Creating and Managing a Schedule

To create a schedule of events that can be populated with instructors, learners, resources, etc. you must be logged in with administrator or pcoordinator permissions. While you can create an entirely new schedule using a CSV or manually (one event at a time), if you have an existing course, the fastest option to make a draft schedule is to copy an existing schedule.

In addition to uploading a csv of events, you can also create individual events that appear immediately in the schedule. To do so, navigate to Admin>Manage Events and click 'Add New Event'. At that point, follow the instructions in the Manually Add New Event section below. Using this method, the event will immediately be live in the system upon saving.

New in ME1.14! The csv import tool for draft event schedules has been updated to support recurring events and the parent-child event flag. Additionally, we've added support to import teacher assistants, tutors, and auditors.

A known limitation at present is the ability to import locations based on site-building-room codes. We are working on resolving this.

How to create a new schedule of events

• Navigate to Admin>Manage Events.

• Click 'Manage My Drafts'.

• Click 'Create New Draft'.

• Provide a logical draft name and an optional description, then click 'Create Draft'.

Draft Schedule Permissions

If you would like to give additional users access to a draft schedule, you'll need to add them as authors to the draft. Return to Admin>Manage Events, and click 'Manage My Drafts'. Click on the appropriate draft and then click the greyed out Draft Information heading. Add users to Draft Authors by beginning to type a name and clicking on the appropriate name in the displayed options. In stock Elentra you will be able to add staff:admin users to draft schedules but there is a setting for this that can be configured to allow you to add faculty and other staff as draft authors. You'll need a developer to help you change these settings if you'd like to.

At this point you can import a CSV file or manually add new events.

Import CSV File

• You will need to have a file prepared with your schedule information. This could include date, start time, event title, audience, duration (in minutes), attendance required, etc. For a detailed list of the event information you should and can provide please see below.

• Tip: Depending on the events you're scheduling it may be useful to download an existing schedule from elsewhere in Elentra, modify it, and upload it as your new schedule.

• Click 'Import CSV File'.

• Drag and drop or browse your computer to find the required file and then click 'Import'.

• Use the drag and drop tools to match the information in your CSV with the relevant fields in Elentra. Fields that are matched and green indicate required fields; fields left in the top section that are red are required and you'll need to add them to your CSV and reupload it.

• After you have matched your columns, click 'Import'.

Manually Add New Event

• Click 'Add New Event'.

• Complete the required information, noting the following: Event Colour: The colour selected will be displayed on the calendar. Recurring Event: More detail is available in the Recurring Events help section. Time Release Options: This controls when the event will be visible to users in the system.

• Click 'Save'.

Publish or Approve Draft Schedule

After you've added the necessary events, you need to publish or approve your draft; this will cause the events you created to be imported to the system and make them accessible for adding content.

• Click Publish Drafts or, if you are returning to a draft you previously worked on navigate to your drafts, tick off the box beside the schedule you want to publish and click Publish Drafts.

• Confirm your choice.

Your schedule will now show as approved on your drafts list and within about an hour, the scheduled events will be live in your system. If the events do not appear and you can still see and reopen your draft schedule, it's possible that the background action required (a cron job) is not turned on or is set to run very infrequently. If needed, speak to a developer to investigate further.

Editing an Approved Draft Schedule

• If you need to make immediately changes to a recently published draft schedule, you can reset it to open as long as the background action required (a cron job) has not happened yet.

• Click the checkbox beside the schedule you want to open.

• Click 'Reopen Drafts'.

• Confirm your choice. Your schedule will now show as open again on your drafts list and you can click on it to edit events.

Calendar Preview After you've drafted some events, use this tool to preview the calendar view of drafted events.

Note that you will be unable to create event content until the drafted events are published.

Schedule CSV import column headings and information

As mentioned above you have two typical scenarios when creating draft event schedules:

• A: You are creating an entirely new schedule from scratch.

• B: You are rolling/copying forward events from an existing course.

If you use option B, you will be able to export the list of existing events, tweak it, and reimport it. It is important to note that an event export from the draft schedules area will give you more information than you can actually import back to the draft events.

Here is the list of available export fields automatically included:

• Draft Event

• Original Event (this will represent the event you intend to copy)

• Parent Event

• Parent ID (this field will not be relevant on any subsequent draft event import)

• Recurring Event

• Term

• Course Code

• Course Name

• Date

• Start Time

• Total Duration

• Event Type Durations

• Event Types

• Event Title

• Event Description

• Location

• Audience (Cohorts)

• Audience (Groups)

• Audience (Students)

• Audience (Faculty)

• Teacher Numbers

• Teacher Names

• Objectives Release Date

Here is the list of optional export fields you can add:

• Student Names

• Faculty Names

• Release Date

• Release Until

• Child Events

• Required Preparation

• Free Text Objectives

• Curriculum Objectives

• MCC Presentations

• Hot Topics

• Attached Files

• Attached Links

• Attached Quizzes

• Attendance

• Attendance Required

• Auditor Numbers

• Auditor Names

• Teacher Assistant Numbers

• Teacher Assistant Names

Note that if you have exported a schedule there will be some columns exported which you cannot re-import. These columns can be deleted before uploading data or left for your own reference.

The following columns are required on a draft schedule import:

• Course Code: Enter the course code for the course to which this event should belong.

• Start Time: This is what time the event should start. Enter in 24 hr. format.

• Event Type Durations: If you have multiple event types scheduled in one event, this column can be used to indicate how much time is allotted to each event type. Enter the time in minutes and separate times with semicolons and a space. For example, 60; 60. Put the times in the same order as you list the event types in the next column. If there are not multiple event types scheduled during an event, this column will be identical to the Total Duration column.

• Event Types: If you have multiple event types scheduled in one event, this column can be used to indicate what those events are. Event types must match the list of event types in your organisation (found in Admin>System Settings>Event Types). Examples include lecture, lab, small group learning, etc. Type in an event type and separate it from another with a semicolon and space. For example, lab; lecture; patient interview. Remember to keep the order the same as the event type duration column.

• Event Title: Enter the event title.

You should also have:

• Draft Event:

  • If you are creating a completely new schedule of events (i.e. you did not roll forward a schedule), create an arbitrary number and enter it in this column (e.g. 22221, 22222, 22223, 22224, etc.).

  • If you have exported a CSV of copied events, this column will already be populated for you.

• Original Event:

  • If you are importing a completely new schedule (i.e. you did not roll forward a schedule), create an arbitrary number and enter it in this column (e.g. 22221, 22222, 22223, 22224, etc.). The Draft Event and Original Event should match.

  • If you have exported a CSV of copied draft events, this column will be populated with the unique id numbers of the existing events. You must copy the draft event ids into this column before uploading it.

The following columns are optional to import on a draft event schedule:

• Parent ID: This column is applicable only if the event is to be linked as a child to a parent event. If it is, enter the id of the relevant parent event. If the event is not a child event leave this column blank. This field accepts any integer greater than 0.

• Course Name: Enter the course name. (You can omit this since you've already provided the course code, however some people find it useful to include for their own reference.)

• Term: This refers to the curriculum layout the course is a part of. Curriculum layouts are defined at the organisation level and can be found in Admin > Manage Curriculum > Curriculum Layout. Examples include terms, years, phases, etc. You can also view curriculum layouts from the Courses tab where the layouts will be the headings above groups of courses.

• Date: Enter the date. Multiple formats are accepted.

• Total Duration: This is the total duration for the event (including different event types). Enter in the number of minutes.

• Event Description: Enter the event description.

• Location: Use this column only if you don't have sites loaded for your organization. Manually type what you'd like users to see.

• Audience (Groups): If the course to which the event belongs is using the groups function and one or more groups is the audience for this event, provide the group name here. Group names can be found via Admin>Manage Courses>select course>Groups.

• Audience (Cohorts): If a specific cohort is the audience for this event, enter the cohort here.

• Audience (Students): If individual students need to be added to the audience, provide the names in this column.

• Audience (Faculty): If specific faculty are to be included in the audience, enter their institutional id. Separate multiple numbers with a semicolon.

• Attendance Required: If attendance is required for this event and will be taken via the Elentra attendance feature enter a 1. If the Elentra attendance feature will not be used for this event, enter 0.

• Objective Release Dates: If there are specific release dates for the objectives linked to this event, enter 1. If not, enter 0.

• Teacher Numbers: Enter the institutional id of any teachers to be linked to this event. Separate multiple numbers with a semicolon.

• Tutor Numbers: Enter the institutional id of any users to be linked to this event as tutors. Separate multiple numbers with a semicolon.

• Teacher Assistant Numbers: Enter the institutional id of any users to be linked to this event as teacher's assistants. Separate multiple numbers with a semicolon.

• Auditor Numbers: Enter the institutional id of any users to be linked to this event as auditors. Separate multiple numbers with a semicolon.

• Recurring Event: This column can take any integer value greater than zero.

  • If you are creating a brand new schedule, enter the original event id of the first event in the series in the recurring event column for the main event and each subsequent recurring event; events that have the same id will be grouped together as recurring events.

  • If this is a recurring event you have copied forward, enter the draft event number of the first event in the recurring series.

• Free Text Objectives: This can be text and will populate the free text objectives box on the event content page (if such a box is enabled).

Please note that the parent-child relationship and recurring event UI will not be displayed until the draft events are published. If you preview a recurring event with the parent-child feature enabled, it will look like the children do not exist; once published the appropriate events will appear connected.

• Teacher Name: This is not a required field and will not be checked by the system; however, some people find it useful to include in their CSV to more easily view who is teaching what.

• Location Room: This gets exported but can not be imported in ME 1.14