When given appropriate permissions, each user has the ability to create and publish Items and Passages to a Work Space (e.g., My Work Space, School Work Space, District Work Space, PLC Work Space) or to a local School or District Item Bank that they have been given access to.
These Items and Passages can then be used in Item Bank Assessments for online or paper administration. This article will review the process for creating a Passage by any level user.
Where to Start
Visibility of the School Work Space, District Work Space and PLC Work Space is dependent on the user role permissions established by the district.
There are four levels of Work Space.
- My Work Space: All users have a My Work Space. This is where a user can create Items to be published into a target Item Bank. Only Teacher Level users can publish items into My Work Space, using it as a personal Item Bank. If a School or District Level user creates an Item or Passage in My Work Space, that Item or Passage must be moved into either School Work Space or District Work Space for publishing.
- School Work Space: Teacher and School Level users may have access to the School Work Space. When items are created in School Work Space, users with permission can view, edit, publish and delete Items and Passages created by other School Work Space users, allowing for collaboration. Items and Passages residing in the School Work Space can only be published to School level Item Banks.
- District Work Space: Teacher, School, and District Level users may have access to the District Work Space. When items are created in District Work Space, users with permission can view, edit, publish and delete Items and Passages created by other District Work Space users, allowing for collaboration. Items and Passages residing in the District Work Space can only be published to District level Item Banks.
- PLC Work Space: Teacher, School, and District Level users may have access to a PLC (Professional Learning Communities) Work Space. Users who have been added as a member to a PLC Group can work collaboratively on building assessment items in a PLC Work Space. Items and passages residing in a PLC Work Space can only be published to PLC Item Banks which a user has been granted permission to access.
Create a New Passage:
- Choose the desired Work Space.
- Select Create Passage to go to the New Passage setup screen.
- The New Passage process steps will appear at the top of the screen. The step a user is currently in will be highlighted in green, while the steps still to be completed will be gray.
- Passage Name. The name should be specific to the subject, standard(s), grade, and/or topic.
- Topic: (optional) Enter the topic of the passage (e.g., poetry, ecology, statistics, etc.).
- Lexile: (optional) Enter the Lexile if known.
- Grade(s): Enter the intended grade(s) for which the passage will be used.
- Passage Text: Enter the passage text accordingly. (See Step 4)
- Properties: (optional) Select the desired properties from the drop down list, then enter a specific aspect of the property in the open box. Select Add to add this property to the passage. (For example, select Text Category from the drop down list, then add Historical Fiction.)
- Save/ Next: Select Save if planning to continue at a later time, or Next to go to the next step. Progress will be automatically saved.
- Return to My Work Space: Select to return to My Work Space.
Passage Text: Enter the passage text using one of four methods:
- Type the text directly into the text box.
- Paste from an internet source, then select OK to continue.
- Paste as Plain Text, then select OK to continue.
- Paste from Word, then select OK to continue.
A passage as an image, table, video, or audio: A passage may be something other than text.
- Image: Select the image icon to upload an image.
- Table: Select the table icon to create a table.
- Video: Select the video icon to upload a video.
- Audio: Select the audio icon to upload an audio.
Preview:
- The last step in creating the passage is to preview what has been entered in the previous step.
- Select PDF Passage Preview to view the passage in this format.
- Select Previous to return to the previous step to make revisions or edits. Or select Publish if setup is complete.
- Return to My Work Space when finished.
- If Publishing the Passage, a message will appear verifying the Work Space where the passage should be located. Select the Work Space, select Publish, then select OK in the next message to continue.
Moving a Passage from My Work Space to the School or District Work Space for publishing:
- Find the completed Passage in the Work Space and check the open box next to the passage name or select the down arrow in the Functions column.
- Select Move.
- Select the desired location and select Move.
- A message confirming this action will appear. Select OK to continue.
- To Publish the Passage, find the Passage in the selected Work Space. Check the open box next to the Passage Name.
- Select Publish.
- Or, select the down arrow in the Functions column and select Publish.
- Select the appropriate Bank where the Passage should reside, then select Publish. [Note: Only Users who have been given Access permissions may publish to School or District Banks.]
- A message will appear confirming this action. select OK to continue.
Edit a Passage: A Published Passage must be unpublished first before it can be edited.
- To Unpublish the Passage, find the Passage in the selected Work Space.
- Check the open box next to the Passage Name. Select Unpublish.
- Or, select the down arrow in the Functions column and select Unpublish.
- A message will appear confirming this action. Select OK and then select OK again in the second message.
- To return to setup to make edits, find the passage in the Work Space, then select the drop down arrow in the Functions column. Select Edit.
- Make edits as needed, and follow the steps to publishing the passage in the correct Work Space.
Other Functions:
- Use the search filters to find specific passages in the Work Space. Select Find Matching Passages to view results.
- Tag passages for easy identification.
- Copy one or more passages by checking the open box next to the passage name, then select the Copy icon.
- Delete a passage by checking the open box next to the passage name, then select the trash can icon.