Messaging Students

Messaging Students

Overview

Simplify classroom communication, increase engagement and shift focus with the messaging and chat features in LanSchool Air. After starting a class, instructors can receive students’ questions and chat one-on-one, or send a message out to the entire class.

For a quick, 1-minute video demonstration of using the Messaging features of LanSchool Air, check out the video link below:

Messaging All Students  

With the chat sidebar open and "Classroom" selected at the top, instructors can send a classroom-wide message that will appear on all student devices in the class. Student will have the option of replying to the message. Those replies will be directed back to the instructor as private messages.
  1. Start a class.
  2. Click the Show/Hide Chat icon  at the top right of the screen. The messaging sidebar opens, showing: 
    • A drop down menu that allows you to view “Classroom” messages and individual student messages.
    • A list of online students.
    • A Message to all students… field for typing a new message to the class at the bottom.

  3. Type a message in the Message to all students...  field. 



  4. Press Enter. The message is sent to all students who are online. 

Messaging an Individual Student

Instructors can message an individual student directly by opening the messaging sidebar and select the student's name from the drop-down list. Students must be in the class and online in order to receive the message.
  1. Click the Show/Hide Chat  icon     to open the messaging sidebar. 
  2. Click on the drop down menu at the top and select which student to message. 

  3. Then type a message into the Message [Student Name] field.
  4. Press Enter to send the message. Your message and any student responses display in the messaging sidebar.



  5. When using Classroom, clicking on a single student’s message from the Classroom messages will start a direct message with that student.


  6. (Optional) To save the chat session as a text file, view the chat log, set LanSchool Air to always open text files or view the folder where the chat log is saved, follow the steps in the "Save Student Chat" section below.
Chat session logs are not stored in LanSchool Air. Chat history between teachers and students that is not saved as a file will be lost after class is ended. 

Receiving a Student Message

Students can initiate a messaging session from their computers, either by starting a regular messaging session or by raising a hand. If a student messages a teacher, a notification displays on the Show/Hide Chat icon at the top right of the page, and on the student thumbnail (Grid View) or in the list of students (List View):

  

The notification display will display the number of messages the student has sent.
The teacher can respond by clicking the messaging icon to open the messaging sidebar or messaging window.

Responding to a Student's Raised Hand

Students can raise a virtual hand from their computers by clicking the hand icon on their messaging windows. When a student raises a hand, the teacher is notified in the same way they are notified of a student message (see "Respond to a Student Message" above). 

  

The notification will also display the number of students who have raised their hand.

Clicking on the raise hand icon at the top right corner will lower all raised hands. 

The teacher can respond by:
  1. Clicking the name of the student who raised a hand, and then messaging the student or lowering the student's hand by clicking the hand icon in the student messaging window
  2. Clicking on the raised hand icon in the student thumbnail or in the list view will lower the hand.

Disabling Chat

Teachers can prevent students from messaging them by selecting the View Actions menu at the bottom right corner of the messaging sidebar and selecting Disable Chat for all. Chat can be disabled for an entire class or just for individual students.




While disabled, students can still use the "Raise Hand" option to notify the instructor that they need attention.

Saving Student Chat History

Follow the steps in this section to save an individual student messaging session to a text file, view the chat log, set LanSchool Air to always open text files, or view the file in the folder where it is saved. 

  1.          To save the Class Chat log select the View Actions menu  at the bottom right corner of the messaging sidebar and select Download class chat log. 

        

  2. The messaging session is saved as a text file and can be opened from the bottom of the screen. The browser saves the file to the teacher’s default Downloads folder.


  3. (Optional) To view the chat log, click the files name at the bottom of the page. The chat log opens as a text file.

  4. (Optional) To open the chat log, set the system to always open text files or view the folder where the chat log is saved, click the arrow next to the file. An options menu from which you can select these functions opens.


  5. Select the appropriate option.

Student Emojis

From the student chat, students can select emojis to send to the teacher.



Muting Notifications

To mute the chat and raise hand notification sounds for the entire classroom, click on the View Actions menu bottom right corner of the messaging sidebar and select Turn off Notification Sound.


    • Related Articles

    • Disabling Chat for Entire Organization

      Overview By default, LanSchool Air instructors are able to send messages to either an entire class or an individual student. See Messaging Students for details on how to use this feature. Some organizations need to prevent instructors from messaging ...

    • Teacher FAQ

      LanSchool Air - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Managing Classes What if a teacher forgets to end a class? Will the class session time out? A class session will end when the teacher selects "Exit Class" or signs out of LanSchool Air. After two hours ...

    • Disabling Fast User Switching

      Overview LanSchool Air does not support Windows Fast User Switching feature. The student client will not function properly when the computer is switched to a second user account. It is recommended to disable Fast User Switching in order for the ...

    • Troubleshooting Offline Students

      Overview After clicking "Start Class", students that are using a device that has the LanSchool Air agent installed correctly will automatically appear as Online. Refer to Viewing Student Thumbnails to learn more about the different types of thumbnail ...

    • Excluding Students from Class

      Overview If a student is absent from class or otherwise does not need to be monitored, an instructor can choose to exclude them from the class session. Excluding a student will temporarily remove them from the classroom view and any commands issued ...

    • Popular Articles

    • Viewing Student Client Status

      Overview If a student device is appearing as offline, check the status of LanSchool Air client installed on the student's device to make sure it's provisioned and connected. To see the current status of the student client, open the LanSchool Air chat ...

    • Using Web Limiting

      Overview To block troublesome or distracting websites or limit students to a select few websites pertinent to the class, use the Web Limiting feature in LanSchool Air. There is currently no limit on the number of URLs that can be added to the block ...

    • Mass Deploying LanSchool Air for Chromebook Student

      This guide walks site administrators through the process of deploying the LanSchool Air app to students using Chromebooks and getting LanSchool Air ready for instructors to use. For information on installing the LanSchool Air app to Windows or Mac ...

    • Controlling Student Browser Tabs

      Overview Controlling browser tabs is currently supported for students using Chromebooks. Students on Windows or macOS devices will only display the most recently viewed website. In List View and Student Details, you have added controls over tabs on a ...

    • Using Blank Screen

      Overview LanSchool Air's customizable Blank Screen feature enables you to push a Blank Screen to your students' computers. When you enable Blank Screen, students are not able to view or listen to anything on their device until the Blank Screen is ...

    • Recent Articles

    • Deploying LanSchool Air Using Jamf Pro

      Overview The LanSchool Air for MacOS agent supports a few different deployment methods. See Mass Deploying LanSchool Air for Mac Student for more detailed instructions. Please note that our support team can only provide limited assistance with ...

    • Disabling Fast User Switching

      Overview LanSchool Air does not support Windows Fast User Switching feature. The student client will not function properly when the computer is switched to a second user account. It is recommended to disable Fast User Switching in order for the ...

    • Configuring Idle Timeout

      Overview By default, instructors will be automatically logged out of LanSchool Air after they have been idle for 2 hours. Site Admin users can configure the idle timeout settings to increase the amount of time instructors can remain idle before being ...

    • Downloading User and Device Lists

      Overview Site Admins can download CSV files containing a list of registered users and devices installed with LanSchool Air. This allows Site Admins the ability to review and manage which devices are consuming licenses and which users are using ...

    • Managing LanSchool Air Licenses

      Overview The LanSchool Air client is installed per device for Windows and Mac OS devices. As devices are repurposed or replaced, it is important to fully recover (free up) the LanSchool Air license. Recovering the LanSchool Air license takes 2 steps: ...