Logging in
To begin working with Manhattan you essentially need two things:
-
A computer connected to the World Wide Web using either Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape Navigator or similar web browser.
-
A teacher's account on a Manhattan server.
You do not need to install anything on your computer, but someone, somewhere on the Internet needs to have installed Manhattan on a server. That person, who we'll call your server administrator, is responsible for setting up individual Manhattan classrooms upon request. While procedures will vary from school to school, your server administrator will need to know the name of the course (e.g. "Western Civilization I"), and to know the "code" for your course if there is such a thing at your school (e.g. "HIST 101") as well as the semester your course will run, again if that makes sense within your context (e.g. "Fall 2003").
Your server administrator will set things up for you and let you know your username and password, and the address of the web site where you can go to log in to the system. On that web page, you'll find a form similar to the following, which is used to log in to Manhattan:
Your Username and Password
To gain access to Manhattan, you need to have an account on the server. Your server administrator will tell you your username and password.
Most schools assign an identification number to its students and teachers to identify them within a computerized record keeping system. Since all accounts on a Manhattan server must have unique usernames, the school assigned identification number is usually part of the Manhattan username. Here's a common scheme for determining usernames:
Your username is the first letter of your first name, followed by the first letter of your last name, followed by the last four characters of the identification number assigned to you by your school, all in lowercase letters with no spaces.
Example:
Christine Blackwell's student ID is 578833223. Her Manhattan username is cb3223 |
 |
Your server administrator may have set up things differently, and the recipe for creating usernames described above may not apply in your situation. In all cases, your server administrator is the best source for learning your username. |
Your server administrator also will tell you your initial password to enter the system. Typically, your initial password is the same as your username. The first time you login, you will be shown a form like the following, which you must use to change your password:
The My Manhattan Page
When you log in successfully (and after changing your password if this is the first time you've logged in) you'll be shown a page like this:
This My Manhattan page lists the courses you belong to, either as a teacher or a student. The courses are grouped on the page according to the Semester used to identify the course. In addition to a single course for the "Spring 2004" semester named "Intro to Computer Science", the above screenshot shows special courses grouped under the "Course Templates" and "Manhattan Workshop" headings.
To enter a course, click on the hyperlink. For example to enter the course "Intro to Computer Science", click on the "CS 101" link.
You can click on the black up 
and down 
arrows
to change the position of each grouping on the page. You
can use these to reorganize the listings to keep your most
frequently used classrooms at the top of the list.
The top of the My Manhattan page lists both the current time on the server and the time of your last login. This information is there to help you detect whether someone has stolen your password.
The 
button is
(obviously) is used to change your password. It leads to
the same form you saw when you logged in for the first
time. It turns out there is a Change
Password button on the "Main
Menu" for each classroom as well - see Change Your Password
for a few additional details.
The 
button is used to exit
Manhattan completely, and should always be used when you
are done with a Manhattan session. Typically after leaving
Manhattan, you will be returned to the same page you
started from when you entered your username and password to
login.
The 
button allows
users to create a simple "personal info
page" that can include their email address, website
address, additional user-defined fields, a photograph, and
a narrative. Creating a personal info page is discussed in
View/Edit Personal
Info.