My Bloomfield Training (Staff)

1. To begin, login to My Bloomfield by visiting www.bloomfield.org/login and entering your normal work login that you use to access your computer/email.

2. You will see your name in the top left corner of the homepage. Next to your name, you’ll see “Groups
Dashboard”. Clicking on “Groups Dashboard” will take you to the landing page for all of the groups. This
dashboard will populate with activities and information.

3. Click on the classes button and navigate to the class you’d like to edit.

4. Add Overview: Select the pencil icon in the box that says “You have not provided an overview...” Type a
welcome message and overview of your class, or provide a link to your class page (Moodle, Google
Classroom, etc.).

5. Add Calendar Items: Put assignments, tests, field trips, etc. on the calendar

6. Add Resource Folder: Add at least one resource folder with a few resources

7. Start Discussion Topic: Start at least one discussion topic.

8. From here, you can continue to customize your class page(s) using the features listed above.

You are free to manually add any members you'd like. A few things to keep in mind before you begin:

• If you manually add them, you must manually delete them if necessary.
• A manually added member's information will not auto-update via MISTAR. It will automatically update when the user goes into their My Bloomfield account and makes changes.
• Classroom pages may contain private information (photos of students or discussion boards with student thoughts, for example) that you may not wish to expose to Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents of other students. Please keep this in mind before adding non-parent/guardian members.

Adding a new member:

1. Ask the individual to visit www.bloomfield.org/mybloomfield and use the "create new account" link (in blue). Note: if they are a staff member, student, or parent/guardian, they do not need to create a new account and you can skip this step. Accounts are created for these individuals and automatically updated daily. However, if they are a "public user" (Grandparents, the nanny, etc.), they must create an account. Once they create a new account, they need to let you know.
    
2. Now that they have created an account, you can login to My Bloomfield and navigate to your class
   page.
3. When you select your class page you want to edit, you'll then navigate to the "members" tab across the top.
4. Next, you want to click on "edit members" (in blue with the little pencil).
5. A new window will open and you'll click on the green "Select More Members" button.
6. There are a few kinds of members you can search for. It will default to "students", but you're more likely to search for a "public user" if it's an Aunt, Uncle, Grandparent, etc. who recently created a new account. Reminder: all parents, staff, and students are automatically loaded into the system on a daily basis and do not need to create an account.
7. Once you find their name and click on it, they are automatically added to your list. You can close the top window. Everything is saved automatically.

Since students aren't coded in MISTAR to a support staff member, we have to manually create those groups.

Simply email communications@bloomfield.org with your name, the group names(s), and what building each group should be assigned to and we'll create those groups.

Once the groups are created, we'll send instructions for adding members (students) to the group.

1. First, make sure that the Google Calendar you want to pull into the class calendar is publicly shared. To do this, open up the Google Calendar and click the gear icon to reveal the dropdown menu, then select "Settings" to open up the "Calendar Settings" page.

   

2. Go to the "Calendar" link to view available calendars. If the Google account has multiple calendars, select the one you want to share with the class. This will open up the "Calendar Details" page.

   

3. From the "Calendar Details" page, click "Share this Calendar."

   

4. Make sure the checkbox labeled "Make this calendar public" is selected, then click "Save."

   

5. Return to the "Calendar Details" page, and scroll down to the section labeled "Calendar Address." Click on the green "iCal" button to pop open a new window with the URL of the Calendar's iCal feed file, and copy that URL to the clipboard.

   

6. Go to the class and open the "Calendar" tab. Select "Import Events" from the "Calendar Tools" dropdown menu.

   

7. In the window that pops up, select the "URL" tab, and paste the iCal feed URL copied in Step 5 into the field. Make sure that the appropriate class calendar is selected from the dropdown menu. Click "Import" to save the Google Calendar to the class calendar.

   

   (Select the "Publish on import" checkbox to make sure that calendar events can be viewed on the class calendar as soon as the red "Import Calendar Events" button is clicked. You could disable that checkbox to hide some calendar events while displaying others, but you would then have to go through each event on the calendar individually to publish the ones you want to show.)

 

View / print the pdf of the instructions shown below.

Find the little pencil on the group’s homepage and click on it.

A new window will appear (you may have to enable pop-ups on your browser) and you may edit the text in the box, just as you would in Word or Google Docs.

To add an image, find the image icon above the text editor.

 

Click the image icon and a new box will appear. Use the blue “Browse” button.

Select a folder on the left and then click the “upload files” link.

Use the “Choose File” button to select an image from your computer to upload and then click the “Upload” button to begin the file upload.

Once the upload runs, you’ll see your file in the list of available files. You can now use the little eye icon to preview it, use the “x” to delete it, or use the pencil to edit it. To add the file to your content area, click the blue name of the file itself.

 

Now that you’ve selected the image you want, you’ll see the thumbnail in the top corner, the name of the file, and a few options. You’ll want to select the alignment for the image (none, left, or right), based upon where you want it on the page. You’ll also want to change the dimensions of the image on the left to approximately 250px wide. The height will adjust automatically. Finally, enter a description of the image in the “Alt text” box because this will make your image ADA compliant for those with visual disabilities.

Finally, you’ll click “save” at the bottom and the image will be added.

 

 

 

Staff: Are you uploading Google docs to your My Bloomfield page and want them to appear without families being able to edit? This is a setting you need to modify in your Google Drive. To begin, click the gear icon in your Google Drive and select "settings" from the options.

A settings window will appear and you want to be sure the box is checked to convert uploads.

That's it! Now, when you upload to My Bloomfield, your Google documents will not be editable by families and students. If you want them to be editable, use the "get shareable link" method to share the link with families.

You have two options to share a google document that you are not the owner of:

1. You can copy the "shareable link" of the non-owned Google doc and share it with your families/students on My Bloomfield.

2. You can save a copy of the document to your drive, which will make you an owner of a copy of the document. You can then upload your copy to your My Bloomfield page / resources.

Additional information

Yes! Locate the plus sign on the far right of the home page and select it. A small screen of options will appear on the right hand side. Click on Group Settings > Features > Group Space Home Page Layout. Then you can click in what was deleted and hit Update Settings.

Teachers can link to files uploaded to File Manager within an email. This allows recipients to download the linked files exactly as if they had been attached to the email.

1. In a group space, navigate to the "Members" tab and select "Bulk e-mail." Then, select the appropriate recipients for the bulk email.
    
2. After typing the message, highlight the text that will link to the file, and click the "link" icon.
    
3. Click the link icon. Then, select the icon next to the link URL to browse personal files.
    
4. Upload the file to "Public Personal Files." This means that site users will not be required to log-in to view the file. If a log-in is desired, upload the file to the "Public Private Files" section.
    
5. Click on the name of the file that you want to include in the email to add a link to that file in your email. This link will allow the user to access the file once the e-mail is received.

At this time, there is no log for you to check. However, you get a receipt of each email you send to your @bloomfield.org inbox. It comes to you so you can see that it was successfully sent and who it was sent to. Since gmail is highly searchable, that's a great record. To achieve this, use the My Bloomfield Bulk Email Tool and use the email receipts as your confirmation. If you want to be extra cautious, you can blind copy yourself on your emails and you'll receive them just as your recipients will, exactly when they do!

• Please refrain from attaching items in emails to families (if you email the whole class). You'll note there isn't an option to do this in My Bloomfield.
  
  In general, email attachments are becoming a thing of the past in mass communication (especially with the help of Google shareable links!).
  
  Attachments are harder to read/access on a mobile device. In addition, attachments make people nervous due to viruses and they are not generally ADA compliant.
   
• Please use the My Bloomfield or Q Communications bulk email tools when emailing your class.
  
  It's important to use My Bloomfield or Q Communications when sending bulk email because it will blind copy the families, not display all email addresses for all recipients. Many families do not want their personal information shared in this way and we not only want to be respectful of that, but we want to be within the laws and regulations that govern communication.
   
• Instead of email attachments, put the content directly on My Bloomfield or on another accessible website page and then email a reminder to check the page and/or the link to the page to families.
  
  My Bloomfield and the Google suite of apps are responsive, which means they recognize the size of a user's screen and adjust accordingly.

When you bulk email from My Bloomfield, you will receive a copy of the email that you sent to your @bloomfield.org email address. Your copy will show everyone who was scheduled to receive the email, but theirs will not. This keeps emails confidential if families want it that way, but allows you to bulk email your roster or specific individuals from the roster.