Mentoring Forms#

Mentoring forms are the way to create a set of content including questions that you’d like a student to be able to respond to as part of their mentoring with the school.

Once complete forms will become part of the student’s record being available for staff to look back at as required. Students will always be able to see their completed forms via their profiles as well.

Creating a New Form#

A staff member with the correct permissions can create a new mentoring form by clicking the Mentoring Forms > Create option from the Academic side menu. This will open the new form page.

You’ll need to enter the information before clicking the save button to create a draft form and more onto the next step.

Name Required
The name for the form. This must be unique across all mentoring forms so it can easily be identified as needed.

Description
An optional description about the forms purpose or contents. This can be useful to identify why a specific form exists.

Form Editor#

The form editor is used when creating a new form or editing an existing one. On this page you can edit the forms contents, adding sections, questions and custom content items as required.

Tip

Once a form has been used you won’t be able to perform a number of these actions in order to protect the integrity of the data already collected.

Form Details#

In this section you can edit the forms details including:

Name Required
The name for the form. This must be unique across all mentoring forms so it can easily be identified as needed.

Description
An optional description about the forms purpose or contents. This can be useful to identify why a specific form exists.

Owner Required
The owner of the form. You’ll need the Manage All Mentoring Forms permission to see this option and create a form on behalf of another person.

Sections#

Each form contains one or more sections, these are simple containers that provide a way for you to configure the form more flexibly and to group similar content items to make a clearer structure for users when completing their responses.

Add a New Section#

To add a new section, click the add section button, you’ll then need to provide:

Title Required
The title of the section to be shown to users while completing the form.

Description
Optionally provide a more detailed description of the content of the section for users.

Editable Roles Required
This is where you select the type of users you’d like to be able to edit the questions within this section. If you’re not sure, you can come back and add this later.

Once complete, click the save button in the popup window to add the section to the form.

Tip

If you’d like to collect responses from students and have questions that only a staff member can edit you’ll need to add 2 sections one with each role assigned.

Once added the section will be displayed within the form editor and a number of new options will be available.

When a section is invalid you’ll see a red exclamation mark icon and a red underline beneath the header showing you that there is an error with that section. Hover over the exclamation mark to see more details about the error.

Tip

All sections are visible to both students and staff members but only the specified roles can edit the answers within.

Edit a Section#

Clicking the edit icon button will bring up the window to edit the sections details. You can update any of the details about the section unless it’s had responses. See Forms With Responses for more.

Once you’ve made the required updates, click the save button to save the changes to the section.

Delete a Section#

Clicking the delete icon button will bring up a confirmation window where you’ll be asked to confirm your choice before the section and it’s contents are deleted.

Tip

This action cannot be undone so please double check you’re removing the correct section before confirming.

Move Up#

Clicking the move up icon button will move the section up one place. Use this option when you want students to answer a group of questions before another.

Move Down#

Clicking the move down icon button will move the section down one place. Use this option when you want students to answer a group of questions after another.

Content Items#

Content items are the individual items you want to add to a section. There are a number of items available and usually this is where you’ll add your questions to collect answers for.

Add a Content Item#

This allows you to add content items to a section. Clicking the add icon button will present a window for you to choose the type of content item you’d like to add to the section, click the desired item type to begin. See each items section below for more details.

Custom Content Items#

Custom content items are designed to allow you to provide additional information or context to a set of questions. Users cannot interact with this content item type.

Add#

When adding a new custom content item you’ll need to have selected it from the corresponding sections Add Content Item window. You’ll then be able to enter the content that you’d like users to be able to see within your form.

Once you’ve entered the desired content, click the save button to add the content item to the section.

You’ll then be able to see a number of new options for the content item.

Edit#

Clicking the edit icon button will open the edit window for a custom content item. You can update the details of the content item and click save when ready to save the changes.

Delete#

Clicking the delete icon button will open a confirmation window where you’ll be asked to confirm your choice before the content item is permanently deleted.

Move Up#

Clicking the move up icon button will move the content item up one place. Use this option when you want students to see this content before another item.

Move Down#

Clicking the move down icon button will move the content item down one place. Use this option when you want students to see this content after another item.

Date Questions#

Date questions are designed to allow you to collect a single date as a response to a question within a form. Users that can edit the containing section will be able to provide an answer to the question.

Add#

When adding a new date question item you’ll need to have selected it from the corresponding sections Add Content Item window. You’ll then be able to enter the details for the question that you’d like users to be able to respond to within your form.

Question Text Required
The actual text of the question you’d like to collect responses for.

Help Text
Any additional detail or context that users may need to answer the question.

Required Required
When set to yes the users will be required to provide a response before they can submit the form. When no answering this question is optional.

Once you’ve entered the desired content, click the save button to add the question to the section.

You’ll then be able to see a number of new options for the question.

Edit#

Clicking the edit icon button will open the edit window for a date question. You can update the details of the question and click save when ready to save the changes.

Delete#

Clicking the delete icon button will open a confirmation window where you’ll be asked to confirm your choice before the question is permanently deleted.

Move Up#

Clicking the move up icon button will move the question up one place. Use this option when you want students to see this question before another item.

Move Down#

Clicking the move down icon button will move the question down one place. Use this option when you want students to see this question after another item.

Free Text Questions#

Free text questions are designed to allow you to collect a response containing free text from users within a form. You can choose whether you’re expecting a short answer or a long answer to better customise the form. Users that can edit the containing section will be able to provide an answer to the question.

Caution

If you want to perform any automated analytics on your behalf then this question type should be used sparingly. You should use other question types with clearly defined response options to allow automated analytics to take place.

Add#

When adding a new free text question item you’ll need to have selected it from the corresponding sections Add Content Item window. You’ll then be able to enter the details for the question that you’d like users to be able to respond to within your form.

Question Text Required
The actual text of the question you’d like to collect responses for.

Help Text
Any additional detail or context that users may need to answer the question.

Long Answer Required
When set to yes users will be able to enter a long answer and be presented with a larger text box to complete. When no a shorter answer and text box will be shown.

Required Required
When set to yes the users will be required to provide a response before they can submit the form. When no answering the question is optional.

Once you’ve entered the desired content, click the save button to add the question to the section.

You’ll then be able to see a number of new options for the question.

Edit#

Clicking the edit icon button will open the edit window for a free text question. You can update the details of the question and click save when ready to save the changes.

Delete#

Clicking the delete icon button will open a confirmation window where you’ll be asked to confirm your choice before the question is permanently deleted.

Move Up#

Clicking the move up icon button will move the question up one place. Use this option when you want students to see this question before another item.

Move Down#

Clicking the move down icon button will move the question down one place. Use this option when you want students to see this question after another item.

Editing a Form#

To edit a form, click the Mentoring Forms > View / Edit option from the Academic side menu. This will open the forms that you have permission to edit.

You can search through the forms using the search box at the top of the screen. This will filter the forms with names matching your search criteria.

Draft forms will be shown with a draft icon in the top right hand corner.

You can select the edit button next to the corresponding form to open it in the form editor. Choose the archive option to archive a form so it can’t be used any more.

Publishing a Form#

To publish a form and make it available to users for assigning to students navigate to the edit view for the form. Once on the edit page you can click the publish button at the top of the screen to publish the form. A green success message will be shown to confirm that you’ve published the form.

Unpublishing a Form#

To unpublish a form and prevent it from being assigned to students navigate to the edit view for the form. Once on the edit page you can click the Unpublish button at the top of the screen to publish the form. A green success message will be shown to confirm that you’ve published the form.

Tip

You can’t unpublish a form once it’s been assigned to students. If you no longer want the form to be available for assignment you can archive the form and it will be hidden from the form management and assignment screens.

Forms With Responses#

Once a form has been used you won’t be able to perform a number of actions:

Forms#

Unavailable Actions#

  • Unpublish form.

Sections#

Unavailable Actions#

  • Adding a section.

  • Moving a section up or down.

  • Updating the editable roles for a section.

  • Removing a section.

Available Actions#

  • Updating a sections title.

  • Updating a sections description.

Custom Content Items#

Unavailable Actions#

  • Adding a content item.

  • Moving a content item up or down.

  • Removing a content item.

Available Actions#

  • Updating the details.

Questions#

Unavailable Actions#

  • Adding a question.

  • Removing a question.

  • Adding an option to a question.

  • Moving a question up or down.

  • Removing an option from a question.

  • Updating a questions type.

  • Updating a questions required status.

Available Actions#

  • Updating a questions text.

  • Updating a questions help text.

  • Updating an options text or value.

Important

While it is possible for you to update the content of a question or it’s help text you should be very careful about how you change it. You should not change the meaning of the question or make any changes that would otherwise invalidate any answers already collected. The main purpose of allowing editing is to ensure you can fix spelling or typographical errors when they are noticed.

Permissions#

This page is protected by the following permissions:

  • Manage All Mentoring Forms

  • Manage Mentoring Forms

  • Archive All Mentoring Forms

  • Archive Mentoring Forms

This page is available to users with the following roles:

  • Staff Members

    • Available with permission