This is a short introduction to the essential components that have to be configured before Beebop can be used with students.
For step-by-step instructions on how to do this, see 'Setting up Beebop for the first time'.
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Why do you need Users |
Everything revolves around users. Even if you choose to prevent some users from having access to Beebop, they should still be created for the system to work as intended. |
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Minimum steps to create a user |
Fill three input fields |
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Import from CSV file |
YES |
Every student, supervisor, tutor, administrator has to be registered on Beebop as a user.
Setting up Beebop for the first time you may want to start from just a few administrators and tutors, and eventually add everyone else when everything else is ready.
It is important to have a separate user for each person who can access Beebop; avoid sharing the same user across multiple members of staff (more about this later).
Courses are required to create Classes, which in turn are essential to the functioning of the learning management system.
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Minimum steps to create a course |
Fill two input fields |
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Import from CSV file |
NO |
You should create a list of courses that matches the list of qualifications (or any other educational ‘product’) offered by your school.
Do not include the year or any date information in the course name: the courses you are creating here are just templates which will be cloned into each class going forward.
Create this list before anything else, it will take only a few minutes. In fact, it is not necessary to have any of the course content ready: you can just create a list of empty containers with the title of each course, whether it is a short weekend course or a three-year* degree.
The next stage will be to revisit each course page adding the list of the modules it includes (these have to be created before they can be added to the course).
*Do not be tempted to create three courses called ‘year one’, ‘year two’ and ‘year three’. Beebop takes care of this separation when creating classes for each academic term.
The logic here is that the course name should match the exact name of what the student has signed up to.
Without Modules there can be no course content.
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Minimum steps to create a module |
Fill one input field |
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Import from CSV file |
YES |
Beebop makes the assumption that each one of your courses is composed of a number of modules. Short courses may consist of a single module, and special modules can be created to manage one-to-one tuition, mentoring, and other forms of customised training.
In any case, a list of modules that matches all the modules used in your courses must be created before students can be registered for classes or have their attendance tracked.
Like in courses, the modules are created once and then reused year after year; the actual content may change, but the module names and codes stay the same.
Modules can be created manually one at a time or imported from a list. At a minimum, all you have to enter is a name for each module and nothing else, but investing time in providing additional details such as ‘level’, ‘module leader’, tags, etc save a great deal of work in the future.
The actual course content for these modules will be created by the tutors, or imported using the common cartridge standard (to import from platforms such as Canvas, for example).
Facilities (i.e. rooms) are required to prevent calendar conflicts and enable more advanced features.
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Minimum steps to create a room |
Fill one input field |
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Import from CSV file |
YES |
Having a list of all the rooms used for lectures (including external venues) makes it possible to have a ‘room finder’ feature for room bookings, as well as allowing advanced features such as reports on room utilisation and the optional timetabling assistant.
Without Terms there can be no classes (and without classes students have no access to course content & assignments).
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Minimum steps to create a term |
Fill three input fields |
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Import from CSV file |
NO |
Without defining academic terms (also referred to as ‘study blocks’, ‘semesters’, etc) it is impossible to create Classes and register students for any course.
Terms can be created at the start of each academic year by simply entering a short name and the dates for their start and conclusion.
Without classes students have no access to course content & assignments.
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Minimum steps to create a class |
Fill two input fields |
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Import from CSV file |
NO |
At the start of each Term, Administrators must create a Class for each group of students enrolled on a particular course. Classes are needed to make the connection between students, tutors, and the course content for that particular term.
Once a class has been created, adding students to the class causes Beebop to register them to the course content for all its modules, generating and maintaining smart user groups which can be used for messaging, scheduling lectures, and for detailed reports.
Here is where you can make changes that affect how Beebop works for the entire school.
A step by step guide to configuring the most important settings is provided in 'Setting up Beebop for the first time'.