Clerk, Cancel Requests or Change Time of Day

Do you have the Clerk section in your PDP Toolbox account? This might help. When an approved Leave Request has been not been used, or the time of day used has changed, whoever has access to the Clerk role in the PDP Toolbox can now mark the request "canceled", or change the time of day.

CANCEL REQUEST
To cancel a request, in the Clerk section of your PDP Toolbox account, open the particular leave request and in the "Request Leave:" box (first one) look for the "Status:" item. If the request has been approved you ought to find a select list with the options "approved" and "canceled." Select "canceled" then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the "Update" button. On the way there, you can leave a comment in the comment box to make a note of the reason for the cancelation.

What does this do? Canceling a request removes the request from your Clerk list. To find it again click the "Search by Date or Name" link near the top of your clerk section and find it there. The request remains in the Learning Coordinator history list, and the teacher's leave history...just marked 'canceled'.

CHANGE TIME OF DAY
To change the time of day, open the particular leave request and in the "Request Leave:" box (first one) look for the "Activity Date:" item. Again, if the request is approved you ought to find a select list after the activity date. Same thing, hit "Update".

There's also a time of day select list in the "Substitute Information:" box.

Thanks, Jami A., for taking the time to call about getting rid of the vagrant requests cluttering your Clerk list!

Jay @ Greenbush

Clerk, Limit Leave Requests to Current School Year

Is your clerk page stuffed up? Well, this new option ought to cure that ill. 

On the Clerk's site, on the Leave Requests page, there's a new little checkbox. If you look in the box that holds the label "Leave Requests" and after "Show:" you ought to find a checkbox labeled "Current Yr." Check that and click "Update" to limit your clerk page to activities occurring only during the current fiscal school year.

Thanks Sheila M. and Stacy B. for taking the time to let your requests be known. Clerks rock!

Jay @ Greenbush.

PDC Members, Points Request Notifications Expanded

Thanks to Sue B.'s request, the Points Notification option to receive the daily digest email now allows PDC Members to receive both a daily digest AND the individual email when a request for Points is made in the PDP Toolbox.

If you have already activated this option, the default setting was to turn off the individual emails. So you will now have to adjust your preferences to include them.

To add this option to your account, go to "Your Preferences", scroll down to the PDC Options box (only appears if you have PDC Member status in the program), and check the appropriate checkboxes.

Jay @ Greenbush.

Supervisors, View Staff Transcripts

If you supervise staff and need to see points transcripts, you have that option through the "Manager" section, now with added functionality thanks to Jim Mc.! (If you don't see "Manager" when you sign in but want that option, let us know.)

After you sign into your PDP Toolbox account, click "Manager," then click a School/Group, then click a staff name. You should see the "Staff Preferences" page. Look next to "Staff Preferences:" for the "View Transcript..." link. Click.

By default the Transcript page lists current, approved points. To see learning activities available for points, pending points, or old points, uncheck the "Approved" and "Current" checkboxes after "Show:" and click the "Update" button. (Look next to the "Transcript of Points:" label for these.)

Jay @ Greenbush.

Add Files to Group Activity Notifications

Do you set up Group Activities? Have you ever wanted to include an agenda or flyer? Jessica K. did, said she did, and now, you can!

What happens is, if you add a file to a Group Activity, a link to the file is added to the e-mail that goes out for that activity AND those invited to the activity can download the file from the Group Activity details page in their PDP Toolbox account.

To add a file to a Group Activity, first, sign into the PDP Toolbox and navigate to a new Group Activity.

New Group Activity

Scroll down a bit and look for the box labeled "Resources," right under the Staff box.

Mac Upload Resources

Here, on Mac, click the "Choose File" button to open a file browser dialog box.

PC Upload Resources

And on PC, click the "Browse..." button to do the likewise. Find the file, select it, and click "Open." When you Announce or save the Group Activity the file is uploaded and made available to invitees.

Hey, the thought occurs this is a great way to distribute professional development material, sort of a virtual in-service. Just make a new Group Activity, attach some reading material, give a couple weeks to accomplish, and send it out. After the "activity date" passes, the activity becomes an opportunity to request points. How's that?

Jay @ Greenbush.

Supervisor—Evidence/Reflection Overview Now Available

Supervisors now have the option to view their certified staff points activities, including evidence and reflection. Just ask, and once the role is added to your account, and after the next time you sign in, you should see the "Points Review" link among your other roles.

Administrative Roles Page

Click "Points Review" to load the Points Review page. (Brilliant.)

List of staff points activities including evidence and reflection.

You should see a list of approved points activities sorted by activity date. There may be more points activities than comfortably fit on the page. If so, click "Next >" in the yellow page navigation bar to view more activities. You can alternatively sort the list by staff, activity, or date requested if you like. (Click the column header.)

If, like Linda S., you think this will help, contact Ginger, the program coordinator, and ask her to add the "Points Review" role to your account.

Jay @ Greenbush.

Send Group Activity Reminders to Individuals!

When you view your list of Group Activities you now have the option to edit, remove and remind staff regarding a particular activity. Click the "Edit (#)" link under the "# Attend." column in the row of the activity you want to affect.

Group Activities List

You should see a page that looks something like the one below. Staff you've already included in this activity are highlighted in yellow, and if you roll your cursor over each row you will get the options to Remove this activity from, or send a reminder e-mail to, that particular account.

Group Activity Attendees Edit Screen

For example, as is depicted in the screenshot above, the cursor is highlighting "Wantsome Points." If "Remove" is clicked, then "Wantsome Points" is removed from the attendees list and this Group Activity no longer appears in that account under "Upcoming Activities" or, if the date of the activity has passed, under "Points" for a points request.

And here's a video demo:



Jay @ Greenbush.