Accessing SmartForce CBT

By Dr. Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Student Computing Services Manager

Several members of the UNT campus community have already begun using our re-established SmartForce CBT online system. Since many of you have had initial questions about using the service, I thought that I would provide a Benchmarks Online tutorial on accessing and navigating SmartForce. This tutorial is also available at the UNT SmartForce Website.

What is SmartForce CBT?

SmartForce Campus CBT is an innovative computer-based training system offered free of charge to all UNT faculty, staff, and students. SmartForce offers courses on a large variety of information technology topics such as Java Programming, Novell NetWare, Microsoft Office, and UNIX and can be accessed via the Internet by authorized users either on-campus or at home. You already have a pre-authorized account on the SmartForce Campus server and can begin your tutorials right away.

How to Log on, take a course, and track your progress using SmartForce Campus CBT

Step One - Download the SmartForce Player (which is like the Flash Plugin) so that you can play SmartForce courses through your web browser:
To run SmartForce courses from the web, you need to download the SmartForce Player from the SmartForce Campus server and install it. Go to the SmartForce Campus "Getting Started" page for instructions on configuring your machine for using SmartForce Campus courses. You also download and install the SmartForce Player from this location (pictured below). Once you have the SmartForce Player, you are ready for your first course.


The SmartForce Player Download page

Step Two - Log in to the SmartForce Campus server to access the courses: Go to the login page of the SmartForce Campus server (pictured below). You will be prompted to enter a Student ID and a Password. Enter your EUID as your Student ID and your birthdate arranged YYYYMMDD as your Password.


Logging in page

The SmartForce Campus server will take a moment to build your personal training Website (pictured below). Select the button called "Training" and a full Table of Contents of available courses will appear. Click on the course you want and it will automatically launch.


Your training home page

Step Three - Launch and run the course:
Once you double-click on the course title, SmartForce Player will go in to action and you should navigate through the course as pictured below.


Navigating a SmartForce Course

Step Four - Tracking and Documenting your progress:
The SmartForce Campus server tracks and "remembers" your progress and records every time you complete a unit and/or take a test. You can access this progress report by clicking on the Progress button on the table of contents page of the course. Your test scores are also documented. If you like, you can print out this progress report also.


The SmartForce Campus Server tracks your progress on each training session

Note on Setting User Preferences:
If you click the "Services" button on the SmartForce Homepage, you have access to the User Preferences option (see picture below). Here you can change your login ID and password as well as set some additional features. For security reasons, you should never make your login ID or password, your UNT ID card number.


Choosing the Services option gets you to the User Preference button

Be sure to contact the SmartForce Administrator (that's me!) if you have any questions or problems. My complete contact information is found at www.unt.edu/Smartforce/help.html

And now that you are an expert:

Download the SmartForce Player

Log on to SmartForce Training now!