The M-E Virtual Classroom lets teachers create a convenient environment for teachers and students to work online.

The M-E Virtual Classroom (VC) allows a teacher to create groups and fill them with students by providing them with a key. That key will be unique to every teacher. Students simply have to insert that key into their VC, then choose a group, and voilá, they are in! But first, let's see a video tutorial:

And now let's see the instructions with more detail:

INSTRUCTIONS

To create a Virtual Classroom you must be a registered user. Go to your user menu, click on "Edit my Information" and you'll see the Virtual Classroom box. You can also click here if you are a teacher and you are already logged in.

KEY To create a VC first you need to choose a unique key to identify it. Write your key in the Virtual Classroom box and then press the button "Validate Key" at the bottom of the VC box. If the key is already in use, a message will warn you and the key will be rejected. If the key is available then it will be accepted and now you can create your groups.

WRITE YOUR GROUPS Here you will write the list of your groups. Separate them with a semicolon ( ; ) and no blank spaces, for example you can write: 1A;2A;4C (that will represent the groups: 1A, 2A and 4C). And now click on the button "Create Groups" to integrate those groups into your VC. The list of groups created will now appear in the box called "Groups created", and when your students join your VC you will also see how many students are there in each group.

Now you have your Virtual Classroom created and set up, but you want to fill it in with some students. Simply give your key to your students so they can join. They will have to register on Multimedia-English and then go to "edit their personal information". In the same place that you have your VC box they will also have their VC box. All they need to do is write your key on the Key box, validate it (like you did) and then choose a group (they will see a list of the groups you have created). That's it for them, now they're in your VC and you can work with them online.

SHARED FOLDER (optional) In this box you can insert the url for your shared folder. Your students will see this link to open the shared folder and they will be able to see all the documents and files of any kind that you put for them inside that shared folder. You can set up your shared folder so that your students can only see (and download) your files, or you can also let them edit or upload their own files into that shared folder or subfolders. For more instructions about how to create a shared folder click here.

LINK (optional) And there is yet another box for a link. Here you can paste a link and your students will be able to open that link from their VC box. This link will let you share a page or website with your students. This can be very useful if you have a Facebook page or group or a teacher's blog, etc. and you want to integrate it with your VC, so everything is accessible for your students from just one place. You can also use it to recommend a website to your students or set an internet page for them to work.

Now that you have inserted one or both links, you have to press the button "Validate Links" so they will become part of your VC and be accessible for your students. Once the clicks are validated you can click on them to check that they work correctly and open the right page. If there is a mistake, delete the links pressing the X button and insert a url again.

TO ELIMINATE A VC

If you want to delete your VC simply delete your key by pressing the red X button. If you confirm deletion, the VC will disappear for you and for all your students.