Teacher’s Handbook Communications

Follow us on: www.tcsion.com

Learning is Communicating..

The process of learning hinges on communication. As an instructor, how do you communicate concepts and their application, how often can you interact with your students and even peers, to create how do you share timely information relevant to your lessons, assessments and

student activities

Communication is the key for imparting lessons, getting student inputs and providing them feedback. However, with heavy workload, communication is often one-sided in a typical classroom. A teacher does not have the time to constantly interact with students. iON Learning Exchange helps overcome these challenges, with tools designed specifically for engagement in class and out of class. Learning Exchange is uniquely positioned to do so, as it is based on the Learning Practice Framework, which we call the 3E Framework focused on “Empower, Excel and Engage”. The framework builds in communication and collaboration features at every step of the academic lifecycle.

Learning Exchange is with you at every step. This handbook gives you a detailed step to step guide about how to

create and schedule assignments to your learners.

Communication through Learning Exchange

Eliminate the complex yet routine cycles of circulars to students and parents

With iON Learning Exchange (LX) you can –

Share important information or updates using blog or byte features

Upload circulars in one shot using the media tool

Choose groups for selective information sharing or choose to send information to all

Design and create colourful banners that showcase class & student achievements, events, and more

Become a Green champion and reduce use of paper by posting all communications online

Contents Share important information or updates using blog or byte features

Upload circulars in one shot using the media tool

Choose groups for selective information sharing or choose to send information to all

Design and create colourful banners that showcase class & student achievements, events,

and more

We will learning more about these features in the following sections

Share important information or updates using blog or byte features

A blog is a small journal where any topic of interest can be posted. You can write an article, your research or other detailed information in a blogpost. You can get feedback from other members for your information through vote and comment mechanisms.

If you want to write in-depth about a topic that interests you, then you had best choose Blog. To blog, follow these steps

1. Go to MyCommunities/ My Courses

2. Select a Particular Community/Course

3. Then Click Post.

4. Click Blog. Following screen is displayed.

3. You will need to fill in the following elements in the blog:

Title For Your Blog

Add Link – This will give you a dropdown listing all posts in the specific community. You can select any of these as reference to the blog. You can filter these on the basis of type of enabler used such as blog, media etc. Select the relevant post and Click to add.

Add to Topic – In this field, select the topic for the post. To select from existing topics, start typing in and the topic name would appear. If the topic is not in the existing list, then write the full name of the topic and click ADD in the dropdown. You can filter the post on timeline with this topic, using the filter for topics.

Share With – This field allows you to select the people or groups you want to share the blog with who will be able to view the post in SHARE WITH.

Describe Your Blog - Here you can write the actual content of your blog as per the rules given on right side of the screen

If you do not want to blog it or change your mind, click Cancel

Click Blog to post your content

The Blog will be shown on the community/course timeline as shown below.

The user will be able to view first 150 characters of the Blog. After 150 characters the user will view the More link, clicking on which the user will view the whole Blog in a new page. The user will be able to add the blog to favorites by clicking on favorite icon.

Byte A byte is similar to a news byte or a micro-blog. Jot down your thoughts or feelings in 140 characters or less. Any member of the course/community can vote to express acceptance of the views and even comment on the same. You can post a byte to communicate about reminders, notices, submission dates, important events, or even birthdays or special days etc. It’s a quick way to reach out to your students. To post a Byte:

1. Go to My Communities/ My Courses>> Particular Community/Course >>Post.

2. Click Byte. Following Screen with various fields is displayed.

3. Share the text in WRITE YOUR THOUGHTS in 140 characters or less. 4. UseAdd Link if you want to add reference to your byte from the existing posts in the community you

have chosen. 5. Select the topic for the post. To select the topic start typing in ADD TO TOPICS, if the topic is not in

the existing list, then write the full name of the topic and click ADD in the dropdown. You can filter the post on timeline with this topic, using the filter for topics.

6. Select the people who will be able to view the post in SHARE WITH. 7. Click Byte! to post or Cancel if you decide not to byte after all.

Once you post, the Byte is shown on timeline as in screenshot below.

Upload circulars in one shot using the media tool

Circulars, event announcements, flyers or leaflet or competitions information or any other information you want to share, you can do so using the media tool.

You can upload multiple files under one title. Multiple images of a maximum size of 100Mb or a single video of maximum size 100Mb can be uploaded. Supported file formats are - pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf, xls, xlsx, html, jpeg, gif, png, zip, xzip, gz, gtar, tgz, swf, avi, flv, wmv, exe, psd, fla, cp, cptx, webm, ogv, mp3, mp4, ogg, mpeg. Add in flv format for online viewing. Any member of the course/community can rate the post and comment on the same.

You can upload maximum 10 images/files each of a maximum size of 100Mb or a single video/file of maximum size 100Mb.

To post a media:

1. Go to My Communities/ My Courses>> Particular Community/Course >>Post. 2. Click Media. Following screen is displayed.

3. Specify Title of post/album. 4. Click Get From Global Repository to select a media. 5. Click on Add files (Select files to upload). The total file size should not exceed 500 mb.

Alternatively, drag and drop files from desktop.

5. Select Add Description for each media file to add details about the media file.

6. Select the topic for the media. To select the topic start typing in Topics/Album, if the topic is not in the existing list, then write the full name of the topic and click ADD in the dropdown. You can filter the post on timeline with this topic, using the filter for topics.

7. Select the people who will be able to view the post in SHARE WITH.

8. Select whether the download of media will be allowed or not.

9. Click Upload.

The media uploaded will shown on the community/course timeline in an album view. The first media from post is displayed in a frame. The description and comments are displayed if there is only one media in post.

Choose groups for selective information sharing or choose to send information to all

LX defines various share levels so you can control access to your communities. You may hence share your post/content with all or selected members of your communities. The share level option is available for every post you make.

Following share levels are allowed in LX:

Private: Post/Content is visible and accessible to author only. Public: Post/Content in a Community/Course is visible to all members of the Community/Course. Open to All: Post/Content is visible to all members of the organisation by selecting Open To Organisation

filter in Global Search. Profiles: Post/Content is visible and accessible to selected profiles only. User Groups: Post/Content is visible and accessible to selected usergroups only.

Note: You cannot select more than one type of Share Levels. For example, if you select to share with selected profiles, then you can select the profile for sharing only, you cannot choose to share with user groups also for the post.

Design and create colourful banners that showcase class & student achievements, events, and more

Banner depicts the ideology of a particular community/course. It represents the goal associated with a particular Community/Course. Default Banners are provisioned in LX by same intent.

To upload banner:

1. Go to My Communities/Manage Courses

2. >> Particular Community / Course >>Manage>>Upload Organisation Banner.

3. Click Select File to select a file for banner. Select and upload image of type JPEG (max size 5MB), 1024 x 89px resolution for best results.

4. Click Upload to upload the selected file.

To remove banner:

1. Go to My Communities/Manage Courses>> Particular Community / Course >>Manage>>Remove Organisation Banner.

2. A message Are you sure you want to remove banner? is displayed in pop-up. Click OK to confirm deletion.

About TCS iON

TCS iON is a strategic unit of Tata Consultancy Services focused on Small and Medium

Businesses as well as educational institutions. We provide technology by means of a

unique IT-as-a-Service model, offering end-to-end business solutions for the sector.

TCS iON caters to the needs of multiple industry segments, through innovative, easy-to-

use, secured, integrated, hosted solutions in a build-as-you-grow, pay-as-you-use

business model. We serve our clients with the help of best practices gained through TCS’

global experience, domestic market reach, skills, and delivery capabilities.

For more information, visit us at www.tcsion.com

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization

that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can

match.

TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled infrastructure,

engineering, and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network

Delivery ModelTM

, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part

of the Tata Group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has a global footprint and is

listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India.

For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com

IT Services

Business

Solutions

Consulting

All content / information present here is the exclusive property of Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS). The content / information

contained here is correct at the time of publishing. No material from here may be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, uploaded,

transmitted, posted or distributed in any form without prior written permission from TCS. Unauthorized use of the content / information

appearing here may violate copyright, trademark and other applicable laws, and could result in criminal or civil penalties. F

f Copyright © 2015 Tata Consultancy Services Limited