Student Guide for Sonia Online

​​Introduction 

This guide is intended to be provided to students who are using Sonia as part of the administration of placements. 

NOTE: This guide uses default Sonia terminology, which the University may have changed, depending on their business practices and preferences. This guide covers parts of Sonia that the University may not have enabled and would therefore be unavailable to you. 

Starting Sonia 

To access Sonia, you will need a web (internet) browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari) and internet access.  You have been provided with a way to get to Sonia from your university.  This may include a link from another page in the University intranet or a URL you should enter into your browser.  

You may need to then select your school or program from a large list.

Signing In 

Choose 'Student' as your Role, and enter your university credentials or the username provided by your school. You should then see the screen below. The University may have customized this page with text and/or a logo. 

1. If you see three horizontal lines next to your name at the top right, this means that your screen is not wide enough to accommodate all of the tabs. Be sure to click this to see additional menu items. 

2. You can sign out of Sonia by clicking the exit door (the rectangle with the right arrow) on the right side of the screen 

3. The cog is your Settings where you can do the following, depending on the permissions enabled by the University: 

• Select a culture in which to view Sonia Online (This changes the language as well as other cultural differences; however, the forms will remain in the language in which they were created.) 

• Opt to take advantage of the accessibility features if you use a screen reader. To do this, click the “enhanced accessibility” box. 

• Change/upload a picture of yourself  

Placements Tab 

This is a listing of placement groups to which you belong.  The University has created these placement groups to keep students together who have something in common, such as academic level, interest, placement term, etc.   

The red Details button gives details about your placement group. Once the information is available, you can view details about your Site and placement, including the Mentor and Supervisor to which you have been assigned.  You can also post notes and upload documents regarding your placement.   

In the example below, student Lana Byrd is in the “2016 Semester 2 Surgical” placement group and has been allocated to Mercy Hospital for the afternoon shift.  The dates of her placement are 12/28/15-5/1/16.  The colorful buttons on the placement group will be explained in the Optional Buttons section below. 

If you have any outstanding mandatory Checks (i.e., pre-requisite tasks), they will appear in a red-shaded area at the top of the screen. Read this information carefully, as failing to comply may prevent you from being allocated to a placement.  More on Checks further in this document. 

To the right of the screen are important dates. 

Optional Buttons 

Depending on the University’s settings on the placement group, you may see the following buttons on placement groups in the Placements Tab. 

• Join: After carefully reading the details on the placement group options available, click the Join button to indicate your plan to participate in placements for a specific group. Before joining, note that the type of placement and the placement dates match your plans. The Placement office will be notified of your joining; no need to follow up with them.

      The following buttons are only visible after you have joined or otherwise been added to a placement group.

• Preferences: During the dates specified on the placement group information, you may search available Sites for a preferred placement.   

1. Filter your search using the box on the left of the Preferences screen.   

2. Click the caret in the gray box to expand to see details about the Site. 

3. Select the Sites that interest you. 

4. Save your preferred Sites in the box on the right. Your university may have enabled a setting that allows you to re-order the sites by dragging/dropping. 

5. When you ‘Save’ your preferences, you may see balloon and paper icons appear, depending on your university's configurations.  The balloons are for you to write comments about the site. For example, “This is my #1 choice because…”. The paper icon is for you to upload a document, such as a resume and/or cover letter, to that preference.  

The Sites listed are those that will be, or are potentially, available for your specific placement group. The order in which the Sites appear can be changed by clicking the heading of the column you wish to sort by (e.g., Site details, Places or Distance).  It may show the number of places available at the site and the approximate distance (“as the crow flies”) to the Site from your home address.   

The small “map” icon will open Google Maps to see the route to the Site, while a small “i” icon (information) will open a new search window to find any information about the Site out on the internet.  These are great tools for helping you make a decision.

You may find some Sites are highlighted in red; this indicates that the site is unavailable to you.  There may be a number of reasons for this; you should discuss this with the University placement staff. 

• Review: If you see a Review button instead of a Preference button, this means your university will allow you to review sites but not preference

• Interviews: Allows you to sign up for an interview slot with a Site or report an interview you have scheduled outside Sonia 

• Timesheets: Keep track of your time spent at your placement. (screenshot below) 
  Click ‘Add new attendance’ to add an entry
  Be sure to click ‘Save’ when finished
  You can edit your Timesheet entry after you save, as long as the Timesheet is in Submitted status. Once it has been approved, you cannot edit it.

Sonia will keep a tally of the number of hours entered, as well as a breakdown of the number of hours spent on each specified Activity. 

To keep a record of the specific timesheet entry history, right-click somewhere on the page, and choose the Print option.

Forms Tab 

If a form has been assigned to you, the name of the form will show on a blue horizontal bar.  Click the red ‘Edit’ button at the right end of the blue bar to complete the form. 

If the form has not specifically been assigned to you, but the Placement office said the form could be completed at any time, you can choose the form from the “Form Self Selection” dropdown and click ‘Add’. It would then appear with the assigned forms. 

If a form has been Saved but not Submitted, simply click the ‘Edit’ button again to continue.  Upon clicking ‘Submit’, the screen will take a few seconds to save.  Before closing the form, confirm the Submit was processed by scrolling down to where you hit Submit to see “Form actioned by [your name] on [date] at [time] in green text.  If a required field was not answered, it will be indicated in yellow text below the ‘Save Draft’ button. 

NOTE: You will see two buttons at the bottom of each form: 

“Save Draft” means you can save your work and come back to edit this form. 

The button to the right of “Save Draft" will have text defined by your university, usually something like "submit". Click this when you have completed the form. 

My Details Tab 

The My Details page is used to display additional information about you. (screenshot below)  For example, it may contain a section about next of kin/emergency contact information as well as questions for which your university has specifically requested responses (the ‘Other’ section at the bottom of the page). 

Some of the information on the My Details page may be editable, and you may be expected to fill in some of the details.  This will vary depending on the rules and processes of your university. 

Checks Tab 

This is a listing of pre-requisites that you must complete for the placement office or for a specific placement. The University may allow you to edit when the Check has been completed and/or upload documents as proof of completion. Your Checks may not all look the same nor have the same permissions. Be sure to pay attention to the instructions provided by your university.

Always click Save at the right of the page when you have edited any Check information.  If you also see a Submit button at the right of the Check, click that also when you have updated that Check. 

Interviews Tab 

If this tab is visible to you, it means that you can select a time for an interview with the placement office.  Be sure to note the details on your personal calendar, as Sonia will not send you a reminder.

History Tab 

This page lists any placements that you have done in the past.  Placements will only appear in your history once the placement office has marked the placement as completed. 

You can find a Placement Transcript here that lists the hours completed at each placement. Note that this is a summary and not a comprehensive list of all timesheet entries.

Documents Tab 

You can upload documents (e.g., resume, personal statement) to your Sonia profile here.  

You can also add links to personal websites, such as your LinkedIn profile, or links to articles you found helpful or related organizations or associations you may wish to contact in the future. 

These documents and links are only visible to you and the placement office, unless you mark that your placement site and university supervisor can see them, as well. 

To add a new document, click the +. 

Browse your computer for the document, determine who can view it, add a description and category (if applicable), and then click the Add button. 

Sites Tab 

Your university may allow you to see the Sites tab. This allows you to peruse the list of active sites with which your school has a relationship. This is simply a directory, not a list of available sites for placement.

Click the white triangle in the gray box to expand to see the site’s details. 

You can filter to specific sites by clicking the blue Filter bar at the far left. 

“Dock” the filter by clicking the gray pin at the top right of the Filter pane. 

Site Submission Tab 

If you would like to suggest the placement office consider a new site for placements, you can submit the site on this page, if the University has enabled this option. 

Calendar Tab 

This calendar is maintained by the university placement office to mark important dates.  Events pertaining to you can be exported to your Outlook or Google calendar and edited.