Overview

Creating and running a micro:bit classroom session is a simple 4 step process that you can follow from within the app. Here these instructions are further expanded to detail the experience of using the tool as an educator and as a student.


Contents

1. Set up your classroom and the code editor

2. Share joining details and start the classroom session

3. View and interact with students' work

4. Save and restore a classroom activity

5. Further resources


Start a new session from microbit classroom

Open classroom.microbit.org in a new browser window. You will be asked to 

  1. Name your activity.
  2. Choose a programming language between MakeCode (Blocks and Javascript) and Python (MicroPython). MakeCode Python is not supported in micro:bit classroom.
  3. Select storage setting. Using temporary local storage enables the editor store data on your machine so that it can be recovered in the event of a loss of internet. You should not use this if you are on a shared machine without a personal login.

Once you have done this you can Launch classroom to enter the session.


Starting a session from microbit.org

To use the started code from a project or lesson on microbit.org, select Open in classroom from the code view.

the activity details will be pre-filled and you can then Launch classroom.

1. Set up the code editor

Select Editor from the top navigation, to open your chosen editor. This is the Teacher's editor view and you can use this to provisionally add any code you want to share with your students. You can also drag and drop a .Hex file into the editor at this stage.


When you are happy with your code, click the Share code with students button to make it available to them. When your students join the classroom session, they will see their own version of the code editor with the Teacher's pre-configured code.

2. Share joining details and start the classroom session

Select Dashboard from the top navigation to find your unique joining details to share with your students.



Ask students to open a browser window and navigate to microbit.org/join. On this page, they will need to input the details provided on the Dashboard. These consist of four words (Colour, Animal, Transport, Object) and a numerical 6 digit pin.




They will then be asked to input their name and their names will appear on the dashboard as they join.



If you find a student has entered their name erroneously or you have an unexpected guest, you can select that student and edit their details or remove them from the session



Once they have entered the session the student will be presented with their editor view. There name will be n the top left corner.



The teacher can at any stage switch back into the Editor view and share code out with all or a select number of students.

When you share code, the student is asked to accept it and it will replace any code they currently have on the screen.



3. View and interact with students' work

To see an individual student's work, select Student code from the top navigation. Then select the name of the student from the left-hand navigation. 


From here you can also share the individual student's code with others by selecting Share code with students


When the student has finished their work, they can submit it using the I've finished button on their screen. They will be asked to rate how they feel about the activity. This rating is only shared with the teacher.


They will then be signed out of the activity and the Student code tab will update to reflect the change from In progress to Finished. If the student closes their browser, this will change to Offline. The teacher can edit this status if they feel the student has selected I've finished prematurely or by accident.

From the Student code tab, you can also Download a report for all students as a Word document.

4. Save and restore a classroom activity

Save

Select Save classroom from the top navigation if you want to return to the session at a later date.

From here, select Download classroom html file to give you a file that you are able to open again when you wish to resume the session where you left off.


Students’ work is not stored online between sessions.

Restore

When you open the html file, you will be presented with a screen with the details of the session, asking you if you wish to restore the session. Select Resume classroom session

You will be presented with a new set of joining details. The details are newly generated each time you use micro:bit classroom.

New students can join this session and existing students can search for their name to rejoin.


End

To end an activity, select End session and you will be asked whether you wish to download the html file to resume at  a later date. When the teacher ends the session, all students are removed.






5. Further resources