Getting started for teachers

This guide takes you from a new account to a class with students and an assignment. Most teachers finish it in one prep period. Every step lists the exact button to press.

If you get stuck at any point, press Help in the sidebar (or the round button in the bottom-right corner) and send a message. A person on the Trace team reads it and replies there and by email.

Before you start#

You need:

A Trace account with the teacher role. Sign up at /sign-up and choose "Teacher or educator", or accept the invitation your school administrator sent you.
A list of students. Either their email addresses, or a plan to show them a join code in class.
Students need a Trace account. They sign up with an email address, a username, a password, and their date of birth. Students under 13 must choose "Student joining a classroom" and enter your class code when they sign up.

Step 1: Create your class#

The first time you sign in, Home shows one form: Create your first class. Type a class name and press Create class. A name like "AI Foundations, Period 2" makes it easy to tell classes apart later.

Already have a class? Open Classes in the sidebar and press Create class there.

After that, your home is the class itself. The sidebar lists its sections: Overview, Students, Assignments, Progress, and AI activity. The top of the overview shows a Set up this class checklist that ticks off as you go.

Step 2: Get students in#

There are two ways, and you can use both.

Join code. The class header shows a short code with a copy button. Students sign in, press Join a class on their Home page, type the code, and press Join class. They are on your roster right away. On the Students section, Print code prints a one-page handout with the code and the sign-in address. Put it on the board or hand it out.

Invite by email. On the Students section press Invite by email and paste the addresses. Commas, spaces, new lines, or a copied spreadsheet column all work, and so does "Name <address>". The dialog shows exactly who will be invited and names anything it could not read as an address. Each student gets an email. When they sign in with that address, they land on your roster. Until then they appear under "Invited, not signed in yet" with Resend and Cancel.

The join code can be changed. Open the class Settings and issue a new one. The old code stops working and current members stay in. Removing a student also issues a new code, and the confirmation says so.

Step 3: Assign the first lesson#

Press Assign a lesson in the class header. It opens Lessons, the library of everything you can assign. Pick a chapter. On the right you can assign the whole chapter, one unit, or a single activity.

For a first assignment, we suggest chapter 1, "AI Around Us", unit 1, "What counts as AI". It needs no preparation. Each package in it is one reading, one lab, and one quiz, and takes about one class block.

The assign dialog asks for:

Class. Defaults to the class you are in.
What to assign. The chapter, a unit, or one activity. It shows what this class already has, so nothing gets assigned twice by accident.
Due date. A day, not a time. Work is due at 11:59 PM local time on that day. The dialog previews it, for example "Due Fri Sep 26, 11:59 PM, in 7 days", and warns if the day is in the past.
Publish later. Optional. Hides the assignment from students until the date and time you set, and sends no notification until then.
Project submission. Only on a single activity. Choose whether students also turn in an Agent Builder project with it. Leave it at "Not required" for a reading or a lab.

Press Assign. Students get a notification and the work appears under "Due soon" on their Home page. If you assigned by mistake, press Undo in the banner that appears.

Step 4: See the work come in#

The Overview section shows what is due soon, what is waiting for review, and which students need a look, with the reason next to each name.

Progress is the per-student table. It shows finished-of-assigned for each student and a "needs attention" count that always expands into its reasons: unfinished work, repeated tries, past their due date, or a week with nothing opened. Press a student's name to open their drawer with every assignment and its status. Progress CSV downloads the same table.

Each assignment has its own page. Open Assignments and press one. It counts the class as not started, in progress, and finished, and lets you Message everyone who hasn't started in one step.

Reviewed and notes. On turned-in work, Mark reviewed records that you looked. Write a note sends the student short feedback and marks the work reviewed at the same time. Neither is a grade. Trace never computes a score or a mastery level, and there is no grade export.

Step 5: Watch how students use AI#

The AI activity section shows three things for your class: how much each student has used the model, the conversations they have had with the tutor or their agents (read-only, and every view is logged), and moderation flags. A flag names the student and the category and links to their conversations. A crisis flag carries a "Check on this student" badge.

Your students never buy or hold AI credits. Your plan includes a monthly credit balance that the class draws from.

Common questions#

A student cannot join with the code. Check the code has not been changed in Settings or by a removal. Ask the student to type it again in capitals. Then send us a message from Help and include the student's username.

A student under 13 cannot sign up. They must choose "Student joining a classroom" on the sign-up page and enter your class code there. Without a class code, Trace blocks the account.

I want a student to have a later due date. Open the assignment page and add an extension for that student. Every due date the student sees is the extended one. You keep seeing the class-wide date next to it.

Can students see each other's work? No. A student's work is private unless they share a project with the class or an assignment gives you access. Students can see who else is in the class.

Is student data used to train AI models? No. Trace does not use student work, prompts, or answers to train or improve any model, and every model request tells the provider not to retain it. The full policy is at /legal/privacy.