This article contains answers to common questions about Beacon. Select a question to expand the answer.
General
How can I let a user contribute to a unit and see but not edit the course?
You can add the user as a Contributor to the unit and as a Viewer to the course. This way, they can see the course but can only make changes to the unit. For more details about sharing and permissions, see Sharing Curriculum Components.
Why can’t I open a lesson or resource in a shared planner?
Curriculum components created by individual users are private by default. Because you have access to the planner, you can see the reference to the component in the plan, but you cannot open that component until the teacher shares it with you.
How can I copy lessons from year to year?
Open the current year prep to which you want to copy the prior year plan. Select Copy from [year] from the template options. Use the Prep drop-down and the calendar menu in the Copy from [year] Planner window to locate the plan you want to copy. Then, select Copy to [date].
For more detailed instructions, see Copying a Prior Year Plan.
If a teacher leaves the district, can other teachers still access their shared planners?
Yes! The planner will still be accessible to anyone with whom the teacher shared their planner.
If the duration of a unit changes, do my plans shift in My Planner?
No. Plans are connected to dates in the instructional calendar, so you do not need to worry about correcting your plan schedule if the unit duration changes. However, you do have the option to move your plans if desired.
How do I plan for semester courses?
Unit dates and durations determine how your courses are scheduled on the instructional calendar.
Some courses do not span the entire school year. For instance, you might have two semester courses. You can schedule these courses by setting the correct start and end dates for your units. Set Unit 1 to start on the first day of the semester, and set the final unit to end on the last day of the semester. To learn more about scheduling your course curriculum, see Courses and Creating a Unit.
If I add a lesson with linked standards to a plan, do those standards count towards coverage in Scope & Sequence?
Yes! When you add a curriculum component to your planner, all standards linked to the component are reflected in Scope & Sequence. If the standard is linked to the planner directly as well as being linked via the lesson, Scope & Sequence only counts it once, so it does not get duplicated.
Importing Files into Beacon
Can I import curriculum components from cloud storage?
If you have a Google Drive, you can create curriculum components by importing content directly from your Drive.
To disconnect your Google Drive account, please follow these instructions from the Google Help Center.
What is the maximum file size for importing curriculum components to Beacon?
You can import files up to 20MB. When importing multiple files, there is no cumulative limit. As long as each file is under 20MB, Beacon can successfully import all of the files you selected for the batch import.
What file types are accepted when importing files into Beacon?
Beacon accepts most common file types as long as each file is under 20MB, including:
Archive files (.ZIP, .RAR)
Audio formats (.MP3, .MPEG, .WAV)
Image files (.JPEG, .PNG, .GIF, .BMP, .TIFF, .SVG)
Text files (.TXT)
Video files (.MPEG4, .MOV, .AVI, .WMV)
Portable Document Format (.PDF)
Tagged Image File Format (.TIFF)
Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
PowerPoint (.PPT and .PPTX)
Word (.DOC and .DOCX)
If you attempt to upload a file type that is not supported, the following message appears:
Can I import folders or multiple files?
Yes, you can select multiple files to import in bulk. When importing multiple files, you can choose whether to import all files as one curriculum component or to create a new curriculum component from each selected file.
When importing files, you can only import individual documents; you cannot import folders.
For more information, see:
What happens to Google Drive files when an account is deleted?
When a user account is deleted in Management or Active Directory, all files associated with the user’s Google account appear as broken links, and that content can no longer be accessed by other users. Use extreme caution when deleting user accounts.
To avoid data loss, ensure that the Google Drive folders and files are shared with or transferred to another user before deleting the account.
What happens to Google Drive files when a user removes access to the Drive?
When a user disconnects their Google Account, all files associated with the user’s Google account are removed from Beacon.
To avoid data loss, ensure that the Google Drive folders and files are shared with or transferred to another user before disconnecting.