InterLearn Documentation For Students
How to access your InterLearn materials
InterLearn materials are located with the my.monash portal at
the following address:
http://my.monash.edu.au/interactive/interlearn/INSERT_UNITCODE/
For example, the InterLearn materials for the unit ABC1234 Teaching
Studies A would be http://my.monash.edu.au/interactive/interlearn/ABC1234/.
You will need to login to the portal using your AuthCate username and
password. (If you are not sure what your AuthCate username and/or password
is please refer to http://www.monash.edu.au/students/computer/).
Using InterLearn
InterLearn navigation
At the top of every InterLearn page the following links will appear to enable you to navigate easily
throughout the materials. These links should always be used in place of
the browser's Back and Forward buttons.
If your InterLearn unit includes a discussion forum and/or a news
board two additional links will appear.
interlearn home
This screen provides a linear view of all of the InterLearn materials
for the unit. A sample is reproduced below. The materials are separated
into modules, which are represented by the main headings. Your lecturer
may choose to provide a description of the module. If so, this will appear
above a bullet list of the sections within the module. Click on one of
the links in the bullet list to go to the section.
![Reproduction of partial [interlearn home] screen](/interlearn/img/module_sv.gif)
interlearn schedule
This screen provides an overall snapshot of the InterLearn materials
for the unit, and your progress through the assessable activities. A partial
schedule is presented below. The table displays the modules in the first
column, and where available the time that it is expected the module will
take to complete. The second column is separated into rows for each section
within the module, showing the section heading and a link to each of the
activities within the section. The third column is an indication of your
progress through the assessable activities. Click on any of the links
to go to the section containing the activity.
![Reproduction of partial [interlearn schedule] screen](/interlearn/img/schedule_sv.gif)
Assessable activities that have not been attempted appear as a link with
a red cross preceding it. When a response to the activity has been saved,
a green tick replaces the cross. Please note that the tick simply represents
that a response has been saved, not that it is a complete response or
a good response. Where there are no assessable activities for the section,
this is noted.
Section Page
The section page is where you will spend most of your time in InterLearn.
See below for a sample. The page will begin with introductory information
that sets the scene for the activities presented. For example, it may
include background information, and links to readings and resources that
will help with the activities to be completed.
If the section is one of two or more within a module, the "<<back"
and "forward>>" links at the top and bottom of each page
will be activated. Following either of the links will take you to the
section either directly before or directly after the section you are viewing
within the module. It is important to use these links rather than the
Back and Forward links of your browser.
The activities appear after the section introduction. There are three
types of activities currently available within InterLearn. The
first is a direction from the teaching staff to perform a task outside
of InterLearn. Such an activity requires no direct interaction
with InterLearn.
The second is a "textbox only" type activity, and requires
you to type a response into a textbox appearing below the activity instructions,
and to save that response directly to the InterLearn database by
clicking the "Save response" button. An example textbox only
type activity is presented below.
The final type of activity is similar to the "textbox only"
type of activity, however it also requires you to post your response to
a specified newsgroup. This type of activity is called a "feedback
box" type activity. When you have typed your response into the textbox
you can save it and submit it to the newsgroup at the same time by clicking
the "Send feedback" button, or you can just save it to the database
by clicking the "Save response" button. A sample of this type
of activity is reproduced below.
If you click on 'save response' you can then return to and
edit it and then send it to the newsgroup by clicking the "Send feedback"
button. If you have already sent your response to the newsgroup and you
wish to change your response you can, however you cannot remove or overwrite
the response you have already sent to the newsgroup. This means that if
you edit your response and resend it to the newsgroup there will be two
postings sent by you. Your latest response will be the only one saved
in the database however.
Where the option has been provided by your lecturer, you may submit your
response to the newsgroup anonymously. Note however, that if you choose
to do this there is no way that the lecturer will be able to respond directly
to any comments you make in the newsgroup.
Each activity will have a heading to identify it in the [interlearn schedule]
and within the search functions. Beneath the heading will state if the
activity is shared or individual, assessable or not assessable, and the
start and end dates, if applicable, for making a response. Each activity
will include some form of explanatory notes, objectives and/or instructions.
For textbox only and feedback box type activities, responses can be typed
directly into the textbox or copied from a word processing application.
It should be noted that the portal, and therefore InterLearn has a "time out" feature,
which means that if you do not interact with the page for anywhere between 5 and 30 minutes (depending on your location and connection) you will be required to login again before
you can successfully enter and save your response. PLEASE NOTE: typing
into the textbox is not considered interacting with the page,
thus if you think your response will take longer than five minutes to
write, you should save your response intermittently as you go. Alternatively,
you can compose your response in a word processing application and copy
it into the textbox when it is complete. This latter method is recommended.
Upon completion of the response, the "Save response" or "Send
feedback" buttons must be clicked. The button appearing beneath a
textbox will only save the response for that activity. Therefore you must
complete and save or send your response to each activity one at a time
before moving to the next activity or section. Additionally, you must
save or send your response before searching for another response or clicking
on any other link on the page. If the "Save response" or the
"Send feedback" buttons are not clicked before any of these
actions, the response will be lost and the activity will have to be repeated.
Activity responses are limited to approximately 400 words (a total of
4000 characters). Where a response is saved that exceeds this limit only
the first 4000 characters will be saved. An error message will be returned
at the top of the page, followed by a copy of the text that exceeded the
4000 character limit. You can then refer to your original response and
amend it to fit within the specified limit.
An activity will be either "individual" or "shared".
The former means that only you will be able to view the response, unless
it is also assessable in which case the teaching staff will have access
to the response also. "Shared" means that all students listed
on the [interlearn contacts] page and the teaching staff will be able
to search for and read the response.
Where activities are shared, a link will appear beneath the textbox labelled
"Search for other responses to this activity". This link, when
clicked, will produce a screen that lists other students’ responses to
the activity.
Activities will be denoted as either "assessable" or "not
assessable". Assessable activities will appear in the progress column
of the schedule. Responses to assessable activities can be viewed by the
teaching staff of the unit, regardless of whether they are "individual"
or not. If the teaching staff record a mark and/or feedback within InterLearn
for these activities, the mark and feedback will appear on the section
page.
A "start date" and/or a "due date" can be set for
an activity. Where a start date is set no textbox will appear until the
date has passed. After a due date has passed the textbox will be replaced
by the last saved response. Responses cannot be edited after the due date.
If an extension is required, you must contact the teaching staff.
Where a response is composed in a word processing application (for example,
Microsoft Word) and copied into the InterLearn textbox, additional
blank spaces after the response must not be included. Additional spaces
may result in the textbox limit being exceeded and an error to be reported.
Further, you should not spend time using the formatting options available
(for example, bold or italic) as these will be lost when the text is copied
to the InterLearn textbox.
Search Responses
All students can search the responses to shared activities. The search
responses screen is reproduced below and provides four types of search.
- Search for all responses made to one shared activity by all students.
- Search for all responses made by one student to all shared activities.
- Search for the response made by a given student to a given activity.
- Search for a keyword within responses made to a given activity.
![Reproduction of [search responses] screen](/interlearn/img/search.gif)
In each case, the appropriate student name (or username where the student
name is not provided) or activity must be selected from the relevant drop
down box (or boxes if using option 3). In the case of option 4, the word
to be searched for must be typed into the textbox provided. In order to
perform the search, the "search responses" button at the end
of the search option being used must be clicked.
The keyword search in option 4 is case sensitive and will return only
responses that contain the exact word or words as they were typed into
the textbox. Responses containing variations of the word, for example
"shoes" when the keyword given was "shoe", will not
be returned, nor will responses in which the word was incorrectly spelt.
Search Results
This page displays the results of the requested search. The page will
begin by stating the total number of responses that contained the search
criteria, followed by the matching responses. Each matching response indicates
the name and username of the respondent, their response, and finally the
name of the activity and the date and time it was saved. The responses
are displayed with the oldest (or first completed) response at the start,
and a solid line separates each response. A sample of a search result
is shown below.
interlearn contacts
This screen lists the names of all staff and students for your group
within the unit. If you click on a name, or username for students who’s
name is not available, an email composition screen within the my.monash
portal will be opened, enabling an email to be sent directly to that person.
In units in which tutorial or other kinds of groups have been created,
only members of the current user’s group will be displayed. That is, if
a student in Tutorial Group A views the contacts list, it will list the
staff associated with that tutorial, and the names of the other students
in Tutorial Group A. Where there are no tutorial groups created, you will
see all other students enrolled in the unit and all staff associated with
it.
The list of staff may include University and/or Faculty technical staff
involved in the maintenance of InterLearn. Such staff will not
be permitted to view student responses for any reason other than testing
of the software.
Forum
This is an optional part of InterLearn. If your lecturer has included
it this screen displays a discussion group linked to from the InterLearn navigation bar.
When you view the discussion forum the InterLearn navigation will
be replaced by the standard portal navigation. Students can view and post
articles to the discussion forum. To view an article, simply click the
heading. Full instructions on how to navigate and participate in the
forum can be found in the document entitled "Guidelines
on using newsgroups with the my.monash portal".
News
This is an optional part of InterLearn. If your lecturer has included
it this screen will display a news group linked to from the InterLearn navigation bar.
As with the discussion group, the InterLearn navigation will be
replaced by the standard portal navigation when you view the news. While
students can view articles on the news group, only teaching staff may
post an article. The purpose of the news group is for staff to inform
students of pertinent information. To view an article, simply click the
subject. For complete instructions on how to use newgroups within the
portal see the document entitled "Guidelines
on using newsgroups with the my.monash portal".
Where to get help.
If you are having any difficulty with using InterLearn, you should
first contact your tutor or lecturer. If they are unable to help, you
can contact the InterLearn Service Manager.
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