Class Notebook lets a teacher quickly set up a personal workspace for every student, a content library for handouts, and a collaboration space for lessons and creative activities, all within one powerful notebook.

If you are already familiar with OneNote, Class Notebook should be familiar.  However, if you're new to OneNote, this article will walk you through some of the basics. 

Open Class Notebook

1. Go to https://office365.illinoisstate.edu and log in with your ISU email address and password.
2. At the Microsoft 365 home screen, click the Class Notebook icon to open the application.  If Class Notebook is not available, click the Application Launcher in the top left corner of the page to get a pop-out showing a list of Apps and Documents.  If you do not see the app you're looking for, Click All apps ?  to get a list of all available applications.  Click Class Notebook to open the application. 

You will now see the Welcome to the OneNote Class Notebook page as well as four tiles to choose from:  Create a class notebook, Add or remove students, Add or remove teachers and Manage Notebooks.

Create a Class Notebook

1. Enter the name of your class and click Next.
2. An overview of what is included with your notebook including the Collaboration Space, Content Library and Student Notebooks will display.
3. Grant another teacher permission, in the event that you are team teaching or would like to collaborate with another teacher.  This step is optional.
4. Add students to the class notebook by name, email or group, separated by semicolons.
5. Choose sections for each student’s private space.  Defaults include Handouts, Class Notes, Homework and Quizzes.  You can add custom sections by clicking Add more and typing the desired name of the section.
6. Preview your class notebook.  Teacher’s view is shown by default, but you can switch to the student’s view by clicking Student’s notebook.  Once you verify the layout, click on Create to continue.
7. View the notebook in the OneNote desktop application or the OneNote Online application by clicking the respective link.
8. Click Back to Home to return to the Class Notebook home site.
9. Additional information is available under the _Collaboration Space and _Content Library sections of the notebook.

Add or Remove Students

1. Select the notebook you would like to add or remove students to/from.
2. Add a new student using name, email or group name, or remove a student by clicking Remove next to the name of the student you wish to remove.  If you choose to remove a student and wish to delete the contents of their notebook as well, check the box that says Delete student’s content.  Click Undo if you did not mean to remove the student, otherwise click Continue
3. A summary of students added or removed will be shown. Verify the names and the action are correct.  If not, click the left arrow ?  next to Did we get this right?, otherwise click Update.
4. View the notebook in the OneNote desktop application or the OneNote Online application by clicking the respective link.
5. Click Back to Home to return to the Class Notebook home site.

Add or Remove Teachers 

1. Select the notebook you would like to add or remove teacher to/from.
2. Add a teacher using name, email or group name separated by semicolons.  The teachers who are already part of the notebook are listed under Existing teacher list.
3. Verify that the teachers being added are correct.  If not, click the left arrow next to Did we get this right?, otherwise click Update.
4. View the notebook in the OneNote desktop application or the OneNote Online application by clicking the respective link.
5. Click Back to Home to return to the Class Notebook home site.

Manage Notebooks

1. Your manageable notebooks are shown under Your notebooks or Co-owned notebooks.
2. The names of the student sections can be edited by clicking the pencil icon to the right of the section names.  You can also add custom sections by clicking Add section.
3. You can make a Teacher-Only section group by clicking the link.  For more information about Teacher-Only sections, click here.  (You cannot undo this from the Manage notebooks page.  You will need to manually delete the section from OneNote desktop or online.)
4. If you wish to lock the collaboration space, you can toggle the lock/unlock option here.
5. If you wish to give specific students collaboration space permissions to view or edit click the link to do so.  This brings up a pop-up to Manage Section Permissions.  Collaboration sections are listed by name, number of students with permission to the section and the edit icon to select students who can view and edit the section.  You can choose to give all students read-only access to the section by checking the box next to the option.  Once changes have been made, you can click Save, otherwise click Close to close the pop-up.
6. You have the option of granting access to the notebook to parents/guardians.  You can share a read-only link to the content library or select individual or all students to grant access to student notebooks.  This might be useful for faculty who teach special needs students, or secondary- and elementary-aged students.  Click the X to close the window.
7. If you only wish to share the link to the notebook, copy and paste the link under Notebook link.
8. Click the left hand arrow ? next to Manage notebooks to return to the class notebook home page.

View User Guide

Microsoft offers an interactive video user guide that will walk you through the basics of using Class Notebook.

You can access the video tutorial by clicking here.

Download the Class Notebook Add-in

If you are not using a Mac or PC with Windows 10, you may need to download the class notebook add-in for OneNote in order to view and manage class notebooks.

Add the Class Notebook to ReggieNet

ReggieNet integration with OneNote class notebooks is available for use. Instructors may add Class Notebook as an external tool in ReggieNet to create individual notebooks for students in addition to a collaborative workspace for the entire class to use. When creating a class notebook through ReggieNet, students enrolled in the ReggieNet course will automatically be added to the class notebook.

For optimal performance, it is recommended to access the class notebook via the Microsoft 365 portal after creating the class notebook from ReggieNet.

Instructors may contact CTLT at (309) 438-2542 for further assistance with setting up a class notebook through ReggieNet.

Additional Resources

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

Getting Help

For Technical Assistance, you can Submit a Help Ticket, or contact the Technology Support Center at (309) 438-4357 or by email at SupportCenter@IllinoisState.edu

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