Ideas for using DB at Christmas
Ideas for using DB Primary at Christmas
To view the example Christmas Community, please visit this link.
1. Creating a Christmas-themed community page
 How to edit the wiki of your community
 Letting the pupils become wiki editors
 Add a background image and community logo
 How to add web links
2. Create a drawing task
3. The forum:
 Chat with Santa in the Forum area
 A video message from Father Christmas
4. Using Email
5. Have pupils create personal wiki pages
6. Create a Christmas Quiz
7. Surveys:
 Create a Christmas Survey
 Getting the children to create their own surveys
To view the example Christmas Community, please visit this link.
1. Creating a Christmas-themed community page
Upload a Christmas-themed community icon and background.
You can include links to websites.
Either update the wiki area yourself with some
Christmas messages or get a pupil or group of
pupils to update the page.
 How to edit the wiki of your community
If you would like to start again and redesign your wiki for Christmas, use the following steps:
Hover towards the top right of the page, select the spanner and paper
image and then click on Clear Page.
Click on the link ‘Click to start designing the page’.
You will then be presented with layout and background
options.
 How to edit the wiki of your community
To edit any of the text, hover over the area to edit and click on the pencil that appears to the left of the text box.
To edit pictures, hover over the picture and select the camera icon to upload a new image. Selecting the folder
icon will let you browse through images already uploaded or to record a video using your webcam.
Click on ‘Add’ to insert videos, audio or extra pictures and text boxes.
 Letting the pupils become wiki editors
If you wish you can allow a pupil or group of
pupils to update the wiki area.
To give the children editing rights, first click on
the cogs at the top right of the community.
Select ‘Manage Membership’ at the top right of
the community administration page.
If you have already added your class as a group
(as shown on the right with Year 4) then
individually add any children you wish to become
editors.
Click on the badge icon to the right of their name
until it turns into a mortar board. This signifies
that they are leaders and now have editing rights
over the wiki.
 How to add a background image and community logo
To edit the background image and community logo, click on the cogs at the
top right of your community.
At the top left of the community administration page, click on upload to
search for and add a new community icon.
At the bottom left of the community administration page, click on upload
to search for and add a new background image.
 How to add a web links
To add a web link to the quick links menu at the left of the
community page, click on the cogs at the top right of your
community.
At the bottom of the quick links list, select ‘Browse’ and then
‘New Link’.
Enter the title of the link and copy in the url (web address)
of the website you wish to link to. If you wish to you can
upload your own picture to associate with the link (click on
upload to browse for a picture).
Please note: If you wish to edit a link that you have
previously created, visit the gallery and open the link from
there.
2. Create a drawing task
Create a homework task for the children to draw a Christmas Picture
As an addition to this task you could get the children to set this picture as their avatar for the Christmas period.
To set a new ‘me-image’ (avatar), once their picture has been completed, pupils should visit their My Work area,
open up their drawing and select ‘This is Me’.
3. The Forum Area: Chat with Santa
•Create a staff account for Father Christmas/Santa.
•Log in to the learning platform as that character.
•Using the forum area you can allow the children to ask interview style questions to the character.
The Forum area: A video message from Father Christmas
If you have the costume and are feeling brave , perhaps you can dress up as Father Christmas and leave a video message for
the children.
Children can log in at home and leave responses to any questions asked.
The Forum area: A video message from Father Christmas
To record a message you will have to have a webcam attached to your computer.
When you click on the video tool icon, the record facility will connect to your webcam automatically.
4. Using Email
Set up an account for Father Christmas and send the children an email from this account.
As a task children must write an email in reply.
5. Have pupils create personal wiki pages
Christmas Wiki Pages
If you would like to let the children create their own pages, you can create communities that they can take ownership of and update with
text, images and video.
Local communities are communities that belong to an individual’s account. Personal Wiki pages are a type of local community.
You can create local communities for your own class by clicking on the People tab in your community, then selecting Manage.
Select ‘Personal Wiki’ as the type of page.
5. Have pupils create personal wiki pages
Christmas Wiki Pages
Ask children to update their own research page about Christmas.
They can select from a numbers of skins such as the newspaper skin for a realistic newspaper effect.
5. Have pupils create personal wiki pages
Accessing the Personal Wikis as a Pupil
When a pupil logs in, their personal wiki will be shown under their list of communities. The personal wiki is essentially the
same as a normal community wiki and can be edited and designed in the same way.
6. Create a Christmas Quiz
Start creating your quiz
In the Quiz area of your community, select ‘New Quiz’ and
give your quiz a title. Click on the tick to start creating your
quiz.
Add Questions from the question bank
You now have the option to search for existing questions.
Type Christmas and Santa into the search box.
Click ‘View’ to preview any question and ‘Add’ to add the
question to your quiz.
Creating your own questions
Click on ‘New Question’ to add your own questions.
Please note: The Name field refers to a general
heading for the question and Question Prompt will be
the actual question.
When you have finished compiling your quiz, select
‘Publish’ to share with your class.
7. Create a Christmas Survey
Create a Christmas-themed survey to find
out more about the Christmas likes/dislikes
and habits of your class.
The below is an example:
Results can be also be seen in graphical format by
clicking on the graph image on the results page:
7. Christmas Survey: getting the children to create their own surveys
In an Improver themed community, children can create their
own surveys.
Once they have been approved by the teacher, the teacher can
publish the survey for the whole class to take.
To approve surveys created by the children, visit the survey
area and select Manage next to the survey title.
Now you can preview the survey and if it is ready, publish it so
that the rest of the class can respond to the questions.
Pupils will receive a notification on their desktop once the survey
has been published.