings.

You can also create your own quizzes and homework questions sets by using questions from a bank of thousands of test questions that come with the portal, or by creating your own questions. The process for creating quizzes and homework question sets is very similar. Let’s take a walk through the process of creating one.

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1. Click on the ASSIGNMENT CENTER tab in the portal banner frame. The Assignment Center will be blank when you first get your course, but as you add assignments, they will be conveniently listed here for you and your students.

2. Click Add an assignment, then select Quiz or Homework Question Set from the Create a new assignment drop-down and click go.

3. To quickly create the assignment and start adding questions, enter the name and click Create Instant Quiz/Homework Question Set. You can come back to the Assignment Center later to set the due date and other settings (see below). To edit these settings before creating the quiz, you would click Create Quiz/Homework Question Set & Edit Settings.

4. Now that you will now be in the question picker. While you could add questions from the hundreds of provided questions in a question bank, try creating a question of your own for now. Under the Create your Own dialog box, use the drop-down to view your options. Select Multiple Choice and click go.

5. In the text field type the question, the answers, and assign points. For example if you used the question “What is 2 + 3?”, in the answer fields you would put 4, 5, 6, 7, and next to 5, you would put 1 point.

6. In General Feedback. For example, “See section 4.1 for review”.

7. Click Save. 8. Note that your new question will be listed on the right

side of the screen. 9. Now that you have created your own question you

may want to see what questions are available to you from the EconPortal Question Banks. These include all End-of-Chapter questions in multiple-choice format and a bank of Graphing Questions. Under Step 2 of From an Existing Question Bank, use the drop-down to specify the chapter you want the quiz questions to be from and click the go button. (You could also use the drop-down menu in Step 1 to choose a particular question bank, but for now leave this set to ALL QUESTIONS.)

10. Under Step 3. click

11. You have a lot of questions to choose from. Click the small blue triangles ( ) to preview the full questions and answers. Use the checkboxes to select some questions and click the Add Selected Items button. Current questions will be listed on the right side of the screen.

12. Selected questions can be edited by clicking the pencil icons ( ) and deleted by clicking the

( ) icons. Click the done adding questions link at the top of the screen when you have finished. Back at the Assignment Center, you will see your new quiz added. You can experiment and take the quiz. Click the Remove button associated with the quiz to Unassign it.

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You may also choose the “filter” questions based on the descriptors used such as difficulty and skill. To do so, repeat steps above through Step 3.

1. Click Filter Questions. Select filtering criteria to create a quick quiz pulling from “Easy” questions in the chapter related to the “Topic” of your choice.

2. Click Apply to see the filtered options appear.

Use the checkboxes to select some questions and click the Add Selected Items button. Current questions will be listed on the right side of the screen. Click the done adding questions link at the top of the screen when you have finished. The quiz will appear in the Assignment Center and you can set or change when it becomes available, it’s due date, and it’s gradebook points from there.

To help randomize the questions that a student receives in a quiz you have the option of creating question pool. This way you could create a small pool of similar problems and have one randomly selected to be included in the quiz, or you could create a large pool (up to 100 questions) and have a certain number randomly selected in order to generate the entire quiz. This ensures that no two students will receive exactly the same quiz. This is different depending on whether you are creating a quiz or a question set. For quizzes, repeat steps above through Step 3.

1. Click Add Randomly Selected Items. Create a question pool in your quiz with either 100 of the questions in the Question Bank or with items you have selected with the checkboxes (Your selected questions).

2. Then randomly select the number of questions from the pool to appear in your quiz each time a student re-takes the quiz.

3. Click Go and the pool will be added to your quiz.Current questions will be listed on the right side of the screen. Click the done adding questions link at the top of the screen when you have finished.

To create a question pool for a homework question set, select all the questions you want to include in your pool from the question bank / question chooser. Then click Add as a Question Pool and enter the number of questions from the pool you want included in the test.

Changing Settings on Homework Question Sets

From the Assignment Center, click on the homework question set you want to change. Click Modify next to the item you want to edit the settings of. This brings up the Edit Item Settings Menu.

From here you can change the item title, set the number of attempts students are allowed on the item, change the scoring weight for the item, set a time limit, or change the score calculation. The score calculation determines what score to use when a student makes multiple attempts. You can set it to be the first attempt, the last attempt, the best attempt, the average of all attempts, or grant full credit for attempting at least once.

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Changing Settings on Quizzes and other Assignments

You can access the settings for quizzes (as well as homework question sets and any other assignment) from the Assignments Center. Hover your mouse over the assignment you want to work with then click on the link for [settings] which appears to the right of the assignment name.

On the settings page you will notice tabs for a variety of different settings.

Summary lists the setting choices that have been made.

Content lets you change the title, subtitle, and directions for students.

Assignment lets you alter the due date and gradebook points the assignment is worth. You can set the number of attempts a student will have for the assignment.

Access lets you restrict an item so users cannot view it until you uncheck this box later.

For quizzes and homework question sets, you also have a tab labeled Delivery. Here you can set how many questions appear on the screen at a time and if you want to scramble the order the questions are presented in and/or the order the choices for each question. You can also set a time limit.

Changing Points and other Settings for Individual Questions

From the Assignment Center, click the quiz or homework set you want to change. For homework

question sets, you must then click Modify next to the question or question pool then click Edit

Question(s). At this point you will see the same question listing for either quizzes or homework

question sets. Click the pencil icon ( ) in front of the question you want to change the settings

for, for question pools, you may have to first click the small blue triangle ( ) to expand the

questions in the pool. This will activate the "question editor." From here you can change a variety

of settings including.

Allow try again mode to let students repeat the question or allow hints for the question

Set the difficulty the question will be listed as in the question bank

Change the desired number of points for the question. Note: Be sure to check the box

“re-grade submissions” if you want the changes to affect students who have already

taken the quiz.

Set the feedback given to students after they answer the question.

Changing the points for a question may differ depending on question type. In many types you

can assign a point value to each answer. For multiple choice this means that you can set some

answers that give students partial credit. For example, if your question was “What is the square

root of 4?” you might give half points for “2”, or “-2,” no points for “1.5” and full points for “+/-2.”

For multiple select, matching, and ordering this means that each element can be set to give a

portion of the points for the question. For example, you could create a multiple select asking

students to identify

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Graphing Questions

EconPortal provides graphing questions as a part of the question banks for your quizzes. Students will first use the multi-point line tool to plot the information given to them on the graph.

Then, in order to receive points, students must label their line by selecting it and clicking the appropriate label in the lower right corner (in this case “Demand”).

Adding and Assigning Your Own Course Materials

You may add your own content to several different sections of the EconPortal, including the Assignment Center the Course Materials area and the eBook. This enables you to easily and quickly customize the Portal (and even the eBook) to match your course.

Follow the steps below to add your own content to EconPortal. In this example, we will assign a website for students to visit. 1. Go to the Assignment Center (click the

ASSIGNMENT CENTER tab). 2. Click the Add an assignment button. 3. Use the Create a new assignment drop-down

to select CHOOSE FROM A MENU OF ALL ITEM TYPES. Click the go button.

4. Click Link to create a link to another Web site. 5. On the Content tab of the New Link settings

supply a link name – Psych Link. At the bottom of the Content tab supply a Link URL. Click the Assignment settings tab. Set a due date. Since web links cannot be scored, make sure “Include item in Gradebook” is not checked.

6. Click Save when finished. 7. Go back to the Assignments screen and/or the

Calendar screen. You will see your newly created Web link within both areas.

Label options here. Students must select the appropriate label to receive points.

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To add content to the Course Materials area, click the Course Materials tab, then click the Add a new content item button. From the eBook chapter listing, or from any eBook chapter folder, you will see a link near the top of the window to “add content.” Clicking these buttons and links will bring you to the same menu of content items you just accessed from the Assignment Center. See the online help for descriptions of all the different types of content items you can add (e.g. discussion forums, drop boxes, and multi-part lessons).

Altering a Due Date for an Individual Student

Sometimes a student will have a legitimate reason to miss a deadline and you will want to grant them an extension without altering the due date for the rest of the class.

1. Go to the Assignments Center by clicking on the Assignment Center tab from any page in the portal.

2. Click the drop down box near the top and select the student you want to make an exception for.

3. Click on the due date for the assignment you want to change and input the new due date.

Reviewing Student Submissions and Assignment Reports

You may find yourself wanting to review individual student assignments or quizzes. For some assignments, such as essays or essay questions on quizzes, you will have to review and grade them yourself. To do so, find the assignment in the Assignment Center, then click the Grade button next to it. You will be given the option to manually enter grades for the assignment or view submissions. You can click View Submissions to be taken to the submissions page for that assignment. From here you can view individual student assignments and grade them question by question or essay by essay. Alternatively, you can manually click Enter Grades to be taken to the EconPortal tool for manually entering grades by assignment, which is ideal for assignments completed offline.

To review overall class performance rather than student-by-student EconPortal has a variety or report tools. From the Assignment Center click the Report button next to the assignment you want to review. From here you can see the grade distribution as a table, a stem and leaf plot, or a historgram as well as a table of individual student results showing when and if they completed the assignment and what their grade was. For quizzes, you can also see view the item report to see results broken down question by question.

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LearningCurve

LearningCurve is an adaptive activity to help students solidify their understanding and retention of the course material while providing instructors with information about which areas students are strong in and where they need improvement. Students complete the activity by answering questions from a specific chapter in the eBook until they have accumulated the target activity

score. If students answer questions incorrectly, they are given additional questions until the target activity score is reached. After each question is answered students are given feedback about the correct answer and a link to the section in the textbook covering the topic. For more information about how LearningCurve works and what its features are, you can access the Frequently-Asked Questions from any individual LearningCurve activity.

To assign LearningCurve activities, click on the LearningCurve Tab from any page. For each chapter click Assign to set a due date and point value in the gradebook for that chapter’s LearningCurve activity. Keep in mind that points are only for completion. As long as a student correctly answers enough questions to

reach the target activity score, they will receive full credit for the assignment.

From here you can also click on the chapter title to review the LearningCurve activity. This allows the instructor to preview the activity as a student, change the target score, and access the Frequently-Asked Questions page.

After students complete a LearningCurve activity, they get feedback on the percentage of questions they answered correctly for each topic within the chapter. This way they have a better sense of what areas they need to focus their studies on.

Finally, as an instructor, you can click Report to access a class performance report for each chapter. You can review either overall class performance in each topic area or individual student performance and completion. This can be useful because it helps instructors identify which students are struggling with the material as well as identify which topics the class as a whole is finding challenging. For example, a teacher can assign a chapter and the LearningCurve activity that goes with it before their lecture and use the class performance report to help them focus their lecture on the areas that the students had the most trouble with.

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Instructor and Student Resources

Now let’s review the resources available to you and your students in EconPortal.

The EconPortal eBook

The EconPortal eBook is a complete online version of Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok’s Modern Principles of Economics, Second Edition.

To open the eBook’s table of contents, click the EBOOK tab at the top of the page. From there, select the chapter where you want to go. You can also jump directly to a chapter by selecting it from the eBook drop-down list from the Quick Start component on the home page:

Once you’re in the eBook, use the navigation pane (on the left) and the Previous and Next buttons to get around a chapter or to go to another chapter. Use the Search box in the upper-right corner of the window to jump to the eBook section corresponding to a given printed page, or use it to find information on any given topic.

Use the Navigation Pane to jump to a

chapter or section.

Type a term to search for, or enter a page or section number, then click Go.

Use Previous and Next to cycle through the sections.

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Click the eBook Tools link on each eBook page to access the eBook bookmarking, glossary, and note tools. Double-clicking any phrase in the eBook will highlight the phrase.

Customizing Your eBook with Notes

Notes are one of the most powerful features of the eBook. Both you and your students can add notes to any eBook section. And best of all, you can set up notes for your students to see when they log in to the Portal. Top notes will always appear at the top of the page, whereas sticky notes can be moved to anywhere on the page. To add a note: 1. When looking at any page in the

ebook, click eBook Tools. From the resulting pop-up, click Add a Sticky Note or Add a Top Note.

2. Type in your note. 3. If you want your students to see this

note, choose Public from the drop-down menu above the note text. “Private” notes will not be visible to your students.

4. Click SAVE. If you designated the note as public, your students will automatically see the note on this section the next time they log in. (Students can also add their own notes to each section; their notes will show up right above yours in their “copy” of the eBook.)

Click this…

…to open the eBook Tools menu.

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Rearranging eBook Chapters and Sections

You can easily rearrange the chapters in your course’s copy of the eBook to match the order in which you will cover topics in your course. To do so, follow these steps: 1. Click the EBOOK tab at the top of the

Portal to see the eBook table of contents.

2. Click the rearrange link just under the eBook title.

3. Drag and drop the chapters in the subsequent screen to reorder them.

4. Click Save when finished.

To delete a chapter entirely, click the EBOOK tab again to view the table of contents, roll your mouse over the chapter you want to delete, and click the delete link that will appear under the chapter title. From the subsequent screen, choose the first link Delete This Folder and confirm that you really want to delete the specified item.

Note: it is difficult to get an eBook chapter back after it has been deleted. If you are not sure you want to permanently delete a chapter, you can use the “Do not allow users to view this item” setting (under Settings, Access) rather than deleting it.

You can use these same procedures to rearrange and/or delete individual sections within a chapter.

You can also add new content items (e.g. web links, uploaded documents, or pages you write from scratch right in the Portal) anywhere in the eBook. To do so, navigate to the folder where you want to add the item (i.e. in the top-level folder of the eBook if you want to add content between chapters, or in a chapter folder if you want to add content between sections of a chapter), click the add content link under the folder title, and follow the steps outlined in the “Adding and Assigning Your Own Course Materials” section above. New items will be placed at the bottom of the folder. Rearrange the items, as described above, to move them into place.

Student and Instructor Course Materials

Study tools such as flashcards and Self-Test Quizzes are available to your students. You (but not your students) can also access instructor-specific resources, such as PowerPoint slides, and Solutions Manuals. 1. From anywhere in the Portal, select the tab for COURSE MATERIALS. 2. Use the drop-downs to select the

category of materials you’re looking for and select a chapter. Click the go button.

3. A menu of materials matching your selected criteria is presented.

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Gradebook

The EconPortal Gradebook functions much like gradebooks in other learning management systems such as Blackboard, WebCT, and Angel. See below for an overview of the gradebook options; consult the online help for more information.

Gradebook Export

Use the Gradebook Export option to backup your Gradebook and/or to create a file that can be used to populate a spreadsheet or the gradebook in another course management system. Follow the steps below to export your Gradebook to a CSV (comma separated value) file. 1. From the Gradebook, click the Other

Gradebook functions menu at the top of the window and choose Export Grades.

2. Use radio buttons to select Comma Separated format for the export file. Optionally, include Averages, Course ID and select the Percentage or Points output format.

3. Click Export to finish. You will be prompted to save the file with the default file name gradebook.csv.

Additional function such as gradebook setup, preferences,

import, and export are available from this menu.

Access your course roster, groups, and

attendance manager from these links.

Click this button for a printable version of your

gradebook.

Students are listed in rows;

assignments are listed in columns.

Click a column heading to get a menu of options for an assignment or assignment

category.

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Course Mail

EconPortal includes its own email system for communicating with your students and others in your course. To access your course mail, click Inbox in the Communicate component of your home page. (Or click Compose to jump directly into writing an email.)

As noted above, you can use the “Assignment Reminder” function to have EconPortal automatically send an email to all your students a certain number of hours before an assignment is due. This email will go to their course mail inbox. Posts to discussion forums can also be sent directly to students’ (and instructors’) course mail inbox.

Note: your course mail will be automatically forwarded to the email address you use to sign in

to the portal. To change your email forwarding address, click the Preferences button in the sidebar on the left of your screen. Click System Settings, page down to Mail Settings and enter the email address to forward your mail to at the bottom of the page. Select a forwarding mode, and click Save. When you reply to forwarded course mail, the reply is sent through the outside email associated with the sender, not through the course mail system.

Your Course Mail inbox will look like this:

Select a folder to view.

Click to write an email to send.

Set email options.

Delete selected emails.

Enter text and click Search Folder to find

emails containing the given text.

Click to view email.

Filter emails shown in list.

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To send an email, click Compose (from either the Course Mail page or the home page). Click Add Recipients and add course members to the To, CC, or BCC lists, then click OK. Type the subject and email text, then click Send.

Your Compose Message screen will look like this:

Click here to select recipients

from a course list.

Use the inline editor to format

text, run the spell-checker, or

add links.

Click here to attach a file to the message.

Click to send.

Documents

Instructor User Guide for EconPortal Modern Principles of ...courses.bfwpub.com/help/cowentabarrokecon2/Instructor/QuickStarts/... · Instructor User Guide for EconPortal Modern Principles