Fronter MLE

Collected Quick Start

Guides

I’ve collated these 18 one, two and three page guides written by LGfL to help
you get started creating your Virtual Learning Environment.

Contents

Changing a Frontpage 2
Creating a Page 5
Creating a New Room 7
Deleting rooms 9
How to Change Room Names 11
Changing Access Rights 12
Copying to other Rooms 14
Adding a Tool to a Room Tool Package 16
Deleting a Tool from a Room Tool Package 18
Creating a Forum 20
Hand-in Folders 23
Creating a Test 25
Hiding Folders and using Student View 27
Individual Folders 29
Login info 30
Uploading personal documents to My Documents 32
Using Sound Recorder 33
To upload your Picture and Amend Details on your Contact Page 35
 Changing a Frontpage

Teachers with ‘Owner Access’ to rooms can change which page they want to
have as their Frontpage.
To create a new page go to your room and select the folder you want to have
the new page in (in this case the Resource folder). Click on create.

Give your page a name.

Select Page, click Save.

Select the template you want to use and click Next.

Create your new page and click Save.

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 Changing a Frontpage

Tick the Add to Frontpage box.

If you are not in Edit mode you can

also tick the Add to Frontpage box.

If you have another page you

want to use as the Frontpage
you can open it and tick this
box.

Go to your current Frontpage and click on Folders.

Tick the Resource

Information box.

Use the green arrows to move

the page you want to become
the Frontpage at the top of the
list.

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 Changing a Frontpage

The New Frontpage is now at the top of the list,

but will only change when you next select the room from the room selector or
click again on the Frontpage tool.

Your new Frontpage should now display.

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 Creating a Page

Go to the folder
where you want
to create the
page and click
Create.

In this example
the page is to
be created in
the an ‘Our
Pages’ folder,
but they can be
made in any
folder.

Give the page a suitable

name.

Make sure you select

the page option.

Click Save.

If you know how you

want the page to
initially look select one
of the options or
choose the middle one
to begin with a blank
page.

The first container is

created and you can
select from the list what
you want to add to your
page. Often this first
container may have text
in it, so select Insert text.

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 Creating a Page

You now have the

standard Fronter text
editor, where you can
add text and format it.
When you are finished
click Save.

You can add extra

containers
wherever there is
a plus sign.
Containers can
also be
repositioned using
the green arrows.

If you want to add a border to your

container use the drop down ‘Action
menu’ and select Edit Properties.
(You can also use this menu to Edit
the content or delete)

Choose the border width

using the drop down
menu and click on the
black box to launch the
Colour Picker, where you
can select your colour
choice.
Click Save to return to
your page.

You can continue to add elements to

your page in this way.
If you select ‘Insert image’ you will be
able to either select an image from a
folder already in the Fronter room or
upload an image from your computer. If
you select ‘Insert forum’ then the forum
must previously have been created before you can add it to the page. Votes are
added by directly adding the information to the ‘Vote container’.

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 Creating a New Room

To create a new classroom you must have administration rights. Log in and
then click on Admin.

Click on the plus by your school name to

expand the information.

Highlight 04 Manually Created classrooms by

clicking on it. (Do not create additional rooms
in the 05 Imported corridors/rooms)

First you will need to create a corridor for you room to be in. You will be able
to add further rooms to this corridor. If a suitable corridor already exists omit
this next stage.

To create a new corridor click on New org. unit on the top right hand side.

Type in the title of your new corridor. Tick the box to make this a corridor

Toggle none as you don’t need to create any sub categories and click Save.

On the next page you will be able to create new rooms.

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 Creating a New Room

To start click Create new Room.

Give your room a name.

Select a room Tool package and Save.

You should be taken to the Frontpage of your new room.

Click on Members. You will already be a member of this room as the owner
and you now need to add other members to your new room (see Enrolling
New Members in a Room.doc for instructions to do this).

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 Deleting Rooms

Teachers with ‘Owner Access’ to rooms can close them and can use the
instructions on the first page, but to delete rooms you have created (on the
second page) you must have administration rights.

Click on the room selector and

select the room you want to
delete.

Remember to check that there are

no resources stored in this room
that you want. Once the room is
finally deleted they will be gone!
You can copy or move files to
other rooms before you delete it.

You need to ensure

that members enrolled
in this room are also
enrolled into at least
one other room so they
have access to a room
when they log on. (This
should only affect extra
users you have
created)

Click on Room. Select Close from the drop down menu on the top left side.

Click OK in the box that opens.

If you then refresh your page you will see that it is no longer available to be
selected in the room selector.

The room does still exist, but is not visible to users. To delete it finally a
school administrator has to follow the instructions on the following page. A
room can also be later reactivated by an administrator if not deleted.

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 Deleting Rooms

To delete a room you must have administration rights. Log in and then click
on Admin.

From the room selector choose Display all rooms.

Make sure you tick the ‘Show closed rooms’ checkbox.

You should now be able to see your closed classroom, but greyed out. Click
Delete to delete it.

Alternatively if you want to reopen the room tick the checkbox and scroll to
bottom of the page.

Here there are options to Close, Open and Delete Rooms.

You should get a warning page, where you have to tick the checkbox and
click done before the room is finally deleted.

A room has to be closed before it can be deleted. If an administrator closes

and deletes a room from the ‘Display all rooms’ page they need to be certain
that resources will not be lost and users left roomless.

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 How to change room names

To change room names you must have administration rights or be a room

owner.

Select the classroom you want to

change the name of in the Room
selector.

Click on Room in the Classroom

toolbar.

Select Edit properties from the drop down menu on the top right of the page.

You can change the name of your room – here a spelling mistake has been
corrected.

Click Save at the bottom of the page.

You should be returned to the room front page. Alterations will not show in the
room selector until after the web page has been refreshed.

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 To Change Room Access Rights

To change access rights in a room you either need to be a room owner or an

administrator.

Use the room selector to go to the

room you want to change the
access rights in.

Click on Members.

You will already be a member of this class as an owner (or have access rights
as an administrator). Click on Edit.

Access rights can be modified for each individual by clicking Edit.

Change the access rights from the drop down menu that appears.

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 To Change Room Access Rights

The rights for that user are instantly changed. You can also remove users
from the room by clicking Remove.

A dialogue box will appear asking you to confirm this removal from the
participant list. Only room owners or administrators can edit or remove room
members.

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 Copying to Other Rooms

Documents and pages can easily be moved or copied in Fronter so long as

you have access to the source and destination classrooms. The administrator
users in a school can move and copy anywhere within their Fronter building.
In two form entry or larger schools it may be a good idea to give all year group
teachers ownership of all the year group rooms so they can move items
between their classrooms themselves without having to ask the administrator
to do it.

Find and select the item you want to copy.

Here Y3 Science Page needs

to be copied from Class Y3A
to Class Y3B.
The file for the Science Page
is in the Resources folder.

In the resource folder tick the files, in this case the Science page and the
hidden resource folder then click Copy.

Initially you are given the choice of the Folders available within the room you
are in.

Click on the drop down menu and select

more to find any other rooms you are a
member of.

Wait a few moments for

Fronter to refresh and you
should then find further
choices in the drop down
menu. Highlight the one you
want.

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 Copying to Other Rooms

You should now see the available

folders for the class you want to copy
the file to. Select the one you want, in
this case Resources.

Click on the folder you want to copy to and

click OK in the dialogue box that appears.
You should get another dialogue box saying
the file has been copied.

If you have copied an invisible

page resource folder you may get
a message saying that it hasn’t
copied. Often this is not the case.
The folder will have been copied,
but not all of the resources. These
will have to be copied separately.

Be aware that any pages copied will still use the images in the original room
and therefore images and links will appear broken to users who only have
membership of the second room. These images and links will have to be
rebuilt in the new room. It is a good idea to log into the new room with an
account, which only has access to that room to check that all appears
correctly.

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 Adding a tool to a
Room Tool Package
Teachers with ‘Owner Access’ to rooms can edit a Room Tool Package. Each
imported and manually created room will have been given a standard Tool
Package but you may wish to change this to suit the needs of the users of the
room.

In this room there is no Frontpage Tool, so you go straight to the Room tool
rather than a Frontpage when you select the classroom.

To create a Frontpage select Customise Tool Package from the drop down
menu on the right.

Then click on New tool in the list

on the left.

You will then see the choice of

new tools that can be added to
your page. Select by ticking the
Frontpage tool and then click
Save.

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 Adding a tool to a
Room Tool Package
You now need to move the Frontpage tool
from the bottom to the top of the Tool
Package list so it is the one any user is
automatically take to when they select
that classroom.

Click on Frontpage in the Tools section.

You should be able to click on the green
up arrow to move the Frontpage up the
list.

You will need to do this to move the Frontpage above each of the tools until it
is at the top of the list.

Once it is at the top of the list you need to click Save.

Other tools can be added, moved and deleted in the same way, but for
younger users it may be best to keep with an uncluttered list with only the
tools that are actually needed.

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 Deleting a tool from a
Class Tool Package
Teachers with ‘Owner Access’ to rooms can edit a Class Tool Package. Each
imported room should have been given a standard Tool Package but this can
be changed to suit the purpose of the room

In this room there is an extra resource folder called ‘Help Notes’ that is no
longer needed.

Click on the Room tool so you can

customise the tool package.

Select Customise tool package from the

drop down menu on the right.

Select the tool you want to remove and then click delete.

Depending on the browser you are using you may get the following message:

This means that there are still some resources stored in this folder and they
need to be removed before the tool can be deleted.

Click OK and select the tool.

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 Deleting a tool from a
Class Tool Package

You can see in this folder there are still two documents.
Tick to select them and then click delete.

Depending on your browser click OK to confirm.

However, the deleted files do still exist in the recycle bin for this folder and
you will need to empty the recycle bin before you can delete the tool.

Click on the Folders button on the right to view the folders associated with this
tool.

You should now be able to see the Recycle Bin and click on it.

The deleted documents are there. Tick to select and then click Permanant
Delete. Click OK in the dialogue box.

The recycle bin is now empty, so you will be able to go back to the
instructions on the first page and delete the tool.

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 Creating a Forum and adding it to a page

You first have to create your forum in one of the Room folders.

Here it is going to be put in the Resources folder.

Click on the Resources folder.

Click on the folder you want to

save the forum in.

In this folder click on Forum.

Give your forum a title.

Add some further instructions or details in the description box. The text can be
formatted using the editing tools. You can upload and add an image too or add a link
to a sound file where you have read the instructions.

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 Creating a Forum and adding it to a page

Scroll down the page to toggle the type of forum you wish to use. In this example it is
a conversation forum. The page will refresh if you choose a different forum to a
discussion.

Make sure that the forum

times will allow it to be open.

You can customise when the forum is available and change the contribution prompt.
Click Save and in the next page
check how your forum will appear.

If you want to make changes click

Edit to take you back to the previous
page.

Go back and find the page you were creating.

Toggle the Edit box, then create a new

empty container.

Click on Insert Forum

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 Creating a Forum and adding it to a page

You then need to select the folder you placed the forum in. In this example it is in
Resources, then Forums.

The available forums should now appear at the bottom of the page.

Toggle the forum you want and click Save.

The forum will now

appear in your page, in
edit mode. Untoggle
edit mode to view as
the finished page.
further or change it’s
availability.

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 Hand-In Folders

Hand-in folders can either be accessed through the Hand-in tool or they can
be created in any other folder. Pupils can hand in work in the form of
documents, presentations, other files or Fronter documents to the specified
folder individually or as a group. Teachers can access all the work in that
folder, assess it and comment on it. The marks and comments can be viewed
from the portfolio tool. Pupils can be reminded to hand in work using the
Notification tool.

To add the hand-in tool click on the Room tool.

Select customise tool package in the drop down list.

Choose New tool and let the page

load.

Tick Hand-in. Click Save.

It is possible to change the position

of each tool in the list by highlighting it
and then clicking the green arrows to
move either up or down in this same
window.

Here the Hand-in folder has been moved higher in the list. Click on it and then
click Folder.

Enter the folder title and

description.

The default opening

times are from the
present time to one
month later with the
notification date set
between. All these can
be changed. It is also
possible to change other settings, if needed, then click Save.

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 Hand-In Folders

If pupils have the Notification tool on their Today page then they will be able to
click the link there to go directly to this folder when they are ready to hand in
work.

This can be done by clicking Upload file as you can to any other folder. They
will only be able to see their own work. Once the closing date has passed
pupils will not be able to upload further work or delete any previously
uploaded.
If work is available to
the teacher
electronically (e.g. on
a memory stick or on
the school network) it
is possible to hand in
work for a pupil by
using the ‘Hand in on
behalf of’ option.

To add a comment to each piece of work select

comment from the dropdown menu by the file
name.

In the window that opens add your comment.

You can also evaluate and grade the work before clicking Save.

The hand in folder now gives an overview of the work and this is also now
visible in the portfolio tool.

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 Creating a Test

Go to the folder you want to create a test in. In this case it is in a Test folder in
the Resources folder. Click on Test.

Give your Test a name and add a description if you wish. Click Save.

In the next window click Add question.

Type the question in the question box. There are different ways to display the
To add images or more questions. This time select ‘radio button’
detailed information ‘Detailed is selected from the drop down menu.
question will give the You can type in multiple-choice answers
standard Fronter text editor. and indicate by the points scores which
are correct or ‘better’ answers.

You can specify other settings.

Click Save and new to devise another question.

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 Creating a Test

For the next question the Text area category has been selected and a correct
answer suggested, along with possible points that could be scored. Tests with
these types of questions in might need to be assessed by a teacher, though
you can define key words in a text answer for automatic marking later using
Text recognition by clicking on the question and selecting Text recognition
which will appear next to General once the question has been saved.

Continue adding and saving questions until your test is complete. You can
return to edit a question further by clicking on it in the navigation pane on the
left.

Once all your questions are created click on the test name at the top of the
navigation pane to finalise the settings.

In the Submission tab In the Feedback tab you

you will be able to limit
the duration of the test
and how many attempts
can be made.
will be able to choose to
allow students to see
immediate automatic
marking on completion
of the test.

Toggle the Activate the test button and ensure that the test is open for the
period you require. Select other options as appropriate and Save.

To view how the test will appear click Take the test.

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 Hiding folders
and using Student View
To hide folders you have to be a room owner. Hidden folders can be seen by
the teachers (owners) of the room, but not by the students.

Some hidden folders are automatically created as you make pages to put all
the resources (images etc.) you have used on the page. It is probably best to
leave these folders hidden. If a pupil inadvertently deletes an image in one of
these hidden folders then it will no longer display correctly on your page.

Other folders you may only want to be visible to the pupils occasionally, e.g.
during a unit of work, and then hidden, but not deleted so they are available
again in the future. Here the ICT Club owner has created folders for plans and
resources. Those for September and October have already been hidden. The
November folder now needs to be hidden and a new folder for December
created. To hide the November folder:

Tick the checkbox by the folder and click Edit

properties.

Alternatively click on the triangle by the folder name

and select Edit properties from there.

You can change the Folder type by clicking the Hidden

folder radio button and then click Save.

In this way you

can swap around
which folders are
visible to pupils.

To create a new
folder for
December go
back to the
Resources folder, click on folder to get a new screen similar to that above
where you can give the folder a name and decide what type of folder it will be.

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 Hiding folders
and using Student View
If you want to see what the pupils have access to then you can enter ‘Student
View’ mode. To do this Click on Room in the Room Tools.

Then select Activate studentview from the menu on the top right.

You will be returned to the room frontpage, but the green bar at the top of the
room tools indicates you are in student view.

If you now click on the Resource folder you will not be able to see the hidden
folders.

To leave Studentview click on Go in the room selector to return to the room

frontpage.

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 Individual Folders

Individual Folders can be created for students to store their work in their own
folder in your classroom. These can be created in the My Work tool or the
Resources tool in your room.

Click on the My Work tool.

Click Folder.

Type the Title and add a Description (if wanted) and select Individual folders.

Click Save.

When the folder is opened the teacher with Owner access can see all the
folders, as below, but the students can only see their own.

By using the Edit properties, accessed from the Action menu

it is possible for the teacher and students to customise the
access to a folder thus allowing others access so students
can collaborate on work within that folder.

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 How to see the Login
Information for imported users
To see the Login details for Imported Groups you must have administration
rights. Log in and then click on Admin.

Click on the plus by your school name to

expand the information.

To see the staff information click on the plus

by 02 Policy Groups and select the All staff
group.

You could find the information for all the

students by selecting the All students group.

However, in most circumstances it will be

easier to find out the passwords for the pupils
a class at a time, so go to the 06 Imported
groups node and select the group you need
to know the passwords for. In this case the
new Reception class.

Click and highlight Year R. Then click the Tools tab.

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 How to see the Login
Information for imported users
Click on List of Usernames and Passwords.

In the list that appears the usernames and passwords should be available.

As these users were not imported by Fronter the password is not available
and the message ‘User is not registered in Fronter UAS’ appears. This will
also be shown if the user or administrator has changed a password following
an import.

The Names, Usernames and Passwords can be copied and pasted into a
spreadsheet or a document.

You could follow the same procedure for the All Students group, but then this
would produce a very long list of all the students in the school in alphabetical
order!

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 Uploading personal documents to My documents folder

You can store personal documents in the My Documents folder in the

personal tool bar, just as you might on a memory stick – these documents will
only be visible to you and not to other Fronter users!

Click My documents.

To store documents click upload file.

Browse to find a single

document.

You can see how much

space you have for your
files.

Locate the files for

uploading and select
open.

To upload more than 1 file choose

Multiple files and then browse again
to locate the files on your computer.

You can browse for

multiple files.

Or you can open a

window, select the
desired files and ‘drag
and drop’ into the
Fronter window.

When you have located

all the files click upload.

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 Using the sound recorder

In Fronter 82 the sound recorder can be used directly into the text editor in the Page
tool. You will need to have a microphone connected to your computer.

Click the insert sound icon.

In the pop up window that opens

click the red record button when
you are ready to record.
Click the black button to stop
recording.
Check your recording by clicking
the green play button.

If you are unhappy with the recording click the red button
to have another go. You will get a message asking you to
confirm this before you can record again. The recording
will start again as soon as you click OK.

When you have a recording you are happy with click Save.

You are returned to the text-editing window which

now has a play button inserted. While in the text
editor the button won’t work, but if you click Save
the link will work and the sound plays when the
play button is clicked on the finished page.

Fronter has automatically created the sound file

in the invisible resource folder for that page.

To add sound recordings to other elements of Fronter, such as discussions, you

would first need to create the sound file in a Resource folder. Open the folder and
click Create.

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 Using the sound recorder

Give the file an apt and

easily identifiable name
and then choose record
a sound file.
Click Save.

Record the sound file using the same process as above.

The next step is to add a link to the sound file, for example in a forum. Here the
sound file reads the instructions for this forum.

Select Edit to amend

the forum.

Highlight whatever you want to link to the sound file, in this case text, but it could be
an image and click Internal link.

Then use the internal link to attach the file.

In the window that opens browse to find the

correct file and select it.

Opt to have it open in a new window (then it can

be minimised and any text on the page remains
visible).

Click Save. The highlighted text will now be

underlined, indicating that it is a link.

The sound link will open in a new window and

play.

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 To upload your picture and amend
details on your contact page

To go to your contact page click on your name from any other page.

You may be taken to your homepage – click on contact details.

To upload or change your picture click on Edit Image.

Click on the Browse button.

Browse through your computer files and select the image you want. Click Open.

For a digital image to display in Fronter

correctly it needs to be taken as ‘portrait’
and once imported into the photo
package on your computer rotated and
saved in portrait format. Landscape
images will appear distorted and
squashed

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 To upload your picture and amend
details on your contact page

Click on Save.

Your image will now appear in the Contact Card and when you contribute to
discussions and forums or use Fronter Instant Messenger.

Other personal information can be added, but be aware that other Fronter users
within your school will be able to view your details, including pupils and potentially
parents.

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