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Sign-In Stations

This section explains the Sign-in Station options to collect Center Attendance and SI Class Attendance using Accudemia at your Center or Institution.

In Accudemia, users can sign in and out of their sessions using Sign-in Stations. Sign-in Stations can be installed physically on a computer and stored as a cookie in your device's browser. Or you can set up a virtual link providing the users a way to sign-in online.

Computers

Purpose: This section is used to set or designate a computer, tablet, or web-enabled device as being a Sign-in Station for a Classroom or a Center.
How to Access: Administrations > Sign-In Stations > Computers or Quick > Sign-in Station

Quick > Sign-In Station

If you want to configure the way the Kiosk is used by Students during the sign-in process, this is defined in the Control Panel > Walk-ins section.

When a machine is set as a Computer Sign-in Station and the [yourcollege].accudemia.net site is accessed, the browser pulls the Sign-in Station screen up based on a cookie stored in the Computer's browser.

Sign-in Station will:

  • Let you see a particular Center's or Classroom's Sign-in Station screen.
  • Allow Students or Tutors to sign-in at the Center. (Sign-ins are necessary and the primary way to log attendance in Accudemia.)

A Sign-In Station helps by creating Session Logs for the Students and Tutors who sign in. Although a manual process exists to create Session Logs directly by System Administrators this is the automated and most convenient solution.

Accudemia Sign-in Station Computer Minimum Requirements

This section is created to explain the minimum requirements needed in a computer to be set up as a Sign-in Station in Accudemia. Due to the web-based nature of the Accudemia system, there a no real specification on the computer hardware, so these are the only items that you need to ensure:

  1. The Computer has an active Internet connection (preferably wired and not wireless).
  2. The Computer has a browser installed that can access *.accudemia.net on port 80 (Internet traffic) over the network and Internet connection.
  3. The Computer's browser can store cookies from *.accudemia.net

As long as these three criteria are met, you should have no problems setting up and maintaining the Accudemia Computer Sign-in Station.

If you use an image that resets after every reboot on the PC, you will need to adjust the image, so it includes this cookie that is built when you set up an Accudemia Computer Sign-in Station. Typically a popular program used to do this is Deep-Freeze by Faronics. If you are using this to keep your Computer's image set to a saved state, just do the following so it will stay set up as an Accudemia Computer Sign-in Station:
  1. Un-freeze the Computer.
  2. Go to your http://[mycollege].accudemia.net website and set up the Accudemia Computer Sign-in Station using the steps below. Replace the [mycollege] with your institution's domain.
  3. Re-freeze the computer.

Create a Sign-in Station or Setup Kiosk

To create a new Sign-in Station, follow these steps:

  1. Login as a Center Administrator, College Administrator, or System User with permission to make Sign-in Stations.
  2. Navigate to the Administration > Sign-in Station > Computers option from the top navigation menu. (A screen should then appear on the right titled Sign-In Stations)

    Note: You can choose to disable the “Walk-ins” making this an “Appointment Only” Sign-in Kiosk by unchecking the checkbox labeled “Enable Student Walk-ins”.
  3. You can then customize your Sign-In Station by following these steps in the next section:
  4. Once you choose the location and/or customize your settings, you can now sign people in.
  5. By clicking on Setup Kiosk and Logout, you are automatically logged out, and the web page becomes a kiosk on your device.

    Note: The screen will now display the location of the Sign-in Station on the bottom left corner.
Important! If you already have a kiosk set up on this Computer, you will get the following message:
Simply use the Uninstall Kiosk link (if you're not sure what Center it was set up for in the system) to set it up again.
TIP: If you are using SAML SSO (Single Sign-On) when you complete this process you may be taken to the logout screen only for your school. Please simply navigate back to your https://<mycollege>.accudemia.net/Kiosk URL, replacing the <mycollege> domain with your school's domain for Accudemia.
Warning! Deleting the browser's cookies will disable the computer from being set up as a Sign-in Station and therefore the Sign-in Station you've set up will become unusable.

Fixed Sign-in Station

Purpose: This option allows you to set up a Fixed Walk-in Sign-in Station if you want to track a specific session that has either a pre-selected Tutor, Subject Area, Instructor, and/or Service. This process locks the Sign-in Station to the selected options set by an Admin or Tutor (with Admin Sign-in Station privileges), so the Student can simply swipe into a special session. This can be done from a normal Sign-in Station Computer or a specially designated computer. Just be sure to set it back to a normal kiosk when done.
How to Access: Administration > Sign-In Station > Computers > Settings (Gear icon)

Steps to Set a Fixed Walk-in Sign-in Station:

  1. Navigate to the Sign-In Stations > Computers section from the top navigation menu.
  2. Select the Center in the Center selection box on the left.
  3. Click the Settings (Gear icon) button.
  4. Select your fixed settings(default values) in some or ALL of the four options:
    • Subject Area
    • Instructor
    • Tutor
    • Service

      Note: If you select a default value for any of the options, you leave the user no other option for that item than the one you are setting, for example, if this Sign-in Station will only be used for the Service called “Face-face Tutoring” and no other Service then you can set this Service as default and the user will not be able to select in that category
  5. Finally, click the Setup Kiosk & Logout button at the bottom of this screen.
Warning! If you don't click the one at the bottom of this screen and instead click the same button at the top, then none of these options will be fixed on the sign-in stations.
Important! If this kiosk is used for regular sign-ins, don't forget to remove the Fixed Sign-in Station by uninstalling it and setting it back to a normal sign-in station when done!
Warning! Deleting the browser's cookies will disable the computer from being set up as a Sign-in Station and therefore the Fixed Sign-in Station, with these settings you've set up, will become unusable.

Quick Walk-in Settings Change

If you ever thought… “Geez, I really wish that I could change all my Administration > Control Panel > Walk-ins settings quickly without having to navigate to the actual section.” then we have this setting for you.

Warning! As you can tell this is a really powerful and potentially harmful setting. You may think to yourself… “Why would I want to configure a Kiosk that also changes all of my backend settings for the Center?”, but we made this a reality. If you would like to quickly change all your other kiosks and create a new set of Walk-in settings at the same time you can. This setting should be used with extreme caution. It will change all of the normal kiosk settings for walk-ins.

To make this quick change to your center's walk-in settings while setting up a kiosk do the following:

  1. Navigate to the Quick > Sign-In Stations section from the main menu.
  2. Select the Center in the Center selection box on the left.
  3. Click the Settings (Gear icon) button.
  4. Select your “Quick Change” settings in some or ALL of the four options:
    • Subject Area - Quickly make this option Enabled and/or Required.
    • Instructor - Quickly make this option Enabled and/or Required.
    • Tutor - Quickly make this option Enabled and/or Required.
    • Service - Quickly make this option Enabled and/or Required.
      Note: This will show the current settings used by the Center before you make any selections.
  5. Finally, click the Setup Kiosk & Logout button at the bottom of this screen.
Warning! You will have just updated all the normal Sign-in Stations/Kiosks to use these updated settings. Please keep in mind that these now may conflict with your previously set Walk-ins settings and we recommend you actually look at the Administration > Control Panel > Walk-ins section for your Center to make any needed changes viewing all of the available options. Click here to learn more about how to configure the Walk-ins settings.

Remove a Sign-in Station or Uninstall Kiosk

To delete a Sign-In Station (any Sign-in Station from the Centers or Classrooms) list do the following:

  1. First select a Location or Center in the drop-down menu.
  2. Then under Setup Kiosk & Logout there should be a button called Uninstall Kiosk by pressing this the sign-in station will be deleted. (A popup message saying  Sign-in station uninstalled.  should then appear)
If you have access to this section, it should be noted that this action can be performed from any machine, and it must be used with extreme care, as the Sign-in Station mode that would normally appear on the Sign-in Station terminal you removed will no longer. And instead, the external URL (or default page) will load when they go to the http://[MyCollege].accudemia.net website. This site can only be used to log in to the back-end of Accudemia so Students will not be able to Sign-in.

Manage iAccu Devices

Selecting the iPhone button will allow you to view the iAccu Apple Devices set up as Sign-in Stations to see if they have been synced recently.

For more information about their setup and use visit:
Offline Devices (iAccu)

Sign-In / Sign-Out Station Screen

The following section will cover how a Student or User can sign in.

  • Administrator Sign-In:
    • An administrator can sign a user in through his sign-in/sign-out menu without setting up the Kiosk. (NOTE: Users can only sign-in this way using their User ID.)
  • Kiosk Sign-In:
    • Option 1: Swipe the card in the card reader.
    • Option 2: Type User ID.
Admins can disable the display of the card swipe option from this screen in the Administration > Control Panel > Appearance & Themes section of Accudemia. For more information please click here.

Kiosk Sign-In Screen Buttons

Any of the following icons except for the sign-in options can be hidden for a center place through the Station's Options.

Here is an explanation of the functionality of the buttons:

  • Login: This option cannot be removed and is the default shown when the website is loaded.
  • Students In: Bring up a list of students who are currently signed in. This option also can be disabled in the Control Panel > General options.
  • Tutors In: Bring up a list of tutors who are currently signed in. This option also can be disabled in the Control Panel > General options.
  • New Student: This screen allows new students to register themselves in Accudemia. This option also can be disabled in the Control Panel > General options.
  • Forgot Password?: This screen allows reset or recover your password to registered Accudemia's users. This option cannot be disabled in the Control Panel > General options.

If a student who is not in the current Class/Center wants to sign in, they can by using the Guest Sign-In button located in the bottom right corner.

Log In

Students In/Tutors In

Purpose: This screen merely exists to help you check who is signed in at each Center in Accudemia.

There are two options to see who has signed in/out of the centers:

  1. The first option is to all Users from the Sign-In Screen (if settings allow so.), which lists only students or only tutors signed in to the system
  2. The second option is for Administrators' use only; they can access it by going to visit: Center Attendance > Manage Center. From here, the admin will be able to see all students and tutors signed in to all centers. A filter search bar will be located on the left side of the screen to select viewing criteria. For each User, the date and time of the sign-in, course, Service, Tutor, and Instructor are shown.

New Student

Purpose: To register and collect information about new students.
How to Access: This screen appears to a student during sign-in if their ID is not already in the database.
This screen collects information about the new Student recently created. After typing the student information on the first tab, the new Student can see the profile questions and complete them.

The profile questions are customizable for your college at the Profile Questionnaire Screen. The configuration will determine whether an answer is required. Questions that require answers are marked with an asterisk on the right side.
After filling in all the new information, this new Student must click the Register button to be registered to the Accudemia System.
If you prefer to not let Students create themselves in Accudemia than this option can be disabled in the Control Panel > General section of Accudemia.

Forgot Password?

Purpose: Allows users to reset or recover their password to register Accudemia's accounts.
How to Access: This button is located under the sign-in screen in the Kiosk.

Student Sign-In

After a user successfully types their User ID in (or swipes their card) Accudemia would search whether the user has an upcoming appointment about to start in the next few minutes(as set based on how soon a user can enter an appointment), in case there is an appointment coming: 1- Accudemia shows the appointment information to the user and allows them to sign in to the appointment. 2- A second option to do a “walk-in session” instead is shown, users should only use this second option if they know that the appointment scheduled with them is not going to take place.

If no appointment is found or if the user decides to do a walk-in instead then the Walk-in wizard will show(based on the configuration the wizard can look different.)

Walk-in Session

The example below shows what Student will see when they follow a walk-in wizard, this depends on the configuration so use these steps as a reference only:

Students have to complete several selection steps like the following:

  1. Select Service - Service selection may be optional or required. If optional, you can skip this step, however, it is always better to select an option if possible.
  2. Subject Area - Select one course by clicking on it. The option “none” appears if the course entry is defined as optional in the center settings screen.
  3. Professor - This section is for the User to choose the Professor/Instructor who teaches the Course selected earlier.
  4. Report Visit? - This section is an option the student has whether or not to report to the professor that they signed in. By clicking  Yes  the user will be signed in and be taken to the Confirm page to make sure everything was filled out correctly
Deleting the browser's cookies will disable the Computer as being a Sign-in Station, so be careful not to remove the cookies for the accudemia.net website. If you have any programs such as "DeepFreeze" that are used to keep the Computer's OS and applications intact by preventing the installation of applications or changes to the Computer's settings, then you will want to do the following:
  1. Open the "DeepFreeze" or similar application and “unfreeze” the Computer.
  2. Set up the Computer Sign-in Station following the steps above.
  3. And then “freeze” the Computer again to save this Sign-in Station setup.

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