Creating P.L.A.T.O. Seating Charts

Overview

Seating charts can be used in P.L.A.T.O. to track attendance, participation and performance in face-to-face classes.  Seating charts integrate with locations and the calendar in a course site once the seating chart is complete. Grade column(s) would need to be created and populated manually. The seating chart you choose should be a visual representation of your classroom seating arrangement.  Classroom details and photos are available to view in the ITS Knowledge Base.

Instructions

Step 1. Locations

  1. To verify that the physical room you teach in is available to choose as a location in your P.L.A.T.O. course site,  navigate to the Manage Tab of your P.L.A.T.O. course site and select "Locations" under the Leaner Management Category.
  2. Search for your location by entering the building code, such as ACC or ATHS, into the Locations Search Box and then scroll down to view available rooms. If the room is not available, submit a request for the location to be created. If the room is available, set it Active, as shown below. 

Locations in P.L.A.T.O.

Step 2. Assign Seats

  1. Return to the Manage Tab and select Seating Chart from the Learner Management category.
  2. Verify that the location you selected is displayed about the "View Seating Chart" button and then select the button to assign seats to students.
  3. You can manually drag and drop students from the Unassigned Students group at the bottom of the screen or choose from one of the "Assign All" options button located at the lower right side of your screen, as shown in the screen capture below.  These options include Randomize, Bottom Left, Bottom Right, Top Left and Top Right.  
  4. Once all students have been assigned, select the "Lock" button found in the top left of your screen.  You are now ready to use the chart with calendar events.

Assigning seats to the Seating Chart

Resources

PCT Classroom details and photos (Information about the instructor workstation, Room controls, and photos of the front and back of the room).

Request a New P.L.A.T.O. Seating Chart ((ITS Knowledge Base article))

Define locations in your organization and assign seats to learners (Brightspace Help)

Create a Seating Chart (Brightspace Help)

Assign a seat to a learner (Brightspace Help)

Creating the Calendar Events for a P.L.A.T.O. Seating Chart (ITS Knowledge Base article)

What is a seating chart session? (Brightspace Help)

Create a session in seating chart (Brightspace Help)

Taking Attendance with Seating Charts (ITS Knowledge Base article)

What is a seating chart cold call? (Brightspace Help) 

Print Article

Related Articles (4)

Create Groups in a Merged P.L.A.T.O. Course Site
Groups can be created in a merged P.L.A.T.O. course site based on section enrollment. If a student switches to a different section within the merged site, the instructor will have to manually update the group enrollment.
Creating the Calendar Events for a P.L.A.T.O. Seating Chart
P.L.A.T.O. seating charts integrate with locations and the course calendar to help instructors track attendance, participation and performance in face-to-face classes.  The seating chart is a visual representation of your physical classroom seating arrangement and must be added before integrating it with the calendar.
P.L.A.T.O. Seating Charts: Tracking Participation
Instructors can track student participation in the seating chart by clicking on the plus sign each time a student voluntarily participates or answers when called upon (cold call).
Taking Attendance with Seating Charts
A quick way to take attendance with the Seating Chart is to first mark All Students Present for the current class.  Then change the one or two who are not present to Absent, where you can choose "Unexcused Absence" or "Excused Absence".