The start of the new academic year can be a hectic period. To help make the Sowiso setup as easy as possible, we created a checklist for you. Follow the 5 steps to make sure that you have everything ready for the new academic year.
Create a new class
Go to Teacher-Manage and select "Copy class", if you wish to keep the same users (students and teachers), groups, course material, test or assignments. If you are creating a class from scratch, choose "New class".
Fill in the class name, end date, and optionally, select the items you want to copy over into your new class.
2. Review the course material
You might want to keep exactly the same course material you had the year before. In that case, you can skip this step. If you would like to review your course material, go to Teacher-Course material.
On the left side of the screen you will see all the chapters that are currently in your class, so all the chapters that your students will see once they start logging in. On the right side are all the materials that are available to you. These aren't necessarily all the Sowiso materials, you can always check our website for the most recent information.
❗Please note: if you add more materials to your class, this might result in a price increase.
❗If you are using products: your course material needs to be set up well before the start of your academic year. Changing the setup in the course material tab might lead to your students not having access to the new chapters you added after we have created the products. Visit this article to learn more about how the store and products work.
3. Set up your tests and assignments
If you copied over your tests and assignments from the previous year, all the date settings will stay the same as they were in the previous year. Make sure to change the time settings on all your tests and assignments so that your students can access them during the relevant academic year.
Read detailed instructions or watch a quick video:
4. Share the access code with your students
If you are ready to start inviting your students to the new class, you can add the access code to your email or the learning management system (LMS, such as Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, etc). Make sure to always use the access code consistently so that your students all log in using the same access code.
To get your access code, make sure you are in the correct class, and then go to Settings-Access code. Copy the code and add it somewhere where your students can easily access it (send it via email or add it to your LMS). If there is no code, click on "Generate".
Students who already have an account on Sowiso (perhaps they used Sowiso a year before for a different class) can use the short access code. The short access code is located on the same spot, under class Settings-Access code. Students can follow instructions to learn where they need to add the short access code in order to join the class.
5. Archive your old classes and links
Now that your new class is set up, you can clean up the old classes that you won't be using anymore. By archiving your old classes, you will remove them from your menu view, but you won't permanently delete them. If needed, you can recover the classes in the future.
Learn how you can archive a class in the new teacher environment by reading this article, and for the old teacher environment, visit this article.
Archiving your classes helps ensure that students from previous years no longer have access. Any additional students who continue using Sowiso will be included in the end-of-year count and may result in an overusage charge.
❕Tip: Remove the old access codes from your LMS, to avoid confusion.
That's it, you are all ready for your new class! 🎉