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A major GDP software update took place on
December 20, 2011. The updates listed below were designed
ultimately to make your GDP experience more efficient and
intuitive. See
Course Manager Tips for more detail on the December updates.
All handouts have been updated to reflect these updates. |
To keep abreast of former GDP updates, you can access
Software Release Notes from the Online Learning Center, Instructor
Edition page. Click
here for the steps to access the Online Learning
Center via the Information Center, Instructor Edition
link; once you are on the Instructor Edition page, click the
Software Release Notes link to
access that file. Three new movies highlighting many of the new and
enhanced features are now available:
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- INSTRUCTOR: Message Center
- INSTRUCTOR: Comments Library, General
Comments, & Annotations
- INSTRUCTOR: Formatting Assistant
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Update Highlights,
12/20/11
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Message
Center—Instructor & Student
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INSTRUCTOR: Message Center |
- Use this feature to send internal messages
between instructors and students. See
Message Center for
details.
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Course
Manager—General
- When you next log on to Course Manager, GDP
opens automatically to the last screen you were working in when
you exited.
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Student
Portfolio—General
- Timed writing goals are included in a new
Goal column to the right of Total Time. For example:

- Access new Category and Exercise type columns
when you export the Portfolio as an Excel file.
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Student Portfolio—Accessibility
- Access the Portfolio quickly (a) via a new
Portfolio icon on the Student tab or (b) via GPS, Reports tab,
where the Report Type now defaults to Portfolio.

- Access a different student Portfolio directly
from the Reports tab using the Class, Section, and Student boxes
and the Previous and Next buttons under the Student box.
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Student
Portfolio—Filters
- Access the Filter Student Portfolio window
via the Filter (On/Off) button.
- In the Filter Student Portfolio window,
filter by TW Duration (1', 2', 3', and/or
5'); check and clear
the Select All box to set Exercise Category selections more
efficiently.
- In the Portfolio Report, toggle the
Show
All/Apply Previous Filter button to remove and apply any
previously set Advanced filters.
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Student Portfolio—Expanded
- Expanded items in the Portfolio now hold.
- The most recent work appears by default at
the top of any expanded Portfolio listing.
- Expand the five items in the Portfolio in one
click with the Expand 5
button.
- Collapse expanded Portfolio items in one
click with the Collapse All button.
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Student Portfolio—Comments, Details, and Print Save
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INSTRUCTOR:
Comments Library, General Comments, & Annotations
Two movies (INSTRUCTOR: Annotations and
INSTRUCTOR: Comments Library) were replaced with this new
movie.
Many of the new features are demonstrated.
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- Include multiple General Comments and
Annotations by dragging and dropping them from the Library into the text box
found in the Edit General Comment and Insert Annotation windows.
- In the Edit General Comment and Insert
Annotation windows, type a letter or two into the “contains”
Filter list box to move down your library listings automatically
until the desired comment is in view.
- Note the expanded viewing area under
Keystroking Errors in the Portfolio Details screen. The viewing
area was expanded from 4 lines to 8 lines of display.
- Click Details on an expanded Portfolio item,
then click Print; follow the steps at the bottom of the screen
to Save a report that includes that screen, including comments,
to an HTML file. That report includes the student name,
Class/Section name, job name, attempt number, Last Modified
date, Time Spent, Errors, any A.D.D.S. warning, and any
instructor comments.
- The new movie,
INSTRUCTOR: Comments Library, General Comments, & Annotations,
includes a demonstration of all these features and more.
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Student
Portfolio—Auto Archive Data & Empty Portfolio
- When you edit student data (typically, this is
done at the end of a term but can be done anytime), you have the
option to archive all Portfolio data for that student, but
retain the student’s personal information so that student begins
anew with a fresh, blank Portfolio. You can either leave the
student in the assigned class or reassign that student to a new
Class and Section. There is no need to request a new
Registration Code.
- Access this feature via the Students
tab; from the Actions menu for the desired student, click
Edit; from the Assign Class tab, check
Auto archive old student data.
Note that checking this box will automatically archive all the
student's previous data (everything associated with the student
including resources, messages, portfolio, grades, is also
archived); but the student's personal
information remains intact. This cannot be undone without contacting
support. Click OK, Save.
- If you Auto Archive a student's data by
mistake, contact
C.A.R.E. to have it restored. Once it is restored, the
student Portfolio data and other associated data will reappear,
and the student can log in as usual.
- All archived student data can be viewed via
Students, Archive tab, Archive tab,
Historical tab.
- Once a student's Portfolio data and other
relation information are archived, the student cannot log into
that account. In Instructor Management, the results for the
newly data archived account will no longer appear in the Student
tab or in GPS—Gradebook tab, or related reports. However, an
instructor can still view the Student Portfolio and required
exercise list for a data-archived student via Students,
Archive tab, Historical tab.
- The username and student ID are appended with
"-data archive-vX" and the student account is updated to an
inactive state. A new student account is automatically created
with the same personal information (Username, Student ID,
password, first name, last name, registration code, and role) as
the original. Note that because this is a new account, the
Portfolio, Message Center, and so forth are blank.
- If you wish to edit any student data or
reassign the student, so this: Under USERS, click
Students; from the Student tab, click the Actions
tab for the desired student and click Edit; from the
Student Details tab, click Edit; edit the
information in the Student ID box and the
Username box; change the password if desired; click Save;
from the Assign Class tab, select the desired
Class and Section and click Save.
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Archiving Student &
Class Section
- You can now archive a Class, Section, and assigned
students in one action. A new Archive students with class(es)
checkbox can be found via Classes, Archive
tab.
- You can now unarchive students and classes
and sections in one action. A new Unarchive students with
class(es) checkbox can be found via Classes,
Archive tab.
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Formatting
Assistant & Formatting Alerts (formerly Score Formatting)
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INSTRUCTOR: Formatting Assistant |
- Use the Formatting Alerts that appear under
Scoring Results as an aid to identifying possible formatting
errors, but never as a substitute for an instructor’s analysis.
Formatting Alerts are not always literal. Thus, the Format
Scoring feature was rebranded as “Formatting Assistant” to
emphasize that an instructor’s visual analysis of a student’s
document is the only reliable method for assessing formatting.
- See GDP Instant Help, December 2011 Updates
and Formatting Assistant Changes, “GDP Formatting Assistant,”
for detailed information on the Formatting Assistant feature and
the types of formatting errors that are analyzed.
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Required Exercises List (REL)
- Access the REL directly via the Students tab,
Column A, by clicking a Required Exercise List icon. The REL is
available only if you have enabled the Interim Gradebook.

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A.D.D.S.
- This feature has changed significantly
and is much more streamlined and intuitive. However, information
is sensitive. Therefore, see
Academic
Dishonesty for more details on A.D.D.S.
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GDP Total Time
- GDP Total Time is reported on the Reports tab
at the bottom of the Student Portfolio for each student. In this
example, 19.17:38:04 translates to 19 days, 17 hours, 38
minutes, and 4 seconds.

- Instructors will need to subtract time for
any odd jobs that may have inordinately long time reported;
typically in such cases, a student has worked on a document but
not used Submit until hours or days later.
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Detailed WPM
Table
- The Detailed WPM Table Report and the
Detailed WPM Table Chart include new sub-filters for Timed
Writings for 1', 2', 3', and/or 5'. To view Supplementary Timed
Writing results by length, check both Timed Writings and
Supplementary Timed Writings; then check the duration—1', 2',
3', and/or 5'.
- When these filters are used, the filtered
results are based on the duration of the timed writing, not the
exercise name. For example, if a student selects a 3' time limit
on a 5-Minute Timed Writing exercise (this 3' or 5' time limit
option begins in Lesson 52), the results of that timed writing
will be reported when the 3' sub-filter is in effect.
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Scheduling
- View helpful rollover tips for each
Scheduling screen column heading.
- Use Filter boxes to filter by date for Start
Date, Due Date, End Date, and Delay Results.
- Sort Scheduling IP Restrictions using the
sort hyperlink.
- Use the Export button in Scheduling to export
all settings to an Excel file for easy reference
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Footnote Scoring
- Footnote text will now be scored.
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