Instructor in CIS LMS has a lot of controls and access rights. Below flowchart depicts the various functions of the Instructor.

Front End Course

Front End course creation and editing allows instructors to edit course contents from the front end. Almost everything which can be done from the backend can be done form the front end. The front end course creation automatically creates and connects the necessary linkages between a course, a unit, a quiz, a product, groups and forums, thereby making course creation process a lot simpler and easier to maintain.

Creating Course

To create a course , locate the Create Course button in the Course Directory. Click on it and you’ll see the create course page. Each section in create course has a description given on the right. Clicking an element automatically triggers its corresponding description on the right.

The course creation process is divided into 5 steps :

1. Create CourseIn this step a new course is created. This new course is in draft state.
   • Course Title Delete the existing test and enter a suitable title for the course.
   • Course Category Select a Course Category, in case you want to add a new category, select new category and enter the new course category name.
   • Course Image Select a Course thumbnail image. This image is used in course snapshot and single course page.
   • Course Description Enter a short description of the course. This is a two line description shown below the course title. This description is also used in creating new groups and forums. The main description and content of the Course can be added later on by simply editing the course form the front end.
   • Change Course Status Enter the status of the course offline or online .
     Note:A Offline Course is not visible to students in the course directory.
2. Create SettingsThese are vital settings for the course, which needs to be configured.
   • Maximum Course Duration Maxmimum duration of course in days. Entering a value of 9999 or above shows “unlimited access” as time duration for course.
   • Course Evaluation mode Set evaluation mode for course.
   • Pre Required course Set a pre required course for the course. The course selected here, needs to submitted and evaluated in order to get started with this course.
   • Drip FeedEnable Drip feed for course.
     • Drip Duration Set Drip duration for the course. The drip duration is time period between successive units.
   • Course CertificateEnable Course certifiacte
     • Certificate Percentage Set percentage out of 100. If students cumulative percentage of all quizzes and assignments is more than the value set here, she will get the certificate.
     • Certificate Template Set a certificate template
   • Course Badge
   • Badge Percentage Set percentage out of 100. If students cumulative percentage of all quizzes and assignments is more than the value set here, she will get the badge.
   • Badge Title Add a title for the Badge. This title appears when user hovers over the badge.
   • Badge Image Upload a Badge image. This is required to enable Badge for the course.
   • Number of Seats Enter Number of seats for the course. The Seats comprise of students currently taking the course. Once the seats are filled, a new student would not be able to join the Course.
   • Start Date Set a Start date of the course. If set to a future date, the Course begins when the Start date arrives, that is student will be able to join the course only after the start date.
   • Course Group Connect a group, if creating a new course it is recommended that you create a new group for the course. By default the group created is a private group only accessible to students taking the course.
   • Course Retakes Enter number of retakes a student can make of that particular course
   • Course Forum Connect a forum, if creating a new course it is recommended that you connect the group forum for the course.This will create a private group forum for the above group only accessible to students taking the course and in the group.
   • Course Completion message Enter a Completion message, which is shown to user when the user finishes the course or submits the course for evaluation.
3. Set CurriculumIn this section Instructor creates or sets the curriculum for the course.
   • ADD SECTION Add a new section in the curriculum. Clicking this button would add a Text box in the curriculum section. Enter the section title in the box.
   • ADD UNIT Add a unit in the curriculum. Clicking this button would add a select box showing all the units. If instructor privacy is enabled then all the units created by instructor will be shown in the select box. To add a new unit select “Add New Unit” in the select box, which will show a input box. Enter the title of the unit in the input box and select Publish from the dropdown beside the unit. Once published the unit will be published and the dropdown controls will now show edit unit. Clicking on edit in the dropdown controls would take the user to the unit editing screen. Clicking on Delete would remove the unit from the databse. Clicking on remove will remove the unit form the curriculum.
   • ADD QUIZ Add a Quiz in the curriculum. Clicking this button would add a select box showing all the quizzes. If instructor privacy is enabled then all the quizzes created by instructor will be shown in the select box. To add a new quiz select “Add New Quiz” in the select box, which will show a input box. Enter the title of the Quiz in the input box and select Publish from the dropdown beside the unit.Once published the quiz will be published and the dropdown controls will now show edit quiz. Clicking on edit in the dropdown controls would take the user to the quiz editing screen. Clicking on Delete would remove the quiz from the databse. Clicking on “remove” will remove the quiz form the curriculum.
   • Save Curriculum Unless the Course curriculum is saved, the new units created and added are not a part of the course curriculum.
4. PricingThis allows the instructor to set a Price for the course.
   • Free Course Set the course as Free. A free is available to all students accessing the course.
   • Set a Course Product
     • Select an existing product if instructor want to sell the course as a combination of courses.
     • Select “No Product” to keep the course as private and manually control the Students for course
     • Select “ADD NEW PRODUCT” to create a new product and set the mode and pricing. If mode is set to subscription set the duration of subscription in days. If subscription is not enabled then the subscription duration is set as course duration. When a student purchases a course the subscription duration is set for the student. The access to the course is limited by subscription duration of the course, post which the course goes into expired state and student has to re purchase a course product to continue with the course again.
5. Publish CoursePublish the course. If Administrator has given access to publish the course then the course will be published, otherwise it will go into pending state, which the administrator needs to manually check and turn the status to Published.

Editing Course

Editing Course is almost identical to creating course, except the following pointers :

1. An Edit Course link is placed at the bottom of every course menu.
2. This link is only visible to course instructor and administrator.
3. Clicking this link would take the instructor to the edit course page.
4. On clicking there is a switch to take the course offline while editing the course.
5. When a course is offline it is not visible in Course director, search, caraousels and grids.
6. Any student who is taking the course at the moment the course is taken offline will not be impacted by this. However, during the time course is offline she would not be able to submit the course or leave a review for the course.

Manage Course

After creating courses Instructor manages the courses. There are various function available to manage courses in the Theme. A course is Managed from the Admin section in Course page.

Evaluating Quizes

After the Student has submitted the quiz.

The Quiz submissions can be loacted in the Course Admin -> Submissions -> Quiz Submissions section.

If for any reason the Instructor needs to reset the quiz for the user then she can click the Reset Quiz for User option.

To Evaluate the quiz, Instructor clicks on Evaluate icon and the Evaluation screen opens

Evaluation screen shows, Question , marked answer, correct answer , maximum marks for the question and a textbox for marks and give marks button.

To give marks to each question Instructor enters marks in the textbox and clicks save marks.

Once Instructor has saved marks for all the questions, Instructor can click on Mark quiz as evaluated

As soon as this button is pressed the user gets a notification and message with the Quiz Results.

Screenshot Walkthrough

Evaluating Courses

After the Student has submitted the Course.

The Course submissions can be loacted in the Course Admin -> Submissions -> Course Submissions section.

If for any reason the Instructor needs to reset the course for the user then she can click the Reset Course for User option.

To Evaluate the course, Instructor clicks on Evaluate icon and the Evaluation screen opens

Evaluation screen shows, the all the units in the course, and their completion status, it also shows the marks obtained in the Quizes in the course.

To give marks to Instructor enters marks from 100 in the marks column and marks Course as evaluated.

As soon as this button is pressed the user gets a notification and message with the Course Results.

If the Course percentage is above Badge percentage then the user recieves a Badge, if the Course percentage is above the passing percentage then the user recieves a completion certificate.

Screenshot Walkthrough

Managing Students

An Instructor can reset the full course for any student. The will have to start the course again from the very begining. This can be done form the Course -> Admin screen.

An Instructor can remove any student from the Course. The student will have to Pruchase the course again to take the course. This can be done form the Course -> Admin screen.

Screenshot Walkthrough

Course Messaging

An Instructor can send mass message to the students taking the course.This can be done form the Course -> Admin -> Members screen.

Statistics

Statistics play an important role in any LMS. CIS LMS covers some of the important stats functions. We’re however open to suggestions here.

User Statistics

An Instructor can see any User’s stats for her course only.

1. To see user stats Instructor needs to go to Single Course -> Admin -> Students/Members
2. Click on the Graph Icons to see User Stats
3. After Clicking, if the user has finished the course, only the percentage obtained by the user is shown.
4. After Clicking, if the user is still taking the course then the course timeline is shown with the unit status and the marks obtained in the Quiz.

Screenshot Walkthrough

Course Statistics

An Instructor can see Course stats for her course only. Since calculating Statistics for the course is a complex process, statistics for the course needs to be manually activated by clicking the Calculate Stats icon at the bottom of the course stats screen.

1. To see Courses stats Instructor needs to go to Single Course -> Admin -> Stats
2. If Stats for the course are not calculated or to recalculate the stats the Instructor can simply click on the Calculate Stats icon
3. The Course stats then appear on the Course Stats screen.

Screenshot Walkthrough

Interaction

BuddyPress provides a lot of functionality for interaction among students and instructors.

Groups

Every Course taker is added to the course group. There are many useful plugins which can be installed to increase the usability of Groups in LMS. The plugin Group documents enables the Instructor to upload documents, like assignments for the Course group. This is automatically sent to the full course group.

Forums

With the forum we get a lot of interaction features. A Private forum conencted to the Group can be made as the Course forum. This makes the Forum an exclusive club for the Course Members.