Tutorial

Welcome to the step-by-step tutorial to help you setup your online maktab during the COVID-19 crisis. Please take a few moments to go through all the steps below. Insha'Allah it is hoped it will cover most if not all the steps required for your successfully get started.

Setting Up Your Accounts

1. Once you submit your request, you will receive a confirmation email and our wonderful volunteers will start working on creating your accounts.

2. Once your accounts have been created, you will receive an automated email for each account asking you to to "Sign in" to that account. When you click on "Sign in", you will be asked to set a password for the account.

3. In many cases, these emails end up in your Spam. Be sure to check in the Spam folder.

4. If you do not "Sign in" within 48 hours, the link expires. Please make sure you immediately sign in to the account.

5. Make a note of the username and password for each account you have been provided. You can assign these accounts to your teachers. For example, your_maktab_name1@maktabcentral.com may be assigned to Ustadh Abdullah and your_maktab_name2@maktabcentral.com may be assigned to Ustadha Asma.

6. Once you have provided the accounts to your teachers, ask them to sign in at mail.google.com. They should be able to login and view a Gmail inbox.

By following the above steps, you have confirmed your access.

Setting Up Your Online Class

Setting up a scheduled class

1) Most maktab classes are pre-scheduled. To schedule a recurring class (such as a daily class from 6pm to 7pm), each teacher can simply go to calendar.google.com and create a class in the calendar associated with their account.

2) Simply click on the day and time your class occurs on and click on "More options".

3) Enter the title of your class (e.g., Boys Maktab Class) and select a recurring "Custom" schedule by click on "Does not repeat" as shown below.

4) In the Custom recurrence schedule, click on the days (e.g., Mon - Fri) that the class is to occur on and click on "Done" as shown below.

5) Click on "Add Conferencing" as shown below (very important) to generate a shareable link. This is the link that you will need to share with the students in your class. Because this is a scheduled recurring class, the link will remain the same for the entire duration of the class even if this is over several months.

6) Click on "Save" and exit. The scheduled class should now be visible in your calendar as shown below.

Setting up an unscheduled class

1) If you need to launch a class right away, you can also do that by simply going to meet.google.com and clicking on "Join or start a meeting" as shown below.

2) Once you start your class, you can copy the meeting link by going to the bottom left of the screen and clicking on the meeting name as shown below.

3) After copying the joining info, share it with your students or participants.

Teaching Your Live Class

1) Share class details with your students: Be sure to share the joining info i.e. link associated with your class with your students. You can grab this link from your scheduled class in the calendar. Alternatively, when you launch the session, it will appear on your screen (this is only recommended for ad-hoc sessions as you would ideally want to schedule a class and give your students ample time to receive the link so they can attend on time).

2) Inform your students how they can join the live classes: (a) They may join simply via the browser by clicking on the link you provided or (b) via the Google Hangouts Meet app (Apple, Android). To join via the App, they will need the "meeting code", which is simply the code in the URL. For example, in the URL meet.google.com/xxx-yyy-zzzz, the code is "xxx-yyy-zzzz".

3) Before you start your class (Note: as the teacher you should use the web browser), go to "Settings" and ensure the right camera and mic are selected. Settings can be accessed before the session by clicking on three vertical dots on the bottom left of the video preview as shown below.

3) If you are, for example, using a headset with a mic, ensure the headset mic is selected instead of the system mic. Similarly, if you are using an external webcam, ensure it is selected instead of the system camera.

4) To begin your class, click on the "Join now" button as shown below.

5) Once your class begins, you can open a PDF or Powerpoint slide (or anything else on your desktop) and use that to teach your class. For example, if you would like to teach from the Qur'an or Qa'idah, you can open that on your desktop and share it with your class. To allow your class to see the contents on your screen, click on "Present now".

6) Click on the three dots in the bottom right at anytime to access Settings (to adjust mic or camera), Record meeting (the recording will be available in your Drive) and other options.

7) To mute/unmute your own mic or to start/stop your video, simply click on these two icons in the middle of your screen as shown below. (Note: If you don't want to broadcast your video, you can stop the video broadcast by clicking on this button)

8) Students who join your class are not muted by default. You may need to mute all your students to minimize distractions. To accomplish this, simply click on the arrow beside student's name and mute their mic as shown below. Once you mute them, they will still be able to hear you but you---and the rest of the class---will not be able to hear them. If you need them to speak, you can ask them to unmute themselves. Please note that there is no option for you to unmute them. You will need to ask them to unmute themselves every time.