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Español (España) Getting started
Where should I start?
To get started, you will need to set up your school details and your user accounts on the School Admin page in the Educator Zone. You can set up class accounts for working through activities as a class and individual pupil accounts for pupils to work through tasks independently in or outside of school. You can also set up additional Educator accounts for other teachers within your school wishing to use the platform. Once you’ve set up your accounts you can find help for how each section of the platform works by clicking the ‘i’ button on each page or visiting the help page.
Which ages groups is the platform suitable for?
The platform is aimed at primary school pupils aged 4-11 (KS1 and KS2). However, younger years may struggle to use the platform independently and therefore we recommend using the class accounts to complete activities.
Can pupils use the platform independently?
Yes they can. If you are completing an activity as a class then we recommend using the class accounts which can be set up from the School Admin page in the Educator Zone. Pupils can however complete tasks independently in or outside of school with their own accounts which you can set them up with on the School Admin page.
What is the connection between BES Encounters and MammalWeb?
The BES Encounters platform is an extension of the MammalWeb website. MammalWeb Ltd. are one of our main project partners. The MammalWeb website (Home (mammalweb.org)) is a citizen science hub where people from across the UK upload and classify camera trap data to help build a better picture of the distribution and ecology of mammals. Given connection between the two projects, there are a number of links that take you between the BES Encounters and MammalWeb platforms when completing certain activities like quizzes or classifying images. Additionally, you can ‘visit your school’ on MammalWeb from your Encounters dashboard. Here you can also see what other schools have captured on their camera traps!
I am not a teacher but instead work for an organisation and would like to look around the platform – am I able to do this?
Yes you can set up your Educator account and leave the school section on the School Admin page blank. You will still have access to all the main features of the platform including looking through the badge scheme and accessing the resource hub.
Badges
How do I get to Bronze/Silver/Gold awards?
You must complete all badges within the Bronze section in order to achieve Bronze and unlock the Silver badges. Once you have achieved Bronze you will get a downloadable certificate for your class.
Do badges completed in pupil accounts contribute to Bronze/Silver/Gold awards?
Unlike in previous versions of the platform, badges completed by pupil accounts do not contribute to the Bronze/Silver/Gold awards for your school/class. However, pupils follow the same process but instead are working towards collecting ‘stars’ for themselves through the badges they collect.
What do the badge filters refer to?
Badges can be filtered either by animal category (Mammal, Invertebrate, Bird, General) or type of task (Quizzer, Scientist, Transformer, Creative). There are a mix of tasks within each level and you must complete all of them in Bronze to unlock Silver.
Are there resources to help us complete badges?
Yes, in the resource hub we have a range of resources including lesson plans, worksheets and how to guides to help you complete each badge. To view which resources relate to each badge visit the badge scheme in the Educator Zone.
I don’t have the correct equipment for some of the tasks. What should I do?
Some tasks involve the use of specialist equipment such as camera traps or footprint tunnels. You can find advice on sourcing your own equipment in our ‘How to’ guides within the Resource Hub of Encounters or on the MammalWeb schools page.
Resource Hub & Uploading content
What are the different types of content available on the resource hub?
On the Encounters site, there is a bank of educational resources developed by BES staff, environmental educators and other organisations that have kindly contributed to the project. These resources can be used to aid lessons and workshops at your school, including lesson plans, worksheets, virtual school assemblies and more. It is also where we store all our training materials for participants to download and use at any time.
How do I find a resource?
You can use filters to find resources by clicking on ‘Quick search’. Here you can filter by type of resource (e.g., lesson plan, worksheet, assembly), animal category (e.g., Mammal, Invertebrate), age level (EYFS, KS1, KS2) or if it’s a resource that relates to an Inside/Outside activity. You can also filter by resources you have bookmarked or liked, resources that relate to badges (also see the badge scheme for this), your own uploaded resources, featured resources (that have been chosen by the BES) or new resources. You can choose more than one filter to help you find what you’re looking for. You can also do a text search to search for key words.
What sort of resources could I upload to the hub?
If throughout the project you’ve made your own resources such as lesson plans, worksheets, assemblies, or guides then you can upload these to the resource hub for your own benefit and to share with other schools. This may help you to keep all resources relating to the project in one place so yourself and other teachers within your school can find them. By sharing ideas with other schools we hope to build up a community of schools who can help each other to run fantastic nature-based projects!
How do I upload to the resource hub?
By clicking the ‘New +’ button the platform will ask you a number of tick box questions on the resource you are uploading such as the type of resource (lesson plan, worksheet, etc) and which key stages it’s suitable for. You will then be able to choose the file from your computer to upload. You can upload more than one file into a resource set – for example if you had a lesson plan and accompanying worksheet. You can also add more files to the set later on.
Who can see my uploads? How do I change the privacy settings on what I’m sharing to the platform?
When you upload content to the platform, you will be prompted to choose who you want to share that content with. There are currently three options to choose from: 1. Keep private (only you can see), 2. Share with school (only users connected to your school can see e.g., colleagues), 3. Share with community (anyone who uses the platform can see the resource, including other schools and educators). You can change these privacy settings at any time by navigating to the resource (you could use the filter ’My Uploads’ to find it) and clicking ’Set share level’. You will then be taken through the same steps for uploading a resource whereby you can edit any of the settings attached to that resource.
Can you delete things if you upload something by accident?
If you upload something by accident, you can click ‘Set share level’ on that resource and select 'Private' on the sharing settings. A padlock icon will appear on right-hand side of the content. This means only you can see the resource so don't worry if you upload the wrong thing.
I’m getting an error when I upload to the platform. How do I fix this?
As first point-of-call, we recommend checking what file type and size you are trying to upload to the platform as there are limits to this. The following file types are compatible with BES Encounters: jpg, JPG, JPEG, mp4, mp3, m4a, pdf, docx, AVI and a limit of 180MB is applied to all uploads. There are various free websites that allow you to compress files should you need to do so (e.g. Compress Video Online - Reduce File Size, HD - VEED for mp4 files)
How do I delete or report content uploaded to the platform by someone else?
BES Encounters is a shared platform and therefore some content may be unverified. If you see any inappropriate content on the platform, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to raise this with the team so that we can take action.
Community page
What can I do on the community page?
By clicking on the ‘Community’ tab on the top panel of options, you can see what other people are up to on the project. This is an open space for teachers, pupils and educators to share their progress and most recent works. Please share your latest activities and celebrate what other schools have been up to!
What sort of things could I share on the community page?
You could share photos of yourself and your class completing activities e.g., doing a bird watch or a bug hunt. You could also share any interesting findings such as what species you’ve found during your activities or on your camera trap. If you’ve done any new activities related to the project then do share these too as other schools may be inspired to do the same!
Who can see my posts on the Community page?
Anyone with a BES Encounters account can see your posts including other teachers, environmental educators and BES admin. Therefore, please only upload photos that are appropriate to share – i.e., photos that you would put on other social media platforms. You could place stickers over any children’s faces that cannot be photographed.
Error messages
I’m repeatedly experiencing an error message or bug, what do I do?
If you experience any technical issues or bugs on the platform, please report these to one of the team by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Where possible, please include the following information, as this helps our developer troubleshoot what might be causing the issue:
- Type of account e.g. teacher, pupil, or educator
- The time the issue occurred
- The browser you were using to access the platform
Similarly, we very much welcome any general feedback or comments you have about how the platform could be made better. Please email any thoughts to the team and these will be considered ahead of any major digital development periods.