The Virtual Lab School (VLS) is designed to empower all child and youth care education professionals as they build their knowledge and skills around research-based practices. While all Virtual Lab School content is available to the public, currently only individuals employed by military child and youth programs are eligible to create a VLS user account (See Account Registration Availability). A Virtual Lab School account provides a platform for Training & Curriculum Specialists and Program Managers to coach and track the progress of Direct Care staff members as they build their knowledge of child care practices. 

Roster Management

Adding Users to Your Roster

Tip 1: Check if User Already Exists in VLS System Before Adding New Account (Add Existing User)

Training & Curriculum Specialists and Program Managers can add new user accounts to their program from their Roster page (See Create New User). When a staff member joins a program, first determine whether or not the staff member already has a Virtual Lab School account. Duplicate accounts cannot be combined, even if both accounts belong to the same person. Duplicate accounts add unnecessary complexity of the course certification process.

Tip 1b: To Add Existing Account into Staff Roster at Your Installation, First Coordinate with Staff at Previous Installation to Deactivate Account

Training & Curriculum Specialists and Program Managers can transfer accounts into their installation or program from another installation or Service as long as the user account to be transferred has first been deactivated by the TCS or PM staff at the previous site. (see Add, Transfer, or Reactivate Users). 

Tip 2: Confirm Staff Email Addresses Are Correctly Entered & Operational Before Adding New Accounts

It is important for Training & Curriculum Specialists and Program Managers to ensure that new accounts are accurately entered into the system. To create a Virtual Lab School account, new staff members must first have a valid email address . This allows the VLS system to promptly deliver an account activation email. If the VLS system is unable to deliver the account activation email, then the new account will be temporarily blocked (see Account Email Blocked), and the Training & Curriculum Specialist or Program Manager who created the account will have their account creation abilities temporarily revoked (see Account Creation Suspension). If the new account was created with a misspelling or wrong email address, the Training & Curriculum Specialist or Program Manager can immediately clear the block by editing the new account (see Correcting New Accounts). Otherwise, the new staff member will have to email VLS Support to clear the blocked account. The Training & Curriculum Specialist or Program Manager must always email VLS Support in order to regain their account creation abilities. 

Tip 3: Resend Account Activation Emails

If needed, Training & Curriculum Specialists and Program Managers can resend an account Activation Email from the ‘User Management’ menu located within a staff member’s profile.

Training & Curriculum Specialists and Program Managers have the ability to edit all  information associated with staff members’ accounts within their programs. The ‘Edit Account Settings’ screen is located under the ‘User Management’ menu within a staff member’s profile. From here, Training & Curriculum Specialists and Program Managers can change a staff member’s email address, name, position, password, role, enrollment track, and assigned location (see Edit a Staff Member’s Account Details). Changes to a staff member’s enrollment track should only occur after any pending requests for lesson approval are resolved in order to avoid losing their progress. If a staff member has lessons pending review, a track change will cause their progress to be lost, and any requests for review will have to be reissued (see Switching Roles and Tracks for more information). 

Tip 4: Staff Members Transferring/Leaving an Installation?

When a staff member leaves an installation, their account should be deactivated by their Training & Curriculum Specialist or Program Manager. Deactivating an account does not delete it. Deactivated accounts are removed from the Staff Roster and placed into the VLS database, but not removed from the VLS system. All account information is stored should a staff member later wish to reactivate their account at a different installation.  Certificates obtained will be available for the staff member to access at any point in time. If a staff member is assigned to multiple installations, the only way to remove them from the Staff Roster is to remove them from the program by editing their account (see Remove, Retire or Deactivate Users). 

Tip 5: Reset Password

If a staff member needs to set a new password and is unable to do it themselves, a Training & Curriculum Specialist or Program Manager can send them a Forgot Password email from the ‘User Management’ menu located within a staff member’s profile.  Training & Curriculum Specialists and Program Managers can also directly set a password for a Direct Care staff member from the ‘Edit Account Settings’ screen. If a staff member forgets the email address associated with their account, Training & Curriculum Specialists and Program Managers can see the email address from the user’s profile (see Login Issues)

Quick Rosters

Administrative users with the ability to manage users via the staff roster can pin users to the 'Quick Roster'. Currently located at the top of the 'Staff Roster' page, use the edit toggle at the top right to enable adding or removing users from the quick roster. Additionally users can be added or removed via the 'User Management' dropdown menu on a user's profile.