Create Your Class Lists
The WILD-LAB program will monitor your students' progress and remember where they left off from the last session, but the only way it can do that is if the students are able to LOG IN…the computer otherwise can't tell who's who. So what you do is create a CLASS LIST. This is also a task that needs to be done only ONCE every semester. You can create as many CLASS LISTS as you need, but if you will only be teaching one classroom of students with WILD-LAB then you only need to create one CLASS LIST for that semester.

Basically, what you do is click on the "CREATE NEW CLASS" button at the top left. Then give that CLASS LIST a NAME. It can be a name that is simple and makes sense to you (i.e. "5thGrade 2pm") or something cryptic and whimsical (i.e. "Red Hobgoblins").
HINT: If you'll have many different CLASS LISTS, you may want to opt for a SIMPLE and INTUITIVE name that you can identify at-a-glance.

Now that you've created a CLASS LIST name, you need to enter in the "users" in that list …There will be a different LOGIN NAME given to EACH "user" in that CLASS LIST. So the question now falls to you to decide whether to enter your students' names as INDIVIDUAL USERS or in WORK GROUPS.

• If you want your students to practice collaboration skills, then you may want to enter your students in as WORK GROUPS.
• If you have fewer INTERNET-CONNECTED COMPUTERS in your classroom or computer lab than you do students, then you will want to enter your students in as WORK GROUPS.
• If you have as many INTERNET-CONNECTED COMPUTERS in your classroom or computer lab as you have students then, EACH student can log in and work individually, thus you may want to enter them as INDIVIDUAL USERS.
• If you plan on making WILD-LAB homework and you know that each student has internet-access from home, then you will want to enter them as INDIVIDUAL USERS.

Once you've decided between WORK GROUPS and INDIVIDUALS for that CLASS LIST, then take a list of all your students' names and enter them in accordingly.
Your students' names will NOT be accessed directly by any personnel or agency of WILD-LAB, Audubon Nature Institute, or any one else. Only YOU will see their names when you look at the CLASS REPORTS to monitor their progress and scores. It is only for YOUR REFERENCE so that WILD-LAB can be a tool to help you assess how different students and groups of students performed at different tasks throughout the program.

When you create WORK GROUPS:
First you name the WORK GROUP. It can be either a utilitarian name "5thgrade2pm Group1" or a whimsical name "Green Team."
Then you enter in the names of each student you assign to that WORK GROUP.
You can always edit the student names in a WORK GROUP later (in case a new student joins the class or a student leaves), but since WILD-LAB can only score how the WORK GROUP performed, you will want to make sure that the students stay in WORK GROUPS you assign for the duration of the program.
So every time you have the students log in for a session of WILD-LAB, the same students should be working together as the same WORK GROUP.

SUPERVISED SESSIONS EXPLAINED
There is a precaution to make sure no unethical student with Internet-access logs in "as" a WORK GROUP and purposely tinkers with the program (i.e. Finishing it all alone at home so the group doesn't have to do the work, or going through the program purposely "failing" the group, etc.).

The precaution is that all WORK GROUPS are "SUPERVISED SESSIONS." A "SUPERVISED SESSION" means that no student can log in to WILD-LAB without your "permission" first. It's as if there's a gate around WILD-LAB and only YOU can open and close it.

What this means is that if you have a CLASS of WORK GROUPS, then before you have the students begin their work on WILD-LAB, you must log in to your CONTROL PANEL and ACTIVATE the SUPERVISED SESSION for that CLASS. You can set limits on how long the CLASS can continue to have access, but WILD-LAB will automatically DEACTIVATE a SUPERVISED SESSION after 3 hours.

When you create INDIVIDUAL USERS:
Enter each students' name for your reference in the CLASS LIST, and then select whether this CLASS LIST of INDIVIDUALS will be a SUPERVISED SESSION CLASS or not. You will ONLY want the class to be SUPERVISED SESSIONS if you strictly want them to work on WILD-LAB from within your classroom at a selected time. If you want the student to have the freedom to work on WILD-LAB whenever they wish, then DO NOT make it a SUPERVISED SESSION CLASS.
One submitted, the page will refresh showing 3 columns:

The students names in the CLASS LIST
their LOGIN ID's
their PASSWORDS

After creating your CLASS LIST, you'll see a link to "PRINT STUDENT HANDOUTS." When you click that button, you'll be prompted to PRINT OUT a set of pages. There will be ONE PAGE for you summarizing the CLASS LIST info and your instructions (a simple start-up walk-through, etc.), and one page for each WORK GROUP or INDIVIDUAL with basic instructions to get started on WILD-LAB as well as their name(s) and login info. This handout has their crucial login information, so you should emphasize its importance to your students.

Now you are DONE and READY for your class to begin with WILD-LAB!

CLICK HERE to move on to the next part of our Overview.