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Registering Students and Adding Them as Members


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  • First thing, of course, is that you have to register. Then let us know that you want to add students by emailing allisonpr@gmail.com or Post a Comment to this Task or Post a Message on our course wall. We'll give you access to Admin pages you need to add and to manage your students's accounts.
     
  • Each user of Youth Voices must have a unique email address. You need to collect your students' email addresses and make some decisions about usernames.
    • Many of us who use Youth Voices also use Google Apps for Education which allows you to provide students with a standard gmail address and Docs and more.
    • Other teachers prefer students to have their own Google accounts.
    • Another option is to use one Google account and add each student with a +student's Username after your username and before the @ sign, similar to what Sue Waters suggests here:http://theedublogger.com/2008/07/24/creating-student-accounts-using-one-gmail-account/ 
    • Please use a simple name-based option for usernames. We suggest that you use whatever username standard your school might already be using for other projects.
      • Some use First Name+Last Initial
      • Others prefer First Initial+Last Name
      • Still others add the graduation year (eg. 15+First Name+Last Initial)
  • Once you figure out the email situation, you can start adding students by putting them in under Admin Options / Add users 
  • The next two required fields are for your students' passwords. Use something that is safe and that you can look up quickly.
    • Some of us use the students' ID numbers, digits that are also used on attendance
    • Others work this out with each student and keep a list in a spreadsheet
    • You need something that will allow the student to find it quickly when you say, "Your password is your OSIS number plus NDSS," or something like that.
  • Next, add each student's First Name. (Last Names are not recommended for students.)
  • Please add your entire school name like this -- with quotation marks --
    "Bronx Academy Senior High, Bronx, NY, USA" 
    Once you do it, this will begin to fll in for you automatically in the future.
  • Also (until we find a way to automate this), create, copy and pase a sentence into each of your students' Bio forms when you register them, something like:
    "I'm a student at Bronx Academy Senior High in the Bronx."


LAST STEPS - Don't forget to make them members!
 

  • Once students are registered on the site, you have to go back to Admin Options, click the box next to each name, go to Bulk Operations, and click "Add to Member Role." Then students can post discussions and they will have access to their profile pages.
     
  • Again, please take the time add the a line in the Bio box for each student. It will help us to identify where they come from. Just add a simple sentence like:  "I'm a student at Windsor High in Windsor, Colorado." We can always do this later too.

Task Discussion


  • Harry B   June 19, 2012, 9:51 p.m.

    What do you suggest as the best thing for students as far as registering them?

    Most of my students we will try this with, are connected via our staff site on facebook for our magazine, but our school uses google religiously, so most have a school gmail account already.  

    Just confused because there are so many options!  :)  Thanks!

     

    Harry

  • Tricia Clarke   Feb. 7, 2012, 3:16 p.m.

    I added my students to Youth Voices!!! I am so excited about the possibilities.

    Today would have been the day for students to add their profiles, but classes had to be cancelled. 

    I can't wait for students to make their voices heard!

  • Chris Sloan   Feb. 7, 2012, 5:05 p.m.
    In Reply To:   Tricia Clarke   Feb. 7, 2012, 3:16 p.m.

    I'm with you there, Tricia.  Having my students publish in Youth Voices has changed my teaching for the better in many ways.  For example, right now in today's class, the students are using their newly acquired public library cards to research databases. They'll be posting what they find as a discussion post on Youth Voices. This is how I'm approaching a traditional research paper – by having them discuss their findings, as they come across them.  Here's an example from today. This is just one of the ways that I use Youth Voices in my English class.