Creating schedules

To create a schedule:

1. Click Administration :
   • If you wish to create a schedule for a participant, select Participants
   • If you wish to create a schedule for a group of participants, select Groups
2. Highlight the participant or group you wish to create a schedule for and either from the Participants or Group folder, select Schedule
3. In the Options tab, specify the assessment delivery method from the choices available

These delivery methods are described in the following table

For more information on these delivery options, please refer to Delivering

4. In the Assessments tab, specify the assessment you wish to schedule
5. In the Schedule tab, enter a name for the schedule and specify any required schedule constraints

For example, you can specify that the assessment can only be taken a certain amount of times, or that it can only be taken between certain dates. In the above screenshot, we have specified that:

• The schedule is named 'Year 9 End of Year Geography Quiz'
• The assessment can be taken by participants up to 3 times
• The time limit is as specified by the assessment author
• There is no set period of days within which participants are allowed to re-take the assessment
• The assessment can only be taken between 8th May 2008 and 9th May (48 hours)
• The assessment does not require monitoring

Viewing and editing schedules

To view and edit the details of a schedule you have already created:

1. Click Administration | Schedules. A list of every schedule in the repository will be displayed

2. Select the schedule you wish to view or edit and select Edit from the Schedules window

If the relevant schedule is not displayed, you can search for it by using the Participant filter and Group filter boxes. Use the drop-down boxes to customize your search and click search to filer the list of schedules

3. View and edit the schedule as appropriate. Click Finish to update the schedule

Using Email Broadcast

There are three types of email broadcast:

• Participant Announcements - Sends an email to participants, selected either individually or by group
• New Schedule - Sends an email to all participants assigned to a particular schedule
• Schedule Reminder - Sends an email to all participants assigned to a particular schedule who have one or more assessment attempts remaining

To send an email broadcast to participants:

1. Open the Email Broadcast feature

If you are creating a schedule and tick the Email broadcast box, the Email Broadcast feature will be displayed when you click Finish. Alternatively, if you have already created a schedule and want to send an email broadcast, you can select Email Broadcast from the Administration screen to display the Email Broadcast feature.

2. Select the type of email broadcast you require

3. In the To... tab, enter the email address you wish the email broadcast to be sent from, and specify the participants you want to send the email broadcast to
4. In the Email body... tab, enter the email title and the content of the email you wish to send

You can construct the email content by typing directly into the text box and also by inserting Merge fields. These are place-holders that will be converted to meaningful text when the email is sent or previewed. Some merge fields will be replaced by exactly the same text for every recipient of a particular email broadcast, whilst other merge fields will be replaced by text that is different for each participant to whom the email is sent. Merge fields are a very useful way of including important participant information, such as the participant name, their password, and the Perception Server URL. 

To insert a Merge field, simply select it from the Merge fields: drop-down box.

5. Click Preview to ensure the email is addressed and formatted correctly
6. If you are happy with the email, click Send. Emails to the appropriate participants will be sent immediately