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A Teacher's Guide to FirstClass 7.0 Contents Benefits to your curriculum Benefits to faculty Benefits to students Benefits to parents Benefits to student career development Benefits to your local community Benefits to the global community Benefits to distance learning The FirstClass Desktop Customizing your Desktop view FirstClass and the teacher’s role Accommodating student skills Motivating students Communicating using email Communicating using mail lists Communicating using conferences Considerations for communicating Applying FirstClass Unified Communications Susan Brown’s remedial class Follow-me messaging Accommodating PDA users Considerations for communicating Ann Jones’ math classes John Smith’s English classes Student participation Sports activities The Avalon football team Considerations for teacher/student conferences Establishing your online teaching community Avalon Academy’s teachers’ community John Smith’s spelling bee Considerations for staff conferences Conference permissions—getting technical Tips for using personal conferences When you subscribe users to your conference When you create a new conference Considerations for creating conferences Selecting a moderator Student moderators Guidelines for student moderators Using a conference Welcome message to announce moderators Guidelines for teachers Netiquette What to do about inappropriate messages Setting policies and handling complaints Student Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) Considerations concerning moderators Course work Student group collaboration Conflict resolution Teacher group collaboration Booking rooms and equipment Parent group calendars Community group calendars Considerations for group calendars Planning your distance education structure Avalon Academy’s distance education Math course Scheduling Student assessment Presentations and distance learning Considerations when planning for distance education Tips for creating conferences and user accounts Scarborough Board of Education Shorecrest Clark County School District University of Maine Copyright 2001, 2002 by Centrinity Inc. SOF3716.1A Centrinity Inc. 905-762-6000 or 1-800-763-8272 Web: www.centrinity.com Email: support@centrinity.com, sales@centrinity.com Notices You must accept the FirstClass License Agreement before you can use this product. If you do not accept the terms of the License Agreement, do not install the software and return the entire package within 30 days to the place from which you obtained it for a full refund. No refunds will be given for returned products that have missing components. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Certain features and products described in this document may not be currently available in all geographic regions. Distribution or reproduction of this document in whole or in part must be in accordance with the terms of the License Agreement. All rights reserved. FirstClass is a registered trademark of a Centrinity subsidiary used under license. Centrinity, the Centrinity logo, and the FirstClass logo are trademarks of Centrinity Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. This edition applies to Release 7.0 of FirstClass and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions. This document is bound by international copyright law and the FirstClass Software License Agreement and Limited Warranty included with every FirstClass product. Technical support Telephone technical support is available to registered administrators at the following numbers: Toll free in North America: 1-800-346-9108 Toronto: 905-762-7060 International: +353-61-725-200. Online support questions may be directed to support@centrinity.com. Introduction FirstClass Collaborative Classroom (FirstClass) is an interactive environment that makes online learning both student and teacher friendly. FirstClass removes time and distance barriers, allowing students to explore concepts at their own speed and use resources that might not be available in a traditional school setting. Students can experience one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many instruction through conferences. FirstClass allows you to deliver instruction in a variety of formats. It supports text, graphics, and sound files across platforms. Further, assignments can be posted, corrected, and returned, all online. Note Depending on your school policies and how your FirstClass administrator has set up your user profile, you may not be able to use all of the FirstClass features. For example, you may not be able to create conferences, or, you may be able to browse certain conferences, but not be able to contribute messages. Who should read this book This book is intended mainly for educators who use FirstClass in their classrooms. School principals, vice-principals, and other school staff may also find this information useful for similar educational purposes. What you will find in this book This book provides a conceptual look at how FirstClass can be used in a K-12 environment to: • communicate and collaborate by organizing conferences and suggesting uses for FirstClass features such as online presentations and the FirstClass Editor • schedule online by demonstrating uses for the FirstClass calendaring feature • connect to the world by accommodating distance learners and providing tips for giving and obtaining information over the web. As this book is conceptual in nature, with one section building on the preceding one, we suggest that you read it from the beginning. Throughout this document, various examples are provided from the fictional school, Avalon Academy. These examples are designed to show you how each section’s discussion can be applied. This book does not document how to use FirstClass features. For that information, see the online help material, administrator and user manuals, or consider taking a FirstClass training course. Most of the chapters contain an end-of-chapter checklist to give you some guidance when applying the concepts that are discussed here. What you should already know This book is intended for people using the FirstClass client or a web browser such as Netscape® Communicator or Microsoft® Internet Explorer to work with FirstClass. We assume that you are familiar with: • your operating system (Windows® or Mac™ OS) • basic web browser use (if you are using a web browser) The benefits of using FirstClass FirstClass offers teachers and students a broad learning environment that is not limited by physical boundaries. Any user can connect to FirstClass via a local network, modem, or the Internet using the FirstClass client software or a web browser. The ease with which users can log in and begin working is one of the major assets of this collaborative software. Benefits to your curriculum FirstClass can play a significant role in enhancing the traditional classroom experience. As educators, you can design curriculum-driven online conferences, discussions, projects, and other venues in which students can fully participate. You can further motivate your students through online implementation of: • student collaborative conferences • student-to-student tutoring services • private teacher-to-student assistance or a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) conference • if students are hampered by disabilities or weather conditions submission of homework online from remote locations • local and international project collaboration among students • presentation tools • word processing capabilities • galleries for publication of student work. Benefits to faculty Teachers and education administrators can use FirstClass as a centralized location for: • curriculum and instructional support materials • knowledge sharing among experienced and new educators and administrators • school, district, and other teaching-related information • best practices • professional development • working discussions between teachers and teaching colleges • problem solving related to students. Benefits to students Students can use FirstClass as a centralized location to: • obtain and submit homework and assignments • obtain due dates for assignments and testing dates • determine school announcements and holiday schedules • collaborate with students on assignments and projects • communicate with fellow students and teachers online outside of school hours • access employment and other community information • access resources through Internet mail lists and newsgroups. Benefits to parents Parents want to be involved in their children’s education. Through FirstClass, parents can obtain information about: • parent organizations • school announcements and holiday schedules • report card information • curriculum overviews • homework • due dates for assignments • testing dates • school services. Benefits to student career development Many businesses and professionals in your community are eager to get involved and contribute to the advancement of the future workforce. Through FirstClass, relationships between students and professionals in all business and academic fields can be successfully fostered. Professionals can be invited to provide: • information about full-time and part-time student internships • information about postgraduate employment • FAQ discussions to address specific career queries • résumé and interviewing tips and seminars • reviews and feedback of student work from published writers, scientists, and business professionals. Benefits to your local community A school is just one member of a greater community. You can use FirstClass to provide noteworthy information to faculty, students, and parents concerning what is happening locally in your school and surrounding area. Some topics may include: • community event calendars • local television programming • preschools and seniors homes • parks and recreation resources • local and regional government activities and resources • volunteer agencies. Benefits to the global community The Internet has introduced excellent opportunities for schools to connect with the global community. Through FirstClass, you can expand your students' knowledge of international events by connecting them to: • Internet mail lists and newsgroups • educational communities around the world where students can learn about other cultures • international news and information • web sites for project research information. Benefits to distance learning From virtually any web browser, students can log into FirstClass, making distance learning more viable now than ever before. Distance learners can: • access course material that was previously only available in a traditional print-based format • submit projects and weekly assignments • access online FAQ and tutoring conferences. In addition, working students can log in from their offices during lunch breaks or on business tips.
Teaching online One of your goals as a teacher is to encourage communication and collaboration among your students. FirstClass supports this goal with: • folders for lessons and information • work and discussion conferences • project-based learning • calendars • web publishing • word processing • online presentations feature • newsgroups • chat sessions. In an online structure, you can offer students private assistance, post assignments, and correct homework with greater ease by not having to carry papers back and forth. Further, you can reach students who are physically or geographically unable to attend school. Physical absence will no longer prevent students from participating in the educational experience. As is the case for in-class students, distance learners will be able to interact both with teachers and their peers on a daily basis. The FirstClass Desktop The FirstClass Desktop is a Desktop that is accessible from any machine, in any location. It is a central location that helps you organize your teaching environment. It can be fully customized to include any type of conference that you deem necessary. Let’s look at Ann Jones’ Desktop. Ann Jones teaches math for grades 10 through 12 at Avalon Academy. Although she uses FirstClass as a communications tool, she also uses it as a personal organization tool. Let’s examine the setup that she has created on her Desktop: Ann Jones’ Desktop (client view) (Double-click to enlarge)  Ann Jones creates as many conferences and folders as she needs. She has a personal calendar, and an address book with a list of contacts. She has her own Mailbox that receives incoming email, voice and fax messages. She has created links to some of the other departments so she can access them from one location. She has also subscribed to a number of newsgroups (Teaching Tips conference). This way, the newsgroup messages are conveniently stored until she finds the time to read them. The FirstClass Desktop allows the user to access different types of information stored in numerous locations from one interface, providing the user with a customized control center to the information. She can also access her Desktop by logging in through the web. Here is a web view of her Desktop: Ann Jones’ Desktop (web view) (Double-click to enlarge)  2Customizing your Desktop view You can display your Desktop in a standard FirstClass view, or in an Explore view. The standard view was shown above. Here is the Explore view of the same Desktop: Ann Jones’ Desktop in Explore view (client view) (Double-click to enlarge) l  The left pane shows the containers on your Desktop in a hierarchical view. You can open and close these containers to reveal their contents, just as you normally do in your operating system. The top right pane shows the contents of the container that is selected in the left pane. These contents are shown in List view. The bottom right pane opens the object that is selected in the top right pane. You can work with this object just as you could if you opened it using any other FirstClass view. You can choose this option on-the-fly, or set your Desktop to always open in this view. FirstClass Editor Using FirstClass Editor features, you have full control over the look of the emails you send (and your documents). You can change the font, color, and size of text, insert graphics, and even add a background image. Any standard image that is saved on your hard drive can be used. Add personal pictures, favorite images, or standard school graphics to give your emails a personal touch. Sample customized message (Double-click to enlarge)  FirstClass and the teacher’s role Your role, in either a traditional or online school setting, is likely to include creating the community in which students will learn. Simultaneously, you may also be responsible for designing challenging lessons, providing opportunities for accessing resources, and promoting peer-to-peer collaboration. In tandem with face-to-face meetings, you can log into FirstClass and guide students through class assignments and projects. All participants become part of a fully integrated learning system. Communicating with students You are already familiar with traditional methods of communication in your classroom. You lecture students and facilitate in-class discussion. For projects, you probably divide your classes into small manageable units to better facilitate student interaction and learning. FirstClass can assist you in creating this same learning environment online. Instead of physically creating groups of students, you can create conferences for different subjects, topics, and projects. See the section on "Communicating and collaborating online" for a detailed discussion of conferences. For example, if you are an English teacher you can establish a discussion conference for a particular novel that your class is studying. This enables students to freely exchange ideas and information on this subject. Wuthering Heights conference for English class (client view) (Double-click to enlarge)  Further, students can participate in multiple conferences simultaneously. This type of online communication encourages quieter students to contribute their ideas and points of view in a less threatening environment. FirstClass provides you with the freedom to do a great deal of your work online, or to combine in-class and online strategies. Evaluating student work FirstClass lets you respond to students’ written submissions electronically and mark work online. There is no need to carry stacks of paper home. This can make marking time more efficient and eliminate space limitations for adding notes and explanations. You can highlight your comments easily using the FirstClass Editor. It permits you to change the style, size, font, and color of your own text with the click of a button. Also, common marking phrases that you repeatedly apply can be easily kept in a file and accessed using a standard copy and paste feature. Editing sample  In addition, the FirstClass history feature helps you determine the timeliness of student responses to online discussions. For example, you are able to see whether a student is writing all of his online messages during the last week of the term, or participating regularly over the course of the semester. This is important when evaluating a student’s participation in online courses. Students have the added benefits of saving marked assignments online and using the cut and paste feature to reorganize their text. They can also electronically query you on any unclear comments. To take this a step further, especially in the case of distance learning, teachers can provide testing online. Students would download the test or exam from a secure conference, complete it online, and then email it to the teacher or post it to another secure conference. This test could be completed within a classroom environment under test conditions, or outside of school as an open book assignment. Printing documents FirstClass has print labelling capabilities that allow you to customize headers and footers as you are printing a test or assignment to distribute. Using this labelling feature, you can communicate the date, identification information, and/or any important notes to students. Additionally, you can deactivate the printing of any header or footer, or specify which envelope information to include, and where in the header or footer to include it. FirstClass also supports Avery label printing based on information in your FirstClass address book. This saves you time writing student names on report cards, notes home, and so on. Accommodating student skills As an educator, you must be aware of each student’s ability and motivation. As you know, student skill levels can vary within the same grade and class. Using FirstClass, you can deliver the same syllabus to students at different learning levels. For example, you can create one main conference for a subject, and then create nested conferences for both standard and modified work in that subject. Students can either pursue the regular course work or attempt the modified material. Furthermore, teachers can use the audio mail feature of FirstClass to communicate more easily with younger students and special needs students that may have limited reading skills. To maximize results, teach new students the basics of FirstClass and standard online navigational strategies. Further, offer suggestions on how to minimize online time, organize space, use the spell checker and edit documents. Students are less likely to get lost, and more likely to concentrate on course work, if they understand the mechanics of the FirstClass environment. Motivating students Just as all students have varying academic and technical abilities, they also have different motivations for performing well at school. When students are able to collaborate on peer projects online, they feel more in control and less under the scrutiny of the teacher. A broader and less constrained discussion follows, which can bring out the best, even in the most reserved students. With encouragement, students can build on each others’ contributions and develop in-depth topic threads. This will lead to greater acceptance and cooperation among students. Furthermore, creating student-led conferences and appointing student moderators make learners more self directed. The option of private email, either between teacher and student or peer to peer, can also motivate students to more fully express themselves. Students feel more comfortable raising problems or asking for assistance in a secure environment. Both private email and subject conferences can go far in removing social barriers based on ethnicity, gender, age, physical challenges, and learning aptitude. Extracurricular activities Organizing conferences to support extracurricular activities can also encourage student involvement. Student-run conferences for school newspapers, yearbooks, proms, student government, and various clubs can heighten interest in your school culture. In the following sections, we discuss communicating and collaborating using FirstClass. Ways to communicate As a teacher, you want to promote communication within your learning environment. This section explores the different ways that you can bring users together in an online community. Communicating using email Every user on a company or school LAN has access to some type of email software. Also, stand-alone users usually have email as part of a software suite. Email serves a useful purpose when you want to send short messages to another person, or broadcast to a few people at once. However, sending messages to many people at once can cause email to become bulky and unmanageable. Therefore, a more convenient way of communicating is through mail lists. Communicating using mail lists Mail lists are another way to send direct communications to teachers, parents, and people in the local community. A mail list lets you broadcast messages, en masse, directly to people’s Mailboxes. You simply create a mail list and populate it with the email addresses of the desired recipients. Sample mail list (Double-click to enlarge)  Mail lists are a good way of communicating with a number of people who don’t normally have access to your FirstClass system, but who want to receive updates about your school. You can keep parents abreast of student projects and progress, as well as inform the community about upcoming school events. Private mail lists can be created by any user with FirstClass email, and updated at any time. If the number of recipients is small, a private mail list is a good option. For example, you may want to create a mail list containing the email addresses of all the parents of your grade three class. This list of names would probably remain static throughout the year and, therefore, require low maintenance. Unfortunately, the challenges of mail lists mirror those of one-to-one email. Mailboxes can become full and disorganized and, if the recipient list grows or topic threads expand, more system resources are required. In these cases, a conference is a better communications vehicle. Communicating using conferences One of the most convenient features of FirstClass is conferencing. A conference lets a number of users exchange information online. You can send a public message to a conference just as you would send a private message to another user. You can also open a conference and read the messages posted there by others. This makes a conference an ideal place for ongoing online discussions whenever more than two people are involved. For example, you may have a Budgets conference that is used by all people who are involved in the budgeting process, or a conference for all the members of a specific project. Sample of project collaboration using a conference (client view) (Double-click to enlarge)  A conference is especially useful if email privileges are not provided. The use of conferences still makes sure that students have a forum for discussions and a repository for information. A conference automatically keeps all related correspondence in the same place. If you were using private mail instead, messages on a particular topic would be scattered throughout your Mailbox. A conference icon is flagged when the conference contains unread mail, which means you can monitor the conference for unread mail at a glance. You can even create shortcuts of conferences on your Desktop, so that you see the conferences as soon as you connect to your server. Using conferences can also save you maintenance time. Although it is possible to use a mail list for sending multiple messages to the same group of people, you have to create the mail list yourself, and update it as people enter and leave the group. In the case of conferences provided by your administrator, the job of making sure the right people can see your messages is done for you. There are several advantages to communicating using conferences: • a message sent to a conference can be read by many users • users participating in a conference are not burdened with the task of saving and storing messages • conferences act as a repository for messages and can easily be accessed and archived • users who join a pre-existing conference can access the history of discussion • there is no risk of deleting an important message or topic thread, since all messages reside in a shared work space • users can summarize postings by topic or by sender • because a conference icon is flagged when the conference contains unread mail, users can monitor the conference for unread mail at a glance • conferences are integrated with email functionality, so you can simply click Reply or Reply Sender to respond to postings • the historical record of discussions allows new participants to "catch up" • conferences force users to be accountable for keep abreast of ongoing discussions, information, and decisions • some face-to-face meetings can be eliminated, such as status updates. Conferences are usually created in a hierarchical format, where similar conferences are grouped together or nested inside another main conference. Creating different levels of conferences is a useful strategy for facilitating online class discussions and managing courses. This is especially important for keeping the size of the message base manageable and reducing information overload. Each conference can have multiple threads introduced by the subject line. This is useful, for example, in a large classroom, where students may want to follow different topic threads. Essentially, the subject line becomes an advanced organizer for readers and messages can be easily summarized. Although you can have thread development and subject summaries in email, these are more easily
managed in conferences. Considerations for communicating Before creating conferences, check the following with your administrator: • What method or combination of methods will work best for your needs? Email? Mail lists? Conferences? • Who should be included in your mail lists? • What types of conferences are required? In the next chapter we look at how to communicate through FirstClass Unified Communications. FirstClass Unified Communications he FirstClass central data store (called the Collaborative Store) is linked with Voice Services and Internet Services, and is accessible through the FirstClass client, the web client, and the telephone. This accessibility is referred to as FirstClass Unified Communications. Through FirstClass Unified Communications, your phone and fax messages can be accessed as email messages from your FirstClass client or a web browser. Incoming phone messages are still accessible by phone, or the sound file can be played through any FirstClass client or web browser on any computer equipped to play sound. Using text to speech technology, Voice Services enables you to phone into FirstClass and have your new text messages read to you. Additionally, you can call into FirstClass from a fax machine and have your faxes sent to that machine you are using. Applying FirstClass Unified Communications Instead of, or in addition to, posting documents and text messages in conferences, you can record voice messages. This is ideal in primary schools where younger students may have limited reading skills. You can publish assignments and homework as spoken instructions. Parents or students can access the voice messages using a FirstClass client or web browser to receive assignments and hear about upcoming events. Conversely, parents can call during the day and leave voice messages for students in their personal accounts, or leave messages with you to be delivered to the student if personal accounts are not being used. To apply the FirstClass Unified Communications concepts, let’s look at the method that Susan Brown uses to post homework and communicate with the parents of her Grade Two remedial class. Susan Brown’s remedial class Avalon Academy assigns the Grade Two teachers their own phone numbers and requests that they record a message daily indicating the homework that was assigned that day. Parents and students can call this number at any time and hear the homework message. Susan Brown takes this application further by offering a custom “caller number” voice menu greeting. A voice menu, in simple terms, is an automated attendant. A "caller number" voice menu is a menu that is only played if the incoming phone number matches a predefined number, or a set of predefined numbers. When a parent calls, FirstClass recognizes the caller’s number and plays a greeting that Susan Brown has customized for parents only. The greeting is similar to the following: "Hi, this is Susan Brown at Avalon Academy. For today’s homework assignment press 1; to leave me a message, or to fax me a permission slip or an absence note, press 2; to transfer to the school office, press 3." Voice menu flowchart  Susan Brown retrieves all of her voice and text messages through her mobile phone on her way home each day. Through the same phone, she can also reply to messages by leaving her own voice message for the sender. Customized greetings Custom greetings can be created based on time of day, the number called, or incoming telephone numbers or partial numbers (for example, all numbers with a 905 area code), such as the example provided earlier in this chapter, where Susan Brown associates parents’ numbers with a custom greeting. She could even take this a step further and record a greeting that provides personalized information for each parent’s phone number. Sending voice messages to conferences If Susan Brown wants to send a message to parents, she can direct it to a conference that parents can access through the FirstClass client or a web browser. Parents can access this conference at any time, and it is an excellent way for them to keep informed of what their children are learning. Follow-me messaging Susan Brown is expecting some calls from parents on a particular evening that she will be doing some travelling. She knows what her schedule will be like, so she has recorded customize greetings to play at the different times for the specific parents’ phone numbers, with all the calls forwarding to Susan Brown’s appropriate phone numbers. She knows that she will be • on the road from 3 PM to 6:30 PM • at home between 6:30 PM and 8 PM • on the road between 8 PM and 9 PM • at a cottage that evening with no cell connectivity. She has set up scheduled greetings for the different timeframes that will automatically transfer callers to her cellular phone while she is travelling and at home, and to the cottage number at the appropriate time. This feature provides Susan Brown with ultimate parent contact and ensures that she won’t miss any important conversations, even when travelling. Accommodating PDA users Another way of communicating is with a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). These include any handheld device running Palm OS 3.0 and higher software. FirstClass Palm Sync transfers and updates information with FirstClass for address, calendar, and memo pad entries, new mail, and the to do list. Using your handheld device, you can make notes on-the-fly, add or change email addresses, and book calendar events, then transfer the information to FirstClass later when you are at your computer. PDA screen  Considerations for communicating Before trying to include unified communications in your online environment, think about the different ways that you can incorporate FirstClass Unified Communications. How can you use it within conferences? Within your own Mailbox? In the next chapter we look at how to establish an online community using conferences. Try it! An online project that incorporates audio into FirstClass. Request musical compositions from students to be recorded using FirstClass. Students can play an instrument or sing, and record the performance as a voice message. The message can then be emailed to a conference for review or display. You can even hold a contest and publish the winning entries on the school web site. Establishing your online community Creating a virtual workspace for students and educators is like organizing a classroom that can be used confidently and effectively by all participants. Teachers and students need to maintain the ability to carry out the day-to-day activities of the school experience, which are learning and communicating. The first step in creating your virtual classroom is planning. Remember, you are not only creating a structure for today, but you are creating a structure that may be in place over a number of years and will be susceptible to ongoing change. Creating a conference structure is a considerable first step in designing your online community. Planning a conference structure begins with understanding what you want to accomplish. You should give consideration to course frameworks, instructional strategies, and learning styles. Think of what will best serve the goals and objectives of your students and overall learning community. There are some basic steps involved in creating a conference structure. Your administrator can set up a conference framework within which you create your own conferences, allowing you the freedom to apply your own design. The following list indicates the usual split between your responsibilities and those of your administrator: Objects created by your administrator • conference groups • public conferences Objects created by you or your administrator • personal conferences Unless you have special permissions, you will not be able to create any of the objects in either list. Your administrator will create your school’s FirstClass structure, complete with all the necessary groups, permissions, and privileges, and provide you with all the features you require. It is important for your administrator to control the different security levels to ensure the safety and integrity of your system. If you find that your conferences are too restrictive, you can ask your administrator to make any necessary changes. In most school systems, personal conferences are the only conference objects that a teacher can create. Note Your system administrator must set permissions for any users at the top level of a conference structure (with the ability to create items where applicable) before you can create items and set permissions on your items directly. Students would also be limited in what conferences they can create and where they can create them. Of course, depending upon your school’s policies and procedures and the level of the students, you can provide them with whatever privileges and permissions you consider necessary. Some schools appoint students to positions that require advanced status on their system (for example, conference moderator). Parents and community members would be even more restricted in what they could do within conferences. Let’s take a look at some Avalon Academy conference scenarios. Ann Jones’ math classes Ann Jones teaches senior math courses grades ten, eleven, and twelve at Avalon Academy. She provides her students with a variety of different online functions to promote an interactive learning environment. Students can access these functions through the FirstClass client or a web browser. To support this functionality, Avalon’s administrator created this initial conference structure: • a main conference called Departments • a conference within Departments called Math department • three conferences within the Math department conference called Math 10, Math 11, and Math 12, respectively. Departments math conference structure  The administrator places a shortcut of the Math department conference directly on Ann Jones’ Desktop, and relevant conferences on her math students’ Desktops. This means that Ann Jones is able to see and access all of the math conferences. However, only students in Ann Jones’ grade 10 math class, for instance, will be able to view the Math 10 conference on their Desktops. The administrator also gives the proper privileges to Ann Jones so she can further create conferences within each of her math conferences. She can personalize or target her work to specific classes or even groups of students. Examine the structure Ann Jones has created for her Math 10 class. Ann Jones’ Math 10 conference structure  Ann Jones created five objects within her Math 10 conference: one calendar, three work conferences, and one chat area. Ann Jones then applied the proper permissions to these items to allow her grade ten class to actively participate within them. Let’s take a closer look at the Math 10 conference. Math 10 conference (client view) (Double-click to enlarge)  Work areas Ann Jones places math assignments in the Assignments To Do conference. Students can access this conference anytime via their Desktop or school web site, and download daily homework. This also allows absent students to remain current in their homework. In this situation, students complete and submit assignments as hardcopy. For most courses, however, students can access and complete assignments online instead of on paper, then return their completed assignments to a private email address or separate conference instead of handing them in as hardcopy. The For a Challenge conference contains advanced math questions. Students who feel comfortable with the standard material can attempt this extra work at their leisure. Again, students can email these completed questions directly to Ann Jones. If Ann Jones prefers printouts, she can use FirstClass’ print labelling capabilities to customize headers and footers as she prints a test or assignment to distribute. Using this labelling feature, she can communicate the date, identification information, and/or any important notes to students. Additionally, she can deactivate the printing of any header or footer, or specify which envelope information to include, and where in the header or footer to include it. Chat area Ann Jones provides her students with a conference that allows asynchronous communication between students. The Ask your Peers conference lets students speak to each other about math related issues. This allows students to mentor each other directly, as students sometimes prefer to get help from peers as opposed to a teacher. Those students who require input from the teacher can communicate with her through the Ask the Teacher chat. This conference lets students query her on any math related issue, during the specified times of 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM, every Tuesday and Thursday. Ann Jones’ students find this incredibly useful, as they know they can count on her being available at the same time each week. Following is an example of one of Ann Jones’ chat sessions: Ask the teacher chat session (client view) (Double-click to enlarge)  Calendar To help her students organize their school work, early in the year Ann Jones schedules all of the assignment, test, and exam due dates inside a calendar that she places directly in the Math 10 conference. This provides a strong time management resource that her students can access at any time. If a student finds a date inconvenient, the student can speak with Ann Jones early in the year to discuss an alternative. With this advanced knowledge, students can plan their time accordingly without any surprises. Following is a sample week in the Ann Jones Gr 10 tests/exams calendar: Gr 10 tests/exams calendar (client view) (Double-click to enlarge)  Ann Jones has given the parents of her students limited access to the calendar and homework conferences that they can access through the FirstClass client or a web browser. This enables parents to play an active role in their children’s education. The calendaring functionality, including its customizability, will be discussed in greater detail in later chapters. John Smith’s English classes John Smith teaches English to grades six, seven, and eight at Avalon Academy. John Smith also provides his students with a variety of different online functions for a richer learning experience. As with the math subjects, the administrator created this initial conference structure: • a main conference called Departments (the same one that Ann Jones uses for her math classes) • a conference within the Departments conference called English department • three conferences within the English department conference called English 6, English 7, and English 8, respectively. Departments English conference structure  The administrator then places a shortcut of the English department conference directly on John Smith’s Desktop, and relevant conferences on his English students’ Desktops. The administrator gives John Smith the proper privileges so he can create conferences within his specific English course conferences. Let’s look at the structure that John Smith has created for his English 7 class. John Smith’s English 7 conference structure (Double-click to enlarge)  John Smith has created four work conferences in his English 7 conference structure. He then applies the proper permissions to these items allowing his grade seven class to actively participate within them. Work areas John Smith places English assignments in the Assignments conference. Students can access this conference anytime via their Desktop or school web site and download daily homework. However, instead of sending back finished homework to his private email address, John Smith has his students send their assignments to the Completed assignments conference. Applying limited permissions to this conference ensures that John Smith’s students can only send items to, but not access, the conference directly. This provides John Smith with the ability to keep everything in the Completed assignments conference private and confidential. John Smith sends corrected assignments back to his students via their personal email addresses. Again, if John Smith prefers printouts, he can also use FirstClass’ print labelling capabilities to customize headers and footers. Review gallery In the Peer critiques conference, students upload their stories and poems for review by their classmates. A student opens a document, reads it, and then sends her comments to the conference in the form of an email message. Students benefit from presenting their work in a public forum and by receiving constructive criticism from their peers. Reference area John Smith populates the Grammar connection conference with documents dedicated to enhancing his students’ basic English skills. Students use this information to study for related tests and to refresh their grammatical knowledge. Students are only allowed to read and download documents from this conference. Grammar connection conference (client view) (Double-click to enlarge)  Chat areas John Smith also provides his students with a chat feature. The Book discussions chat lets students speak to each other about different books they have read. These books can be either casual or required reading. In this forum, John Smith’s students are able to discuss their opinions with their peers, as opposed to directing their comments to the teacher. Student participation The students at Avalon Academy participate in a variety of extracurricular activities. These range from clubs and committees to international student discussions on different issues affecting young people. Conferences are excellent tools for organizing and managing these operations. Allowing students to run these activities assists them in developing good leadership and collaborative skills. Depending upon the grade level, Avalon Academy provides its students with a wide range of extracurricular conferences. Students can access and participate through the FirstClass client or a web browser. Avalon’s administrator created this initial conference structure: • a main conference called Student activities • five conferences within the Student activities conference called Newswires, Entertainment, Worldwide gabfest, Personal interests, and Clubs & committees, respectively. Student activities conference structure (Double-click to enlarge)  This set of conferences is accessible by Avalon staff and students in grades eight through twelve. The administrator places this structure on both students’ and teachers’ Desktops and assigns different permissions to different levels of users. This means that students have varying limitations in what they can view and participate in based upon their grade levels. Teachers are provided with permissions to view and contribute to everything but would likely contribute only in a limited manner. This way they can monitor student activity without presenting too great a presence. Newswires The Newswires conference is subscribed to a newsgroup. It provides students with daily newsfeeds, jokes, horoscopes, and historical facts. Since this information comes through the Internet, filters and other security measures are strictly maintained. For more information about newsgroups, see Internet newsgroups and mailing lists. Entertainment The Entertainment conference offers students information on movies, television shows, art, and music. This information is also populated through a newsgroup. Worldwide gabfest Through gateways, the Worldwide gabfest chat supports asynchronous discussions between Avalon Academy students and those from around the world. This is a valuable learning experience as it provides young people with insight into the lives of those from other cultures. Personal interests The Personal interests conference gives students a forum in which to discuss different topics and issues. Each topic has its own conference and includes politics, business, philosophy, and science fiction. Students also have a classified conference for buying and selling items. Clubs & committees The Clubs & committees conference provides students with a forum for their individual club or committee. Here, they can set up a calendar, discuss issues, post information, and so on. Let’s take a look into the Clubs & committees conference structure: Clubs & committees conference structure (Double-click to enlarge)  For efficiency, two students are assigned as moderators for each conference. They are responsible for daily administration such as archiving information, enforcing school rules and policies, and communicating with teachers. Computer club The Computer club conference is designed for members of Avalon Academy’s computer club. This conference provides information and a communications forum, where members can exchange computer-related information, chat and post questions. Computer club conference (client view) (Double-click to enlarge)  About this conference The About this conference document, in the main window, briefly describes the purpose of the conference and how to use the different features. It also contains information on conference moderators and how to contact them, and a copy of the school policies outlining rules and regulations. Computalk chat The Computalk chat conference is used as an open forum for student discussion on any computer subject. This is synchronous communication, so participants get immediate responses to their questions or statements. This feature is very popular with Avalon students, as they tend to use the chat after school to discuss solutions for their home computer problems. Techies online Similarly, students use the Techies online conference for operating system and repair queries, system tricks and tips. However, unlike a chat, this feature is asynchronous, so students email questions and retrieve responses at another time. This venue is great for lengthy problems that require some research. Depending on your school’s system resources, your students can create a wide variety of interesting, student-centered conferences. Try it! An extracurricular activity to introduce your students to other students around the world that use FirstClass. Set up a public conference for members of the chess club to allow matches among local students or matches between themselves and international students. These asynchronous matches can be accomplished by allowing students to communicate through conferences and exchange private email. If you don’t have the appropriate rights to achieve this, ask your administrator to assist you, or make the suggestion to the chess club to implement it on their own. Sports activities Sports play a significant role in most secondary schools. Not only are students and coaches actively involved in this area, but also many teachers and parents. Conferences can be created for the different sports teams, and useful information can be posted. This information can include practice and game dates, pep rally announcements, fund raiser advertising, sign-up sheets and applications, permission forms, or any other information that team members, coaches, teachers, parents, or other students may find useful. The Avalon football team To provide students, teachers, and parents with information concerning their sports teams and events, Avalon’s administrator created this initial conference structure: • a main conference called Sports Central • four conferences within the Sports Central conference, one for each of the sports (Baseball, Hockey, Football, Swimming) • a conference called Cheering Squad. Within the football conference, the football coach then created: • three conferences called Get Involved, Team Rosters, and Uniforms & Equipment, respectively • a calendar called Games & Practices. Sports Central conference structure (Double-click to enlarge)  Similar conferences were created by the respective coach for each of the sports teams. The administrator places shortcuts of these conferences directly on the teachers’ and students’ Desktops. Both of these groups can access these items either from the web site or when they are logged in through the FirstClass client. Coaches and Contacts The Football conference contains a document on the main page, in addition to the nested conferences, called Coaches and Contacts. Its purpose is to provide information on how to contact coaches and volunteers. Note Additional documents can also be posted to indicate game results and maintain statistics. Team Rosters The Team Rosters conference contains a list of all the athletes on Avalon’s football team. Get Involved The Get Involved conference tells students how they can participate, either by joining the football team, volunteering their services, or just attending games to show their support. Uniforms & Equipment The Uniforms & Equipment conference contains a document that lets athletes know what the school provides for them, and what they must provide themselves. This way, participating students have an accessible list of required items they can show their parents. The coaches update this document as required. Uniforms & Equipment document (client view) (Double-click to enlarge) |