Who can see the data

a. S-cool has an agreed turn-around for importing user data into Plan-it of 48hrs. Once all learners are enrolled data can be collated on the import template and then transferred to the S-cool Client Support Team. Once imported the Client Support Team will confirm the login details, including passwords for all users.

2. What will the learner password be, and can they change it?

a. Learners are required to change their password the first time they login and can subsequently change it anytime they wish. S-cool recommends that a standard password is agreed for all learners at the time of import, so that logging in the first time is as straight forward as possible.

3. How are learners grouped within Plan-it?

a. Learners in post-16 Plan-it can be assigned to multiple Groups. A Group can therefore represent qualification, course, unit, tutor group, key skills group or any other collection of learners and staff. Groups are set up using the Administrator tools. Please see the Handbook for further details on creating groups and assigning learners and staff. Once Groups are set up, staff can report on learner information and start the Review process.

4. Who can see learner data?

a. Only staff imported at the provider are able to access learner information. There are two levels of Plan-it staff access:

i. Administrator – has visibility of all Groups and therefore access to all learners

ii. Supervisor – only has visibility of the learners in the Groups they are associated with

5. Who can add comments to the learner’s review?

a. Supervisors can add comments and targets to the Reviews of learners in their Groups. Administrators, although having read access to all Reviews, are not able to add any of their own comments or targets, unless they are added to that specific Group.

6. Can I view everything about a learner, or can they have private areas? I am thinking about personal tutorial information.

a. All information created by a leaner can be viewed by the Supervisors they are working with and by Administrators.

b. ‘Private’ comments in the review are only seen by the learner and their Supervisor(s).

7. Does Plan-it link to other systems at the School/College?

a. Plan-it does not currently have ‘live’ links to other systems but data that is held in provider systems, such as Attainment, Assessment and Attendance, can be imported into Plan-it via the Groups. This information is then used to support the 1:1 Review process.

8. Will Plan-it talk to School/College systems to keep data current?

a. S-cool recommends that updates to the data within Plan-it are done at set points during the course of a year. The provider should state when these updates will be done, so that all staff are working towards the same dates and they are appropriate for all using the system. Data imports are performed by the Administrator. Please refer to the Data Import Tool Guide on the Handbook for further information.

9. Can GCSE achievement data and provider attendance data be made available to view?

a. Attainment, Assessment and Attendance data can be imported into Plan-it, as long as it is held electronically by the provider. Previous Attainment data (such as GCSE results) are held in the ‘My interests and achievements’ section of the learner site. Assessment and Attendance data is held on two separate tabs of the Review.

10. How do I put assessment data into the system?

a. An Administrator at the provider can upload Assessment data into Plan-it. Quantitative data is an important element of the Review process. Data that may be generated as part of a report process can be gathered centrally and imported into Plan-it.

11. Can attendance data be linked into Plan-it?

a. Attendance data can be imported into Plan-it by an Administrator, in the same way that Assessment data. It needs to be gathered centrally and imported against each learner and their Group. If imported this way, it will be displayed as part of the Review, alongside Assessment data.

12. Does data uploaded update/delete/replace any old data? How can we delete and replace?

a. Data uploaded into Plan-it overwrites any that already exists. Therefore updates must include all new and existing data.

13. I would like to try data input, is this possible?

a. Only Plan-it Administrators are able to import data into Plan-it.

14. Can Section Leaders/Heads of Department access data across all groups in their area?

a. Within the current Plan-it staff model they would either need to be Supervisors assigned across all Groups in their area or Administrators with visibility across all Groups within the provider.

15. How do I access the supervisor site and add comments to reviews?

a. The ‘Learner review’ link on the Supervisor home page provides access into each learner’s Review. Once in the Review there is a tab for ‘Staff comments’, where you can add and edit your own comments. There are also tools on the ‘Learner review’ page for adding the same comment and/or target to multiple Reviews. For additional support on the Review process in post-16 Plan-it, please refer to the Handbook.

16. How can I put the same comment on all learners’ profiles?

a. The same comment and/or target can be added to multiple Reviews by using the drop-down tools on the ‘Learner review’ page. This is accessed from the Supervisor home page. Please refer to the Handbook for additional support.

17. Can learners edit all data put on by staff, and vice-versa?

a. Learners and Supervisors cannot edit each others’ comments. Learners can edit their own comments through the Supervisor site and validate changes with their own password. Learners cannot edit any targets set by Supervisors but Supervisors can edit all targets. This is so that a Review can be conducted from one computer, with both learner and staff adding comments and targets.

18. Is there a link to UCAS in the careers section?

a. If a learner states that they wish to continue into Higher Education in the ‘My ambitions’ quiz, a link is provided to a page on the Connexions Direct website, about Higher Education. Amongst the information provided by Connexions is a link to HERO (online gateway to Higher Education), from where they can access UCAS.

19. How long will it take for each learner to complete the initial data?

a. The tools within Plan-it are designed to be used as any other resource at a provider and dipped in and out of, as appropriate. The information that learners build up in Plan-it should be edited and added to as part of an ongoing process. There is therefore no set amount of time that Plan-it will take learners to complete.

20. Will Key Skills and Functional Skills be on the profile?

a. The skill groups in both Functional Skills and Key Skills fit very closely with the skill groups that already exist within the Plan-it skills quiz. Therefore learners can use their skills summary in Plan-it to build up evidence of their Key Skills and Functional Skills.

21. How many providers are using the system?

a. There are a significant number of post-16 Plan-it implementations taking place in 2008-2009, building on the previous year. Post-16 Plan-it is being used across the south of England, from Kent to Cornwall.

22. Can I have more instruction on the Supervisor site?

a. The Handbook provides support materials for the use of post-16 Plan-it by Administrators, Supervisors and learners. Training days can be provided by the S-cool Implementation Team or your SST. Please contact your SST for further details.

23. How do ‘Connexions’ feed into this?

a. Connexions play a key role as part of the use of Plan-it within a provider. S-cool advises that Connexions Advisors be fully involved with the initial planning process and then implementation of Plan-it. They can be imported into the system as members of staff and then use it to allocate IAG resource and support individual learners with researching, planning and reviewing their progression.

24. Is there multiple language support for learners with a native language other than English?

a. Currently Plan-it is only available in English.

25. Does each page print out as displayed?

a. The learner’s Summary, Action Plan and Review Summary can be printed off by both staff and learner. These pages have style sheets applied so that the information will be displayed in an appropriate format when printed. Due to differences between screen and print they may appear slightly differently. Almost all of the reports in the Supervisor site can be downloaded for printing. Other pages from the learner and Supervisors sites do not have printing style sheets and are therefore not designed to be printed directly.

26. Can the system be adapted for entry level learners using different language and symbols?

a. There is currently only one version of post-16 Plan-it. Our Product Development Team is continually working on Plan-it requirements for the next year and beyond. Feedback such as this is gathered as part of the use of Plan-it at providers and fed into the S-cool PD Manager. S-cool is very keen that all providers are involved in shaping the future of Plan-it.

27. Do you have any examples of the system in use at entry level?

a. S-cool is currently implementing post-16 Plan-it across a number of different areas, in both colleges and school sixth-forms. At this stage it is therefore too early to provide examples of its use with learners at different levels however, as part of these pilots, S-cool hopes providers will be willing to supply case studies to demonstrate how they have used Plan-it. S-cool will make these available to all other schools and colleges as exemplars of use.

28. How will we find time to create targets?

a. Plan-it is designed to be used within the processes that already exist at a provider. Plan-it can be incorporated directly into the review process and is flexible enough to cater for a number of different delivery and working patterns.

29. How far reaching is the privacy policy for data?

a. The Privacy Policy tells learners what rights are given to them under the Data Protection Act, what S-cool will do with the information that they put into Plan-it and what measures are in place to ensure Plan-it is a safe website for all. The Privacy Policy can be accessed from both the learner and Supervisor login pages and S-cool strongly recommends that it is read by everyone before using Plan-it. However, the Privacy Policy covers S-cool’s obligations in relation to the Data Protection Act and does not cover providers and their obligations. It is recommended that providers assess the level of consent that they currently obtain from learners prior to sending any data to S-cool.

30. Are learners fully aware of who can see their data?

a. S-cool strongly recommends that there is a ‘Plan-it launch’ for all learners who will be using the system. This is to explain what Plan-it is, how it is going to be used and why it is going to be used. As part of this it is very important that learners are made fully aware of who will be able to access the information they put into Plan-it and the roles they will have in supporting learners.

31. Is there an issue of parental permission?

a. As part of the Data Protection Act providers are themselves required to gather parental/carer/learner permission in order to share data with other parties covered within the DPA. This information can form part of a Learning Agreement, Contract or Fair Processing Notice signed by learners during enrolment.

32. Who will train learners?

a. Plan-it is an intuitive tool and our experience has shown that learners, who regularly use internet programs, are not likely to need any technical training. They will however need guidance on how to research, plan and review their own progression. These are elements of the curriculum that should already be in place.

Glossary of Plan-it terms

Administrator Top-level Plan-it staff user with access to all administration tools for managing data within the provider and importing data. They have visibility of all groups set up and therefore all learners within the provider.

Supervisor Standard Plan-it staff user with access to the groups they have been assigned to. Staff members such as course co-ordinators, course tutors, personal tutors and support staff at a provider would be imported into Plan-it as supervisors.

Group The mechanism which is used to associate supervisors to learners within Plan-it. Supervisors report on learner information via their groups. Learners and staff can be assigned to multiple groups. Once a learner and supervisor are assigned to a group, the first review is automatically created. A Plan-it group could relate to a course, qualification, course unit, tutor group, key skills group or any other collection of staff and learners at a provider.

Review Tool which enables learners and supervisors to review progress, record comments and set targets. The review can also be supported by importing performance data against each group.

Assessment data Data imported into Plan-it by an administrator. Data is uploaded against an individual learner and group and appears on one tab of the review. The data supports the review process and may include assessment grades and predicted grades. Required fields are: heading, mark/grade and period of assessment.

Attendance data Data imported into Plan-it by an administrator. Data is uploaded against an individual learner and group and appears on one tab of the review. The data supports the review process. Required fields are: attendance mark/grade/% and period of attendance.

Attainment data Data imported into Plan-it by an administrator. Data is uploaded against each individual learner. The data supports the use of Plan-it and can be used so show any attainment data a provider holds in its own systems.

Handbook Online resources to support the use of Plan-it by School Support Teams, school staff and learners. It can be found at:

www.s-cool.co.uk/planithandbook

If you have any further questions relating to Plan-it that are not answered in this document please email your query to: support@s-cool.com