Update 1386 – Student Import

The software has been updated to add a student import which I will describe here so I can refer people to this page before I’m done revising the manual.

This feature lets you use a CSV (comma separated values) file to automatically import a large number of students into a student database.

This is only relevant if you are using a student database.

Here’s how to use it.

As an administrator, on a system with a student database, go to the Students panel. Under the students list, there is now an “Import” button.

You’re presented with a dialog that lets you tell the system what fields are in your CSV value and in what order.

A few notes.

• Only the first and last name are required. The computer can make up usernames, passwords and ID numbers. It will assume that specified students are neither teachers nor administrators, and will not put students into classes unless specifically told to.
• Middle names are recommended as they help the computer create unique user names.
• ID is a number for each student so that you can print out anonymous grade reports, but still be able to sort those reports by person. If you don’t already have IDs for your students, the program can make them up.
• The administrator & teacher fields must be “true” or “false”.
• You can put class names in, and the computer will automatically create classes and file students and teachers into those classes. (Example below.)
• I will elaborate on how passwords are generated at the end of this post.

So we need a CSV file.

Here is the CSV file I’m using for this example:

It has four fields; First Name, Last Name, Teacher, Class Name. Just like the screenshot before it where we configure the CSV file. Don’t put extra spaces into the CSV file.

The teacher field is only marked as “true” for John Smith. They all have the same class name. So these five users will be put into the same class together with John Smith as the teacher.

Now we have a preview of what the computer will put into the database.

Note that the username, password and ID fields are marked in blue. This means that the computer made them up because they were not given.

If you give the computer a bad username, password or ID, it will make one up and mark it in blue so you can easily spot it.

Save this document before continuing so that you have a reference for the usernames and passwords.

If all looks good, click OK.

The computer will now try to write this all into the database.

If any failed, for example if usernames are taken, you’ll be given another list showing persons rejected by the database. You can enter them manually.

Here we can see the class panel after the import is done. The import tool created a class and correctly filed the students into it.

I’d like to take a moment now to explain why passwords are generated the way they are.

At first I was going to string words together like “starpower59”, because these sorts of passwords are easy for me to remember.

However, our main focus is on deaf students who are learning English.

“starpower59” isn’t easier to memorize if you don’t know the word star, don’t know the word power, or don’t know how to spell them. A code like “sj4gr3” is equally meaningful, shorter and is a stronger password. To an illiterate student, “starpower59” is only a longer string of random glyphs.

When my family first got the internet, we had a connection through Prodigy and our login ID was ZGUP27A. None of us small children had any hint of trouble remembering it and I still remember it now.

So for now, the password generator will produce 6-glyph strings of letters and numbers.

Passwords can of course be changed later or specified in the CSV.