Learn more about the Document Tab, Whiteboard and even sharing resources (images, videos, pictures, etc)
In your ClassRoom, you will spend most of your time using two main types of tabs: Document Tab, Whiteboard. You can also share resources by uploading Documents, pictures and more to share with students in your classes.
The Document Tab is a collaborative document editor, where you can write and format text documents. Check out our video tutorial below for a quick overview of the document tab, and learn more about it in this guide:
Open a new Document Tab when in the ClassRoom using the "+" icon in the top left corner. Click New Document Tab. When you have created a new document tab, you are able to write, edit and collaborate with your students as you would on Google Docs.
The toolbar options allow you to (In order of appearance):
- Change the font size to
- Normal
-
Large
-
Huge
- Change your text to be
- Bold
- Italic
- Underlined
- Strikethrough
- Highlighted
- Add a Horizontal line as a separator
Change the font size and style to give a unique look to your document and to help separate titles and subtitles or exercises:
The Document tab also supports ordered and unordered lists, so it's easy to keep track of the exercises!
You can rename the Document tab by double-clicking the name. Right-click on the document's name to Disallow tab to be closed or Disallow changes made to the document.
You can scroll through the document by scrolling with your mouse or trackpad, or by grabbing the grey line on the side of the document.
You can always follow your students work, as their name appears on the document once they start typing.
Whenever you highlight a part of a text on the document tab, your students will see what you're highlighting, making it easier to follow where you are in the document. Your students can also highlight words or parts of a text to help you find the part they need help with.
The Whiteboard has all different types of collaborative tools such as drawing, shapes, highlight or graph tools. When you have created a new whiteboard tab, you have a number of different options that are available in the ClassRoom Toolbar at the top of the screen. These options allow you and your students to do things like, draw, write and collaborate together on your documents.
In order of appearance:
Color wheel - Choose from a range of colors to draw, type and create shapes with. You can choose a different line and fill color.
Select Tool - The select tool allows you to select, move and resize images, objects and PDFs.
Move Canvas - Move the entire screen in any direction, zoom in and out with your mouse wheel.
Tip: When on a whiteboard, hold down SHIFT while scrolling, this will make moving on the whiteboard easier. Release SHIFT for zooming in and out while scrolling. You can also click and drag the Whiteboard using the right mouse button.
Draw Tool - Draw, write and annotate images, objects and PDFs. Choose the line thickness by clicking on the Draw tool before drawing.
Eraser Tool - When you hover over any object on the whiteboard with the eraser tool, it will go grey, click on it to erase.
Shape Tool - Draw a Rectangle, Triangle, Ellipse or Line of any size. By holding down any Ctrl/ Cmd / Meta to draw a square, equilateral triangle or circle.
Text Tool - will insert a box you can type in and drag to resize or move.
Equation Tool - has 2 options, insert a math formula or a graph, for more information read The Equation Tool guide here
Upload an Image or PDF - Upload an image/PDF from your files.
Insert Resource - Insert resources from a collection of ready-made images and worksheets. Insert the resources directly to the whiteboard with just one click.
Take Video Snapshot - Choose to take a snapshot of your / your student's video feed which will be uploaded into your Whiteboard as an image you can annotate on. Read more tips on how to use it here.
Change Background - Change the background to a grid size of your choice or to a different color. We recently added some new options, including a light yellow background which eases learning for pupils with special learning needs.
Zoom - Adjust the percentage of the zoom on the whiteboard. Zoom to fit zooms the whiteboard in or out to a view Full One Page of your work.
Undo - Undo previous change.
Redo - Redo previous change.
Tip: Whiteboard shortcuts: Click these letters on your keyboard to quickly access some tools.
S - Select tool
D - Draw tool
H - Highlight tool
E - Erase tool
T - Text tool
Sharing resources is super important when teaching/learning online. Here's how to upload PDF and Office documents, as well as other ways to share resources in ClassRoom.
Upload PDF / Office:
Upload PDF or Office documents to your ClassRoom using the "+" icon on the left-hand corner. Alternatively, you can use the "Upload" button on a whiteboard to add files to your ClassRoom.
You can also copy and paste files to your whiteboard, just open the file on your computer and simply right-click on the page and select copy (or use Ctrl+C on Windows or Cmd+C on Mac), then use Ctrl+V (Windows) or Cmd+V (Mac) to paste into your whiteboard. You can also drag and drop your files to the Whiteboard when on a Mac computer.
When uploading a file to your whiteboard, you'll see a document upload dialogue. There, you can uncheck pages that you don't want to import (such as covers, or the answer key pages).
Click "All in a Single Whiteboard Tab" if you'd like to see your pages on a new tab, where you can horizontally scroll through the pages. Choose "Each on a Separate Whiteboard Tab" if you'd like to upload each page on a new tab (the traditional way), or, choose "Into the Current Whiteboard Tab" to upload the pages to the whiteboard you are on.
When a file is uploaded to the whiteboard, you can start annotating using the tools in the toolbar.
Upload Images:
You can use the "Upload" button on a whiteboard to add images to your whiteboard.
It's also easy to copy and paste any image from the web straight into your ClassRoom. Simply right-click on the image and select copy, then use Ctrl+V (Windows) or Cmd+V (Mac) to paste into your whiteboard.
Screenshot and Paste:
Use Cmd+Shift+4 on a Mac, or Ctrl+PrtSc on Windows. Windows users can also use the snipping tool to capture part of the screen. You can paste it into your ClassRoom by using Ctrl+V / Cmd+V.
Video Snapshot:
You can use your webcam to 'Video Snapshot' resources, such as your student's works in their notebooks, textbook pages or something which is not available as an image on the web. To do this, press the camera icon and select either your or your students' camera to take a snapshot of your/your students' webcam. This will automatically import your image into the ClassRoom and you can drag it to resize it appropriately.
Annotating documents:
After uploading any document to a whiteboard in your ClassRoom, you can start annotating it. Use the draw or text tool in the toolbar to start adding noted to your documents. You can lock elements on the whiteboard by clicking on them and using the Lock / Unlock options.
Deleting documents:
To delete a document you've previously updated, simply click the trash icon after clicking on the element on the whiteboard. You can also delete the tab entirely by clicking on the x icon next to the tab's name.
