Table of Contents |
1 - Signing into your account
When your Online School Lite has been created, you will receive an email with your school URL, your username, and your password.
If you don't receive this information within 3 working days, please double check your spam folder, and then contact support@learncube.com for help.
To sign into your new Online School Lite, simply navigate to your school URL, and enter the username and password provided.
You will be directed to your teacher dashboard, which looks like this:
From this dashboard, you can view upcoming classes and easily navigate to your past classes, calendar, and school admin sections.
2 - Exploring your Online School Lite
A lot of teachers don't know where to start with their new Online School.
The first steps are really simple. They should take no longer than an hour, and once you've completed them, you will feel much more confident.
In this section, you will: |
2.1 - Set up your teacher profile
When you log into your new account, the first thing you should do is update your timezone and add some information to your teacher profile.
Click on the profile icon on the top right of your dashboard
Select "Settings", and then "Edit profile"
The most important fields to fill out are:
Profile Image* | You can upload an image file here. We recommend a friendly headshot with a plain background. Remember that the image will be cropped in a circle. |
I teach | The subject(s) that you teach. It is possible to add multiple subjects here. |
Timezone | You should set the timezone that you are currently living in. Please remember to update this setting if you move to a new timezone. |
Your Quote* | This short text will appear under your profile picture |
Qualifications* | You can add your qualifications here if you like. If you choose to leave it blank, the section will not appear on your profile. |
About Me* | Here you should add a short paragraph introducing yourself to your students. Think about the tone you'd like to set and what information students would like to know about you. |
| *It's okay if you choose to leave these sections blank. |
When you have added the desired information, click on "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page.
Next, you should go back to your dashboard and run the troubleshooter tool.
The troubleshooter tool is accessible from the button on the bottom of teacher and student dashboards.
You can also navigate to the link directly. The link will be your school URL followed by "/troubleshooter".
For example:
lite.live-online-classes.com/troubleshooter
To avoid frustration, it's a good idea to send prospective students this link in advance of their first class.
2.2 - Create a student account
When you receive your login information, you should also receive an example student login, so that you can see the school from the student's side. In this section, we will walk you through setting up a new test student account.
Please note that this is recommended even if you would like students to create their own accounts, as it will give you a better understanding of account management.
First, click on the student icon on your admin menu, on the left of your dashboard.
This page will show you an overview of all your student accounts.
To create a new account, click on “add student” on the top right, and select “online student.”
Next, you'll need to set a username, enter the student’s first name last name, their an email address, and a password. Please note that the username and email address must be unique for each student.
For this example student, you can use a fake email address if you like. Anything with the format "x@y.z" will work. Please note though, that for actual students, you should avoid fake email addresses, as they won't be able to get class reminders, password resets, and other notifications.
What if two students want to share an email address? In this case, you can add a "+" symbol before the @. The emails will get through to the same email, but our system will read it as a unique address. For Example:
Student 1 - johnsmith@gmail.com Student 2 - johnsmith+1@gmail.com Student 3 - johnsmith+2@gmail.com |
Next you will want to fill in some details.
To edit the account information, click on “edit” in the top right corner.
One very important setting is the account status, which should always be set to "current".
So that you can enrol your test student into classes, you will need to add some class credits. We recommend doing this even if you are going to use our automatic payment gateway, so you get an understanding of how the system works.
To do so:
Click on the "Edit Account" button on their admin profile.
Double check that their account status is set to "active".
Add some credits to "private classes allowed" and "group classes allowed"
2.3 - Book a class, and a course
Next up, we want to practice creating some classes and courses.
Creating Classes
From your dashboard, you can click on “add class” and then select “Add a single class.”
On the class creation menu, you’ll need to choose the teacher, start time, and end time. Please note that the start and end time will be in your time, so you may need to adjust it accordingly for a student in a different timezone. Students will automatically see classes appearing in their time.
You can also add info such as the subject, level, and a description.
Finally, you should decide whether this is a group or 1:1 class.
When you hit save, you’ll be directed to the enrolment page. You can choose to add a student now, or just click continue, to create a class with empty spaces.
If you want to wait, and enrol students later, you can do so from the "upcoming classes" section of your class admin, or by clicking on the class title (in the case of this example, "English B1") on your dashboard.
Your student will automatically receive a confirmation email, and the class will now appear on your dashboard and your student's dashboard.
Creating Courses
If you want to create regular classes on a set schedule, it's possible to do so all at once, rather than creating the classes individually. Again, click on "+ Add Class" on your teacher dashboard, but this time select "Add course schedule."
What is the "Recurring schedule" option? A course is a series of connected classes, with the same students enrolled each time. A recurring schedule is a series of unconnected students. This allows you to create a set of empty classrooms in bulk, and then enrol different students into each one individually. |
Setting up a course is the same as setting up a class, but we will also need to add a schedule. To do so, click on "+ Add schedule". You will need to choose the frequency and number of occurrences. Each occurrence is one class, not one week, so in the example below, we are creating a 4-week course with 2 classes per week.
It is possible to choose the end date instead of the occurrences, but occurrences are more recommended, as it makes life easier in terms of class credits. Remember that your students need enough class credits to be enrolled into the full course.
When you click on "Save" you will be brought to the course menu, from where it is possible to further edit your course, enrol students, and add or delete classes.
You will also see the classes appearing on your teacher dashboard. To return to the course menu, click on this icon, beside the class title:
2.4 - Set up your calendar
Your calendar allows you to easily manage classes and set your availability, in a visual format. To access your calendar, go to your dashboard and click on "Calendar" on the top right.
You will see the current week, with any classes you have set up appearing in blue.
It is possible to drag and drop these classes, to reschedule, delete, or change their duration. Please note though - students will not receive automatic notifications for edits like this, so you should always notify students directly when making changes.
If you want your students to self-book classes directly from your calendar, you will need to set availability. You can do this by dragging and dropping the green available box onto the desired time.
You can also click on "Add Recurring Availability" to add repeating slots. On this menu, you will need to choose the start time, end time, which days you'd like the availability to appear on, and set an end date.
You will now see the green available slots appearing on your chosen times and days.
2.5 - Explore the student experience
Now that you've seen the school from the teacher side, it's important to take a look from the student side too. To log out, click on your profile icon on the top right of the screen, and then click "Sign out".
Now you'll need to click on "Sign in" again, and enter the login details of the test student account you've set up. The student dashboard looks very much like your teacher dashboard, with upcoming classes appearing and options to book classes.
To practice booking a class, click on "Book a Private Class". You can either click on a time on the teacher's schedule here, or click their name to see their profile in more detail.
You will notice that it is not possible to book classes with less than 24 hours' notice, but any other available slot can be chosen. Classes already booked by this student will appear as green, and classes booked by other students will appear as red.
Remember that if you do not want students to self-book, you should not set any availability on your calendar. That way, they will be able to look at your profile and see the classes you have booked, but not add any extra classes themselves.
2.6 - Explore the Virtual Classroom
Finally, you'll need to familiarise yourself with the classroom itself. We have this useful training playlist on YouTube which goes through all the features you'll need to use.
As a teacher, you can enter upcoming classes at any time and prepare the material. For practice, however, it's better to use a demo room. Your demo room is an instant meeting link and allows you to access a LearnCube classroom at any time, without needing to schedule it on your calendar. You can share this link with anyone, and they will be able to enter the room as a student, while you will enter as a teacher (as long as you are logged in.)
You can find your demo room link by navigating to your teacher's admin panel, and clicking on your name.
Your demo room link will appear on the bottom left corner, under the account info and password reset.
If you don't see a demo room link, you will need to add one. You can do this by clicking on "Edit" and then checking the "Demo Classroom" box. Click "Save" and the demo room link will now appear on your admin profile.
