Guide to Co-Authoring in Schoolnet

Guide to Co-Authoring in Schoolnet

Sharing tests in Schoolnet changed last November with the update to include Co-Authoring. You can now share tests with any user within the state with Co-Authoring. No additional role or access is needed. I have included a guide with instructions on Co-Authoring below. You need to have the author of the test add you under the Co-Authoring settings for the test.

Part I: What is Co-Authoring?

Co-authoring is a new form of collaboration in Schoolnet that allows you to collaborate with any educator in the state of North Carolina. Currently, you can work together to create assessments, items, passages, and rubrics in Schoolnet.

Part II: Where do I find Co-Authoring?

1. Login to the NCEdCloud and open Schoolnet
2. Under “Assessment Admin”, click on “Co-Authoring”

Part III: Co-Authoring Home Screen

This is the Co-Authoring homepage, from this page you can see all items, passages, rubrics, tests, and folders you co-author. On the right side you will see a “Create New” dropdown menu to create a new co-authored item, passage, rubric, test, or folder.

I recommend creating folders to organize your co-authoring items, ESPECIALLY if you will be co-authoring with multiple groups of people.

Part IV: How to Create a Co-Authoring Folder

1. Login to NCEdCloud, open Schoolnet
2. Under “Assessment Admin”, click on “Co-Authoring”:
3. From the Co-Authoring Home Screen, Click on the “Create New” button and select “Folder”:
4. Give your folder a name and add collaborators (please note that to search for collaborators, you must enter their name in this format: lastname, firstname for example: Batchelor, Pamela):
5. Click Save, then you will be taken to your new folder where you are ready to co-author with the collaborators in the folder.

Part V: Co-Authoring Assessments

There are several ways to add co-authors to a test in Schoolnet:

• From the Co-Authoring Home Screen, you can create a new test in a folder or with a group.
• From the Create a Test Manually option under Co-Authoring, you can check Enable Co-Authoring, then either add collaborators or place the test in a Co-Authoring folder (which will automatically share the test with the users of that folder).
• Open any test that you have already created and under test properties, edit the co-authoring section.

Important Notes about Co-Authoring:

• Co-Authoring does not allow for simultaneous editing, only one user can edit the test at a time.
• Co-Authored tests should be treated as drafts at all times to preserve access for all users. Once a test is ready to be given to students, each teacher wishing to use the co-authored test must make a copy of the test and assign the copy to their students. This is important for two reasons: it preserves access to the test for all users AND it protects student data linkage between PowerSchool and Schoolnet.