Importing students, teachers, and class rosters into Orchard Gold Star

A time-saving option available to administrators for entering data is available in the File menu. You can import student, teacher, class, or demographic information into the Orchard Gold Star database. Also, you may map together students, teachers, and classes that already exist in Orchard. An additional option is tracking external IDs to use with both Orchard and a separate data system. You first must prepare your file and then perform a simple or advanced import.

Preparing the File for Import

You can add numerous students, teachers, classes, or demographics using a comma-delimited text file — many variations are possible.

1     Decide to do either a simple or advanced import.  

Simple Import—Import students, teachers, or class names directly to your Master List. No class assignments or demographics are imported.

Advanced Import—Map students to teachers, and a new class is automatically created. Map students to classes and teachers. Import student demographics and classes along with the students assigned to them. 

Note: The External ID provides a way for schools using their Student Information Systems (SIS) software or another school records management system to work with Orchard. Enter your student, class, or teacher ID as a separate column, and Orchard tracks these IDs. Future mappings continue to track the external IDs so that you may identify the latest information for your separate student information system at any time.

2     Prepare a comma-delimited text file containing all of the information you wish to import.

Note: “Comma-delimited” means that the data are separated by commas into columns.

Every row must contain the same number of columns, and commas must separate the columns.

All of the data in one column must be the same type/category (e.g., one column for first name, one column for classes, etc.). However, the columns do not need to be in a particular order. For instance, all student first names must be in the same column, but it does not matter if this column is the first, fourth, or fifth column in the row.

To leave a field empty, enter 2 commas in a row; for example:   

Line 1: first name, middle name, last name, username


Line 2: first name, , last name, username

3     Save the file to a location of your choice, and complete the following “Simple Import” or “Advanced Import” instructions.

Simple Imports

The Simple import option allows you to import student, teacher, or class names directly to your master list. No class assignments or demographics are imported.

Note: In the text file used for importing, every row MUST contain the same number of columns, and commas MUST separate the columns.

1     Select Import… from the File menu.

2     Select the file from which you wish to import data, and then click Open.    

The Import Wizard appears.

3     Select Simple, and then select Student, Teacher, or Class import.    

Note: To import new students and teachers, their first and last names MUST be included in the import file. Their usernames will be generated automatically during the import if they are not specified. 

If you are importing a class, you will only import the class name to the master list. The class remains unowned until you assign a teacher to the class, and no students are in the class until a teacher enrolls them.

4     Click Next.

The Select Data screen appears.

5     Select the correct data type for each column from the drop-down menus.

Note: The number of characters for each column are limited to the number of characters for each data type in Orchard. For instance, passwords are limited to 15 characters in Orchard. Therefore, Orchard will not import passwords more than 15 characters in length.

Note: The External ID provides a way for schools using School Information Systems (SIS) or another school records management system to work with Orchard. Enter your student, class, or teacher ID as a separate column, and Orchard tracks these IDs. Future mappings continue to track the external IDs so that you may identify the latest information for your separate student information system at any time.

6     Click Next.    

The Import Information screen appears.

7     Review the Import Information and click Import...

If you choose to discard fields, a message appears asking if you’re sure you wish to do so. Click OK.

8     A screen appears detailing the status of the import. If the import is complete, click Done.

If a problem occurs, read the instructions on the screen and click the Back button to make changes. Follow steps 2-7 again, as necessary.

Advanced Imports

The Advanced import option allows you to map students to teachers (automatically creating a new class), map students to classes, and import student demographics and classes along with the students assigned to them. 

Note: In the text file used for importing, every row MUST contain the same number of columns, and commas MUST separate the columns.

1     Select Import.. from the File menu.

2     Select the file from which you wish to import data, and then click Open.

The Import Wizard appears.

3     Select Advanced, and then click Next.

The Select Data screen appears.

4     Select the correct data category and type for each column from the drop-down menus. 

Note: The External ID provides a way for schools using School Information Systems (SIS) or another school records management system to work with Orchard. Enter your student, class, or teacher ID as a separate column, and Orchard tracks these IDs. Future mappings continue to track the external IDs so that you may identify the latest information for your separate student information system at any time.

The data categories described below allow you to map students to teachers, classes, and demographics. 

Creating New Students and Teachers

• 
When importing new students and teachers, the import file MUST contain at least their first and last names. If you do not specify their usernames, they will be generated automatically during the import.  

Mapping Existing Students and Teachers


• When mapping students and teachers who already exist in the Orchard database, the import file MUST have at least their usernames or external IDs.

• When mapping students to a teacher, a new class is created. The class name matches the teacher’s username, but the class name may be changed by the teacher.

Creating New Classes

• 
When importing new classes, the import file MUST contain at least a class name.

Mapping Classes

• 
When mapping classes that already exist in the Orchard database, the import file MUST contain the class name or the external ID.

Demographics

• 
Checkbox values in your import file MUST read “0,” “no,” “n,” false,” “f,” or “off” for unchecked; and “1,” “yes,” “y,” “true,” “t,” or “on” for checked. 

• Numeric data type values in your import file MUST be numbers.

• Drop-down menu data in the import file MUST read exactly the same as the drop-down menu items in Orchard. For instance, a demographic for gender must read “Male” or “Female” on your import file, not “M” or “F.”

Character Length

• 
The number of characters for each column is limited to the number of characters for each data type in Orchard. For instance, passwords are limited to 15 characters in Orchard. Therefore, Orchard will not import passwords that are more than 15 characters in length.

5     Click Next.

The Import Information screen appears.

6     Review the Import Information and click Import.    

If you choose to discard fields, a message appears asking if you are sure you wish to do so. Click OK.

7     A screen appears detailing the status of the import. If the import is complete, click Done.

If a problem occurs, read the instructions on the screen and click the Back button to make changes. Follow steps 2-6 again, as necessary.

For additional information, please contact customer support at 1-888-351-4199.