When using LiveSchool, the Point bubbles associated with student names display Point values. You can use these Point bubbles to understand student engagement and behavior, or you can display your screen so that students can see the values for motivation.
The values in these bubbles will change, depending on where you are in LiveSchool (e.g., Points vs Rewards screen) and how you're filtering data. This can be confusing if you're not aware of the different ways that Point bubble values are calculated throughout LiveSchool.
In this article, we'll review the different ways to display Point bubbles, their purposes, and some helpful mental models to think of how Points are displayed.
Display Points Earned on the Points Screen
Many educators spend most of their time in LiveSchool on the Points screen. When viewing the Points screen, student buttons are accompanied by green and red Point bubbles. These Point bubbles display earned Points -- the total number of positive and/or negative Points the student has earned for the selected timeframe.
See the example below: Joshua Nelson has earned a total of 702 positive Points Year to Date as indicated in the green (positive Points) bubble and earned a total of 53 negative Points Year to Date as indicated in the red (negative Points).
When viewing Point bubbles on the Points screen, remember the following:
The earned point values that display here are dictated by the selected timeframe. For example, if you change the timeframe from "Year to Date" to "This Week" by clicking the timeframe selector, the Point values will change.
Learn how to change your Display Settings in our article, Points Screen: Customize the Timeframe.
The green and red Point bubbles do not reflect a balance or saved Points. In other words, the negative Points (the red bubble) are not subtracted from the positive Points (the green bubble) on the Points Screen, and the positive Point bubble (the green bubble) does not reflect Points spent on Rewards. When set Year to Date, the green bubble is a record of all positive Points accumulated so far this year.
If "Subtract Points for Negative Behavior" is set to Yes, those Points will show as deducted on the Rewards screen, and if it is set to No, the student will not lose those negative Points at all. Learn more about that setting in our article, Subtract Points for Negative Behavior.
To view saved Points or a Point balance, go to the Rewards screen.
Display Saved Points (Point Balances) on the Reward Screen
On the Rewards screen, the green and red Point bubbles are replaced with a single blue Point bubble. This Point bubble displays saved Points, or a Point balance -- the current number of positive Points the student has earned Year to Date, minus any Points spent on Rewards or subtracted from totals due to the rules of your system.
In the example below, we see that Joshua Nelson has 372 saved Points. Previously, we saw that Joshua had earned 702 positive Points Year to Date, and 53 negative Points. Since Joshua's school does not subtract for negative Points, Joshua has spent 330 Points on rewards.
When viewing Point bubbles on the Rewards screen, remember the following:
The Rewards screen is not affected by timeframe, as it displays "current" balance. There is no timeframe selector on the Rewards screen. This is because the blue Point bubble displays the current balance. This balance will change as students earn Points, spend Points, or have negative Points subtracted.
Saved Point totals are affected by your school's rules and settings. Saved Point values only differ from earned Point values when Points are spent or subtracted. If your school does not run a Reward store, students cannot spend Points. If your school does not subtract negative Points from student balances, negative Points do not affect saved Points.
A Mental Model for Earned vs Saved Points
It may feel confusing that the values in Point bubbles change depending on your location in LiveSchool, but Point bubbles work this way so that you can help students clearly distinguish their performance and status, depending on the context in which they're considering their Points:
Display Points earned for a selected timeframe on the Points screen when awarding Points mid-class.
Display Points saved (i.e., the Point balance) to students on the Rewards screen when helping students buy Rewards.
Here's a helpful mental model for you and your students: think of the LiveSchool Points as a salary. You may earn 50K for the year, but then spend 40k. Your balance will be 10K, but you still earned the original 50K.
View Complete Point Details in the Student Scoreboard
If you want to show a student a more complete picture of Points earned, spent, and saved, the Student Scoreboard view allows you to do so very easily and in more detail. As shown below, all these data Points are available in a single view and can be filtered to a specific timeframe. Learn more about Student Scoreboards.
LiveSchool no longer supports Daily Bonus Points, so the Bonuses column will remain empty.
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