This resource provides teachers assistance when supporting their students, information about the course setup, and how to find outside support when teaching Pointful Education courses.
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- Instructor Guides
- What to Know Before Getting Started
- Course Structure
- Certification Courses
- Grading and Analytics
- Getting Support
Instructor Guides
Before getting started in your Pointful Education course, you may want to download the instructor guide. All Pointful Education Course Instructor Guides are available in the Teacher Professional Development course within the Navigation Lesson. Download the instructor guide for the course(s) you are teaching to ensure you have exactly what you need to support your students in grading, reflections, and conversations.
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What to Know Before Getting Started
NOTE: If using the Buzz learning management system (LMS), the icons for Pointful Education represent the course name. Lincoln Learning icons represent the content category.
- When viewing videos, opt to view them in full screen.
- If students do not complete a lesson, their grade will reflect a lower score.
- In a lesson, click More Information to understand what is being scored.
- Navigate a lesson through the left panel or at the bottom of the content.
IMPORTANT: After each lesson is complete, use the LMS’s built-in navigation to proceed to the next lesson.
- Activity completion should be associated with receiving a score, but it can be delayed, and students will see completion upon their next sign in.
TIP: Advise students to refresh their screen which seems to populate the activity completion without signing out of the LMS.
- If using Buzz, no items will show in the To-Do List.
- You cannot edit content found within a Pointful Education activity. You can adjust settings at the activity level depending on your LMS. You can also hide, unpublish, or add your own content if necessary.
IMPORTANT: It is not recommended to adjust any points assigned to the Pointful Education activities.
Course Structure
IMPORTANT: Everything is graded in Pointful Education courses.
Participation
Participation points are automatically awarded for viewing and interacting with the content. Students may receive participation points for viewing videos, clicking on hotspots, and completing lesson interactivities.
NOTE: If students see a hotspot, tell them to click on it to receive full participation points for that item.
The following assignments receive a participation grade automatically in your LMS grading and reports tool.
- Module 0
- Lessons
- Concept Checks
Modules
Pointful Education courses have a module design. Each module contains:
- Introduction
- Lessons
- Concept Checks or Reflections
- Summary
- Short-Answer Assignments
- Projects
- Quizzes
NOTE: Module 0 is like the Lincoln Learning Course Resources.
Introduction
The Introduction Module typically contains a high-level video usually less than 60 seconds which informs students what they will learn throughout the module. Following the video, the student will see the learning objectives, take a polling question, and complete a vocabulary check.
IMPORTANT: Students can complete the vocabulary activity as many times as they’d like to get full credit.
TIP: You can find the answers to the vocabulary activity by going to that item and selecting Alternative Activity. Next, click Check Answer to see the correct answer.
Lessons
Each module typically contains five lessons with each lesson being linked to a learning objective. Lesson-level videos are typically less than five minutes long, and readings are either broken up by an interactivity or additional videos.
TIP: For accessibility purposes, video transcripts are available, and matching activities also contain alternate options.
Concept Checks and Reflections
Each lesson is followed by one of the following:
- Concept check – risk-free opportunity for students to answer a specific question associated with the learning objective for the lesson with computer feedback
- Reflection – discussion question containing a rubric, available to both students and teachers, for grading
IMPORTANT: When grading a reflection, select the correct student’s response before submitting a score.
Summary
The Summary is a restatement of the module learning objectives.
Short-Answer Assignments
Short-answer assignments are teacher graded and require the student to submit authentic work via an upload. Typically, students submit a short paper answering a series of questions associated with the learning objectives. A unique grading rubric is available for both teachers and students.
Projects
Projects are teacher graded and require the student to submit authentic work via an upload. Students are given the opportunity to demonstrate their learning through presentations, Venn diagrams, interviews, and more.
Quizzes
Quizzes are auto-grade online assessments found at the end of each module. Each quiz contains ten questions, and students can reset and retry a quiz as many times as they’d like.
Final Exam
The final exam is an auto-graded online assessment found at the end of the course. The final exam assesses students’ mastery of all learning objectives found in the course. It is a two-part exam with a single pool of questions.
IMPORTANT: Students must complete both parts consecutively and in one session.
Teachers can reset the assessment for the student to retake the exam.
WARNING: When resetting an exam, the previous score will be totally lost.
Certification Courses
Certification courses may differ in structure because of the preparation needed for the certification exam. See Pointful Education’s description of the differences of each certification course below.
Adobe Suite
Our Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Illustrator courses differ slightly in assessment types. As the ACA exam is a mix of projects and multiple-choice, you will note that Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign do not contain Short-Answer Assignments. Rather, they focus on more detailed and longer projects with multiple-choice quizzes to follow. In contrast, Adobe Illustrator does have Short-Answer Assignments in addition to Projects as some learning objectives lend themselves to a written response.
Drones
The FAA Part 107 exam is built as a multiple-choice exam, and the course objectives are both detailed and informational. As a result, you will note that the Drones course does not contain projects but instead contains additional multiple-choice test prep reviews in each appropriate module.
LEED Green Associate
This course contains Test-Prep lessons which are graded as participation points instead of Short-Answer Assignments.
Entrepreneurship and Small Business
This course contains Test-Prep lessons which are graded as participation points instead of Short-Answer Assignments.
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Participation
When viewing a course activity, you can view Student’s Progression and Performance.
This includes the student’s Name, Email, Score, Progress, and Details. Under Details, you can click More Info to view additional details.
More Info will provide you with Timestamp, Completion, Activity, and Score.
Some activities may allow you to OVERRIDE the earned score.
Quiz and Concept Check View
When viewing a quiz, you can see ANALYTICS, an ANSWER KEY, and Select a Student to see the following information:
- ANALYTICS: Review how students are doing overall on a specific question
- ANSWER KEY: Full answer key to the quiz
- Select a Student: View a single student’s quiz submission
Additionally, you can use the Student’s Progress & Performance to view more information, RESET, or OVERRIDE.
Resetting a Score
After clicking RESET, click YES to reset the score and lose the history of any previous score.
Overriding a Score
After clicking OVERRIDE, enter the new score and click SAVE.
WARNING: Exams are not always worth the same point value in the Pointful Education content management system as in your grading and reports tool. When you are overriding an exam score, you will want to work with the student and add only that question’s point value to the new score.
Reflections
Students and teachers can access the prompt and rubric associated with a Reflection by clicking the link provided within the LMS.
TIP: You can access a sample response and the rubric within the course Instructor Guide.
Short-Answer Assignments and Projects
The upload assessment and grading rubric can be accessed by clicking the link provided within the LMS.
Getting Support
If you run into any issues with Pointful Education, please reach out to your Client Success Specialist at Lincoln Learning Solutions for additional support. Try to include the following information:
- The location of the challenge
- A brief description of the challenge
- A screenshot of the challenge
The Pointful Education Teacher Professional Development course may provide contact details for Pointful Education. However, our team would like to be your first line of support.
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Please note the images found in this resource may not match your screen. Access and/or features may vary based on client contract.
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