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Normal Logon Secure Logon Which logon should I use? Need help Logging On?   About eTAP Overview Curriculum Planning Assessment Reports to Caregivers Student Administration Attendance/Absentees Guidance/Pastoral Care Upgrading to eTAP Upgrading to eTAP Training eTAP Coaching Customer Support Recommendation FAQ Publications	Assessment & Planning Our school uses the ministry objectives as our base for assessment. Can we use them in eTAP? Absolutely! You can use the ministry AO's. You can also choose how you assess them. If you use 1-5, that's what eTAP will show. If you use 'mastered', 'achieving', 'developing', that is what eTAP shows. You are the experts; you decide what is best for your school. We also assess against criteria set by the school, separate from AO's. Can we do that? Yes, you can assess against anything you wish. All schools have different requirements and resources, eTAP caters for your needs. What if we add areas of assessment, such as a new test. Easy! Either add the new test yourself or E-mail us the details, and we will add it for you Can we design our own reports? Definitely, but there may be costs involved. Discuss it with us; we are here to provide solutions for you. We have Musac in the office. Does eTAP replace Pupil Files? Yes, eTAP is a complete student management system and includes a comprehensive, easy to use student database. We have converted student databases from many different packages and can set up eTAP using your current student information quickly and efficiently. Can I use the Multi Serve PAA CD in conjunction with eTAP? Yes! If you have Multi Serve's PAA CD, you can use the Learning Outcomes in conjunction with the default Ministry Achievement Objectives. Is there a Maori version? eTAP can be used in any language! Some work has been done already on a Maori version and the Maori curriculum is already included in eTAP (when requested). Do we have to use all the steps in planning? No, you don't. You do need to use eTAP planning to create mark books, however, you can fill in as much or as little information as you like. You have the option of using pre-defined learning outcomes, or decide on composite assessments, where the teacher creates learning outcomes at the planning stage. What extra costs are there to eTAP? The only extra costs are if you want major customisations, such as specialised reports for the school, new graphs or additional training. Who has the right to see our data? Whoever you choose. Your data is protected by your passwords. If you want someone to have access to your data, then they are given a logon name and password. Who owns the data? While the eTAP software is owned by ESD, the school owns the assessment data and this can be provided to the school at any time in the form of a CSV file that can be used in any standard software (e.g. Microsoft Excel). Technical What does web-hosted mean? Web-hosted means that eTAP is available on the internet. It isn't a programme you run on your computer. It's a website where you enter, retrieve and analyse your data. What advantages does a web-hosted package offer. The biggest plus of being web-hosted is the fact that you can access it anywhere you have an internet connection. You can run it on your PCs, Macs or Linux in the school, or from home. The data is always up to date. What you see is current. You don't have to wait for everyone to merge their data. How does eTAP work? eTAP uses a proven and efficient database called MySQL to store all the information. The power of eTAP though, lies in its innovative web interface (i.e. the web pages that display the data, create graphs, write the data back to the database, write the reports, and allows you to export the data). Does my school need a server to run eTAP? No, all you need are computers with access to the internet and a web-browser (Such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, Safari) capable of displaying tables (check with ESD if you are unsure). How do we upgrade eTAP when new versions come out? You don't. All upgrades are done by ESD, and are instantaneous. Most of the time, you won't know anything has been done. Privileged users of eTAP such as administrators will be able to look at the changes log, and we will inform all eTAP subscribers if major changes are to happen, or new areas are available. Do we need special hardware to run eTAP? The only hardware required is what is already in most schools. You need at least one computer with a modern web-browser (IE 5.5 or later), and an internet connection. There are no special servers, no need to have the latest, fastest workstations. How often does the software need to be updated? Never! Thats right. Never. eTAP is a service that is provided over the internet and as such, the powerful eTAP servers do all the hard work, and any updates are carried out by the team of eTAP programmers. You will always have the latest version. Aren't there security issues on the internet? eTAP has several levels of security. There are two sets of ID and password - only those with correct passwords have access. All activity is monitored and recorded, this permits the identification of unauthorised access as well as the recovery of modified information. The information stored in eTAP is saved in a separate place from the software that displays the web pages. The information is secure from viruses, malicious damage and unauthorised access. The data is also backed-up regularly so you don't need to worry about backing up. I only have a modem. Can I use eTAP? You sure can. The better your connection, the faster eTAP is, but it has been designed to work for modem users. As technologies such as broad-band (jet stream) become more common, eTAP is able to offer a range of new features in the pipeline to take advantage of faster internet.