SCD/VLN How to's

The virtual Learning Network (VLN) is the MOE organisation that supports collaboration between schools using technology. The VLN website acts as a brokerage for schools wishing to collaborate in this way.

Purpose of the website
The VLN website is designed to co-ordinate or broker the provision of virtual learning in New Zealand schools. To do this it has information about:


 * participating schools
 * participating teachers
 * classes that are available for enrollment
 * learners
 * timetables

Who can do what on the VLN website?
The various tasks that can be acomplished on the VLN website have been assigned to different roles, which are explained below. Note that these roles are apply to the website only and may be different from those that exist in your school or cluster.


 * within the context of a cluster of schools


 * Administrator


 * within the context of a school


 * Administrator. Administrators can add other users and assign roles to them as well as all the abilities that teachers have.
 * Teacher. Teachers can add courses, teach courses and also edit the details of their own course as it is displayed on the VLN
 * Student - for learners. Students can be enrolled on courses, but not teach them
 * Co-ordinator - E-Dean. This role is functionally the same as an administrator but with a different title.  This means that schools can choose to have role names on the VLN matching the real name of the role in a school.

Logging on to the VLN website
Go to http://www.vln.school.nz and login using your credentials. These will have been supplied in advance to site co-ordinators. If your VLN account has the same email address as a google account that you may own, then it is also possible to login using your google credentials.

Site Co-ordinators - adding other users
Site Co-ordinators are in charge of VLN accounts for their school. This means they need to add accounts for teachers and for learners. Accounts can be added either individually or by a bulk upload.

Adding users individually
Once you have logged on:


 * find the 'Click to add a new widget' text and click on it.
 * Choose the 'your providers' item. It should return a box with the name of your school in it.
 * Click on the name of your school.
 * Find the 'Manage people' item and click on it.
 * Then complete the form that appears


 * The following notes will be useful when completing the form
 * NSN Number settings. All learners - both Primary and Secondary have a unique NSN. If you enter the correct NSN, the site will automatically populate some of the form fields for you. This will save you work - have the NSNs handy! Teaching staff do not have a NSN so this stage can be omitted for teachers.
 * Username. All users are created a unique vln username with the format nz, first initial, last name, digits in case of duplicates. For example, a person called John Doe would have the username nzjdoe. Another person of the same name would then be assigned the username nzjdoe1 etc. These usernames will be unique for the 'school career' of the learner and their details do not have to be entered every year.
 * Password. This needs to be at least six characters long. The VLN is investigating being able to synchronise passwords with those that exist in a school.
 * Email settings. First and foremost, the address needs to be one that the learner uses, and has access to at school. If a gmail address is chosen, then the learner can login using their google credentials - one less password to remember!
 * If at any point a red screen appears - don't worry - it should disappear quickly


 * Click the submit button at the bottom of the page.
 * Choose the role of the new person


 * The following notes will be useful when choosing the role of the new person
 * General - the roles are contextualised to your school/provider. This means that selecting 'Administrator' will make the user an administrator of your school only.
 * Administrator
 * Teacher. Teachers can teach courses and also edit the details of their own course as it is displayed on the VLN
 * Student - for learners. Students can be enrolled on courses, but not teach them
 * Co-ordinator - E-Dean
 * Co-ordinator - E-Dean


 * Click 'Add Role'. You will get confirmation that the user has successfully been added to the VLN.

What is bulk upload and why is it useful?
Bulk upload allows the school administrator / co-ordinator to upload many users at once. The advantage of using bulk upload is that it will save you time if you have to add more than a few (5 or so) users at once. Bulk upload also allows you to review the information for each user more easily and so prevent mistakes. The disadvantage of bulk upload is that it is more complex than adding users one at a time and may require you to learn a few new skills.

Bulk upload Procedure

 * Gather the information required for each user
 * Put the information in a spreadsheet as follows:


 * It is very important that you lay out the spreadsheet as indicated above, including the column headings
 * A spreadsheet blank of the above email can be found on the VLN website.
 * Please try and include the NSN (for learners only).
 * The email address should be valid and one which is used - preferably in school.
 * Once you have checked that the information is correct, save it as a comma separated value (csv) file. If you downloaded the example template file, jus clicking save should work.
 * Once you have checked that the information is correct, save it as a comma separated value (csv) file. If you downloaded the example template file, jus clicking save should work.

Site Co-ordinators - adding a course and assigning a teacher to it
instructions here

Site Co-ordinators -enrolling students on a course
instructions here

Site Co-ordinators - updating your provider details
instructions here