LearnPad Tablets for Schools: Creating and Managing Website Resources

Creating and Managing Website Resources

April 14, 2014

Overview
Website Resources are Resources that link to web pages. They help pupils to work independently and maintain focus by taking them directly to sites that their teacher requires, avoiding the distractions of the wider Internet.

In this article
i. Finding the URL of a Website
ii. Creating a Website Resource
iii. Whitelisting Additional Pages
iv. Changing the UserAgent
v.  Overriding the LearnPad Browser
vi. Adding Descriptions
vii. Adding Screenshots
viii.Tagging Resources
ix. Quick-adding Website Resources to Categories
x.  Deleting Resources

i Finding the URL of a Website
To find the URL of a website before creating a Website Resource that links to it:

1. On your computer, launch a web browser.
2. Navigate to the website that the Website Resource will target.
3. Select the entire URL in the address bar and copy it.



ii Creating a Website Resource
To create a new Website Resource:

1. Log into the ClassConnect Portal (http://connect.learnpad.com/).
2. On the Manage tab, beneath the Content heading, click Resources.


3. From the Actions box in the top-right of the page, click Add New Category.
4. In the Name field, enter a name for the Resource.
5. From the Type drop-down, select Website.
6. Click the Add Resource button.


7. In the Website URL field, enter the URL of the target website or paste the URL copied in section i, step 3.
8. In the URL Status field, click reload page to check. The URL Status should change to Valid URL.



iii Whitelisting Additional Pages
When locked, LearnPad allows access only to websites that have been permitted. Any website that starts with the address in the Website URL field or any of the addresses in the Whitelist URLs field will be permitted. For example, if a Website Resource is created that links to http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/ and that website contains links to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/highlights/sections/primary – Pupils will be able to open this link, because it begins with http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/zt7hvcw/revision/3 – Pupils will be able to open this link, because it begins with http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/.
http://www.khanacademy.org/ - Pupils will not be able to open this link, because it does not begin with http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/.
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resources/ – Pupils will not be able to open this link, because it does not begin with http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/
Because (as in the above example) you may wish for pupils to access linked pages that do not begin in the same way as the Website URL, additional URLs can be permitted by adding them to the Whitelist URLs field. Using the above example, because the last two URLs do not fit begin in the same way as the Website URL, they need to be added to the Whitelist URLs field. Each entry to the whitelist should be on a separate line – because of the way in which whitelisting works, wildcard exceptions (e.g. are not accepted).



When a device is unlocked for teacher or administrator use and the LearnPad browser is used to access a page that would be blocked as a pupil, a message like that shown below will be displayed at the bottom of the browser.



When a device is locked for Student use and the LearnPad browser is used to attempt access to a page that has not been whitelisted, a toast message like that shown below will be displayed on the screen.



In both instances, if the page should be accessible to students, Website Resource should be edited and the advised URL added to the Whitelist URLs field. If the toast message is displayed too briefly to note the URL correctly, consider taking a screenshot of the message and referring to that.

iv Changing the UserAgent
When a web browser requests a page from a web server, the browser tells the web server about itself and the computer it’s being used on. For example, the user agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:39.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/39.0 says, “Hello, web server! Jolly nice to meet you – I’m Mozilla Firefox version 39 running on Windows 7”.

Sometimes, a website will be developed in such a way that the visitor receives a different version of the site depending on whether they’re accessing from a desktop computer, mobile phone or tablet. Most of the time this is helpful but sometimes a tablet version of a website lacks something that is present in the desktop version. In such cases, the UserAgent field of a Website Resource can be modified so that the LearnPad browser identifies itself differently. A list of sample UserAgent strings can be found at http://www.useragentstring.com/pages/Browserlist/.



v Overriding the LearnPad Browser
Most web pages display consistently between web browsers, although from time to time, differences in the way that pages are rendered and displayed can occur.

LearnPad devices are supplied with the LearnPad Browser and as standard, all web resources open in this browser. The LearnPad Browser has been designed specifically with the needs of teachers and pupils in mind, with features that include:
  • Support for Adobe Flash.
  • Enhanced security that prevents pupils from navigating to websites other than those which have been explicitly permitted by the teacher.

Most websites work well in any modern web browser, but in some instances they are designed with the features of a specific browser in mind. Because of this, you may choose to open certain website resources in a browser other than the LearnPad browser. Before doing this, you should be aware that:

  • Using a browser other than the LearnPad browser makes it possible for pupils to browse to websites other than those included in the current lesson, meaning that you should be confident that your existing web filtering is adequate. This also means that when creating website resources that use an alternative browser, you do not need to complete the Whitelist URLs field as this setting does not apply.
  • The browser that you will use must be included in a category within the lesson that your web resource is in, or in your school’s Toolbox (it is important to note that if the browser is added to the Toolbox, the browser will always be accessible on your LearnPad tablets, irrespective of what lesson is active).
To launch a Website Resource in an alternative web browser, enter the appropriate string from the list below in the Android Browser Override field:

Google Chrome – com.android.chrome/com.google.android.apps.chrome.Main
Mozilla Firefox – org.mozilla.firefox/org.mozilla.firefox.App
Puffin Academy – com.cloudmosa.puffinAcademy/com.cloudmosa.puffinAcademy.LemonActivity


vi Adding Descriptions
A description can be added to each Website Resource. The description will not appear to students using the resource but can be used for the benefit of colleagues, to explain what the resource does and how it can be used. To add a description, click in the Description field.

vii Adding Screenshots
Screenshots can be added to Resources to help colleagues better understand their content. To add screenshots to a resource:

1. From the Actions box on the right-hand side of the page, click Upload Screenshot.
2. Click the Browse button and select the image that should be uploaded.
3. Click the Upload button.



Uploaded screenshots can be removed from a resource by clicking their corresponding Delete Screenshot link.

viii Tagging Resources
Resources can be tagged to make them easier to search. To add tags to a resource:

From the Actions box on the right-hand side of the page, click the [edit] link beneath Tags.
Click a tag to apply it. Applied tags become highlighted. To remove a tag, click the tag and the highlight will be removed.



ix Quick-adding Website Resources to Categories

Website Resources can be quickly added to a Category whilst the Resource is being edited. To quick-add the Resource to a Category:

1. From the Actions box on the right-hand side of the page, click Add to Category.
2. From the Target Category drop-down, select the Category that the Resource should be added to.
3. Click the Add Resource button.


x Deleting Resources
Resources created by users in your organisation can be deleted. Resource deletion is permanent and as such, deleted Resources cannot be recovered. To delete a Resource:

1. From the Actions box in the right-hand side of the page, click Delete Resource.
2. Confirm that the Resource should be deleted by clicking the Delete button.



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