Henrico County Public Schools School-Home Communication Tool

HCPS school-home communication tool Provides parents, students, and teachers access to: School/County Notices Classroom boards containing classroom announcements and homework assignments Classroom Links Student Grades Teacher Contact Information Attendance Information OVERVIEW

3 Major Headings for Students & Parents *This is the main interface all students/parents will see when they log on to HCPSLink 1. Welcome Center  Notices/View Notices 2. Classroom  My Classes Boards Links Grades Contact Teacher 3. Front Office  Attendance  Schedule 1. Welcome Center  Notices/View Notices 2. Classroom  My Classes Boards Links Grades Contact Teacher 3. Front Office  Attendance  Schedule

Welcome Center This is where all users will be taken after they log in The Welcome Center provides access to  School Notices  System Information  District Links  School Information 3 Menu Options

Classroom This tab is used to access: My Classes  Classroom Boards  Links  Grades  Teacher Contact Information HCPSLink Welcome Center

Boards HCPS Link boards display classroom announcements and homework assignments

Links Provide students/parents with links to useful sites, your quia/webpage address, frequently used sites, etc.

Grades This feature allows parents/students to view Report Card/Interim grades and individual assignment grading information Lists date grades were last updated

Contact Teacher This menu option provides users with teacher addresses

Front Office Attendance  Used to obtain a full listing of tardies and absences Schedule  Obtain students daily schedule

2 Major Headings: Teacher View Welcome Center  Notices View Notices Manage Notices Classroom  My Classes Board Edit Links Edit Rosters Classroom Setup

Getting Started: Teachers 1. Launch Safari (Mac) or Internet Explorer (PC) 2. Type in URL  Enter your Username and Password (same as ) 4. Click Log In At this time users must maximize the browser window!!!

Welcome Center You will be taken to the Welcome Center page which displays School Notices, School and System Information, and District Links. Click on Welcome Center to see Notices, View Notices, and Manage Notices. 5. Click on Welcome Center to See Notices, View Notices, and Manage Notices

Welcome Center: Manage Notices *Teachers have the ability submit notices to be posted by the HCPS Link Administrator. You would use this feature if you wanted to post a notice to specific groups outside of your class rosters (ex. 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, Staff, All Students). 6. Under Notices click Manage Notices to view the Notice Management page which includes a listing of pending, posted, expired and rejected notices. Notice Status Notices listed under Pending are awaiting review by the HCPSLink Administrator.To view the notice, click on the subject name. Notices listed under Posted are currently posting Notices listed under Expired have exceeded the expiration date. If necessary, you may request that your HCPSLink Administrator alter the expiration date to re-post pertinent notices Notices listed under Rejected are not posting

Welcome Center: Create New Notices 6. On the Notice Management page, click Create New Notice to create a new notice to staff or students. Be sure to choose the appropriate audience group, include a subject line and a body for your notice, and an expiration date. Click Submit for Approval. Choose Audience Add Subject Create Message Set Expiration Date

Classroom: My Classes 7. Click Classroom to see the My Classes page which displays a list of your classes. This page also lists when grades and homework boards for each class were last updated.

Classroom: Classroom Setup You can customize your boards and links by assigning each class its own whiteboard/links page OR by assigning multiple classes to the same board

Classroom: Classroom Setup 8. To assign classes to homework board and link groups, click Classroom Setup. Use the drop-down menus under Board Group and Link Group to setup each class. When finished, you MUST click Save Classroom Setup! This is a sample of a teacher who created two separate boards for her classes. You have the option of having one board per class OR a single board for all of your classes.

Classroom: Links Edit 9.To edit links for each class, click Links Edit. Be sure to select the appropriate term and class from the drop-down menus. In the description box, enter a generic description of the link. In the URL box, enter the exact web address. After adding each link you MUST click Add! You MUST click ADD!!! Listed Links Add new links here!!

Classroom: Board Edit 10. To edit homework boards for each class, click Board Edit. Be sure to select the appropriate term and class from the drop-down menus. Click Edit Board. If you see a security message, click Always. To begin typing, click once inside the board to see the blinking cursor. You may use the editing tools located above the board to enhance your text and add hyperlinks. Click Edit Board

Classroom: Board Edit To begin typing, click once inside the board (a blinking cursor will appear) Use the editing tools above the board to make changes to your board Updated information should be listed at the top of your board (this would put your boards in descending order) Once you begin to edit a board, you must click Save Board or Cancel. All buttons (such as Welcome Center and Logout) are non-operational until your board is either saved or cancelled. Editing Tool Bar

Classroom: Roster 11. To view your class rosters, click Roster. Be sure to select the appropriate term and class from the drop-down menus. To turn your HCPSLink screen from teacher view to a student’s view, click Emulate which is located under the Action column. As you may emulate all the students that you teach, this is an excellent way to stay informed of student progress in other classes. To stop emulation and return to your teacher view, click Stop at the top right of your screen. 12. Click Logout when done

Tips & Reminders WEEKLYUpdate boards WEEKLY one week in advancePost homework one week in advance You MUST include the date with all of your assignments in eClass so that parents can see when assignments were due on HCPSLink (ex. 10/6/06 Vocabulary Test) once a weekExport eClass grades at least once a week hourGrades update an hour after exporting immediatelyBoards update immediately after saving