Class Notebook - Setting up your new Class Notebook
At Scotch, it is a requirement that teachers set up their class notebooks within a Class Team, and not their OneDrive account.
At the commencement of a new academic year, class teams are automatically generated and populated. Teachers do not need to manually add or remove students from the team or the class notebook.
However, teachers will need to add content and student sections to the class notebook. Please check with your CL prior to setting up your Class Notebook to ensure you are following the correct protocol.
1. Set up:
Open your Class Team > Click on the Set-Up Class Notebook icon to get started.
Please discuss with your Curriculum Leader what the correct process is for your subject.
2. Adding Content
Before you set up your class notebook, you should think about the folder structure of the Content Library and Student Sections (how do you want this to look?).
If using an existing notebook:
- Select the notebook you want to copy (you can select from multiple notebooks).
- Next, select the sections you want to copy.
It is common practice for staff to create a master version of the content library in a notebook that only teaching staff have access to (located in a staff curriculum team). Staff can collaborate in this notebook and add content to the master, which is then easily copied into individual class notebooks at the teacher’s discretion.
This master version can then be used in subsequent years. Having this notebook saved to a staff team means it is not attached to an individual staff member. When staff leave or join the college, they will have access to the notebook when they are added to the team.
3. Creating Student Sections
Everyone has different preferences for how they want to organise the students’ folders.
Some teachers choose to structure the student folders to match the content library. This makes it easier when distributing work to student sections and when reviewing student work. It also keeps the content in a logical structure for the students within the context of their learning.
Unfortunately, you can’t add section groups to student notebooks during this initial set up stage – this needs to be done using the class notebook tab. Therefore, some teachers hold off on creating student sections at this point and distribute sections groups when the notebook is set up.
// Why use Section Groups?
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Section Groups help to reduce the number of sections visible and make it easier for students to navigate the content. Students can simply open the section group they are currently working on and collapse the ones they don’t need.
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This is great for subjects such as HASS and Science where there are distinct “subjects / units of work”: e.g., chemistry, biology, physics, human biology, etc. and students rotate teachers each term.
// How to Distribute Section Groups:
Click on the Class Notebook toolbar > Click Distribute New Section Group. This will send the section group to all student notebooks.
4. Adding Students
Students will be automatically added to your class notebook when they are added to the Class Team. This can sometimes take a while to synchronise, so please be patient.
Once the students have opened the Class Notebook in Teams, we encourage them to open it in the desktop app. This will allow them to move content easily between notebooks, and switch between class notebooks quickly.
Click here for a more detailed guide on setting up a Class Notebook within Teams
Check out this sway for Top Teacher Tips for Class Notebook