Administrators’ Guide - Make the Switch to Remote Learning With ClassLink

March 31, 2020
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Moving your entire district to remote and online learning at a moment’s notice is no easy feat. At ClassLink, we want to support you through this transition. In this post, you’ll find an easy-to-follow guide outlining critical steps you should take to prepare your teachers, staff, and students for using ClassLink to learn at home.

We’ve also gathered useful support documents and expert tips, so you and your school community have everything you need to get started.

As always, if you have questions that aren’t answered here, contact us. We’re here to help.

Important first steps

Make it easy to access and use ClassLink

With ClassLink up and running, you can focus on giving staff, students, and parents quick access to ClassLink at home.

  • Provide a link to your district’s specific ClassLink login page from your district homepage. This is crucial. Most of our helpdesk calls right now are parents and students who can’t find their district login page.
  • If you’re still sending devices home, we strongly recommend the ClassLink district login page is the default homepage of the browser, or that the mobile app (iOS or Google Play) has been installed on mobile devices.
  • Send staff members their username, password, and these tutorials:
  • Give parents and students their login and usage details and these tutorials:

Which resources are students using?

A significant challenge with remote learning is measuring student engagement. With ClassLink Analytics, you gain detailed analytics about the usage of digital learning resources across your district, even when staff and students are at home.

You can quickly and easily see which digital resources are most-used and which are least-used by school, grade level, classroom, and even individuals. This detailed, useful data will help you make informed decisions about professional development, adoption, and purchasing.

Use the Dashboard to see an overview of your district's logins, top used apps, and most active users, groups, and schools

Here’s how to get started with ClassLink Analytics:

  • Give all necessary district and building administrators as well as curriculum personnel permission and access to Analytics.
  • If your district uses Roster Server, you can give teachers access to the My Classes feature. With this tool, teachers can:
    • add new applications for students to use,
    • access usage analytics for individual students and classes

Use ClassLink to share essential messages

You can send important notifications to teachers or students through the Notifications feature. You can choose to send notices to specific profiles, groups, or to all users. For example, you could share a note to all seniors, reminding them of a deadline to submit a project.

On your ClassLink login page, you can also share global messages to all users by adding a banner message to the top of the screen or a drop-down alert message. Some districts use this option to provide a quick link to support or remind students to download the ClassLink mobile app if they’re using a mobile device at home.

Remote learning tips from experts and administrators

Along with support from ClassLink, you likely want advice and tips from others in the trenches of remote learning. With that in mind, we asked administrators and education experts to share practical advice for districts as they move to remote learning. Here are their top tips:

Provide connectivity and access

  • Use mobile hotspots to provide internet access to students who don’t have WiFi at home. 
  • Some Internet providers are also offering free or low-cost access for a limited time. (Learn more here.)

Consider special needs and at-risk students 

  • Provide accommodations for students with special needs 
  • Find ways to continue to deliver free and reduced lunch to students who need it through home delivery. Some schools are already using volunteers, the transportation department, bus services, or police and fire departments to deliver meals to students. 

Consider your preparedness for the transition to remote learning 

Contact ClassLink if you need help

If you need additional assistance, contact us. We’re here to help.

888-963-7550 x1
helpdesk@classlink.com

Categories:

ClassLink
Education Leaders
Remote Learning

About the Author

About the Authors

Jamie Saponaro

Director of Community & Professional Learning

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ClassLink

Learning and always growing, Jamie Saponaro is an educator with a passion for sharing topics in education that are near and dear to her heart. Her background as an instructional strategies consultant, educational coach and mentor, technology administrator, and middle school teacher have brought her to ClassLink as Director of Community and Professional Learning where she co-hosts the LinkedUp podcast and its boundary-breaking guests.

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