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Administrative Tools: Setting up Your Classroom

 * **Setting the Stage** || [[image:https://massone.doemass.org/tutorial/orientation/img/stage.jpg width="122" height="72"]] ||

In unit 1 you read about our digital natives, the students of the 21st century. In unit 2 you read about blended classrooms. Please take a few moments to read a short article in The School Administrator by Liz Pape: From Bricks to Clicks: Blurring Classroom/Cyber lines. As you read, please compare the classrooms that are highlighted to your own classroom. How can you use the resources provided by MassONE to improve your student’s learning experience? 
 * Please remember:** As you move through this series of tutorials, we suggest that you keep MassONE open in one browser and this tutorial open in another. When a specific task is required you can jump back and forth. You are also provided with an opportunity to either print the entire document (see link at the top right hand side of the page) or print each section individually. The choice is yours.
 * Please remember:** As you move through this series of tutorials, we suggest that you keep MassONE open in one browser and this tutorial open in another. When a specific task is required you can jump back and forth. You are also provided with an opportunity to either print the entire document (see link at the top right hand side of the page) or print each section individually. The choice is yours.
 * **MassONE Administrative Overview** || [[image:https://massone.doemass.org/tutorial/orientation/img/logo.jpg width="180" height="63"]] ||

Welcome to Unit 3 of the series of tutorials to help you work within the MassONE system. The purpose of this unit is to continue your introduction to the mechanics of the platform and to look in depth at the Administrative Tools. Before getting started with this unit, take a few moments to review the work we did in unit 2. Every MassONE educator is the administrator of his or her own classroom workgroup. As the administrator you can change its look and feel, invite (roster) members, manage the discussion forum and add content to the shared hard drive. To access these tools you must first select the proper workgroup from the main drop down menu (figure 1). Figure 1 

Edit your Workgroups:
When a classroom space is first created in MassONE, there are no welcome greetings or announcements. It is important that visitors feel welcome and have a sense of what they will view inside. To create these messages, one needs to enter the Admin area of the site.

To enter the **Admin** area**: Click** the icon as shown in figure 2. Figure 2 Figure 3 
 * Click** on the link to **edit workgroup** (figure 3). If you do not see the add/edit workgroup options then you are not the administrator of that workgroup. Go back to the main drop down menu and select a workgroup highlighted in green.

Editing your statement of purpose: [| print instructions for this section]
Although we won’t be adding a new workgroup, we will be personalizing the home page that the students will see. When you logged into the MassONE Orientation you immediately saw an introduction to the tutorial and an announcement for the tutorial participants (figure 4). Figure 4

The first step to personalize a workgroup is to modify the workgroup settings (figure 5). Under workgroup name the teacher typed in the name of the class (in this case Mathematics Period A) and under the statement of purpose the teacher added a small welcome message that describes this class. Figure 5 If you are familiar with html commands, you could type them into the dialog box. This would allow you to dress up your page even further. (Please note – this is a “NICE to do,” not a “HAVE to do.”) Once this information has been entered, the next step is to click on **Next** (figure 6) in the lower right hand of the dialog box. Figure 6 

Applications: Activating the VHD and Forums: [|print instructions for this section]
Click the **Create a content folder** if you plan on using the virtual hard drive (VHD) to share documents (figure 7). If you would like a dedicated threaded discussion forum, check the appropriate box and name the forum. You can add additional moderators to the forum by icluding their MassONE usernames. Choose the "I want to moderate" option if you would like to filter all replys before posting them to the forum. Please call the MassONE help desk at 781 338-3020 for help posting new discussion forums if the option is not currently available to you. Figure 7 Again, choose **Next.** Figure 8 

Home Page Style: Altering the look and feel:
It is here at the section called Home Page Style that we decide how our students will see the welcome page. (figure 9). Figure 9 It is in this section that we enter the name of the title of the classroom (figure 10). Figure 10 Please note that the classroom name can be different than the “workgroup name." The title is displayed in bold for all to see, while the Workgroup name is what appears in the drop-down menu. You are able to decide upon and choose an icon to use on the home page. This is a small graphic image that will appear next to the title of your classroom (figure 11). Figure 11 You can also choose a style for the classroom. The style adds color choices (figure 12). Figure 12 Before accepting your changes, **choose “See Preview”**. Figure 13 By previewing your choices, you can decide whether or not to accept what you have done, or to make additional changes before accepting. Figure 14 shows a preview of the choices that were outlined above. Figure 14 It is strongly suggested that you **click Save** at this point to be sure that your changes are not lost. Figure 15 Figure 16 Choose **Save** to be sure that the changes are kept. Next click on the Save and Roster Users (figure 17). Figure 17 
 * Clicking Next** provides a summary of the changes (figure 16).

Rostering Students into a Class: [|print instructions for this section]
All that is left to do is to roster students into the newly created classroom. This allows students to have access. They are identified in the system based on their user names.

MassONE, based on enrollments supplied by each district, enters students' names into databases specifically assigned to schools. You need to move students from the school listing into your classroom. This is known in MassONE circles as rostering users. Figure 18 shows the Roster wizard. This tool allows teachers to enroll and un-enroll students in and out of classes or workgroups. Figure 18 First **change** the search mode from educators to students (figure 19), and **select** the narrowest group possible in the **select school** drop down menu. **Click** on the **arrow** on the right side of the box to see school selection choices. In this example, since the district is “Virtual High School” and there are no separate listings for schools in the district, this is the narrowest choice. Figure 19 Next, **choose** the **grade** level of the students you are working with (figure 20). It is suggested that you **select all** for the grade. Students are not always promoted from year to year by the MassONE network admins; therefore, searching by grade may not provide a listing of all your students. Figure 20 Students are found in terms of groups, based on the first letter (or letters) of their last name. If you have students in your class whose names range A to Z, you need to either search each letter individually or enter the student’s last name. . Figure 21 Then **Click Search** (figure 22). Figure 22 Notice that four students were found whose last names begin with S: Albert Small, Cassie Spinach, Betty Stevens and Joseph Stummer (figure 23). Figure 23 Only Albert, Betty and Joseph will be part of the class. In order to choose multiple students hold the shift button down on the keyboard and use the mouse to **click** on each student to be added to the class (figure 24). Figure 24 Then **press** the arrow button at the bottom to **add** these students to the class workgroup (figure 25). Figure 25 This process **moves** the students from the left and **Rosters** them into the class listing on the right (figure 26). Figure 26 To add additional students, repeat these steps by first **entering** the first letter of the students’ last name, **searching** for the names, **choosing** the correct student and then **moving** them into the class. If you cannot find a student within the district, that means that means that the student does not have a MassONE account. Contact your MassONE admin to request an account. To see a list of MassONE admins visit: [] If, for some reason, a student needs to be **removed** from a class (perhaps they moved), the process is reversed by first clicking on the name of the student to remove, and then clicking on the back arrow (figure 27). Figure 27 
 * Enter** the first letter (or letters) of the students’ last names. S was entered in order to locate all students with a last name beginning with the letter “S.” (figure 21)

Announcements: [| print instructions for this section]
When you first **log into** the MassONE site you are presented with Announcements (figure 28). Figure 28 As an administrator of your classroom account you have the ability to post announcements of importance to your entire class whenever they sign in. Think of these announcements as notes you might put on the board, or directions you might want students to accomplish during their time in class. On the homepage of your class is the **announcement** section (figure 29). Figure 29 To enter an announcement, **click** on the button **post announcement** (figure 30). Figure 30 The announcement setting dialog box has several settings to help you control the look, feel and duration that the announcement is available for student viewing (figure 31). Figure 31 The priority setting (figure 32) allows you to decide whether the announcement is of normal priority or critical priority (figure 33). Figure 32 || Figure 33 || We can choose the **start date** and **time** (figure 34) which is when the announcement can first be viewed by students. Figure 34 The **end date** is the day and time the announcement can no longer be viewed by students (figure 35). Figure 35 Without changing settings, the announcement will automatically be set for one week in duration. In the subject area, put a short description of what the announcement is all about (figure 36). Figure 36 If you want, you can also upload a document for student use by browsing for a file (figure 37). Figure 37 The bottom is the area where the actual text of your announcement is typed. While you are typing, notice that the formatted text appears in the box above (figure 38). Figure 38 The text is being entered in html coding, although you are typing in a normal way (figure 39). Figure 39 To have the **text** appear **bold**, **highlight** the “**Say Cheese**” text and hit the **B** button at the bottom (figure 40). Figure 40 To italicize the text, hit the “I” next to it (figure 41); underlined would be the __U__ (figure 42). Url (figure 43) would have created a hot link for text to link to an uploaded document. Figure 41 || Figure 42 || Figure 43 || Figure 44 Figure 45 Figure 46 shows the completed announcement. Figure 46
 * [[image:https://massone.doemass.org/tutorial/orientation/Unit03_files/image007.jpg width="186" height="58"]]
 * [[image:https://massone.doemass.org/tutorial/orientation/Unit03_files/image016.jpg width="91" height="32"]]
 * Click Save** (figure 44)
 * Click** on the arrow to see the announcement (figure 45).


 * [[image:https://massone.doemass.org/tutorial/orientation/img/turn.jpg width="80" height="57"]] || **Practice** what you have learned so far by customizing your own online class through MassONE. Locate your classroom workgroup from the main drop down menu and then follow the steps listed above. ||

This Professional Development Opportunity has been brought to you by Virtual High School. VHS, Inc. – www.goVHS.org