1. Where can I find quick start guides for ThinkCentral?

Here are links to the guides for ThinkCentral (pre June 28th 2008):

ThinkCentral Administrator's Quick Start Guide

ThinkCentral Teacher's Quick Start Guide

Here are links to the guides and information about ThinkCentral (post June 28th 2008):

System Managers: Learn about enhancements coming this summer!

Guide for System Managers

Teachers: Learn about enhancements coming this summer!

Guide for Teachers

Guide for Family Involvement


2. How to register?

To register on ThinkCentral you will either need an access code, or a manager will create an account for you. If you received a Quick Start Guide it should have an access code printed on it. Access codes may only be used once, so if you get a message that says the code has already been used please contact Technical Support to request a new access code. If someone at your school or district has a manager account on ThinkCentral you may also request they create an account for you. This method does not require an access code. Accounts for students may be created by teachers or managers. There is also an option to import students or teachers from a CSV (comma separated values) file.

3. I don’t see all the products that I think I should have.

To see all the products that are available to you, log in to your account and click the "account" link from the main menu. Click "update my products" on the left side of the account menu. In this menu you can search for products available to you, then using the checkboxes on the left side enable or disable specific products. This will add or remove the products from your resources list. Be sure to click the "save" button at the bottom if you make any changes. If you still don’t see the product you are looking for, contact your account manager or the Technical Support Center.

4. How to import teachers or students?

Managers may create manager, teacher, and student accounts. If large numbers of users need to be added it may be more efficient to import the users from a CSV file. Manager accounts may not be imported, only teachers and students. To import users, go to Account Management and click Batch Add/Enroll Students or Teachers.

Instructions for Importing Teachers

Excel Template for Importing Teachers

Instructions for Importing Students

Excel Template for Importing Students

5. Where are the Readers Online?

The Harcourt Readers Online may be accessed in 2 ways. After logging in to your teacher account, click "start here", the in the Resources menu click the "search" link on the left side. From there, you can either click the Resources drop-down list and select the Readers Online, or click the "Readers Online" tab to access a detailed search menu. In the Readers Online menu there are many criteria you can search on, such as reader level and genre, or you can leave all of the fields blank and click "find" to retrieve a list of all readers.

6. Where are the decodeables/pre-decodeables for StoryTown?

The Decodable and Pre-Decodable books are found in the Resources menu, click the "Start Here" link once you log in to access the list of resources. If you do not see the books in the resources menu and you believe you should have access to them, please contact Harcourt Technical Support at 1-800-225-5425. To grant your students access to these books, you will need to make a new assignment and assign a page from the book to the class. When the students log in they will see the assignment in their "Things to Do" list. When they click the assignment, the book will open at the page that was assigned, but then the student will be able to access the entire book online.

7. Where are the Strategic Intervention Interactive Readers for Storytown?

The Strategic Intervention Interactive Readers are found in the resources search menu and need to be assigned to classes in order for students to access them. After you log in, click the "Start Here" link to open the resources menu. Click the "search" link on the left side, then click the resources drop-down list and select the Strategic Intervention Interactive Readers, then click "find". To grant your students access to these books, you will need to make a new assignment and assign the reader to the class. When the students log in they will see the assignment in their "Things to Do" list.

8. Why can't students see resources in the library (such as decodables)?

When you create a class you will be presented with a list of resources you can put in the students' library. When students log in and open their library, some of these resources may not appear. Only resources that are flagged "free play" will appear in the student library when they are enabled by the teacher. To see which resources are free play, click the "account" link after you log in. Click the "update my products" link on the left side. You will then be presented a list of resources available to you and any that have free play available will have a "Y" in the free play column. Any resources that are not free play will need to be set up as an assignment in order for the students to access them. Any resources that should not be viewed by students (such as teacher editions) will not be viewable by students even if linked to the library or assigned.

9. Where is the Online Assessment?

The Online Assessment is found in the resources search menu and needs to be assigned to classes in order for students to access it. After you log in, click the "Start Here" link to open the resources menu. Click the "search" link on the left side, then click the resources drop-down list and select the Online Assessment, then click "find".

10. How to print the Student Edition/Teacher Edition?

While many of the resources on ThinkCentral are designed to be printed, there are a few things that are not. In particular, the online Student Edition and Teacher Edition are not designed to be printed because they contain licensed material.

11. How to get back to the Desktop menu? If you wish to return to the main "desktop" menu of ThinkCentral, click the ThinkCentral logo in the upper left hand corner of the page you are on.

12. How to view other grade levels?

When a manager creates a teacher account, or a teacher self-registers using an access code, they will be presented with a list of grade levels to turn on for the account. This is a filter setting that determines what grade level products will appear to the teacher by default, but it does not prevent access to content from other grade levels. To change the products that appear for a teacher, log in to your account and click the "account" link from the main menu. Click "update my products" on the left side of the account menu. In this menu you can search for products available to you, then using the checkboxes on the left side enable or disable specific products. This will add or remove the products from your resources list. Be sure to click the "save" button at the bottom if you make any changes.

13. Can the Student Edition be resized?

The Storytown Student Edition requires a minimum screen size of 800x600. It is not resizable.

14. Why is the text so large?

If the text in many of the menus in ThinkCentral seems to be too large, this may be due to a setting in your web browser. To change this setting, log out of ThinkCentral, then change the setting in your browser. To change the setting using Internet Explorer on Windows click the "view" menu at the top of the browser, select "text size", then change the setting (the default is medium). If you are using Safari on Macintosh, click the "view" menu at the top of the browser, then click "make text normal size".