We recommend using Elentra on Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.

We recommend Microsoft Edge based on Chromium (released in January 2020).

Elentra no longer supports Internet Explorer.

Administrative Staff Release Notes

For assistance with logging into Elentra Collaborate, please either reset your password or contact collaborate@elentra.org.

Technical Release Notes

The Elentra Consortium relies on participant contributions in order to continue expanding the features we offer. Schools frequently develop features that they require but that might be useful to other consortium members as well.

If you have an idea for a new or improved component of Elentra we recommend speaking to a project manager or software developer at your local institution. They can reach out to other schools within the consortium to identify potential solutions or overlapping needs.

Together, we'll continue to build a great integrated teaching and learning platform.

Assessment Flag Severity is a feature that allows an organization to optionally set levels of severity on prompted responses in Assessment and Evaluation items. Instead of treating prompted responses as either used or not, you can create a more nuanced approach to acting on a prompted response item (i.e., if it’s flagged at a certain level, do something).

The default behaviour of a flagged item response on an assessment form is to simply set the “flag” property of the response to 1. On submission of the assessment, flagged responses are checked, and if a particular distribution indicates that specific users (or groups) be notified of a flagged response, an email goes out to them.

The Flag Severity functionality adds another layer on top of this (in addition to also being independent of a distribution). Instead of simply setting the flag property to 1, it sets it to the primary key of the record in the flag severity table.

In the Competency Based Medical Education feature, there’s a flag called “CBME Concerns Notify Directors and Coordinators”; if enabled via an Elentra setting, program coordinators and directors (of the relevant programs) are notified when items that are flagged with this particular severity are submitted. From the forms interface, if there are any organisation specific flag severities defined, the item editing interface presents the editor with an option to select one of the predefined flags (instead of presenting them with a simple checkbox). Form templates (i.e., CBME on demand assessments) use this flag severity functionality to notify program directors and coordinators when someone submits an assessment where the “Concerns” rubric has one of the responses set to “Yes” (meaning there are professionalism concerns, for example).

There are around 100 settings options in Elentra that are controlled through the database, not the user interface. You can view the available database settings in the technical documentation.

After your Elentra installation is active, you'll need to configure some system settings before using other modules and features of the platform. Users with the group:role of medtech:admin or staff:admin will be able to access Admin > System Settings. Here you'll be able to configure things like assessment types, event types, location management, grading scales, and departments. Generally this is content that will remain consistent across an entire organization and will not frequently change.

Note that these system settings are at the organization level in Elentra so you can have different system settings for different organizations running on the same installation of Elentre (e.g., undergraduate and graduate medical education).

Which system settings you configure really depends on how your organization will be using Elentra. See the list below for some quick start ideas.

• If you want to add users: configure departments before importing users (especially faculty)

• If you want to create courses: create a curriculum map version, then configure curriculum layout and periods (note that this has moved from Admin>System Settings to Admin>Manage Curriculum)

• If you want to schedule learning events: configure learning event types and locations (you'll need courses via Admin>Manage Courses and for rotation scheduling you'll also need to build blocks in the relevant curriculum period but that is done in Admin>Manage Curriculum)

• If you want to input grades: configure assessment types (you'll need to configure curriculum layout and periods, and build courses as well but that will be completed elsewhere)

• If you want to report using the curriculum inventory: configure assessment and learning event types, and curriculum layout and periods (you'll also need courses, events, and gradebooks setup but those are managed elsewhere)

Instructions for managing some system settings are included here. Other instructions are included with their related module. See a sample list of system settings below.

In Elentra, organisation refers to an entity using and managing its own curriculum map version, layouts, tags, courses/programs, learning events, gradebooks, etc. Examples of organisations include undergraduate medicine and postgraduate or graduate medicine. Another example could be nursing or rehabilitation therapy.

You can add and manage organisations through Admin>System Settings. While Medtech:Admin and Staff:Admin users have access to System Settings, ONLY Medtech:Admin can add a new organisation.

How to add a new organisation

• Note that this tool is only available to Medtech:Admin users.

• Navigate to Admin>System Settings.

• Click 'Add New Organisation'.

• Provide the required information noting the following: Interface Template: Stock Elentra has one default interface. If you are testing things on an installation with dummy data provided by Elentra, and have different interface options available, we recommend using them only if it has been recommended to you.

• Click 'Save'.

Additional interface template information: The Elentra template is entirely configurable by a developer and if you would like additional interface templates, that is customization that your institution can do. Many schools apply their own branding to the look of Elentra or you might create different templates for different organisations using your installation of Elentra (e.g., undergraduate and postgraduate or graduate medical education organizations).

How to edit an existing organisation's metadata

• Navigate to Admin>System Settings.

• Click on the name of the organisation you want to manage.

• Click on the pencil icon and 'Edit' in the top right to change the existing information.

• Make the required changes and click 'Save' in the bottom right.

Communication Channels

• Elentra Mailing Lists (to subscribe please email arush@queensu.ca)

  • Community List

  • Elentra Learn List (used to distribute invitations to webinars and training activities)

  • Developer List

• (optional) Weekly School Check-In Web Conference

• Bi-Weekly Elentra Consortium Web Conference

• Monthly Elentra Learn Training Webinar

You have landed at our faculty and administrative user training documentation archive. A range of topics are listed on the left and clicking on each will open a subset of menu options. We also recommend using the search tool in the top right.

A list of departments, divisions, faculties, schools or units can be maintained in Elentra and applied in user profiles. This information is in turn used in some reporting tools (e.g. Faculty Teaching Report By Department).

As of Elentra ME 1.12, if you import users using a CSV, you can include a column for department and add multiple departments as needed.

How to manage the list of departments

• Log in as Medtech:Admin or Staff:Admin.

• Navigate to Admin>System Settings.

• Click on the name of the organisation you want to manage departments for.

• Click 'Departments' from the left sidebar.

• Click 'Add Department' to add a new entry.

• Complete the required information noting the following: Department Type: You can select a department type from a dropdown menu. The options include department, division, faculty, school, and unit. There is no user interface to change this list.

• Click 'Save'.

• To delete existing entries, click the checkbox beside the item name and then scroll down and click 'Delete Selected'; confirm your choice.

The list of departments will display alphabetically.

Linking departments and divisions

As of Elentra ME 1.12 there is no user interface to link departments and divisions. There is space in the database to create a relationship between a department and its affiliated divisions and a developer with access to the database can do this work if it is required by your organisation. In a user profile you can assign someone to multiple departments and divisions in order to show their multiple affiliations.

Custom Profile Fields

Each department can configure custom profile fields to collect additional information from their members. This allows an administrator to define the custom profile field in terms of the type of information to collect and then create a space in the user's profile for them to provide said information.

Creating a Custom Profile Field

• In an administrator role, navigate to Admin>System Settings, pick the appropriate organization if required, and click Department from the left sidebar.

• Click on the appropriate department.

• Click Department Profile Fields

• Click Add Field

• Provide the relevant information, noting the following:

  • Field Type allows you to customize how information can be collected. The options are:

    • Rich text

    • Plain text

    • One Line text

    • Checkbox

    • External URL (e.g. for people to provide a link to their research project page)

  • Indicate using the checkbox if this custom field will be required

• Click Add

• The newly created field will display on a list of custom profile fields. You can edit, delete, or reorder the custom profile fields using the pencil and trash icons, or the Reorder button.

Completing a Custom Profile Field as a User

Users can complete their custom profile fields in their user profile, accessible by clicking on the user's name in the top right. Within their profile tab options, they will see a Department Specific Information tab and can provide the required information there. In the example below, there is a one line text item.

If you need access to the issue tracker, please contact Alice Rush-Rhodes on Slack or via email (arush@queensu.ca).

Security Reporting

We take the security of the Elentra Platform very seriously. If you believe that you have discovered a security vulnerability please contact us immediately:

By reporting issues to our team you are helping to create a secure and reliable product.