Note
The information in this article applies only if you have selected to roster accounts via automated sync.
This article applies to the following products:
- Imagine Language & Literacy and Imagine Español
- Imagine Reading and Imagine Lectura
- Imagine Galileo K–12
- Imagine MyPath, Imagine Science, Imagine Purpose
This article explains how the SIS (Student Information System) and the manual rostering tools interact when your organization uses an automated sync but you create new entities or edit existing entities using the manual rostering tools.
Teachers can add/edit students and classes/groups. Administrators have the additional ability to add/edit educators.
Creating new entities:
As a general rule, we encourage all new students, classes/groups, and educators to be sent via the sync. Your district's SIS should be the source of truth for all rostered entities.
However, there are some exceptions to this guideline. Some examples of when you might want to add new students or classes apart from your sync are:
- Special programs such as an ELL program or an after-school tutoring class that are not included in your SIS.
- Summer school rostering when you have students attending from other schools or students using the program during the summer that did not use the program during the school year.
When you create brand-new entities apart from your sync, you will be able to fill out all data points for the new entities within the Imagine Learning rostering tools. However, if your organization also creates the same new entity via the automated sync, and the Username, External Assigned ID, and/or Alt External Assigned ID numbers are the same, the sync will overwrite what you entered manually if there are any discrepancies.
For example, if you manually create a student named Timothy Little with an External Assigned ID of 12345, and the student is also added in the SIS with the same ID, any discrepant data in the SIS takes precedence and will overwrite what was entered manually. If the student's first name was input as Tim in the SIS, then Timothy will change to Tim in the Imagine Learning product the next time the data syncs.
However, if no student is input in your SIS with an External Assigned ID of 12345 (or with a matching username or Alt External Assigned ID), then Timothy's account will remain in the Imagine Learning portal with no changes.
Editing an existing entity:
You can tell if an entity originated from an automated sync if it has a lock symbol to the left of its name in the tab with the list of entities. In this example of the Classes/Groups tab, we can see that the Achieva group was created via automation and the After School Enrichment group was not.
For entities originally created via automation, most changes must also be made in the SIS that feeds your automated rostering sync. Imagine Learning products then update every time a change is made in the SIS.
A change must be made manually (either student-by-student or in bulk) if you are not sharing a particular data point with Imagine Learning via your automated sync. For example, your organization may not be collecting data on student language settings, session times, or other product settings. Consult with your district's IT Administrator if you are unsure which data points are being shared.
Some fields are editable in Imagine Learning products even if your organization shares those data points in the automation. You can tell if a field can be edited manually or not because you won't be able to edit any field whose data is required to be sent via automation. All fields which can't be edited via the rostering tools are grayed out, have a lock symbol, and/or have hover text explaining they must be updated in the SIS.
If a field is not grayed out, you are allowed to edit it manually. However, when you edit a field manually, in some cases it won't be a permanent edit:
- If there is a contradiction between a data point in the SIS and what was manually entered, the next time the data syncs, what is in the SIS will replace what was manually entered.
- If the data point is not being sent to Imagine Learning via automation, what was manually entered will remain.
Click on an entity type below for more detail on which fields can and can't be edited manually.
None of the fields on the Details tab of the class/group can be edited via the rostering tools.
The fields on the class/group's Products tab are editable. However, changes may be overwritten if the product is being sent via the sync.
For example, if you remove the product association to MyPath Reading but Reading is being shared through automation, it will be added back during the next sync. On the contrary, if the association to a particular product is not being sent to Imagine Learning via the sync, no overrides occur. If you manually add the product, it will remain, and if you go in later to remove it, it will not be added back in a future sync.
The Students tab is not editable if the class/group was created via automation.
Note
You may only add a student to manually created classes/groups. You will be unable to view or select synced classes/groups on this tab. If you want to add the student to a synced group, it must be done via automation.
The entire Product Settings tab is also editable, but keep in mind your changes may be overwritten.
Note
You may only add an educator to manually created classes/groups. You will be unable to view or select synced classes/groups on this tab. If you want to add the educator to a synced group, it must be done via automation.