Introduction to Class Tools

Overview

Classwize’s Class Tools help you manage your classroom and students. Class Tools can be used to:

• Message students,
• Focus their attention on specific sites and applications,
• Give them temporary access to fun sites as a reward,
• Block them from using the internet entirely, or
• Temporarily add or remove students from your class.

Availability

Some Classwize features for teachers are not available at every school. The features available at your school depend on:

• How your school has configured Classwize,
• What types of devices your students use, and
• If Linewize Connect has been installed on your students’ devices.

Class tools at a glance

• Open site lets you open a site in a new browser window or tab for all students in your class.
• Announcement lets you send simple text messages to your students.
• Focus stops students from accessing the Internet except for one or more Focus sites you set.
• Reward lets you give your class temporary access to something fun.
• Pause internet lets you temporarily stop one or more students from accessing the internet.
• Modify students lets you add or remove students to correctly reflect who is present in your class.
• Bypass code generates a code that will allow any user who has it to bypass the filter.
• Screen Share lets you share your Chrome Tab, Window or Entire Screen with your students.

Class tools in detail

Open Site

Image 1: Open a site for your class window

Use Open Site when you want to direct all students to a resource. Open Site opens a website in a new browser window or tab for all students in your class. Students can close the tab or browse away from it.

Announcement

Use Announcement to send one-way text messages to all students.

Image 2: Send a class announcement window

What can students see?

How your students see your messages depends on how they're using Classwize:

• Chromebook or a Chrome browser
  The message appears on top of their current active Chrome window and will stay there until the student closes the message or clicks away to a new tab or site. If you send multiple messages, they'll all appear in the order that you sent them.
• Other browsers and operating systems
  The message appears as a pop-up in the center of the student's screen and will stay there until the student selects OK.

Focus

Use Focus to restrict students to particular websites, categories, or URLs. Focus stops students from accessing the Internet except for the Focus resources you’ve set, such as websites and URLs. See Adding Focus Sessions for more information on how to start and manage Focus sessions.

What happens during a Focus session?

Focus works differently depending on the device type.

Chrome

• Chrome will open the Focus sites in new tabs.
• Non-Focus tabs will close immediately.
• Opening non-Focus resources will be blocked.
• Focus YouTube videos will open in full-screen mode.
• Google Docs and Drive will open in two (2) tabs - one for Drive and one for Docs.

Windows and macOS

Focus works best with the default browser. When Focus starts:

On default browsers:

• A single Focus site or URL will open in the default browser.
• Existing browser tabs on any open browser will remain open but will return a block page if they are refreshed and outside of the focus.
• Opening non-Focus resources will be blocked.
• Focus YouTube videos will open in full-screen mode in the default browser.

On non-default browsers:

• The student must manually open the Focus resources. Focus sites or links will not open automatically.
• Open tabs will stay open, but will return a Blocked page when refreshed.
• New access to non-Focus links or sites will be blocked
• When Focus starts, a message will also appear on the student’s screen, informing them that the class has been focused by the teacher.

Once Focus starts, a message will appear on the student’s screen, telling them the classroom has been focused and the focus website has been opened in their (default) browser. Students using Connect on Windows or macOS must select OK to close the message.

Image 3: Warning message for students when a teacher has focused on a website

The Class is Focused indicator will also appear on the class toolbar.

Image 4: Class is Focused indicator on the class toolbar

Reward

Use Reward when you want to give your class temporary access to something fun, like streaming media or online games. You can set the Reward duration from 10 minutes to 3 hours, then it will switch off at the end of your chosen duration.

Image 5: Reward settings window

Editing the Reward settings

While Reward is running, you will see the green Reward button on the Class toolbar.

Image 6: Reward indicator on the class toolbar

Selecting the Reward button will display the Reward status dialog, which shows how much time is left.

1. Use the Applications and websites search field to add more sites students can access for the remainder of the Reward period.
2. Select the X next to the site or application that you want to remove.
3. Select Update to save your changes.
4. Select Stop to turn off Reward immediately.

Pause Internet

Use Pause internet to temporarily stop one or more students from accessing the internet.

1. To pause the internet for all students, select Apply to all students.
2. To pause the internet for selected students, enter and select their names in the Select students field.
3. Select the X next to the name of the student you want to exclude.
4. Select Pause to start pausing the internet.
5. Select the X on the upper-right to close the dialog or to cancel pausing the internet.

Image 7: Pause the internet for students window

When Pause Internet is on, the Paused button appears on the class toolbar. The Internet Paused indicator and the Browsing Locked splash screen also appear on the tile of each student whose access to the internet has been paused.

Image 8: Internet is Paused indicators on the Classroom view

What can Teachers see?

Teachers can still monitor the screens of students who are on Connect for Windows or Mac even when they cannot browse the Internet. For students on the Connect Chrome extension, Teachers can see the Browsing Locked splash screen.

Editing the Pause Internet settings

To add, remove, update, or stop pausing the internet, select the Paused button.

1. Select Apply to all students to pause the internet for the whole class, or deselect this feature to pause the internet only for some students.
2. If you’ve paused the internet only for some students and want to add more to the list, enter their name in the Select students field.
3. Select the X next to a student’s name to remove them from the list.
4. Select Update to save your changes.
5. Select End Pause to stop pausing the internet.

To end the Pause Internet for a student via Classroom View, select the Resume Internet button on the student tile.

Image 9: Pause Internet button on a student tile

Modify students

Image 10: Modify students window

Use Modify Students to add or remove students to correctly reflect who is present in your class. However, if the class is synced with another data source like Google Classroom or Classlink, the changes you make may be reset after your class ends, or after you manually sync your classes.

See Managing Students in a Class for more information on adding and removing students from different types of classes.

Bypass Code

Use a Bypass Code when you're not sure why a student can't get to a website and using an Allow filtering rule isn't working to give them access. You can also give a Bypass Code to a student when you want them to do self-directed inquiry in an environment where you or they can't be disturbed.

Image 11: Bypass Code settings window

You can only generate one Bypass Code at a time, but multiple students can use the same code. The student can enter the code on the blocked page, or by going to my.linewize.net. The Bypass Code will let the student access any website that is not Locked (hard-blocked) by your school. This feature is not available for Smoothwall users.

Screen Share

Classwize Screen Share allows you to share your screen with one or multiple students during an active Classwize class. You can share your Chrome Tab, Window or Entire Screen.

Read Using Classwize Screen Share for more information.