|
|
|
I
have been getting a lot of questions about the new study Guide mode feature
that comes with version 1.1.126 of Interactive Math. So I wanted to send an
e-mail to explain a little more about the Study Guide feature, and also
to clarify the difference between Study Guide mode and Stand—Alone Mode.
For those of you who have been asking, we have now posted Stand-Alone
installation instructions on the Web at http://www.phinteractivemath.
com/installs/studentfull STA/l26fullstudinst_standalone.htm. What
is Study Guide Mode? Study
Guide Mode is designed to be used by students in Home/Modem mode who have
finished a course but want to continue to use the Interactive Math software on
their own at home to practice math. Study Guide 1~ode allows student to use
the Interactive Math software without being connected to the Internet or a
server. (They do need an Internal connection during the installation, but not
once Interactive Math is installed.) Any work they do in Study Guide Mode is
saved only to t1~eir hard drives, and there is no communication with the
server (so no grades, work, or help requests are passed on to their
instructors. This is only a practice mode for students who want to continue to
use the software after their course has officially ended. IMPORTANT
NOTE: In order to use Study Guide Mode at home, students must initially
install the Interactive Math software in Home/Modem m9de. There is a step
during the installation that asks whether a student wants to install the
software in Local Area Network (LAN) mode or in Modem (Home) Mode. The
students MUST be in Modem mode if they wane to use the Study Guide feature at
the end of their course. The reason for this is that home use (Modem mode)
downloads a Microsoft Access database version of the management system
database so that the grade and work information can be tracked while the
student works offline. A student who installs in LAN mode has never downloaded
this database (because LAN mode requires constant connection to the server);
therefore, there is no management system information on their local machine.
Study Guide Mode renames the downloaded database (mgtsysSingle.mdb) to the
standalone version (mgtsys.mdb)> >
> > . If the student
clicks on Study Guide Mode af How
does a student convert to Study Guide Mode at the end of the course? The Study
Guide feature can be accessed by going to the Start Menu, selecting Programs,
and selecting Interactive Math’. There are 2 options listed; the first is
Interactive Math, and the second is Study Guide Mode. When students have
finished a course, they can select Study Guide Mode, and it will change their
properties file so that they can then access the Interactive Math program
without connecting to the server. They can continue to use the same login
information that they used during the class. The students will see the same
syllabus that they were using in class. So even if the students have been
deleted from the PHIM
database at their school, they can continue to use the software in a practice
mode for as long as they want once the course has finished~ Important
Note about Study Guide Mode Students
should NOT click on Study Guide Mode until after the course is over. If they
click on it during the course, or at the beginning of the course,. they will
no longer have access to the server. So their grades and other work will not
be transmitted~ to their teachers.. If students accidentally click on Study
Guide Mode, there is a warning that comes up asking if they are sure they want
to convert to this mode, so they can cancel out if necessary. If students do
not cancel out and instead convert to Study Guide mode, they will have to call
us in technical support (1-888-695-6577 x3) and we can help change their
properties file back to server mode. To
prevent students from accidentally choosing Study Guide Mode bef9re
the course is over, teachers can encourage students to use the shortcut icon
on their desktops at home, instead of selecting interactive 1~ath through the
Start menu. Also, lab technicians may want to remove the Study Guide Shortcut
in the Start/Programs/Interactive Math menu order to avoid having students
accidentally select Study Guide Mode in the lab. Lab technicians at several of
our schools have already ~one this. What
is Stand-Alone Mode? Stand-Alone
mode is a mode that enables students to use interactive math at home, not
connected to the server. Students do not need an Internet connection when
working in Stand-Alone mode, but they do need an Internet connection when
initially installing the Interactive Math software. Some schools use PHIM as a
supplement to a lecture class. Because they don’t want to enter all the
students into the PHIM database, they choose to have students use PHIM in
Stand-Alone Mode. This mode gives students a generic syllabus (a sample
syllabus with all chapters included) and a generic login to use for practicing
math. It supplements their in-class instruction. Some local server schools do
not allow students to access the server from home, because of security reasons
(for example, the school does not wish to open certain ports in their
firewall). The students at these schools can also get extra practice with the
software at home by installing in Stand-Alone Mode. Because there is no serve r
connection in Stand—Alone mode, grades and work do not get transmitted
through the server to an instructor. The work the students do in Stand-Alone
mode at home will only be saved to their own hard drives. Stand-Alone
users have a generic login of student1, student2, or student3 (depending upon
the course they are enrolled in), a generic password, a generic institution
code, and all see a generic syllabus. How
does a student work in Stand—Alone Mode? A
student can choose to initially install Interactive Math in Stand—Alone mode
if the software is only being used as a supplement to a lecture or other type
of class, and the teacher is not planning to collect any work or grades from
the PHIM software. A student could also initially install in Stand—Alone
mode at home if a school did not aJ7low the student access to the
server from home because of security issues. This student could be enrolled in
a class and do work in the lab for the course (connected to the server), and
then use the same CD at home in Stand-Alone mode just to get additional
practice with the material. For instructions on how to install in Stand-Alone
mode, please see the following link on the Web (this same link is also
included at the beginning of the e-mail): http:
//www.phinteractivemath.com/installs/studentfull_STA/l26fullstudinst_standalone.htm If
a student works from home connected to the server, but at the end of the course
wants to continue practicing with PHIM, he can do this either by choosing the
Study Guide option or by changing a few lines in his properties file. If the
student initially installed in Home/Modem mode, then he should choose the Study
Guide option to continue practicing PHIM and to continue using the syllabus he
has been using during the course. If he initially installed in Local Area
Network (LAN) mode, then he will need to change some lines in his properties
file in order to access a generic syllabus in Stand-Alone Mode. To do this, the
student should call technical support at 1-888—695—6577 and press option 3.
We can assist students with this conversion. What
is the difference between Stand-Alone Mode and Study Guide Both Stand-Alone Mode
and Study Guide Mode allow the user to practice Interactive Math at home without
being connected to the Internet and the server (although the initial
installation does require an Internet connection). Study Guide Mode is an option
to be selected only at the end of a course when a student wants to continue
practicing the material. Study Guide Mode allows the user to access the
customized syllabus that they have been working with during the course, and it
allows them to use the same login information. They will see all
the work that they have
done during the course and all the grades they received. But they must have done
their initial installation in Modem/Home mode in order to convert to Study Guide
Mode. Stand-Alone
mode gives students access only to a generic syllabus, not to a teacher’s
customized syllabus. It’s a good mode to use if the software is only being
used as a course supplement and you don’t want to enter every student into the
PHIM database (only a generic login is required). See the install instructions
if this is the case. It's also a good mode to use for students who have
initially installed the program in LAN mode and want to continue practicing math
after the course is over. For this conversion, students should call technical
support when their course ends. Do
students need to be connected to the Internet to run Stand-Alone. Z1ode
or Study Guide Mode? No.
For installation of the software1 an Internet connection if
necessary. But an Internet Connection is not required for actually running the
software for students in Stand-Alone or Study Guide Mode~. If students are using
the Study Guide option, then they will need an Internet connection during the
course, but once the course is over and they have clicked on Study Guide mode,
they no longer need the connection to the Internet. Students connecting in
Stand-Alone mode only need an Internet connection during installation, so that
they can install the Macromedia Shockwave component of the software. Then they
can open Interactive Math without an Internet connection. I
hope this clears things up a bit. As always, feel free to gall technical support
with any questions. |