ACT Online Prep™ 2016 Release
Administration User Guide
www.act.org
Contents
Introduction 1
Your Access to Enhanced
ACT Online Prep 2
General Account Features Instructor Role 3
6
Impersonating a Student 11
Group Reports 13
Institution Admin Role 16
Adding Students 19
Adding Instructors 21
Setting Up Classrooms 22
District Supervisor Role 26
Frequently Asked Questions and
Contacting Us 28
© 2016 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. Enhanced ACT Online Prep™ is a trademark of ACT, Inc.
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Introduction
This user guide is intended to help staff at both the school and district levels navigate through
the enhanced* version of ACT Online Prep™. Depending on your level of access to the platform,
this guide will help you to:
• View the activity or performance statistics of an individual student in the enhanced
ACT Online Prep
• View performance statistics for a group of students
• Export student or group performance data
• Add classrooms
• Add instructors
• Add students
• View performance statistics for an entire student population
• Export school performance data
• Export district performance data
The following sections will walk you through what you can do in the enhanced ACT Online
Prep if you are a teacher, principal or other school administrative figure, or a district official.
The enhanced ACT Online Prep is a web-based test preparation program provided by ACT. It
is designed to be easy for students to use and access. The enhanced version of the platform
provides an interactive element for students that adjusts along with their learning. As part
of your administrative access, you will be able to monitor how students use test preparation
material and practice with test questions or other features of the platform.
The next section will discuss how you can access the support platforms for the enhanced ACT
Online Prep.
* 2016 release
1
Your Access to the
Enhanced Version of
ACT Online Prep
Access to the enhanced ACT Online Prep is initiated when a district or school purchases “bulk”
student licenses from ACT. To order bulk licenses, officials need to download the order form
at www.act.org. After filling out the order form, they should email it to customerservice@
onlineprep.act.org.
Once this purchase is made, the school is given a “license count,” or a fixed number of ACT
Online Prep licenses that can be given to students at the school. As the school sets up for using
ACT Online Prep, school officials can keep track of how many student licenses have been
“redeemed” from the license count. This information will be covered in a later section.
Note: If you are an existing ACT Online Prep customer and had a license to the previous platform,
ACT will include information about switching to the enhanced version in your renewal notice.
After purchasing “bulk” access, the person identified on the order form as the “site
administrator” is sent an activation email from [email protected]. Once the
administrator activates the account from the link and instructions provided in this email,
he or she is granted access to ACT Online Prep as the main contact for the organization. The
platform (and this document) refers to this individual as having the Institution Admin role.
Teachers in a school setting will have access to ACT Online Prep in the Instructor role.
However, they have to be set up by the Institution Admin in the platform first before they can
access it. This process will be covered in a later section.
District officials may also be given access to ACT Online Prep as part of a school or district’s
agreement with ACT. They will be set up in the platform as District Supervisors.
Regardless of your role, access to the enhanced platform is provided on a 24-hour basis from
any computer with online access and a supported browser. Your access is password-protected
according to information you provide.
2
General Account
Features
All school and district users will see the following header at the top of their screens when they
log in to ACT Online Prep at https://onlineprep.act.org/login:
On the right side of this header, there is a “person” icon
that provides access to your
account profile and the means to sign out. The example below shows the menu for a teacher:
3
General Account Features
Selecting “Account” from this menu takes users to a screen where they can edit their
profile information or change their password. By default, the screen opens with the profile
information listed:
Users can edit any of this information by typing in or typing over what is listed in the various
fields. They can also upload a picture to serve as an “avatar” of the user profile.
When you are done editing fields, scroll down to the bottom of the screen. You can then control
what is listed on pages associated with public websites you want this profile to be associated
with (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn) and then save any changes:
4
General Account Features
To change your account password, scroll back up to the top of the Profile Information screen
and select Password from the menu on the left. The Change Password screen appears:
Type in and confirm a new password, and then select the Change Password button to change
it for the account.
To sign out of your account, access the person icon at the top of any screen and select the Sign
Out option.
Note: Your account username is always your email address associated with the enhanced
ACT Online Prep. If you’ve forgotten your password, select the Reset Password link on the
login screen, enter your email on the next screen, and follow the instructions in the email from
[email protected] to change your account password. If you don’t see this email, check
your spam or junk folders.
5
Instructor Role
This section provides insight into what information teachers can access about their students in
the ACT Online Prep platform.
First of all, it’s important to note that instructors will not be able to see any student and group
data until students, instructors, and classrooms are set up in the program by the Institution
Admin. See the “Institution Admin Role” section of this document for information about this
process.
Once the school’s access is set up in the platform, a user in the Instructor role will begin to have
access to detailed profile data and performance statistics about each student. When they first
log in to their account, instructors will see the following Student Report screen:
This screen lists all student users that have ACT Online Prep accounts. The following columns
of information are provided for each account:
• Account Name
• ID (used internally in ACT Online Prep)
• Date the student was last active in the system
• Progress through ACT Online Prep material by percentage
• Average Practice ACT Composite Score
• Average Session Time in minutes (i.e., the average time a student spends in the program
each time he or she logs in)
Note: You can identify particular students who are spending less time in the system by noting
average session times listed in red.
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Instructor Role
As an Instructor, you can filter these columns to find a particular student by using the filter
tools at the top of the columns.
Note: You can’t filter by average composite score or session time.
Alternatively, you can filter for a particular student account by using any of these tools:
Selecting the Filter Options button allows you to search by “Group” or classroom the student
might be associated with.
Note: ACT Online Prep is the “Course,” so you do not need to use this filter.
Select the “All” title under the Group option to change to a specific classroom that might be
listed. Then, select the Filter button. Choosing Reset All Filters changes the listing of student
accounts to what you saw when you first logged in. Finally, you can search directly for a
student if you know the specific name or email address. Type the information in the search
field, and then use Enter or the search icon.
If you want to export all data from the Report screen to another document, use the Export
button near the top right of the screen:
7
Instructor Role
When you select this button, a dialogue box appears asking if you want to open or save the
document to another location:
Note: The file is in .csv format. Whether you open to view the file or save it to view later, we
recommend you use Microsoft Excel to open it for proper formatting of the data.
When you’ve selected a student account to view, a screen appears with that specific
information. The top half of an example screen is shown below:
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Instructor Role
Several types of information are presented here about the student:
• The ID, School, Group, and Course he or she is associated with
• A graphical overview of their use of ACT Online Prep, featuring their Overall Progress in
the system, Student Status relative to other students, and Average Practice ACT Composite
Score
• The student’s latest practice composite scores, as calculated by the platform
• The date the student was last active
• The total time spent in the system by the student
Some of this information is similar to what was shown on the Student Reports dashboard, but
there is more detail about an individual student presented here.
Moving down the screen for the student, you’ll see a specific breakdown of progress in different
subjects and subject sections. This is the same information that students would see in their
own accounts.
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Instructor Role
Ratings are provided by the system for subjects and subject sections as a student completes
testing content in ACT Online Prep. These ratings range in color from red to green:
• Beginner
• Basic
• Intermediate
• Proficient
• Advanced
• Expert
In the example above, the student has achieved a Beginning status on all subjects, meaning
that he or she has accessed and tested on this content in the program. .
Finally, at the bottom of the screen, you’ll find the Details section of the report screen for the
student:
This shows statistics related to specific activities by students in different areas of their
accounts. By default, this section opens on statistics for “Lessons” or test preparation content
in ACT Online Prep, but you can change this tab to one of 3 others – Flashcards, Practice, or
Exams:
Both Lessons and Flashcards will show information about the “Confidence Levels” in the
program content that students have marked about the material. The Practice and Exams tabs
of the Details section provide statistics about how much of test question content students have
taken, how much time they have taken, and how much of it they have gotten correct/incorrect.
This statistical information about test-taking in ACT Online Prep is the same as what the
student would see.
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Instructor Role
Impersonating a Student
You can see these activities of a student more directly by using the Impersonate feature at the
top right of the student screen. This feature allows you to view what the student views in the
program:
After selecting this feature, you’ll see a dialogue box confirming that you want to be logged in
as the student. Select OK to continue or Cancel to return to the student report screen:
If you select OK, you’ll then see the main dashboard of the student’s account:
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Instructor Role
You’ll notice that some of the content on this screen is already familiar to you from the report
screen for the student. However, notice the tabs in the upper left of this screen:
Home
Learning Path
Game Center
Discussions
Historical Reports
Lessons
Flashcards
Practice
Tests
These tabs are what the student uses to navigate in the platform. If you hover over each one of
them on this screen, they’ll be identified for you. The tabs are covered in detail in the Student
User Guide. See this document to fully understand how students experience ACT Online Prep.
This will give you further insight into student report data, and how certain students are doing
in preparing for the ACT® test.
When you are done impersonating a student account, access the Sign Out feature at the top
right of any screen to exit the system.
Note: You’ll have to sign back in to ACT Online Prep to return to your account.
You have the ability to export an individual student’s data from the report screen. You’ll find
the Export button next to the Impersonate button at the top right of the screen:
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Instructor Role
When you select this button, the system spends a few seconds preparing the data for export,
and then shows this dialogue box:
In this case, the full data for the student is given to you in an Adobe PDF document. Select
whether to open or save the file and then select OK.
Group Reports
The other reports option for Instructors is Group Reports, which can be accessed from the top
left of the main dashboard:
After selecting this option, you’ll then see this screen listing all students by Group:
The following columns of information are provided:
• Name of the group
• Number of instructors assigned to the group
Note: There can be multiple instructors assigned to one group.
• Number of students assigned to the group
• Average progress made in ACT Online Prep by students in the group
• Average practice ACT Composite Score achieved by students in the group
• Average session time used by students in the group
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Instructor Role
You can filter the data in the Name, # of Instructors, # of Examinees, or Avg. Progress %
columns, or search by Group name or directly by using any of these controls on the screen:
You can export this aggregate group data using the same button on the dashboard and the
same process we’ve described earlier from the Student Reports dashboard on pp. 11-12. This file
will also be in .csv format, and we recommend that you convert it using Microsoft Excel.
You can view detailed data for a group of students by selecting the group’s name on the main
dashboard screen. A screen very similar to the one used for individual students appears and
you can view aggregate performance data:
Note: Instructors associated with the group are listed on this screen as well.
14
Instructor Role
If you scroll down this screen, you’ll notice a key difference from the Details section of the
individual student report screen, relating to the comparison of student performances in
ACT Online Prep:
The different statistics used for comparison are Percentile, Progress, Avg. Exam Score, and
Time Spent. By default, this section is set to show the “Top 5 Performance” listing the top 5
student performers according to different statistics in the program, but you can also change
the filter to show the “Bottom 5 Performance” to aid you in identifying students who may need
help in certain areas.
Other parts of the Detail section of the group report screen show different information related
to aggregate student engagement with the content in ACT Online Prep:
• Lessons
• Practice
• Tests
• Flashcards
Instructors will want to review the Low Confidence percentage associated with certain lessons
in order to potentially revisit course material with their students.
The Practice tab shows the “Most 5 Missed Practice Questions” for students according to %
Correct:
You can view the text of particular practice questions by selecting them from the list. Also,
you’ll notice that the set of practice questions is “Usage/Mechanics – Punctuation.” You can
change this by using the dropdown field and area above the list of questions.
Finally, instructors can view the “Most 5 Missed Exams” according to % Correct and be able to
review individual questions in subject sections once students start engaging with this content.
When you want to export the aggregate data for a group of students, use the Export button at
the top right of the screen. You’ll see a similar dialogue box and process for opening or saving
the document that was discussed on pp. 11-12.
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Institution Admin Role
The Institution Admin is the role associated with the person who is the main school contact for
ACT Online Prep.
Institution Admins can access the reports views that were previously mentioned. To do this,
they access the Boost Dashboard via the User menu once they first log in.
Institution Admins can see and export all ACT Online Prep data in the Student Reports and
Group Reports views that the Instructors under them can.
There is no difference between the two roles as to how to view or use information about
individual students or groups of students. Institution Admins also have the ability to
“Impersonate” an individual student in order to get a more exact sense of a student’s activity
and performance in the program. See the Instructor Role section of this document for the full
description of what Instructors can do, which Institution Admins also can do.
However, Institution Admins also have access to an Institution Reports view. This view is
selected in the same manner as the other reports:
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Institution Admin Role
This report has columns of data related to groups of students in a school setting:
• Records Group Count (how many groups are associated with the school)
• Records Student Count
• Avg. Progress %
• Average Practice ACT Composite Score
• Avg. Session Time
As the Institution Admin, you can filter information on the Institution Reports dashboard
using the same options as on the Student Reports and Group Reports:
You can also export the data on the Institution Reports screen by using the Export button in
the top right of the screen. On the dialog box that appears, choose whether to Open or Save
the file for later viewing. The file will open in .csv format; we recommend you open it with
Microsoft Excel for proper formatting of the data.
If you want to get a more detailed view of students in a particular school’s setting, select the
appropriate title from the Institution Reports screen. A screen similar to the screens for group
reports or individual student reports will appear. However, the aggregate data shown will be for
all students at a school:
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Institution Admin Role
At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a listing of all student Groups associated with the school.
If you select any of these titles, you’ll be taken to a report screen for the group. This screen is
identical to the one for the group available in Group Reports.
You can export a data file for the school as an aggregate of student data. To do this, return to
the top of the screen and select the Export button. A dialogue box will appear, asking if you
want to Open or Save the file. Select your option to open the file now or to save it later. Both
options will open the document as an Adobe PDF.
Overall, the Reports views that are available to an Institution Admin provide a highly detailed
picture of the activity and performance data of individual students, groups of students, and an
entire school. These views enable Institution Supervisors to support instructors in the mission
of helping their students perform better at school and on the ACT.
Note: You will not be able to see any reporting data for your school until you add
students, instructors, and classrooms for the enhanced ACT Online Prep. The following
sections cover these activities.
In addition to seeing the reports views, Institution Admins also have access to another
dashboard for the program when they first log in. The descriptions below will focus on what
Institution Admins can do to enable their instructors and students to start using ACT Online
Prep.
As an Institution Admin, you can also access the “Institution Admin” dashboard by selecting it
from the User menu at the top of any screen in your account:
Once you’ve selected this option, you’ll see the following landing page:
By default, you’ll see the Dashboard view and information under the Classrooms tab, but
you won’t see any data until you start creating classrooms after adding instructors and
students (instructions for these processes will be given below). Instructors and Classrooms are
equivalent to the Teachers and Groups discussed in the reports views.
Note: Instructors and students have to be assigned to classrooms to actually gain access to the
ACT Online Prep platform themselves.
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Institution Admin Role
You can set up reporting data for your school by using your Institution Admin role to create
student and instructor accounts for individuals at your school and then assign them to
classrooms.
The Plans tab lists the number of “licenses redeemed,” i.e., the number that have been assigned
for students once you have created their accounts (instructor accounts don’t count toward the
number of licenses). You can use this information to keep track of your school’s overall use of
the program.
Adding Students
To create student accounts, access the Students option on the Institution Admin dashboard.
The following screen appears:
You can start creating an account by selecting the New Students button or the “Create one!”
link. If you select the New Students button, you’ll actually see three options from a menu:
• Choosing “Add a Student” takes you to the Create Student screen:
Type in the student’s name and email address, and choose a password for them. Then,
select the Create button to save the account. The following screen will confirm this
addition. (However, this does not mean the student now has access to the program.)
This option of creating a student account can be used for individual students who are added
separately (e.g., at an earlier or later time) than the students at a school as a whole.
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Institution Admin Role
• Choosing the “Upload Multiple” option will probably be how you add most of the student
accounts. When this option is chosen, the following screen appears:
Follow the instructions on this screen about what information is required for each
student and how to format and save an Excel spreadsheet for uploading. An email
address and a password for each student are required. Then, select the Upload button at
the bottom of the screen. You’ll then see this progress bar back on the Institution Admin
dashboard:
You can wait for the file to finish uploading or keep refreshing the page to ensure that it has.
Once the student accounts are uploaded, they’ll be listed on the Students screen. If you have
a problem uploading this file, you’ll receive an email with further instructions.
Once the student account credentials are created and classrooms are set up, it is your
responsibility as the Institutional Admin to distribute passwords to students so that they
can set up their own accounts for ACT Online Prep.
• Choosing “Generate ACT Inc. Student Accounts” is not recommended as an option for
creating students because they will not have the ability to change their email address
or password associated with the program. However, you may need to use this option for
students who do not have an email address (or your school doesn’t assign these addresses).
After selecting this option, the following screen appears:
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Institution Admin Role
Follow the instructions to assign “mock” email addresses and generate passwords for these
students. Then select the Generate button. If you refresh the Students screen, you should
then see all of these students listed:
Note: All of the students created using this method will have the default name “ACT Online
Prep User,” so you will want to keep track of which students were given which email addresses
and passwords.
Adding Instructors
Adding instructor accounts is a similar process to adding students. Select the Instructors tab
on the main Institutional Admin dashboard. The following screen appears:
Select the New Instructors button or the “Create one!” link to get started with adding
instructors. Selecting the New Instructors button shows a choice of options:
• “Add an Instructor” lets you add instructors individually, according to the same process that
was used above for Add a Student:
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Institution Admin Role
After entering the required information and selecting Create, the instructor will then be
listed on the Instructors screen:
• As with the example of adding students, though, you will probably find it easier to add
instructors by using the “Upload Multiple” option. When this option is selected, a similar
screen appears:
Follow the instructions to enter required information for each instructor and to format and
save the Excel spreadsheet for uploading. Then, select the Upload button. If you have a
problem uploading this file, you’ll receive an email with the errors noted. This should be a
separate upload from the one used for students.
For all students and instructors that you create, you have the ability to edit account
information using the Institution Admin dashboard if someone has trouble accessing their
ACT Online Prep account or forgot their password. After locating their name, hover over it from
the list on the screen and then select the Details option that appears. Edit their information on
the next screen and select the Save button. You’ll then need to provide the new password to the
instructor or student.
Setting Up Classrooms
After you’ve created students and instructors, you can create classrooms (groups) and start
assigning individuals to them. To do this, return to the Dashboard option on the Institution
Admin dashboard, and select the New Classroom button or the “Create one!” link.
Note: If you see an error message related to the number of student licenses redeemed, please
contact [email protected] for support.
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Institution Admin Role
You’ll then be asked to enter information on screens corresponding to three steps in the
process:
• Step 1 – Assign Name: Type a unique name for the classroom. Then select the Next button.
• Step 2 – Instructor Management: Use the checkbox next to an instructor’s name to
assign them to a classroom. You can filter by “All Available Instructors” or “Instructors
in Classroom” (for instructors who are already assigned to another classroom) to find an
instructor. Then select the Assign button.
You’ll see that the instructor is now associated with the classroom through being listed
under the Instructors in Classrooms tab. Then select the Next button.
Note: If you need to remove an instructor from a classroom, select the Unassign button from
this screen.
• Step 3 – Student Management: Use checkboxes next to student names to assign these
students to a classroom. You can also check the “Assign All” box or search for a particular
student to add from the list. When you are done marking students to add, select the
Assign button:
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Institution Admin Role
You’ll then see the students associated with the classroom through the Students in
Classroom tab. You may also choose options to unassign students from the classroom from
this screen.
At this point, you can return to Steps 1 or 2 to edit information you’ve used to set up the
classroom by using the “Back” options at the top of each screen.
IMPORTANT: Your classrooms will not be created in the system until you use the Finish
button after adding students. You can find this button in the top right of the last screen.
If you return to the Dashboard option of the Institution Admin dashboard and the Classrooms
tab, you’ll see that the classroom is now listed. You can also download the information about
all users (students and instructors) associated with the classroom by selecting the Download
User CSV button (see information in the Instructor Role section about opening or saving this
type of file):
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Institution Admin Role
If you hover over the classroom listed on the dashboard, you’ll see a
option on the right.
Select this option to confirm the instructors and students that you added for the classroom:
You can also edit any classroom information from this screen by selecting the Edit Name or
Manage buttons. When you’re done creating classrooms after adding instructors and students
to them, provide passwords to these users (and email addresses if needed) as soon as possible,
so that your school can get the most benefit from the access to ACT Online Prep.
Note: As the Institution Admin, you may be asked by a student to approve or review the creation
of discussion groups or flashcard sets among student users. This process involves tabs of student
activity covered in the Student User Guide. You can get a specific sense of discussion groups or
flashcard sets by using the Impersonate option for a student discussed above. If you have concerns
about your students’ use of discussions or flashcards, visit onlineprep.act.org/contact-support
for help on controlling these features of the platform for your school.
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District Supervisor Role
On a level of access above the school, District Supervisors have additional reporting access to
ACT Online Prep data for students and schools in their district. This section will discuss an
additional reporting view that District Supervisors have access to.
The following screen shows the main dashboard options when a District Supervisor logs in to
his or her account:
You’ll notice that you have access to Group Reports and Institution Reports views, but not
Student Reports. This also means that you don’t have the same ability to Impersonate students
that Instructors and Institution Admins do. However, you do have the same access to aggregate
data about students in groups and schools.
Note: You won’t see any data in the various Reports until Institution Admins enter their
organizations’ data in the system.
If you select District Reports from the menu, you can view the following information about
districts:
• District Name
• # of schools in the district
• # of students in the district
• # of teachers in the district
This data can be exported into a file by selecting the Export button. A dialogue box will open
and you’ll have the option to select Open or Save. We recommend you use Microsoft Excel for
the proper saving and formatting of the file.
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District Supervisor Role
If you select the title of a district from the District Reports dashboard, you’ll then see the
following screen, which provides district information and performance data for students
across the district:
The District Overview provides the number of schools, number of students, and the number
of instructors associated with the district. Below this, the individual schools are listed with the
following information:
• Number of students associated with the school
• Avg. Progress in ACT Online Prep achieved by students at the school
• Average Practice ACT Composite Score by students at the school
• Avg. Session Time spent by students in ACT Online Prep at the school
Note: You can identify schools whose students are spending less time in the system by noting
average session times in red.
You can filter some of the columns in this listing by using the filter options on the screen:
By selecting the title of a school from the list, you can drill down to an Institution Report for a
particular school and a Group Report for students in a classroom at that school.
Note: You can also access Institution Reports and Group Reports directly from the main District
Supervisor dashboard.
Regardless of the level of data you are wanting to access, you can export data files by using the
Export button at the top of the appropriate screen.
See pp. 12-16 for full details of the student data available in the Institution Reports and Group
Reports views.
27
Frequently Asked
Questions and
Contacting Us
This section covers a few additional questions you might have about your use of ACT Online
Prep or your account.
A student or instructor says they aren’t able to log in yet. What do I do?
Ensure that you’ve added them using the Institution Admin dashboard, that their email
address is correct, and that they are using the correct password you gave to them.
I tried to upload multiple users through a CSV, but it didn’t work. What can I do?
The most common issue that institutional supervisors run into when uploading a CSV file
for multiple students or instructors is that they fail to format it properly. We’ll send an email
noting errors with the file. Please make sure that the headers are listed exactly as instructed
—email, name, and password. Otherwise, the file will not be processed correctly. Any other
additional information (school name, classroom #, etc.) should not be included.
Can I move a student from one classroom to another?
Yes. Students and even instructors can be moved around by selecting the Manage link found
in a classroom’s Details page accessed from the Institution Admin dashboard. Students and
instructors can also be part of multiple groups —there is no limit to the number they can be in.
Does it matter which browser I use? What about my students?
We recommend Google Chrome for all users of ACT Online Prep program. However, Internet
Explorer 9+, Safari, and Firefox all are supported as well.
If you have other questions, please contact ACT Customer Service at onlineprep.act.org/
contact-support or call us at 319.337.1429.
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