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 instructors 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 an instructor, 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 instructor 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 instructor 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 instructors 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.

Managing Class Chat Settings

Instructors can choose to disable chat or disable the chat notification sound for the class. This setting will remain in place for the class unless changed. 
To make these changes click on the  View Actions menu at the bottom right corner of the messaging sidebar and select Manage Chat Settings.



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. The chat notification sounds will remain disabled unless the instructor re-enables it or the class ends. 


Disabling Chat

Instructors 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. Chat will remain disabled unless the instructor re-enables it or the class ends. 




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 instructor'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.

Using Emojis

From the chat, instructors can send emojis to students. 


Students can also select emojis to send to the instructor.