Choices – Help for Authors

This guide explains how staff can access Choices forms, manage staff access, and create, edit and preview options.

About Choices

Choices allows students to choose between options such as projects, field trips and other activities. A form groups the available options together. An option is an individual project, trip or activity that a student can choose.

How Choices works

1. Staff add students to the system and give them access to the relevant form.
2. Students log in and review the available options.
3. Students add options to their basket and rank them in order of preference. They can remove options or change their rankings before submitting.
4. Once students have selected the required number of options, they submit their choices.
5. Staff use the system’s allocation algorithm to allocate students to options based on their preferences.
6. Students receive their allocation by email.

Is it really fair?

Yes. The selection algorithm produces an allocation of students to Choices based on their preferences.

Log in

1. Open Choices.
2. Use the Login form on the home page, or select Log In from the navigation menu.
3. Enter your username in the Username field.
4. Enter your password in the Password field.
5. Select Login.

After logging in, you can access the forms for which you have permission.

Open a form or option

1. Select My Forms from the navigation menu.
2. Select the name of the form or option you want to work on.

If the form you need is missing, contact the person responsible for it and ask them to give you access. For a form associated with a university module, contact the module leader.

Understand staff permissions

Staff can have one of three roles on a form:

• Form Authors can submit new options. These options must be moderated.
• Form Editors can view and edit all options and moderate options submitted by authors.
• Form Admins can view and edit all options, manage the form and administer the allocation process.

To review staff access or manage roles, open the form and select Staff from the form’s navigation menu.

Add staff to a form

1. Open the form.
2. Select Staff from the form’s navigation menu. Existing staff are grouped under Form Authors, Form Editors and Form Admins.
3. In the staff search field, enter the person’s surname, student ID or username.
4. Select the correct person from the search results.
5. Select Add.
6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 for each additional person.
7. Select Update Staff to save your changes.

Add a new option

1. Open the form you want to add the option to.
2. Select Options from the form’s navigation menu.
3. Select New Option.
4. Complete the option details using the instructions under “Enter or update option details”.

You need permission to add options to the form.

Edit an existing option

1. Open the relevant form.
2. Select Options from the form’s navigation menu.
3. Select the name of the option you want to edit from the list of options.
4. Update its details using the instructions that follow.

Enter or update option details

When you create or edit an option, complete the following fields:

• Title: enter the name of the option.
• Summary: enter a short overview.
• Description: enter the full details students need when considering the option.

Complete any additional fields required by your form.

Format the text

The Summary and Description editors include formatting toolbars. Use these to apply formatting such as bold, italic, underline, headings, numbered lists and bulleted lists.

You can also copy formatted text from another application, such as Word, and paste it into the editor.

Add associated people

Use Associated People to add people connected with the option, such as supervisors or co-supervisors.

1. In the search field within Associated People, enter a username or ID number, or begin entering the person’s full name.
2. Select the correct person from the search results.
3. Use the role selection list to choose their role, such as Supervisor.
4. Select Add within Associated People.
5. Repeat these steps for each person you want to add.

Give other people permission to edit the option

1. Find the Option Editors section.
2. In its search field, enter a username or ID number, or begin entering the person’s full name.
3. Select the correct person from the search results.
4. Select Add within Option Editors.
5. Repeat these steps for each additional editor.

Attach files

To attach files, select the Add more resources checkbox.

The resource-upload screen allows you to attach supporting files, including PDFs, presentations and documents. Follow the instructions on that screen when prompted.

Save the option

Select Submit to save your changes.

Options submitted by Form Authors must be moderated.

Preview your option

After saving, select Preview to review the option as it will be presented to students. On the option editing page, this control is labelled Preview Option.

Review the content and return to editing if you need to make changes. Select Submit again after making changes.

Get help

If you need further help, contact ServiceLine.