We are pleased to announce an update for the PlusPortals. This update contains a number of feature fixes, as well as the following two key enhancements:
- Teachers can now sort classes in any order.
- The E-Mail Analytics Activity Feed can now be searched by recipient.
The PlusPortals were updated during the early morning (EDT) on October 6, 2016. During this update, the aforementioned change regarding password visibility for Parents was mistakenly applied to Students, Teachers, and Admins, as well. This has been resolved as of this morning (EDT), October 11, 2016. Please review the full details of this update below.
Important Information: Parent Passwords
In addition to the features and fixes in this update, as previously announced in our September 27, 2016 update, parent passwords are no longer be visible in the Manage Accounts > Parents area. This is due to our commitment to privacy and security, and based on industry standard best practices for online accounts containing private information. Parents typically use the same password for many online accounts. To avoid any liability issues, these passwords will now be hidden on this screen. For now, the passwords for students, teachers, and admins will remain accessible.
The parents’ passwords were initially made accessible in the PlusPortals in order to provide you with access to their accounts for assistance. However, the Login As feature in the Manage Accounts > Parents area was added later, providing the same ability. You will still be able to gain access to the parents’ accounts by using this feature.
This change will not remove your ability to reset the parents’ passwords or to e-mail or print their credentials for them, and parents will still be able to reset their own passwords by using the Can’t access your account? button on the PlusPortals login screen (unless you have disabled this ability in the Permissions > Summary area). In addition, temporary passwords for parents will still be visible to you.
Features and Enhancements
Teachers can now set the order in which their classes are sorted
In the teachers’ Settings area, the following new sorting options have been added, allowing teachers to sort their classes in any order they wish:
- Alphabetically – Classes will be sorted in ascending order by name, based on the Display Name for Staff If this field has no entry, the sorting for that class will be based on the Course Name field, instead.
- By Course Number – Classes will be sorted by course number, in ascending order.
Custom Sort – Classes will be sorted in any order the teacher sets. The position for each class can be set by highlighting a course and using the Move Up, Move Down, Move to Top, and Move to Bottom buttons that will appear below the grid.
The E-Mail Analytics Activity Feed can now be searched by recipient
This new feature will make it significantly easier to research any issues with recipient e-mail addresses.
To search by recipient, first set the applicable date range. Once set, then click the Recipient button and type the recipient’s e-mail address. The list will be filtered to show all e-mails sent to that recipient within the specified date range. Then click on an e-mail to see a list of all recipients of that e-mail, which can be searched/filtered to show the status for the recipient in question.
Aside from the “Processed” status, all of the statuses are direct responses from the recipient’s e-mail service provider. If the status shows as “Delivered,” the e-mail is in fact being delivered properly. If a recipient does not see it, this means they have deleted it or it is being diverted into another folder, such as Spam/Junk. The recipient can search the entire inbox for [email protected], and can also add this address to his/her trusted senders list.
Feature Fixes
- Homeroom class cards on the teachers' Home pages will no longer indicate that there are "0" students when students are in fact scheduled in the homeroom. This was a display issue, only, and had no effect on the functionality of the class in the PlusPortals or in TeacherPlus Gradebook.
- Details of all Messages will now be accessible. Prior to this update, only the most recent ten Messages were able to be opened.
- The "Title is required" error will no longer occur when adding Homework/Assignments if a title has in fact been entered. Previously, this error was occurring when the teacher navigated to a different PlusPortals tab, then back the main Class tab.
- Admin users will no longer have difficulties adding Files or Links to School Resources. Prior to this update, if an Admin user was also a Teacher and the accounts were linked together, Files and Links were not being saved in some instances.
If you have any questions related to this update, please e-mail [email protected] or call Tech Support at 800-882-2994.