Getting Started

Use an email address and a password, or your Google account. There is nothing to install. Use your real name and an address you receive mail at: a placeholder such as "Test" for a name, or a test address such as one ending in .test or @example.com, is refused. Besides your name, Classla asks a few questions. I am a...: pick Teacher. Then Where do you teach?: K-12 school or College or university. Then What do you teach?: Computer science, Science, Math, Something else, or more than one. If you make your account with Google, the same questions appear the first time you open your dashboard. Where you teach decides which official courses show first on Templates (switch with K-12, College and All levels); it never changes your price.

The answer decides which demo classes Classla builds for you, in a few seconds, on that first visit. Each one has 24 made-up students with their work already turned in, so grading and analytics have something in them: AP CSA, Period 3 (Demo) for computer science,AP Chemistry, Period 3 (Demo), AP Biology, Period 4 (Demo) and AP Physics 1, Period 5 (Demo) for science, and Algebra 1, Period 2 (Demo) for math. Pick more than one and you get one for each. The chemistry class uses all five chemistry blocks (equations, Lewis structures, particle diagrams, factor-label setups and orbital diagrams), with a hidden note above most questions that says what the block is good for. The biology class does the same for the science graph, Punnett squares, the Generations simulation and chi-square, and the physics class for vector diagrams, energy bar charts, sketch graphs, lab graphs and answers with symbols and units. Pick only Something else and you get Research Skills, Period 1 (Demo), a class for any subject: multiple choice, fill in the blank, drag and drop, written answers and a photo upload, on evaluating and citing sources. The demo classes are yours to change or delete. You can change your answer later under What do you teach? in your account settings, which changes what Classla offers you but never adds or removes a course on its own. A teacher without a math demo class may see a Teach math too? card with Add a math demo class.

Start on the demo class's Summary. Under Things to try in this class it lists what to open first: the Start here walkthrough, an autograded question, Analytics, a sequential assignment, a timed test, a live game, practice after grading and the Gradebook. Under When you have a question it lists the ways to ask: Ask at the top of every page, the AI assistant on the right of every assignment, Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini connected from Settings in the top bar, under Connected apps, and these docs.

If a student signs up and picks Student, they make their account the same way, and Classla tells them to join their class next with the code or link from their teacher. A student answering on the dashboard gets a Join a class link. What a student sees from there is on its own page.

A new account can explore everything: build a coding block, write a model solution and an autograder, and see the grading view working. Three things wait on a person at Classla looking at your account, and the product says so in the same words everywhere it comes up: "You can explore all of Classla. To run a real class, use the AI assistant, or start from the official curriculum, email camden@classla.org and we will get you set up." Until then a course holds up to five students. The banner's Request verification button sends the request for you, and Camden usually answers the same day.

On your dashboard, Create Course. You give it a Course Name and a Course Description, and Classla generates a six-character join code. To start from a ready-made course instead, pick one under Or start from a template in the same dialog. The course opens on its own tabs: Summary, Students, Gradebook, Analytics, Files, Workspace, Attendance and Settings. Folders, ordering, tags and the rest of a course's housekeeping are on Organizing a course.

The join code is on the course summary, labelled Join Code:. Three ways in:

Join code

Read the code out. Students press Join Course on their own dashboard and type it into Course Join Code.

Join link

Use Manage join links to make a link instead, optionally pointed at one section. Every link expires, seven days out by default. Post it wherever your class already looks.

Managed accounts

Create managed accounts yourself, under Managed Students in your account settings. A managed student needs a username and a password and nothing else. No email address, no real name.

You can close the door at any time: Course Settings has Allow students to join this course, and turning it off disables the code and every link at once.

In the course sidebar, Create Assignment. The assignment is a document. Type text the way you would anywhere else, and press / to insert a block: a multiple choice question, a fill-in-the-blank, a short answer, an image, a table, a callout. The blocks page walks through all of them. Coding blocks and math answers are blocks too, each with its own tab in these docs.

Student Preview in the editor header shows the page as your class will see it, with hidden blocks left out. Nothing you do here reaches a student until you publish.

Schedule in the assignment header sets when it opens, when it is due and when it closes. Check Everyone and save to open it for the whole class now, or check only the sections that should get it. Set the dates on the Everyone row, and click a section's or a student's gray date when they need a different one, so a student who was out on Tuesday gets a later due date without a duplicate assignment. The header then reads "Published to 24 students", counting only students who can open it now.

Create a free account and do the five steps. If something is missing, write to camden@classla.org.

See the demo class first if you would rather look before making an account. It is a made-up class with the five steps already done.

Everything above works the same whatever you teach. The parts that only matter in one subject have their own tab in these docs, so you can skip the other one entirely:

• If you teach computer science: CS in Classla, for coding blocks, autograders, the coding machine, the Workspace and grading code.
• If you teach math: Math in Classla, for math answers, random numbers, graphs, proofs, handwritten work and the calculator.

You do not have to rebuild a year of materials before you start. Bring over what you have, one unit at a time:

• Students: share the join code or link, paste a list of names under Bulk Import, or let Canvas or Moodle send the roster. See Sections, Rosters and Exceptions and Canvas and Moodle.
• Handouts and worksheets: upload the PDF, Word or PowerPoint file you already use and place questions right in it. See PDF Assignments.
• Vocabulary and review decks: paste a Quizlet export or two spreadsheet columns into a flashcard set. See Flashcard Sets.
• A course to start from: AP CSA and the review sets come ready to rewrite. See Prebuilt Curriculums and Templates.
• Google Classroom: keep it running beside Classla. Assignments post there with a link, and the work and grades stay in Classla. See Google Classroom.

Next year, export the course to a template and start the new one from it. Grades export to CSV, Excel or PDF from the gradebook any time.

Classla is priced per student, and the price includes everything: the browser IDE with autograding, the AI assistant within a weekly allowance, the integrity tools, analytics and the gradebook, and every official curriculum. Who pays depends on where you teach. The prices are also on Pricing.

K-12 schools

$15 per student per school year. You or your school pays, from a written quote, and purchase orders and a W-9 are fine. Students never pay and never see a price.

Colleges and universities

$30 per student per semester. Each student buys a semester pass when they join your course, by card inside Classla or with an access code from the campus bookstore. The first 14 days are free, so nobody waits to start. One pass covers every Classla course the student takes that semester. On Students you see who has a pass and can Waive it for up to 5 students per course. If your department buys a license, it covers every student and nobody buys a pass. Instructors and TAs are free.

Refunds

A student who paid by card can Refund it under Semester pass in Settings within 14 days of paying.

When a pass lapses

Nothing is deleted. The student and the teacher can still read all past work. Turning in new work needs a pass.

Help is in the icons at the right of the app's header.

Ask

"Ask how Classla works": takes a question in plain words and answers it from these docs, with links to the pages it used. Until your account is verified you get the closest pages as links instead of a written answer. Students do not see it inside a course they take, and managed student accounts never see it.

Report a problem

The bug icon opens one text box: "What happened, and what did you expect to happen?" The switch at the top of the box picks Bug (the default) or Feature request; for a request, describe what you would like to be able to do and why. Classla attaches the page you are on, the course, the app's version, your browser and screen size, and recent errors on the page and failed requests. It does not take a screenshot; to show what you see, Attach images or videos adds up to four of your own pictures or screen recordings (25 MB each, 50 MB together); you can also paste them (a copied screenshot, for example) or drag them onto the box. Only the Classla team sees them. Students can report a problem the same way.

What's new

Shows the latest week of changes, and See all updates opens the full list. A dot on the icon means there is something you have not seen.

Or write to camden@classla.org. A person reads it.

• A course holds five students until a person at Classla has looked at your account. The assistant and the official curriculum wait on the same look. Email Camden and it is usually done the same day.
• There is no scheduler that runs your class for you. Publishing and due dates can be scheduled; nothing else runs on a timer.
• Students join with the join code, a join link or a managed account, and you can create managed accounts from a list of names. Google Classroom sync posts assignments; it does not import your roster. Canvas and Moodle connect once your LMS administrator adds Classla, with roster and grades. Clever rostering is coming; there is no ClassLink connection today.

• Organizing a Course
• What Students See
• Blocks: What an Assignment Is Made Of
• Sections, Rosters and Exceptions
• Assignment Settings
• Prebuilt Curriculums and Templates