Create groups and avatars

Create groups

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 participating preschool rooms/school classes, or separate groups that attend on set days, you may want to create more than one group.

Log in to the Educator dashboard on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
Enter the multi-factor authentication (MFA) code sent to your email.
Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
Select Create a new group.
Think of a practical name for your group, such as one that reflects an existing class, room or group (for example, Blue Group).
Repeat this process to create additional groups.

Screenshot showing Create new Group button under previous group names

Add an individual child to a group

Use the following steps to add a child to a group and create an avatar for them. This can be done at any time.

Note: Each child (and their avatar) can only be added to one group.

Log in to the Educator dashboard on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
Enter the multi-factor authentication (MFA) code sent to your email.
Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
Select a group.
Select Add a child.
Enter the child’s name.
Once a child’s name has been added to a group, you will have two options to assign an associated image:

Option 1: 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 dashboard.

Option 2: 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. if you are accessing the website on a tablet device, you will have the option to 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.

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

Screenshot showing where to enter an individual child’s name to a group and make a choice about how you wish to assign an image as an avatar

Add multiple children to a group

Log in to the Educator dashboard on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
Enter the multi-factor authentication (MFA) code sent to your email.
Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
Select a group.
Select Add multiple children.
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.

Screenshot showing the two options for bulk-adding the children’s names (manual entry or uploading a file) with the Add listed children to the group button, bottom left

Delete an individual child or multiple children from a group

Deleting an individual child Deleting multiple children

There are two ways to delete children from a group.

Note: Both methods will permanently delete the children’s data. Only delete them if you are certain you will not require access to their data again.

To delete an individual child and their avatar from a particular group:
1. Log in to the Educator dashboard on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
2. Enter the multi-factor authentication (MFA) code sent to your email.
3. Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
4. Select View group beside the group with the child and avatar that you wish to delete.
5. You will then see a list of all the avatars in that group.
6. Select View child beside the child and avatar that you wish to delete.
7. Select Delete child in the top right-hand corner.

Screenshot showing first option: an individual child’s details, with the Delete child button, top right-hand corner

To delete multiple children and their avatars from a particular group:

Log in to the Educator dashboard on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
Enter the multi-factor authentication (MFA) code sent to your email.
Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
Select View group beside the group with the children and their avatars that you wish to delete.
You will then see a list of all the avatars in that group.
Select the checkboxes beside the children and avatars you wish to delete. Or, if you want to delete all the children’s avatars, you can activate the ‘select all’ function by selecting the white checkbox before the Children column heading.
Select Delete selected children.

Screenshot showing second option: several children’s names, with some selected, and the Delete selected children button, bottom right-hand corner

Move children to a different group

To move children and their avatars from a particular group:

Log in to the Educator dashboard on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
Enter the multi-factor authentication (MFA) code sent to your email.
Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
Select View group beside the group with the children and their avatars that you wish to move.
You will then see a list of all the avatars in that group.
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.
Select a different group for the children from the dropdown box and select Move selected children.

Screenshot showing several children’s names, with some selected, before Move selected children is chosen

Change a name, avatar or group

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

Log in to the Educator dashboard on the ELLA website, using your ELLA login details.
Enter the multi-factor authentication (MFA) code sent to your email.
Select the tab Groups and outcomes.
Select View group beside the group with the child and avatar that you wish to delete.
You will then see a list of all the avatars in that group.
Select View child beside the child and avatar that you wish to delete.
Select Update details in the top right-hand corner.
Select the relevant field and follow the onscreen instructions to update the details. Use Enter on your computer/tablet to save name updates.

Screenshot showing the locations on one screen for changing one child’s name, avatar and group

Getting started