Kiosks
Overview |
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Kiosk stations should be used when setting up controlled computer environments for parents to use to create online applications. A good example would be reserving a set of computers at a school on school orientation night to allow parents to quickly and easily complete a Free and Reduced application online at the school. When in kiosk mode, a computer/browser will be pre-configured to use the District's current settings and skip the "Select A District" step during the online application process. The application will also be tagged with the kiosk identifier in order to make it easier to run statistical reports at a later time. |
Your user must be a member of the District Administrator role in order to add new kiosk stations. Those users in the District Employee role can attach/detach and view the currently setup kiosks but cannot create new ones. A best practice, therefore, would be to have a user in the District Administrator role create the initial Kiosk stations and then delegate attachment of computers/browsers to this station. For example, the admin could create a station called "Library" and have someone in the District Employee role visit the computers in the library and attach them to this station.
Recommended Web Browsers
Heartland recommends using the following browsers while using kiosk mode. These browsers fully support all functionality, follow accepted web standards, and support "privacy/incognito" mode. The latter is very important in order to ensure privacy on publicly available computers so the applicant's data is secured and not stored persistently in the District's web browsers.
Firefox 4+ (enabled private browsing)
Google Chrome (enable incognito mode)
IE 8+ (enable InPrivate mode)
Safari 4+ (enable private browsing)
Of these, Heartland recommends either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox as they offer superior user experience (faster browsing engine) and support a fully functional private browsing mode. Google Chrome has the added advantage of being a very lightweight, easy install (and unobtrusive uninstall) and can easily be customized for the District; therefore, it is the preferred browser for Kiosk mode.
Take care before clearing browser history, "cookies" in particular, as it will detach the browser from kiosk mode.
Do Not Use Internet Explorer 6/7 For Kiosks
We highly discourage the use of Internet Explorer 6.x or 7.x for the usage of this website, but even more so when using Kiosk mode since these browsers do not support a private browsing mode. This means all personal data will be captured in browser history, cookies, etc. Please strongly consider using one of the browsers listed above when utilizing kiosk mode at your District.
From the MySchoolApps homepage, click on Manage District or click District at the top of the site window.
Add Kiosk Station
A kiosk station is an identifier attached to one or more computers (actually browsers*) in order to categorize applications submitted. To create a new Kiosk station, a user with District Administrator role privileges should login to the system and create all the kiosk stations as noted below.
Click Add New from the Manage Kiosk window.
Establish a new kiosk station. Then, click Add Kiosk.
Name - Enter a station name. If more than one station will be used at a location, you may wish to add a numeral or alphabetic identifier to the name.
Attach to this browser now? - If you wish to attach the browser to the computer in which you are currently logged in to, place a checkmark in the box by clicking on it.
Attach/Detach Web Browser
Attaching a Browser
Once kiosk stations have been created, you can attach one or more web browsers to the kiosk station to activate them for kiosk mode.
Select the kiosk browser you wish to attach to the computer and click Attach Now.
Confirm you wish to attach the selected browser by clicking Attach. If the browser is incorrect, click No.
Detaching a Browser
Detaching a browser is simple.
Select the browser and click Detach Now.
Confirm you wish to detach the selected browser by clicking Detach. If you do not wish to detach the browser, click No.
Attachment Confirmation
Attachment can be confirmed by referencing the This Web Browser? column.
Attachment can be confirmed by accessing the AFL public site for your District.
Note: The attached station and District name will show up in the footer and the District step will be preselected and skipped during the application process.
Delete Kiosk Station
Select the appropriate station description and click Delete.
Confirm you wish to delete the selected browser by clicking Delete. If you do not wish to delete the browser, click No.