ClassGuard guide for teachers

This guide shows how to use ClassGuard day to day. It uses plain steps and short examples.

ClassGuard is built by Kryft (kryft.dev).

1. Join your school

1. Your school admin invites you by email. You get an invite code like XXXX-XXXX.
2. Open ClassGuard and create an account. Tick that you are an adult.
3. Choose to join a school and type your invite code. Tap Join.
4. If you teach at two schools, the app lets you switch between them. What you see always belongs to the school you picked.

2. Your screens

The teacher home has these parts: Dashboard, Sessions, Students and Courses. Your notifications and settings are in the top bar.

3. Your schedule

• Dashboard shows what is happening today and next.
• Sessions lists your classes. Tap a class to see its details.
• Courses is where classes are created. Tap New course, give it a name, then schedule it.

To schedule a class, choose Schedule a class. Pick Repeats weekly, One-off or start one now. ClassGuard checks for clashes and says "No clashes" when all is well. You can change one class, or a whole repeating series.

If you cannot teach one day, an admin or you can Assign substitute. If you are the substitute, the class shows in your list for that day.

4. Start a class

The room opens 2 minutes before the start time. Open the class and tap Open live class, then Join video. For a class that is not on the timetable, tap Start class now.

Students wait in a waiting room until you start. When you are ready, begin the lesson.

5. Controls during a class

You control the room from the live class screen.

• Mute everyone or mute one student. Tap a student's tile to see actions for that student.
• Mute chat for one student, or turn Allow chat off for the whole class, so students can read but not write.
• Lock room: students who were not in the class yet cannot walk in. They appear in a list for 60 seconds and you can let them in. Students already inside can reconnect.
• Spotlight for everyone: puts one person (or your screen) big for the whole class.
• Chat: a class chat.
• Polls: ask a quick question, see the answers.
• Raised hands: students tap Raise hand. You see a list and can lower hands.
• Message class: send a short message that appears on every student phone.
• Give a break and End break now: a break unlocks phones for a short time. You choose which students.
• Freeze all: freezes every student phone. Hold the button to unfreeze everyone. Lock all locks them.
• End class: hold the button. It ends the class for everyone.
• Share screen: shows your screen to the class. On a laptop it shares a window or screen. On an Android phone it shares your phone screen. A notification stays on your phone while you share. Tap Stop sharing screen to end.
• Show to class: show a file (a PDF or picture) you attached to the lesson.

Example: you want students to look at your notes. Tap Share screen, open the notes, then tap Stop sharing screen when done.

The call video is not recorded.

6. Focus view, reminders and alerts to parents

During class you see how focused each student is. Student tiles show their state, for example looking away or eyes closed. This only appears for children whose parent agreed to focus tracking. If a parent has not agreed, you see that the child is not checked. You never see the child's picture. Only numbers are used.

Per-class settings (for the class teacher only) are in Attention check:

• Turn the attention check off for the class.
• Decide how long "looking away" or "eyes closed" must last before it counts.
• Set Notebook time: looking down while writing is not counted against a student.
• Send me an alert after: you get a focus reminder when a student has been away from the screen this long.
• Alert parent: from that reminder, you can send a note to the parent. The app shows a short countdown, so you can still cancel.
• Parents can also be told automatically when focus in a class is below a level you choose, or this can be off.

Tap Reset to defaults to go back to the standard settings.

7. Attendance

Attendance is automatic. A student who joins is Present or Late. A student who never joins is Absent. After class, open Attendance and change anyone if needed. The choices are Present, Late, Absent and Excused. Attendance marked while a class is still running is shown as "Provisional".

8. Homework, materials, marking and notes

Open a course and tap New post. Choose:

• Material: notes or files for students.
• Homework: with a due date and a total mark.

Add files (PDF or pictures) with Add files. You can attach a post to a lesson, so students find it at the right time.

When students hand in their work, open the homework to see Hand-ins. Open one to see their photos or PDF, give a Mark and a Comment, or return it once for a redo. The parents see the state and mark.

You can add a Note about a student (for example "Neat work this week"). Notes are for school staff. Parents can read the notes from teachers in the child's reports. Notes are kept for 1 year.

9. Well done stars

To praise a student, tap Give star. Pick a reason such as "Great answer", "Helped a classmate" or "Neat work". It adds 1 star. You can give up to 3 per student in each class. If you tapped by mistake, tap Undo straight away.

Students also get stars from the server after each class from their focus and being on time. Stars unlock colour themes and badges. They are never spent.

10. Reports

Open a student to see their report: attendance, focus by class, hand-ins and your notes. Teachers only see their own classes. You can open a day and the list of distractions. Download a PDF with Download PDF.

11. Getting help

Use Report a problem in the app. It takes a screenshot and device details for you. The request goes to your school admin first, and they can send it on to ClassGuard. Or write to [email protected].