ABBOTSFORD CHRISTIAN SCHOOL Heart. Mind. Soul.

Student Edsby Quick Start

Student Edsby Quick Start

WELCOME TO EDSBY!

Edsby is ACS’ new K-12 learning platform and will be a key tool for parents, teachers, and students. Edsby fosters student-teacher communication, group collaboration, and classroom participation.

For students, Edsby replaces Teams, PowerSchool, and FreshGrade. However, you will continue to use OneDrive and your ACS email.

Getting Started

Downloading the Edsby App

In addition to accessing Edsby through a desktop browser or mobile browser, students can keep up-to-date with their schooling on their mobile device by using the Edsby Mobile App freely available on Google Play and the App Store.

Logging In

  1. Go to acs.edsby.com. Consider bookmarking it for easy access. The school’s server code is “acs”.
  2. Click on the O365-Student login option and use your regular school username and password.

Home Screen

The Home Screen is the hub of a student’s Edsby experience.
From here, you can check your upcoming assignments, events, announcements, and new posts in classes or groups.

The Home Screen includes:

  1. Access to the ACS and your campus pages.
  2. The News River
  3. Personal Calendar
  4. Classes Panel
  5. Recent Activity
  6. Access to your Portfolio and Learning Story 
  7. Groups you are a member of

Additionally, the Navigation Bar is located at the top of every page in Edsby with access to Messages, the calendar, the Launchpad, and Notifications.

If you are ever stuck and aren’t sure how to do something in Edsby, you can go the Launchpad and select “Edsby help.” 

News & Announcements

The News River at the top of your Home Screen combines ACS (system-wide) and your campus announcements. Click on an announcement to read more.

Personal Calendar

Each student has their own personalized Edsby calendar.
An arrow symbol in the schedule indicates the class, event, or assessment is in progress.

The personal calendar on your home screen includes:

  1. Add a new event to your personal calendar. This event is only visible to you.
  2. Scheduled classes
  3. Assignments from classes
  4. Class events
  5. Group events
  6. Personal events you have created
  7. Campus events

Your personal calendar collates all calendar items from your classes, groups, and school. Other calendars, for example, a class calendar, will only show events relevant to that class.

Each colour in an Edsby calendar indicates specific events, assessments, or classes:

Scheduled Classes
Assessments or Class Events
Group Events
School Events
Personal Events

Recent Activity

The Recent Activity feed in the middle of the home screen displays any notes, journal entries, or assignments posted in classes by your teachers.

Classes

On the left side of your home screen is the classes panel. This panel provides a brief overview of your classes, including:

  1. Name of class
  2. New assignment grades that have been shared
  3. “Unread counter” indicating the number of new posts in the class
  4. Course code
  5. Teacher’s name

Enter a class by clicking its name.

Access all class journals by clicking the arrow pop-out. Teachers may use journals to give quick class updates of what you worked on and what you need to be working on next.

Inside a Class

The class is the heart of how Edsby helps students. Every class includes a way for students to engage with teachers and classmates, view class information, and submit assignments.

Each class includes:

  1. The names of your teachers and educational assistants in the class
  2. Pinned items (your teacher will pin important items to this)
  3. Students panel (see the other students in your class)
  4. Content panel containing all of the content for the course (including assignments)
  5. A field to post a note to the class or your teacher (if enabled by the teacher)
  6. Class feed (all of the notes and items posted by your teacher or other students)
  7. Class calendar
  8. Journal panel displaying the teacher’s most recent journal entries
  9. Class library for uploaded documents, photos, and videos.

Contributing to the Shared Classroom

In the Edsby classroom, students can have a conversation with their teacher and classmates. Consider posting if you’re having trouble with the homework and want to ask for help, or if you want to help another classmate.

Anything posted in the class feed is visible to the teacher and students are unable to delete a post.

Submitting Assignments Online

There are multiple places an assignment can be submitted in Edsby, but for the teacher to receive the assignment, it only needs to be submitted one time in one place within Edsby.

To submit an assignment online through Edsby, view it in My Work, your Personal Calendar, your Recent Activity feed, or the feed of the class where the assignment is due. A Submit button will appear next to the assignment.

In the form that opens, use the icons to attach a file, photo, video, or link. Add a comment with your submission.

You will receive a confirmation of submission screen.

The assignment will move to Ungraded Assessments in My Work until the teacher has reviewed it and assigned a grade.

Navigating the Class Content

On the left side of a class is the Content Panel.

  1. Underneath Content, each student has a progress bar that tracks their progression through the content.
  2. Any items of content a student has marked complete will be indicated by a green check mark.
  3. Click Content to open the panel and click on any item in the list to view the content.
  4. Use the Next and Previous arrows to navigate through the content.
  5. When you have completed an item, mark it complete by clicking Mark Complete. This will display a green check mark next to the item and update your progress bar.
  6. You can also set the state of your learning on a particular item of content by clicking the emoji at the top left. Let your teacher know if you understand the content, find it confusing, or already know it!

Students can submit assignments, contribute to discussions, and participate in polls from the content panel.

For more information on using the Content Panel, click here.

Viewing Grades and Assignments through My Work

Every class has a grades and assignment report called My Work.
Students can access it by clicking My Work on your home screen or from within a class by clicking the My Work link at the top of the page.

The My Work Report has 5 tabs: Graph, Assessments, Standards/Expectations, Attendance, and Previous Report Cards.

The one you will likely use the most is Assessments. The Assessments tab provides a detailed breakdown of incomplete, upcoming, and graded assessments as well as the results of any the teacher has chosen to share.

If your teacher comments or changes grades on an assessment, a blue chat bubble will appear on it.

Use this to ask any questions about how to complete the assignment or if you have any concerns about how it was marked.

Click here for more information about the My Work Report.

Switching Between Classes

Easily switch between classes by using the Class picker at the top left of any class screen in Edsby.
Click the drop-down arrow next to the name of the class to reveal a list of the other classes you are enrolled in.

Select one from the list to enter it.

You’ll jump to the same screen of the new class as the one you were in when you picked a new class. For example, if you’re in your My Work Report from one class, using the Class picker to navigate to a new class will bring you to your My Work Report for the new class.

Communicating with Your Teacher

You can communicate with your teachers through My Work, Class posts, or through Edsby Messages.
If you have any questions or concerns about your upcoming or graded assessments, navigate to the Assessments tab of My Work. Hover over the assessment you would like to ask your teacher a question about and click Ask Private Question.

You can access any comments or responses your teacher has made by clicking the blue chat bubble next to the assessment.

Consider posting in the class feed to ask a question other students in the class might also have.

This provides a great way for you to collaborate with your classmates and for your teacher to contribute as necessary. If your teacher has not enabled students to post in the class, ask them! Opening up the class for students to post fosters greater engagement in Edsby and the class. 

If My Work or posting in a class is not best for the message you would like to send to your teacher, use Edsby Messages.

  1. Access your mailbox by clicking the envelope icon in the top Navigation Bar.
  2. Create a new message by clicking the Compose Message button and typing your teacher’s name.

Edsby Groups

Edsby Groups provide a great space for discussion and updates on clubs, sports teams, or other school groups.
Each group has at least one teacher assigned as a moderator.

Access the groups you are a member of in your My Groups Panel at the bottom left corner of your Home Screen.

Click Find More to browse more groups in the school.

  1. Search for a club, group, or team you’re interested in.
  2. Groups can be open or closed, as indicated by a lock icon.

Students can freely jump in and out of open groups. However, you will only be notified of new posts in the groups if you join as a member. Click Join in the top right of an open group to join it.

To join a closed group, click the group and fill out the request. A moderator of the group will review and confirm your request before you can officially join the group.

Review the status of your request in your Mailbox.

If you have been invited to a group, you are provided with options to Accept or Decline.

There are some instances when a student may be automatically added to a group like All Students, a study group for a specific class you are enrolled in, or a Lost and Found group. You cannot unsubscribe from groups you have been automatically subscribed to.

Groups include:

  1. Moderators
  2. Important pinned items
  3. Knowledge base
  4. Group feed
  5. Active group members – if enabled by the moderator, you can view all members of the group by clicking ‘View All Members’
  6. Group calendar
  7. Library

Click here for more information on Edsby Groups.

Setting up Notifications

With so many things happening inside Edsby, it is important to stay organized and up-to-date. Edsby makes this easy by enabling various notifications to ensure you are notified of the important things happening within ACS, your campus, your classes, and your groups.

Access your Notification Settings by clicking the drop-down arrow next to your name in Edsby. Click Settings.

Select Notifications from the menu.

This provides a form to select and update Notifications regarding your:

  1. Messages
  2. Edsby Activity Digest
  3. Personal Calendar
  4. Organization
  5. Classes
  6. Groups
  7. Portfolio

You can choose to receive notifications through Email, Edsby, or straight to your mobile device.

Click here for more information on setting up Notifications.

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