Getting Started with the OneNote Class Notebook Creator: A Walkthrough for Teachers

What you'll need

• SharePoint Online set up for your school as part of an Office 365 subscription.

• An organizational account for yourself (the teacher) with permissions to use the OneNote Class Notebook Creator app to create the class notebooks.

• Your students must have an Office 365 organizational account.

• The OneNote Class Notebook Creator app must be added to your SharePoint sites by someone in your school who has Tenant Administrator permissions.

Note    The administrator can find instructions here: Learn how an IT Administrator can install OneNote Class Notebook Creator for your school..

• Internet Explorer 10 or Internet Explorer 11 to use the OneNote Class Notebook Creator app. Other modern browsers should also work.

To get started, follow the steps below to create a class notebook with the OneNote Class Notebook Creator app.

Open the OneNote Class Notebook Creator

1. Navigate to the SharePoint site where you'll create your class notebooks.

   Note   OneNote Class Notebook Creator now supports creating class notebooks in your OneDrive for Business location. Your IT Administrator will find additional details about setting up a school site for class notebooks here: Learn how an IT Administrator can install OneNote Class Notebook Creator for your school. Ask your IT Administrator for the site location once it is ready for use.

2. Click in the upper-right, and then click Site Contents.

   

3. Click OneNote Class Notebook Creator.

   

   Tip   If the OneNote Class Notebook Creator app isn’t visible on the first page, scroll through the Site Contents at the bottom of the page, or search for OneNote Class Notebook Creator in the Site Contents search box.

   Note   OneNote Class Notebook Creator must already be installed, and you (the teacher) must have Full Control permissions to that SharePoint site.

Create a class notebook

1. Click Create a class notebook from the available options.

   

2. Name your new notebook, and then click Next.

   Tip   We recommend that you create a separate notebook for each class. For example, if you teach multiple Spanish 2 classes, create a notebook for each class. Give each notebook a unique name that is easy for you and your students to identify. You might name the notebooks “Spanish 2 P1” for your 1st period class, “Spanish 2 P2” for your 2nd period class, and so on.

   Note   Each notebook you create must have a unique name, and it cannot contain these characters # / * ? " | < > : . % ' \.

   

(Optional) Add another teacher to your class notebook

On this screen, you have the option to add another teacher to your class notebook. Any teacher added will have th same permissions as you do. You can add as many as you'd like.

• Enter the name(s) of the teacher and click Next.

  

Add your students to your class notebook

You can add your students individually or in bulk.

Note    Your students must have an Office 365 organization account to continue with this step. If you aren't sure whether or not they do, ask your IT Administrator.

Add Students Individually

1. Type a student's name in the text box, then press Enter.

   Tip    As you type, the app will look up possible matches. For example, you can type “Carl” and it will find any students matching that name.

   

2. Repeat step 1 until you've added all of your students, and then click Next.

Add Students in Bulk

1. Copy and paste a list of the students' names, separated by a semicolon (;) into the text box.

   Tip    After you paste the students' names into the text box, the app will look up each name. The app may take a few moments to automatically resolve each name. For each match that isn't found, you can retype the name or remove the name from the text box.

   

2. Click Next when you’ve completed adding all of your students for the class and the names have fully resolved.

Start each student notebook with sections

1. Keep the boxes checked next to the default sections that you would like created in each student’s notebook.

   

2. Click Add more to add additional sections in each student’s notebook. Click Next when finished.

   Tip    We recommend that you create section names that correspond to activities, not units. For example, use activities such as Handouts, Class Notes, and Quizzes. The reason for this is that students work in one unit at a time; it will take longer to find items of interest in a unit section.

   Note    You can also add, remove, and delete sections directly in your students’ notebooks after the class notebook is created.

Finalize Your Class Notebook

1. Click Teacher's notebook, and Student's notebook to verify how the sub-notebooks and sections will be created for the class. Click to go back to add or remove sections, or click Create to have the app create your class notebook.

   

2. Click the notebook name link to open your class notebook in OneNote. Once the notebook is ready for your students, email the hyperlink shown in the text box to your class for your students to open. Keep a copy of this link for your records or retrieve this link later in OneNote 2013 by right-clicking the class notebook in the notebook list, and then clicking Copy Link to Notebook.

   Tip   The same link is used by everyone in one class to access the class notebook. If you make notebooks for several classes, each link will be different.

   

   Tip   You may wish to add content by placing it in the Content Library before inviting your students to open the class notebook. Keep a copy of the link in your records while you prepare the notebook, then share the link with the students when ready.

Get links to any class notebooks you have

To find any link to a class notebook that you have, simply launch the app and click the Get Notebook links button.

This will bring up a page that has all class notebooks created by you and a link to each one. Select the link, press CTRL+C to copy it, and then paste the link into an email to your students.

How can my students find a link to a class notebook?

With the latest update to the app (version 3.0.0.0), we’ve made it easier for students to find their OneNote class notebook links in both OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Team Sites.

OneDrive for Business

If a teacher creates the class notebook in his/her OneDrive for Business or a SharePoint Team Site, it will automatically show up in the student’s Shared with me folder in OneDrive for Business.

In this example, the teacher has created the "History 101 notebook and added all of the students in the class. When a student goes to his/her OneNote Drive for Business and looks under the Shared with me link, the History 101 notebook automatically shows up.

SharePoint Team Site

Some schools have all teachers create class notebooks under a specific Team Site. If your school does this, the OneNote Class Notebook Creator will automatically add a Class notebooks entry in the Quick Launch navigation pane for SharePoint on the left side of the screen.