ARCHIVED: Using Turning Technologies and Oncourse, how can I manage student data?

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Important:
Oncourse is retired. For details, see ARCHIVED: About the Oncourse retirement.

Note: UITS recommends that you download TurningPoint 5 before using response devices in class; see below. If you have not yet upgraded your software, use the automatic participant list (the Integrations method) to upload your data.

These instructions include multiple routes to accomplish the same tasks; you do not need to use every section. Whether you begin an import or export step from within Oncourse or within the TurningPoint software is a matter of preference, and does not affect the outcome.

On this page:

Introduction

If your students are using Turning Technologies student response devices (clickers) in your class, you can export the scores that students earn in class to the Oncourse Gradebook. Before completing these steps, download the appropriate software, either from IUware (see links below) or from the Turning Technologies website. Choose from:

Note: TurningPoint AnyWhere is available as part of the TurningPoint 5 software linked above, rather than separately, as with previous versions.

Presentation files created with previous versions of the software will be automatically converted to the format used by TurningPoint 5 the first time you open them in the new software. To ensure that everything works properly, UITS recommends opening older files within TurningPoint 5 before class.

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Importing a participant list

Considerations before you import

You can import your class roster from Oncourse into TurningPoint 5 prior to polling your students. Oncourse creates a participant list (a .tplx file) that will match students with their clickers as they are answering your questions. Alternatively, you can skip this step and allow the TurningPoint software to generate an automatic participant list with the device IDs of students present in class. When you upload the scores to Oncourse, the device IDs will then be matched with the names of students who have registered their devices in your class. Note the following:

  • The .tplx file generated from a combined Oncourse site includes students in all sections of a course. If you have multiple sections in a combined course that you wish to track separately, you may want to use the automatic participant list instead. If you do use the .tplx file, you will need to save the session data for each session separately, and then merge them before uploading to Oncourse. See instructions below.
  • You may wish to use the .tplx file if you want to generate more detailed reports within the TurningPoint 5 software, since the .tplx file contains the students' names. Using the automatic participant list will result in reports with only device IDs; responses will only be linked to students' names within Oncourse, not TurningPoint.
  • If you intend to upload scores from a spreadsheet instead of directly from TurningPoint 5, use the .tplx file.

You can import a participant list either from within Oncourse (normal method) or from within TurningPoint 5 (Integrations method).

Note: In TurningPoint 5 with Mac OS X, you may encounter problems using the Integrations method if one or more student names contain an apostrophe. In this case, use the normal method (from within Oncourse).

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Importing a participant list from Oncourse (normal method)

  1. From the menubar of your Oncourse course site, click Turning Technologies.
  2. Click Download TurningPoint Participant List. When prompted, save the resulting file to your desktop (or another location you will remember).
  3. Open the TurningPoint 5 software.
  4. At the top of the window, click the Manage tab.
  5. Click the Participant List drop-down menu.
  6. Click Import.
  7. Make sure that the TurningPoint Participant List radio button is selected and click Choose File...
  8. Locate your course participant list, select it, and click Open. The participant list will then appear on the left side of the window.

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Importing a participant list from TurningPoint 5 (Integrations method)

  1. From the TurningPoint 5 Dashboard (when you first open the software), click the Manage tab at the top of the window.
  2. Click the Participant List drop-down menu, and select New.
  3. Choose the Download from Integration radio button, and click Create List.
  4. For "Integration", select Sakai. For the "Server Address", type: 
      https://oncourse.iu.edu
    For "Username" and "Password", type in your IU username and passphrase.
  5. Click Connect.
  6. Check the boxes next to the classes for which you want to download the participant list.
  7. Click Import.
  8. You will receive a message saying that TurningPoint has successfully imported your participant lists. Click Ok. The participant list will then appear on the left side of the window.

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Polling

To collect clicker data in class:

  1. Run your Microsoft PowerPoint slide show using the PowerPoint section of TurningPoint 5, or ask questions with the TurningPoint AnyWhere section of TurningPoint 5.
  2. Before leaving the classroom, save your session data. If you are using a classroom computer, be sure to save this file onto removable media.
    • To do so in PowerPoint, click the Save button from the TurningPoint Ribbon and select Save Session.
    • To do so in AnyWhere Polling, click the gear icon, go down to the Session submenu, and click Save Session.

    The session file will have a .tpzx extension. (You will also be prompted to save, if you haven't already, when you quit the software.)

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Exporting results to Oncourse

Merging files (for multiple sections using the .tplx file as the participant list only)

If your class consists of multiple sections that do not meet at one time and place, you need to save the session file of each class meeting as a separate .tpzx file. If you use the automatic participant list, or if your class consists of only one section, skip to one of the following sections.

If you exported your Oncourse roster, and you have multiple sections, first merge the various .tpzx files from each section into a single file:

  1. From the Dashboard of TurningPoint 5, select the Manage tab at the top.
  2. Click the Session drop-down menu, and then click Merge.
  3. Check the boxes next to the session files you want to merge together, choose the radio button to Merge by Questions and Participants, and click Merge.
  4. Save the file with an identifiable filename.
  5. A pop-up window will ask whether you want to add the newly merged session back to that course's participant list. Select Add to Participant List.

Then follow the instructions in one of the following sections.

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Importing scores from a spreadsheet (normal method)

  1. Before class, import a participant list as described above. After class, save your session file as a .tpzx file as usual.
  2. From the TurningPoint 5 Dashboard, click Manage at the top.
  3. Click the participant list name for the class for which you want to export data.
  4. At the bottom right of the window, click Results Manager.
  5. You'll see all of the sessions you have run with that participant list along the top of the window. Click the name of the session for which you want to generate a report.
  6. Click the Export drop-down menu at the top of the window, and choose Session.
  7. In the Select a Scheme drop-down menu, choose Sakai, and then click Save.
  8. Give the file an identifiable name and click Save. TurningPoint 5 will save the report as a .csv file, which will open in Excel.
  9. Exit the TurningPoint 5 software, locate the exported .csv file on your computer, and open it.
  10. Change the column title of Username to Student ID, and save the file.
  11. See ARCHIVED: Importing grades from a spreadsheet to upload the scores to Oncourse.

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Exporting to Oncourse from within TurningPoint (Integrations method)

  1. Before class, import a participant list as described above. After class, save your session file as a .tpzx file as usual.
  2. From the TurningPoint 5 Dashboard, click Manage at the top.
  3. Click the participant list name for the class for which you want to export data directly into Oncourse.
  4. At the bottom right of the window, click Results Manager.
  5. You'll see all the sessions you have run with that participant list along the top of the window. Click the name of the session for which you want to create a Gradebook item in Oncourse.
  6. At the top of the window, click Integrations.
  7. For "Integration", select Sakai. For the "Server Address", type: 
      https://oncourse.iu.edu
    For "Username" and "Password", type in your IU username and passphrase.
  8. Click Connect.
  9. Click the radio button next to Export Session(s).
  10. Select the sessions for which you would like to create Gradebook items, and click Export.
  11. TurningPoint will tell you that it is about to begin the export process and should not be stopped once it has begun. Click Export.
  12. You will receive a message saying that TurningPoint has successfully exported your sessions to Sakai. Click Ok.

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This is document ayyw in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 16:39:42.