For Educators: Using Our Virtual Program Portal for the First Time
Your school has purchased the Dare to Care program and you’re ready to get started. Here’s your step-by-step guide to logging in for the first time and navigating our dashboard and resource portal. I think you’ll find it very intuitive, but it never hurts to have a few screenshots and tips!
CREATE YOUR LOGIN (You only need to complete these four steps once.)
Step #1: When your administrator or principal purchased our program, they received a url that everyone in your school should use the first time they log in. The url will “know” which Dare to Care courses you are entitled to access. When you go to that url, you will see a screen like this one. On the right side you will the name of the specific Dare to Care package your school purchased (which may be different from the one you see here).
Step #2: On the left side, enter your school email address and your first and last names and click the red “Complete purchase button.” You will receive two confirmation emails: one is a receipt for $0 (because your school has already paid) and one notes the Dare to Care course bundle you can now access. There is no need to retain these messages.
Step #3:
The next window you see will look like this:
Make up and enter a password for yourself, enter your school’s name, and click the red “Complete setup” button.
Step #4: The next screen you will see will be similar to this one below, listing the course content your school has purchased. You will also find you’ve received another welcome email with the url you will use to access our program throughout the full year of access granted by your school’s license. You may want to save this email or you may prefer to delete it once you’ve bookmarked the url.
Great work! Your one-time initial registration process is now complete. You can sign out for now by clicking on the small arrow to the right of your name in the upper righthand corner of your screen. Choose “Sign Out” from the drop down that opens.
NAVIGATING THE DARE TO CARE PORTAL:
Once you have completed your first login (steps above), future logins will all be made from this url: https://daretocare.thinkific.com/users/sign_in
Your Dare to Care Dashboard
The first screen you’ll see after logging in is your “Dashboard” of available courses. It will display the specific student/parent/professional development modules your school has purchased.
Playing a Course
To launch a particular course, such as “Dare to Care Grades K-2,” click on “Start Course.”
This will open a menu of the modules in the course and a video player that will begin playing the first clip from the first module. You may want to stop the video while you get oriented.
A typical menu shows the list of course modules, plus “Resources and Posters” as the last menu item. Most modules are made up of a few short subcomponents, like an instructional video, plus a quiz or activity. To see the individual subcomponents of any module, just click on the down arrow. Click on it again to close the module detail. Note that when you first start the course the first module will already be opened to show its sub-components.
We include the time it will take to play each subcomponent so you can more easily plan your “Dare to Care” time.
The circle to the left of a subcomponent is filled in while that content is active. Once you’ve completed the subcomponent, the circle will have a checkmark in it. That helps you track where you are in the program. When you resume, you’ll know where you left off.
If you’ve already watched a piece of content once and it has a checkmark, you can still play that content again by clicking once on its title within the menu. If you’ve played content for yourself prior to teaching it and want to get rid of the checkmark, there is an option to “Mark Incomplete” centered underneath the video player window. Click on it to delete the checkmark for that subcomponent.
To go back to the main Dashboard, check on “Go to Dashboard” in the upper lefthand corner of the screen. To select another course (like the parent modules or professional development modules) you must return to the Dashboard. You will also need to be on the Dashboard screen to log out.
Resources and Posters
To see the list of posters and other materials available for a course, click once on the expansion arrow to the right of the Resources & Posters menu item (the last item on any course menu). Then click once on “Resources & Posters Download.” Click the “Download” button next to any item on the list to open it. You’ll see a printer icon in the upper right of your screen. You may find it helpful to print and display posters or other resource materials prior to sharing related content with your students.
