1. Overview

Target Audience: Sirius coordinators, technology administrators, course coaches and coordinators, teachers

Introduction

Welcome to Sirius Online 2023-24! 

This document contains all the information districts, schools, and educators need to successfully set up for success using courses that have been purchased for use online. The information in this guide targets Sirius Online coordinators, technology administrators, course coaches and coordinators, and teachers who may be self-registering themselves and students. The guide also includes information for those who support set up of Clever, ClassLink, EdLink, or OneRoster rostering, Single Sign On (SSO), and access to Sirius via your school’s learning management system (LMS). Finally, we discuss a way for you to use your rostered data for summer sessions or pullouts, but that involves some advanced planning and insights into our onboarding technology.

Questions You Should Be Able to Answer for Set Up

As you finalize your purchase of Sirius Online, your sales representative and members of the implementation team will work with you to uncover the following information:

1. SSO/Rostering. Does your district or school use a rostering application such as Clever, ClassLink, EdLink, OneRoster, or do you have active classes and rosters set up in Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas, or another LMS? If not, you will need to use our self registration process for teachers, students, and administrators.

2. Rostering for breakout, pullouts, and special courses/sections. Rostering works best when you provide rosters for ALL learning engagements that utilize Sirius Online, especially when special sections, like breakout or pullout classes, are set up for Accelerated Instruction and HB-4545. Even though we offer a way for rostered districts or schools to set up breakout and pullouts from their active teachers and students, currently we are not able to allow you to build classes from students from more than one school or campus (as many districts do during Summer Sessions).

3. Administrators. Do you share district and school administrators in your rostered data?

4. Start of Instruction Date/Sirius Go Live. When does your semester start, and when is your "Go Live" date for Sirius products?

5. Data/Security Agreement: Does your district or school have a Data Security or Privacy Agreement that needs to be completed by Sirius? If so, please share with your sales representative, including the date by which it is needed.

Sirius Online Checklist for District and School Implementation

Use this checklist to set up Sirius Online Access for educators and students. The checklist corresponds to information that you’ll find in this Getting Started Guide.

1.  System requirements: browser, hardware, and network (Technology Coordinators)

• Do all teacher and student devices, browsers, and networks support Sirius Online minimum requirements?

• Do students have access to adequate bandwidth in their homes? 

2. District tech support contact information (Teachers, Technology Coordinators, Sirius Coordinator)

• Do teachers know who to contact for tech support at your district or school (for single sign on, access to district portals, LMS’s, and other integrated technologies)? 

• Do your technology, curriculum, and supporting staff know how to reach out to Sirius for technical support when issues arise?

3. Whitelist of important URLs (Technology Coordinators)

• While using Sirius Online within the school’s firewall or local network, has the whitelist found in system requirements been applied?

4. Account registration and access (Technology Coordinators; Teachers Who Self-Register)

• Have Sirius Coordinators worked with their district or school technology staff to determine methods for account registration and rostering?

• Do teachers and students use Single Sign On (SSO) to access learning applications within your portal via Clever, Classlink, Edlink, or a compatible Learning Management System? 

• If your school does not support SSO, do you plan to have teachers and students self-register (when SSO and rostering are not supported)?

5. Technical and Implementation  Support (Links) (Sirius coordinators, technology administrators, course coaches and coordinators, teachers)

• Have you accessed, bookmarked, and shared our Online Support landing page?

2. Supported System Requirements

Target Audience: Sirius coordinators, technology administrators

Sirius Online is an online product that can be accessed on a variety of devices and operating systems, although a recent computer, laptop, Chromebook, or tablet with Chrome browser is highly recommended.

Supported Devices

Our programs can be used on the following devices:

• Computers using Windows 10 or higher or the Mac operating system (OS)

• Chromebooks

• Tablets (iOS or Android) with a display of 7.5” or greater, including iPads 

Supported Browsers

For optimal performance, we recommend utilizing current versions of the following supported browsers:

• Google Chrome (latest or recent version)

• Firefox (latest or recent version)

• Safari 10 or 11 or higher

Network

For best performance, we recommend networks with bandwidth/connections speeds of at least 1 Mbps or higher. To view your network's performance, please visit http://www.speedtest.net and perform a speed test.

Additional Requirements

• JavaScript enabled

• PDF view application – Adobe Reader 10 or greater

• Cookies enabled

Note: Please be sure to clear cache and cookies regularly using from the All time/Beginning of time setting. Also include the clearing of cookies and other site data as well as cached images and files. We do monthly releases that may require cache clearing every month or so for best performance, or when irregularities appear. 

Whitelist

Add the following URLs to your whitelist to prevent display or firewall issues:

• *.content2classroom.com   

• wiris.net

• desmos.com

• cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax

• .zoho.com

• *.zohodesk.com

• *.speechstream.net 

• *.texthelp.com 

Note 1: Special video tutorials and walkthroughs are available for use from both within your firewall (.content2classroom.com, when whitelisted), or at youtube.com, which may not be whitelisted within your district or school firewall. Please use YouTube links if you would like better streaming to your phone or home network, especially if YouTube is blocked at school. In many cases you will be able to view the same video clips within eLearning modules as well (they will function fine within your firewall).

Note 2: Some browser extensions and student monitoring applications may interfere with some functionality within Sirius Online. If you spot irregular ‘glitches’ or ‘blips,’ please report them to Tech Support. We can assist in identifying potential problems or blockers, along with possible remedies and workarounds. All district environments vary, so we greatly appreciate your patience and participation in any troubleshooting that is required to get you to optimal performance.

3. Sirius Online Support 

Target Audience: Sirius coordinators, technology administrators, course coaches and coordinators, teachers 

Support Landing Page

The landing page consists of the following opportunities for support:

• Support Knowledge Base: Documents and other media that support setting up and using Sirius Online, including other instructional supports such as eLearning modules, webinars, and individual training opportunities  

• Tickets - Create and follow progress on your requests for Tech Support or any other special requests or help that you might need.

• Sirius Online Educator community: The Support landing page will provide access to the Sirius Online Educator community where you can share questions, best practices, tips, and models for successful instruction.

Support - Knowledge Base

The Support - Knowledge base consists of three main categories of support documentation and supports:

• Getting Started - Everything you need to successfully launch Sirius Online 2023-24.

• Using Sirius Online - The ins and outs of managing learning with online tools.

• Delivering Instruction - Informational supports for implementing Sirius with emphasis on pedagogy/methodology.

• Learning Resources - Sirius-created resources that support program use.

• Policies and Agreements - Important policies and agreements such as Terms of Use, Copyright, and Privacy information.

Sirius Educator Community

Sirius provides an  Educators’ Community structured around the same categories found in the knowledge base:

• Getting Started

• Using Sirius Online

• Delivering Instruction 

• Learning Resources

The purpose of the community is to allow our educator community participants to exchange ideas, best practices, teaching tips, methods, activities, and resources that they would like to share with other Sirius educators. Collaboration among Sirius’s educators -- whether about content, activities, or methods -- is our greatest opportunity to learn together across our growing community.

Note: Tech Support issues and technical problems can be shared directly via ticket, email, or phone, please see  Tickets > Online Technical Support for more information. 

Tickets - Technical Support

Create a Ticket

Create a Tech Support ticket by clicking the Ticket Icon on the main Support landing page and then choosing Online Technical Support, or visiting  https://sirius4learning.zohodesk.com/portal/en/home

By Phone

You can contact the SES Online team at (800) 942-1379, Option 2, Monday-Friday 7 am – 6 pm CT.

*By Email

Please send any technical support issues directly to our email address to create a new ticket: support@siriuseducationsolution.com

Other Inquiries

For other inquiries, please make your inquiry via other types of tickets or by calling our (800) 942-1379 and selecting the option that best applies.

 4. Accessing Sirius Online: Rostering, SSO, and Onboarding

Target Audience: Sirius coordinators, technology administrators, teachers (self-registration only)

Automated Rostering vs. Self-Registration at the District Level

Without automated rostering in place at the district level:

• Teachers will be required to manually input every student for every class, if at least one Sirius program is used; students who need to access a second Sirius Program can use their same class and then Join the New Class with the new class access code that teachers can provide them.

• There is opportunity for increased user error and duplicate accounts for students.

• There are added challenges when students change classes or teachers.

Sirius Online automated rostering at the district level offers numerous options and opportunities, including:

• Automated account creation/registration.

• Ability to create rosters from your school Student Information System (SIS) via Clever, ClassLink, or EdLink, including OneRoster, prior to start of Day 1.

• Ability to roster from your LMS and authenticate into Sirius, including Canvas, Schoology, Google Classroom, Blackboard, Moodle with support of our partner, EdLink.

• Ability to quickly create pullout/Accelerated Instruction sections based on users (teachers, students) at any moment for any duration of time, including special sections/classes that are not included in your SIS.

• Ability to add Co-Teachers and Tutors who do not appear in your rostered user data via self registration. For more on this please jump to this section.

• Ability to provision District and School Administrators for access if they SSO into their applications and are included in shared data.

• Overnight sync of updates to classes as they occur.

• Ability to access via Single Sign On (SSO) using school credentials such as Google Classroom or Office 365 (Active Directory).

                                                                Integrations Supported by Sirius 

Notes:

1. Schools within the same district cannot be set up using multiple rostering approaches.

2. Any change to rostering will result in a loss of all data stored prior to the integration change.

3. District level rostering helps to ensure access and consistency of data at the district level.

4. *Whether a district chooses a rostering method or self registration, class end dates should not match the exact last day of actual class but be forward-dated up to two weeks to allow teachers access to active vs. archived classes.
   

5. While the same unique teacher and student accounts are frequently used across years in a given Rostering and SSO Method, classes must be completely recreated each year in order for our rostering technology to work correctly. We highly discourage the re-use of “class shells” in a year-to-year fashion, as both classes and student accounts cannot archive correctly on their official end-dates. We do not have a mechanism to support classes that span multi year use.

Best Practices for Supporting Rostering and SSO Integrations

• Set up by districts. Opt for set up and sharing at the district level vs. individual schools level.

• Normalize data and syncs. Optional fields are sometimes required by rostering partners (e.g., state field); Fields should contain matching data; ensure the accuracy of data and that updates appropriately sync among applications that require syncing, including Clever, ClassLink, and OneRoster; unique identifiers match across applications, platforms.

• Class end dates. Class end dates should not match the last day of actual class but be forward-dated up to two weeks to allow teachers access to active vs. archived classes.
  

• Unique classes every semester (or year if classes span Spring/Fall). New unique classes must be generated each semester or year, unless they are devised to span more than one semester or year. Sirius Online does not support updates to classes that were originally set up to cover specific prior semesters or years. Please do not reuse class shells from prior years or semesters.

• Datascope/Datashare with Sirius. Restrict and share data for only those schools, teachers, classes/sections and students using at least one Sirius program.

• Roster Breakout/Pullout Sessions. We highly recommend that districts and schools share not only formal classes/courses in which Sirius Online is to be used, but also any special Accelerated Instruction (HB-4545) pullouts, breakouts, and tutoring session, especially if they involve main teachers working with Co-Teachers and Tutors. We support secondary instructional roles in Sirius and classify them as “Co-Teachers” within our system.

• Integrate. Follow the instructions that our Tech Support team provides, including special attention to providing opportunities for  SSO for district and school admins,  teachers and students; please also double-check your work when you enter access codes, consumer keys, secrets, and Landing URLs in the correct fields. Note that we recommend that district and school administrators be provisioned via your Clever or ClassLink syncs, however there is a method to permit for self registration of administrators, and it is described below.

• Create better user experiences. Embed visual launch icons vs links or URLS in your school’s portal, Clever, or ClassLink so that end users clearly understand how to quickly access Sirius programs.

• Impersonate and QA Integrations. Within your district sandbox, impersonate and QA integrations before they are announced to teachers and students.

• Communicate. Provide clear step-by-step instructions for teachers and students as they relate to accessing Sirius programs through your chosen portal, SSO, Clever, or ClassLink.

• *Remind. Send friendly reminders to teachers reminding them to add courses to their automatically-created Sirius classes. If that step is not taken, students will not be able to access course materials. For more information on this step, see: Adding Courses to Classes.

Overview of the Integration Process for Rostered Districts

Adding Pullout/Breakout Classes at Rostered Districts

Any administrator or teacher at a rostered district or school using Clever, ClassLink, or EdLink can now quickly create special ‘non-SIS-based classes’ using new tools available starting on May 25, 2022.

District and School Administrators

Note: At this time, District Admins cannot yet create classes spanning schools within a district. School Admins and Teachers can only create and add students from their assigned schools within each assigned school.

Steps

1. Log in to Sirius Online and click Users.

2. Search for a teacher who will serve as the ‘Primary Teacher’ of your new class or pullout. Be sure to use the header filters to quickly locate a specific teacher.

3. Once you locate the teacher for whom you’ll add a class, click the View button.

4. On the Teacher profile screen, click Add Class at the bottom.

5. Type a Class Name, and add a Start Date and End Date (always extend the end date a few weeks beyond the last day of class in order to allow teachers to wrap up their work on any given class).

6. Your new class appears in the Teacher profile.  To add students (i.e., from your Clever, ClassLink, or EdLink shared accounts), click the View button to the right of the newly added class.

Note: You can only add currently shared students in your rostered data. You cannot self-register students outside of your rostered method.

7. Click the Add Existing Student link.

8. When you locate the student you would like to add, click the Add button.

9. Your new student has been added to your class. Complete the same add student process for each student who needs to be a member of the new class.

You can confirm your final list of students on the Roster Screen to be sure all have been added.

Teachers

Teachers can add classes for themselves by following a similar set of steps:

1. On the teacher’s desktop in which main class rosters appear (from Clever, ClassLink, and EdLink), a teacher could create a pullout or breakout session by clicking Add Class.

2. Type in the following information:

• Add a Class Name; be sure to follow your district class naming conventions, especially for special Accelerated Instruction pullouts or breakouts.

• Supply a Start Date; it is often a good practice to allow the class to start before students need to start using the course.

• Supply an End Date; we recommend dating the course at least two weeks after students wrap up their work so teachers have time to do final scoring and evaluation.

• *If a teacher is affiliated with more than one school, the teacher will be able to choose which school from the Pulldown Menu to which the new class will be created.

3. Once the class has been created, you can add students by clicking the Add Existing Student button.

4. Search for and add each student who should be added to your class.

5. Confirm your final list of students on the Roster Screen to be sure all have been added.

Note: Co-teachers can be added via self registration if they are not included in the district or school data.

Teacher Self Registration and Login

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. ***Please skip this section if your school provides automated rostering for teachers and students.

2. District and school administrators can follow the same self-registration instructions as teachers (including the email verify step), but they are required to register via a District Administrator Access Code or a School Administrator Access Code. They will naturally land at a District or School Administrator Dashboard based on their role; for more on this, please see How to Use Guide: District and School Administrators.

At schools or districts that have opted out of automated registration options via Clever, ClassLink, or via their LMS, Teachers, co-teachers, and students can self-register to use Sirius Online. Teachers must register prior to co-teachers and students as required access codes are generated after a teacher registers and then adds their first class.

Before teachers register, locate your school’s Teacher Access Code. This was provided to Sirius Coordinators by Sirius Education Solutions via email.

Note: If you do not have your Teacher Access Code, contact the SES Online team at (800) 942-1379, Option 2, or create a ticket at our Online Support Center  requesting your district or school’s Teacher Access Code.

Teacher Self-Registration: Steps

1. Open a Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari browser.

2. Go to: sirius.content2classroom.com.

3. Bookmark the URL for easy return to the site.

4. Choose the Sign Up button.

5. Complete the Self-Registration form by entering your

• Access Code

• First and Last name

• Email address (required for teachers and co-teachers)

• Password of your creation

6. Click Submit. 

Once your registration is successful, check your email for a message from noreply@content2classroom.com.

It may take up to 15 minutes to receive the email.  If it doesn't arrive, check your spam folder.

Note: You must click the hyperlink in the confirmation email (or paste it into your browser) to complete the last step of your registration.

7. Choose Take me to my home page to return to the login page and sign in.

8. Use your newly created credentials to log in.

Creating Classes: A ‘Must’ Before Registering Students and Co-Teachers in Self Registration Districts

To create a class:

1. Click the +Add/Join a Class Button in your Classes dashboard.

2. Click the +Add New Class radio button and then Save.

3. Fill in the short form:

1. ***Name your class by abbreviated subject, period number, and your last name, if possible. Examples: Alg 1 - 3 - Brown; Eng 6 - 2 - Plath; Math 6 - 7 - Newton

2. Enter the start date for your class; if you need to work with the class now prior to start, use today’s date.

3. Enter the end date. *Please note that it is important to add at least 2-3 weeks to the end date so that you can finalize grades and manage reports after the semester formally ends.

4. Click Save.

*Note: Class end dates should not match the last day of actual class but be forward-dated up to two weeks to allow teachers access to active vs. archived classes. Teachers can view archived classes as well as reactivate classes that have ended by clicking Profile icon in the upper right and choosing Archived Classes. From the list of classes you can choose to Reactivate a class by clicking that button and then editing the end date to a future date and clicking Save. 

Supporting Student and Co-Teacher (Tutor) Self-Registration

Once classes have been created and courses have been added to classes, students and co-teachers are able to register to become members of a class. A Student Access Code is required for students; a Co-teacher Access Code is required for co-teachers.  

New: Sirius Online now allows co-teachers and tutors at districts using automated rostering to self-register for classes and pullouts that are created by administrators and teachers at rostered districts or schools. This can be especially useful for tutors who have been hired to assist you with Accelerated Learning requirements.

Gathering Access Codes

Classes are visible from the Classes Tab.  

1. Choose Roster from the Class Card (the option in blue below the class name).

• The Student Access Code is listed to the right in the main screen.

• The Co-Teacher Access Code is listed directly below the Student Access Code.

Note:  A different access code is used when students or co-teachers access other Sirius classes. They can join a second or subsequent class using a different access code (vs. having to register for a new second account).

The first time a student logs into the Sirius Online application they will use the Class Access Code to

1. Log in to the application

2. Enroll in the class

Notes: 

1. Students and co-teachers who logged in previously will use their existing username and password to login to join a new class.

2. Students and co-teachers cannot self-register until after a teacher has completed self-registration and class setup.

Instructions for Student and Co-Teacher Self-Registration

Steps:

1. Go to:  sirius.content2classroom.com.

2. Click the Sign Up button.

3. Complete the Self-Registration form using the Access Code you provided to them.

Note: Students should not enter an email address, though co-teachers will need to.

4. Once complete, click the Submit button.

5. On the new screen, students click the Take me to my home page button. 

As was true for teachers, co-teachers must locate a confirmation email and click the link to verify they are teachers prior to logging in.

Once a course has been assigned, a student’s home screen will show Books and Assignments. A co-teacher’s screen will display the teacher dashboard.

Enrolling in a Second Class 

To enroll in other classes using Sirius Online courses, students and co-teachers may add the classes using the same account credentials -- Username and Password -- so that all classes may be accessed by clicking the Class Name dropdown in the upper left corner of the window next to the Sirius logo.

To join a second class, click the + Join Class button in the pulldown menu and enter the new class student or co-teacher access code.

Best Practices: Teachers or IT staff may pre-register teachers, co-teachers, students on their own by completing the appropriate Self-Registration online registration process for everyone in the class, thus allowing the teacher or IT staff member to choose the Username and Password for their students.

• Register students: When teachers register student accounts, they can better control username and password formats and access

• Provide unique credentials: Teachers can ensure that credentials are unique and secure.

Password Resets

Teachers can easily reset their passwords by clicking Forgot Password on the login screen and entering their email. They receive a link which they can click to update their password to a new one.

Student passwords can be easily reset by the teacher in the Class Roster. Teachers simply click the password (in asterisks) for a particular student, type in a new password, and then click Save. 

Personalization - Choosing an Avatar

To add an avatar:

1. Click the profile button in the upper right corner of the window and choose Edit.

2. Select the desired image and then click Save.

The avatar will be used throughout the system for the student.

Adding Courses to Classes

Sirius Online includes eCourses for all STAAR tested courses. The courses that are available match those purchased by your school. 

Notes:

1. Regardless of the rostering method used, teachers will need to add courses (Sirius Products) to their classes, even if automatically created through Clever, ClassLink or another method.

2. If a course is missing a program that you purchased, please contact the SES Online team at (800) 942-1379, Option 2, or by creating a Tech Support ticket.

Steps:

1. Click the Course button on the class card beneath your class name.
   

2. Choose the + Add Course button in the upper right corner of the page.
   

3. Select a course by clicking/checking the checkbox to the left of each course you plan to add to your class.

4. Click Save.

Your course(s) have now been added to your class.

5. Other Important Information 

Target Audience: Sirius coordinators, technology administrators, course coaches and coordinators, teachers

Accessibility

Accessibility tools include/provide for:

• Text-to-Speech: allows the computer to read aloud words on the screen.

• Translate: provides language translations for the selected text.

• Alt Text/Alt Tagging for all images.

WCAG 2.0 and Accessibility Compliance

In preparation; forthcoming.

Online Tools and Digital Partners

Sirius Online provides tools that mimic those of the STAAR assessment along with important instructional partnerships and technologies that make up the learning experience.

Sirius Tools that Mimic STAAR Test Experience

As present in the actual STAAR Assessment, Sirius provides student with the following tools/accommodations: 

• Calculator (Accomodation/UDL Support)

• Text to Speech (Accomodation/UDL Support)

• Translate (UDL Support)

• Dictionary (UDL Support)

• Line Reader

• Sticky Notes

• Strikethrough

• Highlight

• Mark for Review

Special resources and tools are used in programs according to subject and grade level. For example, Algebra I End of Course provides access to:

• Formulas

• Texas STAAR version of the Desmos Graphing Calculator

• Online Graph Paper

Desmos

Sirius Education Solutions partners with Desmos, utilizing a special STAAR Texas version of the Graphing Calculator.

FlowPaper

In Sirius Online, some content is presented in FlowPaper, a format that allows teachers and students to highlight text, create on page notes, strike out text, draw on/over the screen, delete markup, and hide/show markup.

TextHelp

 In Sirius Online  auto-scored practice and assessments, TextHelp tools allow students to turn live text to speech (play all, play, pause, stop),  translate text on screen across numerous World languages, look up words in an online dictionary, or to view picture dictionary images for common words.

6. Policies and Other Supports Links

Copyright Notice

Please review and download our copyright notice.

Direct Link: https://sirius4learning.zohodesk.com/portal/en/kb/articles/sirius-staar-prep-resources-are-copyright-protecte

Terms of Use

You can access the Sirius Online Terms of Use.

Direct Link: https://sirius4learning.zohodesk.com/portal/en/kb/articles/sirius-education-solutions-terms-of-use

Privacy Policy

K-12 School Service Provider Pledge to Safeguard Student Privacy

Direct Link: https://sirius4learning.zohodesk.com/portal/en/kb/articles/k-12-school-service-provider-pledge-to-safeguard-student-privacy

SIRIUS ONLINE STAAR Preparation and Practice Privacy Policy

Direct Link: https://desk.zoho.com/portal/sirius4learning/en/kb/articles/sirius-online-staar-preparation-and-practice-privacy-policy

Contact Information, Phone, and Email to Ticket Address

Contact Information

• Mailing Address:  1108 Lavaca Street, Suite 110-197, Austin, TX 78701

• Tool Free Voice: 800-942-1379 (#2 - Tech Support)

• Toll Free Fax: 844-329-0913 

• Tech Support Email to Ticket: support@siriuseducationsolution.com

• Chat: Available at https://siriuseducationsolutions.com

General FAQs

For general information about Sirius Education Solutions, please see our FAQ for more information.

Appendix

Required Data Fields Used for Districts Who Roster

SCHOOLS

School_id 

School_name 

SECTIONS (includes school_id, Section_id, Teacher id x-refs)

Name

Term_start 

Term_end

ENROLLMENTS (includes school_id, Section_id, Student_id x-refs)

TEACHERS (includes school_id x-refs) 

Teacher_id 

Last_name

First_name

Teacher_email (Optional for SSO; Sirius can generate)

Username

STUDENTS (includes School_id x ref)

Student_id

Student_number (Optional)

Last_name

First_name

Grade

Username (Optional for SSO; Sirius can generate)