Different settings of setting up a class


General information

Starting with the general information, users will find all of the basic settings needed to create a class. Options for these settings consist of the following: 

  • School where the class takes place
  • Period the class occurs during
  • Grading Term (Ex. Winter of 2022 or Spring of 2025, etc.)
  • Link previous grading term
  • Class Card Image
    • The basic color will be the background color of the image
    • Similar to banner images you can select an image from our library of images or upload your own
  • Class Name
  • Description of what the class is and what students will learn 


Features

The Features section displays different settings teachers can use to set up a class. These different features may vary depending on teachers. Please see the list below to see the different features

  • Toggle to Disable Google Calendar. This will disable Google Calendar for both students and teachers.
  • Option to delete Google Calendar at the end of the grading term (Ex. Google Calendar when the Winter 2022 term is over)
  • Self Paced Learning - Teachers can click this to allow students to go through the class at their own pace. This can be useful for independent study and/or homeschooling.
  • Automatic Class ePortfolios - When students are placed in this class, they will automatically have an ePortfolio be created 
  • Notification features to students
    • New activities are published/become available - Sends students notifications when new activities are published
    • Activities are graded - Sends students notifications when activities have been graded
    • Grading comments have been made - Sends notifications to students when comments have been made on an activity


Grading

 

The teacher can control how the class is graded for students.

  • Hide Percentages from Students - This will not display percentages in the class. Students will still be able to see points earned.
  • Apply Assignment Scores Immediately - If this toggle is turned on then grades entered in the grade book will automatically apply to students' overall grades. Otherwise, activities will need to be marked grading complete for those scores to be applied to the overall grade.
  • Standards based grading - Standards based grading allows for teachers to grade activities based on standards. Teachers can add, move, or delete standards. Teachers can choose from the latest score, highest score, or average score as well.
  • Final Grade Scale - Teachers can select a custom grading scale so that overall grades are scaled based on different percentages. For example, teachers can change what percentage students need to earn for an "A" in the class. To create a new grading scale or modify an existing one, click on the Setup grading scales link to create the desired scale for the class. Then use the dropdown to select the preferred grading scale.
  • Grading Categories - Setup categories allow teachers to set up weighted categories to help categorize activities and calculate the class grade.
  • Rubrics - Teachers can manage the rubrics for which activities are graded by clicking on the Setup rubrics link.
  • Apply Weighting to Formative & Summative assignments - This will allow activities graded as formative to be weighted in the overall score. If this is turned off then formative activities will not affect students' overall grades. 
  • Grading Floor - This allows teachers to set the lowest possible grade that a student can receive on an activity.


Custom Tabs

Class Layout - Teachers can choose between v1 or v2. v2 will display the sidebar at the top and v1 will display the sidebar to the left. Selecting either one will determine where the sidebar is shown. Below is an image of how the v2 layout should look.

Below the class layout are the custom tabs. Here, the teacher can control what tabs are available to students and the teacher of the class. Teachers can manage which tabs are displayed in the left sidebar of the class. Teachers are given the options of: 

  • On - both teachers and students can access the tab
  • Off - both teachers and students cannot access the tab 
  • Teacher Only - only teachers can access the tab while students will not be able to access the tab

The custom tabs consist of:

  • Google Classroom (TBA)
  • Homepage
  • Announcements
  • Modules
  • Assignments 
  • Discussions
  • Assessments
  • Conferences
  • Gradebook 
    • On - Gradebook will be displayed and students will be able to see their scores
    • Off - This will turn off grading for the class
    • The Teacher only - Teachers will be able to see grades, but students will not be able to see their scores anywhere.
  • Students - This allows whether students can see the roster to the class or not.
  • Tools

Located on the left side of each tab are six dots, teachers can drag and drop these dots to reorder each tab to their liking. Teachers can also rearrange the tabs directly on the left-side menu.


SIS Sync

This section is only available if the current eKadence class was created using information from SIS. The roster sync should automatically be enabled. This will keep the roster of students up to date with the information we receive from the SIS. However, the grade-book sync will need to be enabled manually to ensure that the grades match. Please link sections before enabling Grade-Book sync, see our article Linking Sections for more information. If you are syncing with Aeries, please see our article Aeries Gradebook Sync for a step-by-step tutorial on this one-time setup.


Co-teaching

To add another user as a co-teacher, click on Add Faculty and use the search to find another user's name. See our article Co-Teacher Permissions for more information on the different permissions co-teachers are allowed.


Bell Schedule

The bell schedule allows for the teacher to set the time that the class will take place. Teachers can select the days of the week and class duration. If teachers have any weekend classes, teachers can also select the Add Weekend button to add class time for the weekends with the same weekday settings included.


Google Classroom (TBA)

Here teachers will be able to connect their eKadence to their Google Classroom. This feature is currently in development and is not ready for use.

Linked Sections

Located at the bottom of the Setup Class page is the button to link sections. Linking sections is a feature that allows a teacher to group their classes together when they cover the same material. This allows for managing content just once, and all the linked classes are updated together. See our article Linking Sections for more information on how to set up your Aeries/SIS class and eKadence class to allow for the grade-book sync. For a tutorial on how to link sections see step 2 of the Linking Sections article.


Settings for Linked Sections

In a class with linked sections, the Setup Class page has tabs at the top for each section. 

Some settings can only be changed in the master section as they affect all of the sections in the class. If a user is in a linked section then the text or the button will be faded then that setting may be a class setting versus a section setting. The images below will display all the settings that are class settings and not section settings. Section settings for a linked section are:

  • Link previous grading term
  • Class Name
  • Description
  • Self-Paced Learning
  • Automatic Class ePortfolios
  • Student notifications
  • Grading Floor percentage
  • SIS Sync
  • Adding/Removing Co-Teachers
  • Bell Schedule