Getting started

If you  have a small number of children participating in ELLA, you may want to create one group only. If you have two or more preschool rooms, or separate groups that attend on set days, you may want to create more than one group.

1. Log in to the Educator Zone on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
2. Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
3. Select Create a new group.
4. Think of a practical name for your group, such as one that reflects an existing room or group (for example, Blue Group).
5. Create additional groups, if needed, by repeating this process.

You can add a child to a group at any time. Children can only be added to one group.

1. Log in to the Educator Zone on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
2. Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
3. Select a group.
4. Select Add a child.
5. Enter the child’s name.
6. Once a child’s name has been added to a group, you will have two options to assign an associated image:

Option 1: Choose your own image

Select Choose file, upload an image of your own and then select Save to add the avatar to the group. You can add an image from a tablet device photo library, or from a computer.

1. 1. 1. if you are accessing the website on a tablet device, you will have the option to take a photo with the tablet’s camera or upload an image from the tablet's photo library. (We suggest that you take or use a photo of an object that has meaning for the child – for example, a favourite toy or a piece of artwork.)
      2. if you are accessing the website from a computer, you will be able to upload an existing image.

Option 2: Assign a default avatar image

Select Save without uploading an image and a random default avatar image will be assigned to the new child. There are 50 default images preloaded to the Educator Zone.

NOTE: Consider your preschool privacy policy when creating avatars. Using images of objects rather than children's faces is highly recommended to ensure privacy.

1. Log in to the Educator Zone on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
2. Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
3. Select a group.
4. Select Add multiple children.
5. Add up to 50 children to a group and assign them a random default avatar image. There are two options for doing this.
   1. Enter the children’s names into the text box. Separate the names with a comma – for example, Anna, Carlo,Ishani. Each name can be up to 16 characters long. When you have finalised your list in the text box, select Add the listed children to the group.
   2. Create a text file (TXT, CSV or TSV) with one name per row. Select Choose file to locate your text file and then Upload file to upload the list of names to the text box. If necessary, you can edit the list in the text box. When you have finalised the names, select Add the listed children to the group.

To move children and their avatars from a particular group:

1. Log in to the Educator Zone on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
2. Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
3. Select View group beside the group with the children and their avatars that you wish to move.
4. You will then see a list of all the avatars in that group.
5. Select a checkbox beside the children and avatars you wish to move. Or you can activate the ‘select all’ function by selecting the white checkbox before the Children column heading.
6. Select a different group for the children from the dropdown box and select Move selected children.

To make changes to a child’s name or their avatar or to move them to a different group:

1. Log in to the Educator Zone on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
2. Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
3. Select View group beside the group with the child and avatar that you wish to delete.
4. You will then see a list of all the avatars in that group.
5. Select View child beside the child and avatar that you wish to delete.
6. Select Update details in the top right-hand corner.
7. Select the relevant field and follow the onscreen instructions to update the details. Use Enter on your computer/tablet to save name updates.