VARK 3.0 Installation Instructions

The following instructions are for IIS 5. If you are using IIS 6, the same steps apply, but the screen may at times look a little different to the screenshots included here.

Save the VARK software to your web server

Save the VARK.zip file to your web server.

Create a new folder on your web server called “VARK” (or similar).
It doesn't matter where you create it, but for the examples shown in this document, I've used D:\VARK.

Unzip the VARK.zip file to your new VARK folder.
You will end up with the following inside your VARK folder:

Create a new folder called "Results" inside the VARK folder.
Your directory structure should now look like this:

Set up an IIS Virtual Directory

Open the Control Panel on the web server (from the Start menu). Double-click on “Administration Tools”:

Double-click on “Internet Information Services” to open the IIS Admin Tool:

Click on the '+'s to expand the tree on the left until you can see “Default Web Site”:

Right-click on “Default Web Site” and choose “New > Virtual Directory...”:

This will open the Virtual Directory Creation Wizard.

Click Next:

10.

In the Alias texbox, type “VARK”, and click Next:

11.

Click Browse and locate the VARK folder where you saved the VARK software, and click OK:

The path to the VARK folder will automatically appear in the Directory textbox. Click Next.

12.

In the Access Permissions step of the wizard, leave just "Read" and "Run scripts" ticked and click Next:

13.

Click Finish.

Your new "VARK" virtual directory will now be listed in IIS.

Set permissions for the Results, Staff and Subjects folders

14.

In Windows Explorer, right-click on the "Subjects/subjects.txt" file and choose "Properties".

15.

In the Properties dialog box, untick the "Read-Only" checkbox and click OK:

16.

To make sure that results can be saved and that staff can add and delete subject codes, you will have to make the appropriate changes to the permissions for the folders.
Precise instructions cannot be provided here as how you do this depends somewhat on what Windows version you have on your server, and what usergroups you have set up on your network.
For the tests indicated, try to replicate the situation of a real student or staff member performing the task. i.e. use a computer other than the web server, and log in to the computer using a student or staff account (as appropriate).

General Instructions:

Use Windows Explorer to change the permissions so that:

Folder	Permissions	Test
results	Anyone filling in the questionaire should have permission to create or add to the text file in the results folder. e.g. give "everyone" "change" or "authoring" permission for the folder.	View the questionnaire in a web browser ( http://webservername/VARK ), just as you would if you were a student (ideally, use a computer often used by students, and log in with a student account). Fill in the questionnaire and submit it. The results folder permissions are OK if you see your results on the page after submitting the questionnaire.
staff	Only staff should have "browsing" or "viewing" permission for the staff folder. Note that this is optional and requires that you already have a staff usergroup set up on your network that you could use for this permission. If you do not restrict access to the "staff" folder then anyone may be able to access the staff admin page (and view or delete results or subject codes), if they work out what the address of the page might be.	View the staff page in a web browser ( http://webservername/VARK/staff/index.asp ), just as if you were a staff member (ideally, use a computer often used by staff, and log in with a staff account). The staff folder permissions are OK for staff if you can see the staff index page. You may also like to check that students cannot access the staff page.
subjects	Staff have "change" or "authoring" permission for the subjects folder, and everyone else has "browsing" or "viewing" permission for the subjects folder. If you do not have a staff usergroup that you can use for this, then you will need to give "change" permission to everyone for the subjects folder.	The subjects folder permissions are OK if you can access the staff page as a staff member and add a new subject code.

VARK Settings

17.

Open the includes/settings.inc file.
If you want to, you can change the values for each of the settings listed. Be sure to backup the file before you make any changes.

RequiresSubjectSelection - If this is set to True, students will always have to select a class or subject when they fill in the questionnaire, and their results will always be stored in one of the class results files. By default this is set to False, indicating that students don't have to select a subject, in which case their results will not be available to any of the staff using VARK.
RequiresStudentID - If this is set to True, students will not be able to submit the VARK questionnaire without typing something into the Student ID box. By default this is set to False, indicating that students can submit the questionnaire anonymously.
StudentIDText - The quesionnaire begins with a "Student ID" text field. If you would prefer the label for the field to be something else (e.g. "Student Name"), then you can specify this here.
SubjectText - The questionnaire includes a combobox listing the subjects, classes, or other groups that staff have set up. The label for the combobox is "Subject Code" by default, but you can change this here. This setting will also be used on the staff pages.
TeacherText - This text is included in the instructions at the top of the questionnaire, if the subject or student ID fields are optional. By default it is set to "Teacher/Lecturer", but you can set it to whatever is appropriate for your institution here.

An example of a modified settings file is shown below:

<%
Const RequireSubjectSelection = True
Const RequireStudentID = False
Const StudentIDText = "Your Name"
Const SubjectText = "Class"
Const TeacherText = "Tutor"
%>