AfterClass Help Pages

AfterClass Overview (Back to top)

AfterClass is a place for you to discuss topics pertaining to your classes and receive rewards for participating constructively. By simply reading a teachers blog, listening to their podcast, or by viewing a slideshow, you are able to actively participate within your classroom. Click on the 'discuss' link to add your thoughts. Please remember that all of your comments are tracked and reviewed, so please post responsibly as if you are in a classroom. Simply read a teacher's blog, listen to their podcast or view a slideshow if enabled. Find the 'discuss' link to participate in the discussion! But remember, all of your comments are tracked and reviewed, so act as your teacher would want you to act and watch the awards pile up on your profile page! We recommend using Mozilla Firefox. (It will give you the most advanced options.)

Supported Browsers (Back to top)

The following browsers are fully supported. While others may work, we can simply not guarantee and support them.   Win 98 Win 2000 Win XP Win Vista Mac 10.3.x Mac 10.4 IE 7.0         IE 6.0       Firefox 2.x Firefox 1.5.x   Opera 9.x   Safari 2.0x

Blogs (Back to top)

A teacher's blog, is a place where they post topics for review and discussion. If you would like to participate in the discussion on a particular topic simply click on the 'discuss' link. A Tip for Students Constructive participation will increase your rating, and earn you rewards.

Podcasts (Back to top)

A "podcast" is an audio file that your teacher has either uploaded, or linked to. You may listen to these by subscribing to the podcast or pressing the play/pause icon found just below the audio clip's title. By subscribing to a Podcast, you will automatically setup to download the latest file without having to visit the Website to see if there are updated files. A Tip for Students Constructive participation will increase your rating, and earn you rewards. Just click on the "dicuss" link to participate.

Photo Albums (Back to top)

A teacher might upload photos to a various number of albums. These albums are only available to the teacher's students and their parents. A Tip for Students To win rewards, participate in the discussion associated with each photo album in a way that is educationally constructive.

Student Participation (Back to top)

You are encouraged to add your thoughts and observations to any part of the discussion area. If you have something to add to the conversation or maybe have done a bit of research on the topic, you are welcome to insert your opinion into a discussion. You may post a new comment or reply to one by clicking the "reply" link. And if you just wish to rate someone else's comment simply click on the 'thumbs-up' or 'thumbs-down.' By rating other comments, your comments will gain additional merit. Most importantly, if you ever think a comment is inappropriate for class, click on the icon next to the words "Cause for concern?" A comment that is marked "cause for concern" will be reviewed by your teacher.

Participation Profile (Back to top)

You will be awarded participation rewards, based on the quality of your contributions to discussions. Challenge yourself to add your thoughts, do research and participate in topics of your choice. A comment may receive positive and/or negative feedback. You may designate another user's comment as intelligent, insightful, funny, illogical, off topic or redundant. Please remember that if you give a comment a negative award and your teacher disagrees, your confidence level will go down. The higher your confidence level, the more importance the weight your awards and comments will have.

RSS Feeds (Back to top)

RSS, known as "Really Simple Syndication," is a Web feed that publishes summaries of frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner. RSS content can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader" or an "aggregator". The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds. To subscribe to your teacher's RSS feed, simply find their RSS icon and follow the steps!