Installing Type To Learn 4 and Importing Student Data

Installing Type To Learn 4 and Importing Student Data
This is a step by step guide on how I successfully installed the Type To Learn 4 program and imported student data for
my school. I hope this helps anyone who uses it.
1. Installing the program. I found that copying the installation file from division installs to an easily accessible
folder on my L drive, then running the install from there was much faster that trying to copy the installation files
to the desktop of each computer. It is a VERY LARGE installation file, about a gigabyte. I also copied the folder
with my school’s settings.ini file to this folder as well.
It is important that each laptop you install the program to is HARDWIRED! Do not attempt to install the
program wirelessly, as it will take, well, more time that I had, to install.
In my Shortcuts folder, I keep a folder called CRS Installs, which is where I keep all of the files and shortcuts I
need for manual installations. In the CRS Installs folder, I have my TTL4 folder. This is what it looks like.
The EWM folder contains the settings.ini file for my school. This file is important, because it allows the student
data you import on your management computer to go to “the cloud”, and it also uploads student progress at the
end of every session. This file makes it possible for students to work from pretty much any computer, and the
program will pick up where they left off. You are also able to manage the program from any computer.
The Type to Learn 4 shortcut you see goes directly to the C:\Program Files folder on the C: drive. I created it
after I first installed the program on my desktop computer. Its path looks like this: C:\Program
Files\Sunburst\Type to Learn 4. I just copy the settings.ini file (not the entire EWM folder) directly into the Type
To Learn shortcut folder after each install on the other computers.
When you install the Type To Learn 4 program, it will make a shortcut file on the desktop. I copied this shortcut
to my Shortcuts folder and Student Shortcuts on my first installation, and deleted the desktop shortcut. I also
deleted the desktop shortcut on subsequent installations on other computers and laptops.
2. Creating the student data .txt file after installation. It is important to understand that you if you have copied
your settings.ini file to the correct folder on every computer install, you will only need to do import this data
ONCE on ONE computer.
First, creating the .txt file with the required student information. I worked with my Genesis secretary to put
this together. The management portion of the program will only accept information in the following text
format: LAST,FIRSTM,USERNAME,PASSWORD,(Grade), so that each entry looks like this:
SMITH,MIKEA,123456,welcome,5 We choose to use their student ID as their username and a generic
password.
SOME THINGS OF NOTE: 1. Name information is in uppercase, the password can be upper or lowercase, the
grade is a number. 2. The M stands for middle initial, but I do not know how critical that is. 3. Notice that there
are NO SPACES, and that the information is separated by COMMAS. Configuring this part took me longest time
to complete. I opened the file I got from Genesis, then used Find and Replace to take out spaces and periods,
and add commas. 4. The import will not work if you have names more than 15 characters long.
Here is a sample of what my .txt file looked like when I was finished. I had 429 names in my final .txt file.
(student info altered for privacy)
SMITH,KSNDKM,123456,Welcome,5
ODOCNIH,JLLOBN,123456,Welcome,5
BMSNN,DRSONM,123456,Welcome,5
Once you are satisfied that your .txt file is correct, save it to this location on the management desktop or laptop:
C:\Users\(username)\Documents\Sunburst\Type To Learn 4. This is in the documents library. The program is
very specific that this is where you need to save the .txt file. THIS IS THE ONLY TIME YOU WILL NEED TO SAVE
THE TXT FILE TO A SPECIFIC SPOT.
3. Importing the student data .txt.
When you open the Type To Learn program, login with username admin, and password welcome (lowercase).
When the space girl starts to speak, click on her. She will fade and the Navigation box comes up on the right side
of the screen.
Click on Management at the bottom of the menu. On the next screen, click on Import Students.
You are now on the import screen. You will notice the path that is preset for the .txt file location. You cannot
browse to any other location to get to the .txt file.
Select the student data .txt file and click OPEN. The program will examine the file and either import it or give
you an error message. IF YOU GET AN ERROR MESSAGE, the program creates a user-import-errors.txt file.
Navigate to the file location (the path that you can already see here) and open it. The error file is very specific
about what problems you need to correct in the student data file. Here is what the error file that you see above
says (student info altered for privacy):
Line 183 - "HOENFOH-EPNPNIOSG,LDHEIHR,123456..." - The Last Name you've entered is too long. It cannot
be more than 15 characters long.
Line 226 - "PHIFOH,WNDOAIYCHGSOPXCNEI,123456,..." - The First Name you've entered is too long. It cannot
be more than 15 characters long.
All I had to do was re-open my student data file, correct the problem, then re-save the file. I then re-selected the
student data file, clicked open, and the corrected file imported all of my student information.
I actually had to do this 4 or 5 times before I caught all of the problems in my student data file. It started with
the extra spaces in the data, then I was able to narrow it down to just the errors indicated above. Each time you
make corrections, save, then try to import, the error file will be updated to whatever problems are left to
correct.
You know you finally made it when all of your student data is imported. IMPORTANT NOTE: Even after you have
imported, and you are back on the User Management screen make sure you click the SAVE CHANGES button. If
you do not, it will not save the import! The information is saved to the “cloud” and you are able to access from
any computer with Type To Learn 4 and the settings.ini for your school properly installed.
As we get new students, I click on the Create Student button, and add students to the master list.
Once you have imported your student data, click on the Class Management button at the top of your screen.
From here, you can CREATE NEW CLASS, then move students from the Master Student List to the class you
created. I just created a class for each teacher and am in the process of moving each student. Unfortunately, I
have not been able to determine a faster way to do this part. You may choose to not have the students
separated by classes, only grades.
If you see in errors in this or have other questions about the installation process, please feel free to contact me
at [email protected]. A copy of this is on SharePoint, and http://stevebfw.wikispaces.com/ttl4