NEO Teachers Guide
NEO Teachers Guide
NEO Teachers Guide
Table of contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................3
Navigating the platform ..............................................................................................................................5
Help Center ................................................................................................................................................. 10
Profile........................................................................................................................................................... 12
Example of a class .................................................................................................................................... 13
Creating a class ......................................................................................................................................... 25
Configuring a class ................................................................................................................................... 28
Adding lessons .......................................................................................................................................... 31
Enrolling students...................................................................................................................................... 35
Adding assignments ................................................................................................................................. 38
Grading assignments ............................................................................................................................... 41
Mastery and competencies ..................................................................................................................... 48
Using automation in a class .................................................................................................................... 52
Using gamification .................................................................................................................................... 54
Taking attendance .................................................................................................................................... 56
Importing/Exporting class content ........................................................................................................ 58
Creating learning paths ............................................................................................................................ 59
Communicating with users ..................................................................................................................... 62
Notifications ............................................................................................................................................... 65
Summary..................................................................................................................................................... 66
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Introduction
NEO is a world-class, award-winning learning management system (LMS) for schools and universities.
The platform is known for delivering a great user experience while incorporating all the essential tools
schools need to support effective teaching and learning.
NEO is a product of CYPHER LEARNING, a company that specializes in providing learning platforms
for organizations around the world. CYPHER LEARNING provides a similar LMS for use by businesses
called MATRIX and an LMS for use by entrepreneurs called INDIE. CYPHER LEARNING products are
used by over 20,000 organizations, have millions of users, and have won several awards.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
We want you to get the best results when using our site, especially when you are just starting out.
That is why we created three getting started guides for the main types of users on NEO:
administrators, teachers, and students.
Getting started guide for Teachers (this guide) explains topics such as: creating a class,
using competencies and grading assignments.
Getting started guide for Administrators explains topics such as: navigating in NEO,
configuring features, customizing the platform and managing users.
Getting started guide for Students explains topics such as: enrolling in classes, submitting
assignments and communicating with teachers.
Getting started guide for Parents explains topics such as: accessing the parent account,
accessing children's information, and how to navigate the platform.
This guide covers the most common steps teachers go through when they start using NEO. Please
consult the table of contents if you want to find a specific topic.
If you have any additional questions or want to explore more of the platform’s features, please browse
the Help Center or visit our support forum.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Delete items.
Access your messages through the messages icon in the top right bar.
The trash icon opens a pop-up with deleted content such as classes or lessons.
Your shopping cart contains your ordered learning items (if e-commerce is enabled).
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Left bar
The left bar displays tabs that allow you to quickly navigate to the main areas of the site, such as
Home, Classes, Groups, Catalog, Users, Resources and Reports.
The left bar allows you access to these tabs no matter where you are in the site. If you hover over a
tab, a pop-up window will appear with the most important options for that area.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Right bar
In the right bar you can find your to-do list, announcements, upcoming events and a list of any
minimized windows. To see more details, just click on an item.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
News feed
The Home page news feed aggregates news items from your classes, groups, friends and school.
Product News announcements usually contains updates from the NEO team and your site
administrator. By default, a news feed only shows the latest news and you can scroll down the page
for more items.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Help Center
We provide extensive support at every step of our collaboration. To access the Help Center, click the
icon at the top right bar.
A pop-up box will open with different options. Use the searchable online help to browse different help
topics. If you are on a certain page and need guidance, a help for the current page option will also
appear. Here you can also find access to our Support forum and Product news, where we frequently
post updates on new features.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
You can find the topics that are most relevant to you in the searchable online help. Most of them have
detailed instructions with screenshots. The Help Center is a pop-up so you can browse through the
topics without leaving your current page.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Profile
Your profile page shows your basic information, account details, photos, and more. The information
that is visible depends on your account type and the portal’s security settings.
To start setting up your profile, go to the top right bar and click on the profile button. Then, click on
the Edit button.
Go to the Settings tab in the left bar to choose different options related to your profile, such displaying
your online status for students or allowing users to request to chat with you.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Example of a class
Before we show you how to create your own class, we would like you to become familiar with how a
NEO class might look like. We will show you how to navigate in a class, explore the main tabs, view
lessons and assignments, and more.
The default landing page of a class is its Lessons area. Here, you can see many aspects of your class,
including the lessons, a left bar with tabs that give you direct access its most important areas. The
right side provides access to a quick class Administration, activity display, to-do list, announcements
and even games leaderboards, if gamification is enabled.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Class dashboard
The class Dashboard provides teachers with a set of widgets that offer a more detailed overview of
the class. The widgets include information about the number of students, mastery, grades, custom
reports, and more.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Left bar
The class left bar allows you to navigate in different areas of a class such as: the admin area, start,
assignments, calendar, the gradebook, and more.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
You can configure the class to enable or disable most of these tabs and depending on how your site
administrator has set up your platform.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
News feed
To access the class news feed, go to Start then click the News tab. The news feed shows class
announcements, posts from teachers and students, new assignments, lessons, events, and more.
You can edit and delete any news item, including posts and comments by students.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Right bar
In the right bar, you can find the Admin control panel that allows you to quickly publish the class and
find the class access code. Here is also the activity display, to-do list, announcements, and a game
leaderboard if you have enabled games for the class. To view more details, click on an item.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Lessons
If you go to Start and click on the lessons tab, you will see all the lessons in the class. You can reorder
lessons using drag and drop.
Depending on your preferences, you can also switch to the List view option from the top right. This
view shows all the sections for all lessons:
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Getting started guide for Teachers
A lesson is usually comprised of content sections and assignments. If the path feature is enabled, you
can also add as sections goals which can be other classes and certificates. You can see the sections
of lessons by going to the Sections tab.
Content pages
A content page is created by using our built-in HTML editor and can contain any kind of media,
including audio, video, Office documents and Google Docs. You can create rich, engaging lessons with
little technical knowledge. Here is how a content page might look like:
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Sections have a Completion tab, where you can add completion actions that should be performed
when a student completes the section.
Each page has its own Resources area, where you can upload learning resources such as files, pages,
or add existing ones from your personal, organizational or school library.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Assignments
To see a list of the assignments for a class, go to the Assignments tab. An assignment can be
connected to a lesson or a standalone task.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Team - allows groups of students to work on joint submissions. The teacher organizes the
students into teams, each of which get their own private group;
Dropbox - students upload one or more files as their submission;
SCORM - captures the results of a SCORM item;
Attendance - awards points based on a student's attendance record;
Turnitin - add assignments that can have an originality check through our Turnitin integration;
Custom LTI assignments - integrates 3rd party LTI assignments;
Google Assignments - if the integration is configured, you can add Google Assignments;
H5P Assignments - if the H5P content standard is enabled you can add H5P assignments.
To see the details for an assignment, click on its name. Here is how an assignment in a lesson looks
like:
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Depending on the type of assignment, you can find some or all of the following tabs:
Assignment - shows the most important information about the assignment, such as its grading
status, submissions and instructions;
Questions - displays the questions of an assignment if it’s a quiz or survey, and the number of
points that are allocated to each of them;
Grades - shows a list of student grades for the assignment, submissions for each student;
To grade - indicates the assignments that need to be graded;
Not submitted - indicates the assignments that haven’t been submitted yet;
Analytics - displays the grade distribution amongst students;
Grading scale - here you can see the grading scale associated with the assignment;
Rubric - view the rubric associated with an assignment;
Competencies - see the competencies that are assessed by the assignment;
Completion - if the class is self-paced, you can add rules that are performed when the
assignment is completed;
Score rules - add rules and actions for when learners achieve a specified score;
Personalize - you can personalize an assignment to only show it to certain students or hide it
from certain students;
Tags - you can tag an assignment and then use the tags as optional requirements for lesson
completion;
Proctor - this feature allows you to restrict students’ acces to the assignment based on access
codes, start date, and IP address.
We will go into more details about adding assignments later in this guide. Now that you know how a
complete class looks like in NEO, you are ready to start creating your own.
The next sections of the guide will show you how to create a class, configure it, add lessons and
assignments, grade assignments, enroll students, and more.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Creating a class
To create a class, hover over the Classes tab from the left bar and choose Add.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Access code - if you enable the access code option when creating a class, the access code (for
self-enrollment) is displayed on the class landing page, in the right bar under “Admin”;
Style - you can choose from four different styles:
Instructor - learning takes place in a traditional classroom environment. This is the most
common choice for schools that are using online learning in combination with their regular
school setting;
Blended - learning takes place in a classroom environment, but some of the modules are
self-paced, often with gateway assignments that only allow students to proceed once
they've achieved a certain score;
Self-paced - all lessons are self-paced, and students can take the class anytime,
anywhere.There is no class schedule, no dates for particular lessons, no "giving" or "due
date" for assignments, and no grading periods;
Micro class - a very lightweight class that provides access to lessons/sections and no other
tabs. In all other aspects, it is the same as conventional classes;
Duration - you can select the dates between which the class will be held, or if your class is self-
paced, you can specify a duration without setting fixed dates;
Subject - choose the subject of the class from the list provided.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Here you can set up your class language, time zone, the semester that the class is held in, the number
of credits for the class, organization and associate the class with a Grading scale.
Once you've added a class, you are taken to its default landing page, which is its Lessons area.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Configuring a class
As a teacher, you have many options for configuring your class, from choosing which tabs are
displayed in the left bar, to setting what happens when a student completes the class.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Tabs
You can select the tabs that you and your students can see in the class left bar, such as news, lessons,
calendar and collaboration tools. By default, only the most common features are enabled, less
common features such as wikis and chat are disabled.
Enrollment
This area allows you to select enrollment options. For example, you can choose if you want students
to be able to enroll or unenroll themselves from the class. You can also set up rules that should be
performed when students are enrolled or unenrolled, such as sending an automatic message to them.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Lessons
In this tab, you can configure your lessons and sections. You enable drip content, which allows you to
schedule student access to lessons rather than have them all available at once.
Completion
Add actions that should be performed when a class is completed, such as awarding a certificate,
badges, sending custom messages to students or enrolling them in another class.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Adding lessons
To add a lesson, go to Start/Lessons then choose Add. Enter its title, an optional date, a description,
then click Save.
Once you’ve added a lesson, you can use the edit icon to change settings or description and the
picture icon to change the picture. You can then add a section to your lesson, which can either be a
content section or assignment.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Adding sections
To add a section to a lesson, click on the Sections tab, then select the kind of section you want to add
(see the picture above). For example, add a content Page, enter a title and click Save. Then you can
click Edit and create the content using the HTML editor.
Here you will have many options for editing your content page. You can use the picture icon to upload
pictures, add text, upload any kind of file, including video and audio. Additionally, you can record video
or audio content directly from your browser. Here is how your created page might look like:
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Getting started guide for Teachers
To add resources to a content page, click its Resources tab, then select the type of resource that you
want to add.
For example, to add a file from your computer, click File, select the file you want to upload, a
description and the library that this resource will be a a part of.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
To reorder lessons or sections in a lesson, you can use drag and drop. To delete items, select them,
then click Delete.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Enrolling students
To begin enrolling students in a class, go to the Students tab in the class left bar.
Then click Add in the top right and select one of the following choices:
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Classes tab
If you give students a class access code, they can use it to enroll in a class themselves. Alternatively,
if you have enabled the class catalog, they can hover over the Classes tab, click Catalog, then enroll
from there.
People picker
You can enroll students using the people picker, which allows you to filter people by name, account
type, groups, organizations and classes. Select the students you want to add and click the middle
arrow to move them in the column on the right, then click Add.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Email invitations
Select the approximate number of invitations to send, then enter the email addresses and names of
the students to add them to your class.
An email is sent to each user. The email includes the invitation message and a clickable link. When
the person clicks the link, they are sent to your site and asked to click an “Accept” option. When they
click Accept, they are logged in to the system and taken to their home page.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Adding assignments
An assignment is a task that a student has to complete in order to earn points. These points add up
towards a final grade based on the selected weighting scheme.
There are two ways of adding assignments: you can add an assignment directly from the lesson page
or from the Assignments tab of the class. From a lesson page, click Add Section, then select an
assignment from out list of 15 different types:
From the Assignments tab of your class, click Add Assignment from the top right.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
For example, if you select an Essay assignment, you can see the following options:
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Getting started guide for Teachers
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Grading assignments
There are three ways to grade an assignment:
Automatically - quiz assignments are automatically graded if they do not contain freeform
questions; survey assignments and attendance assignments are always automatically graded;
From the assignment page - online assignments that are not graded automatically are best
viewed and graded from the assignment page;
From the gradebook - offline assignments are not submitted online, so the most common way
to enter their grades is via the gradebook.
Note that when you visit your teacher dashboard or a class landing page, assignments that need
grading will appear in the to-do list. You can click on an item in the list to see more details and to go
to the grading page.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
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Getting started guide for Teachers
To grade a submission, click on the Edit icon. A new window will show you the student’s submission.
On the right side, you can see assignment information such as the date of submission and
number of attempts. Click on edit to override the default maximum number of attempts. Here
you can also find the threaded comment section should you wish to leave a comment for your
student. Threaded comments allow teachers and students to maintain a threaded dialog for
every submission;
The Competencies tab allows you to see the competencies that the assignment is associated
with;
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Depending on how many students and assignments there are, scroll bars that let you scroll through
the grades list will appear.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Each assignment is listed at the top of the gradebook, with an icon to indicate its type, a link to the
assignment and the number of points associated with the assignment.
To edit a gradebook cell, click on it and then enter the number of points, a percentage (a number
followed by %), a letter grade, a blank (to clear the grade), and select from exceptions such as Excused,
Missing, Absent, or Incomplete.
If you double click on a cell, a pop-up window will appear with an extra option for leaving a comment.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
To configure the settings for the gradebook display, click the Configure icon in the top right. You can
then select options such as what combination of points, percent and grade to be displayed in each
cell.
The gradebook has a full-screen mode and configurable display options, including ordering of
students and assignments. It also has pop-up analytics for the whole class, for individual assignments
or for individual students.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
To export the gradebook, click the Export icon in the top right. Then select if you want to export an
XLS or CSV file. If you choose CSV file, select the fields to export, then press 'Export'. This creates a
comma-separated-value (CSV) file that you can import into other systems.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
You can add your own or use pre-existing competencies from a library.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Then fill in the required information and you are ready to start adding competencies using a form or
by importing them from a file:
For example, this is how the competencies for a class might look like:
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Once the list of competencies is prepared, you can tag lessons with the competencies that they should
be teaching and assignments with the competencies that they should be assessing:
In the Coverage analysis tab, you can see how well the class covers the competencies.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
In the Mastery grid you can see the students’ progress through each competency and identify the
ones that are doing well or the ones that are struggling.
Competencies are also saved as resources and can be shared through the Resources catalog:
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Adding rules
Rules can be added to various areas such as classes, lessons and different sections of a lesson.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Using gamification
Gamification is based on our automation feature and allows you to create site-wide and class-wide
games where students can earn points and badges by doing certain tasks such as completing
assignments. They can also advance through levels and see leaderboards with rankings.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
After adding the levels and points for each one, you can begin adding rules for lessons, sections, and
assignments that award points and badges.
For more details on gamification, visit the Game topic in our Help Center.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Taking attendance
You can track student attendance for a class session, including arrival on time, arrives late, leaves
early or is absent. You can also excuse a student and include a note. You can award points for
attendance by adding one or more attendance assignments.
To record attendance for a session, click Add, enter the time of the class session and the details for
each student:
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Getting started guide for Teachers
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Getting started guide for Teachers
For example, to import content into a class, click Admin/Import. Similarly, to export class content go
to Admin/Export.
Select the file to upload and click Continue. You will receive a message when the upload is complete.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
To add a new learning path, go to Classes in the main left bar then click Add.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
After adding the path, you will see an overview page, complete with an Admin panel to the right. Here
you can add lessons just as in the case of convetional classes.
When you add sections to lessons you will see the Goals area where you can select Class and
Certificate goals as section.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Learning paths allow you to mix regular class sections with references to other classes and
certificates creating more powerful flows.
You can post news, enroll students and configure the learning path. The full power of classes applies
to paths as well. They support optional completion requirements, waitlists, deactivation, child paths,
sync of paths, and more.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
To read a message, click on it. To reply to a message, click Reply, enter your response and click Send.
To delete a message, click Delete.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
To send a message to someone, hover over their name (links to users appear in most places in the
site such as a list of students, teachers, profile pages and in the forums), click Message, then enter
your message and click Send.
To send a message to multiple students at once, go to the My students tab and select them from the
list then click Message.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Similarly, if your site administrator has enabled this option, you can also chat with online users.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Notifications
To see all your notifications, click the notifications icon in the top right bar. A drop-down menu will
appear that lists your most recent notifications. Notifications include posts from forums you are
subscribed to, enrollments, new submissions that need grading, and more.
To select which notifications are automatically emailed to you, click the Configure option. If you are
subscribed to a forum, you can reply to a posting directly from the notifications box or click “See
thread” to see the entire thread on the forum.
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Getting started guide for Teachers
Summary
The Getting Started Guide for Teachers provided the basic information that teachers need when they
first start using NEO.
Some of the topics we covered were: navigating in NEO, using the Help Center, creating and
configuring a class, adding lessons and assignments, enrolling students, communicating with
students and taking attendance.
If you have any additional questions, please browse the Help Center or visit our support forum.
www.neolms.com
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