Set up a class and share it

What a class is

In AIPLA a class is a container you own. It has:

• one or more group codes — the short codes students type to join. Students do not create accounts and do not log in; the group code is all they need.
• the activities you assign to it (guide T2).
• a tutor — who teaches this class: its name, picture, voice, tone and teaching approach, in one choice. Leave the default or change it later.

Everything below is done in your browser. You do not need a developer.

Step 1 — Create the class

From your teacher area, open Classes and select New class. Give the class a name — for example, "Physics 2.g, autumn 2026" — and, optionally, a short description. Select Create.

Your new class now appears in the class list, alongside any others you own.

Step 2 — Mint a group code

Open the class by selecting its name in the list. The class page has three tabs: Lesson (the groups, and what they are doing now), After the lesson (insights, spend, recent sessions and export) and Setup (the tutor, voice and recording, the class's activities). A new class opens on Setup; switch to Lesson. It has no group codes yet, so select New group in the Groups table. AIPLA generates a short code and copies it to your clipboard.

You can mint more than one group code for the same class — for example, one per table group or per lab pair — so you can tell their work apart in reports.

Step 3 — Share the code with students

Each code is a row in the Groups table. Select Copy link on its row and give students that link. It carries the address and the code together, so nobody lands on the wrong AIPLA site — a code works only on the site it was made on. (Copy code, under ⋯ on the row, copies just the code, for students who are already on the right page.) They open the link and they are in — no login, no personal account (see S1 — Join and use your tutor). Anything they do is grouped under that code, so your class reports stay organised.

If you want to remember who is behind each code, write the names in the Names · only in your browser column of the table, and use Names: Excel → Download as Excel to keep a copy. The names stay in your browser on this device — AIPLA never receives them.

The ⋯ menu on a row also holds the rarer actions. Start a new conversation archives the group's current conversation (it is kept for the report) so the group starts afresh next time. If a code leaks, choose Revoke the code…. The code stops working at once and can never be reissued; the group's work is kept. Mint a new code for the group with New group.

Step 4 — Choose the tutor (optional)

On the class page's Setup tab, Tutor sets who teaches every activity in this class — name, picture, voice, tone and teaching approach, in one choice. Leave it on the default, or select Change tutor (Choose a tutor if none is set) and pick another.

Make your own tutor

Any teacher can write a teaching approach and build a tutor on it; you do not need a researcher account. Open the Teaching approaches link beside Tutor (or Tutors in the account menu, top right). The page has three tabs: Try them, Approaches and Tutors.

1. On the Approaches tab, below the published approaches, find Your own teaching approaches and select New approach. Give it a Name, a One-line summary, and write What the tutor is told in full, as if briefing a teaching assistant. Select Save.
2. On the Tutors tab, select New tutor. Give it a Name, pick your approach under Teaching approach (your own approaches are listed after the seven published ones), choose a Face and voice, and select Create tutor. To change only the approach of an existing tutor, select the branch icon beside it (Make a variant of …) instead.
3. Back on the class page's Setup tab, pick your new tutor under Tutor.

The seven published approaches can be read on the Approaches tab but not changed — they are maintained by the research team.

Next steps

• Build the first activity for this class — T2 — Create your first activity.
• Add curriculum documents the tutor can draw on — T3 — Add and organise curriculum materials.