Teacher Onboarding Checklist

There are many ways to learn how to use Flint. Here's your learning pathway:

Start Here: Overview Video

Watch this walkthrough from Jacob Edington, Head of Customer Success, to see advanced techniques and get inspired:

Additional Learning Resources

• Flint 101 Course - Foundational, self-paced learning covering activity creation, customizing Sparky, analytics, collaboration, and best practices.
• Quick YouTube Videos - Quick tutorials on specific features and use cases
• Help Center Articles - Detailed guides on any topic you need
• AI Literacy course for teachers - A free, self-paced course that adapts to what you teach; each of its two levels earns you a shareable certificate.

Access Flint by visiting app.flintk12.com and signing in with your school email address. You'll be brought to your homepage where you can start new chats and activities.

NOTE: If you see {your name}'s Workspace in the top left corner, this means you are not affiliated with your schools paid account. Click on {your name}'s Workspace and then switch to your schools workspace - as seen below.

Before diving in, it's helpful to understand how Flint is organized:

• Workspace: Your school's Flint environment containing all teachers, students, and content.
  • If you created activities in a personal space, you are able to move those into your school workspace
• Terms: Academic time periods like semesters or quarters (usually managed by admins). Your previous term activities will always be available.
• Classes: Classes, clubs, or other organizations you create or are assigned to
• Activities: AI-powered learning experiences you design for students (assignments, practice, tutoring, etc.)
• Sessions: Individual student interactions with an activity
• Chats: Your personal conversations with Sparky (Flint's AI) for teacher tasks

Learn more: Classes, activities, and sessions in Flint

Classes are one of the most powerful tools in Flint. They centralize your class, reduce repetitive prompting, and provide insights into student progress.

Why Classes Matter

• Class Context: Set once in Class Settings—Sparky remembers it for every activity in that class. Reduces time typing context repeatedly.
• Gradebook: Centralized view of all student grades across activities. Filter by student or activity, download as CSV.
• Class Analytics: Comprehensive analysis of all activities. Ask Sparky custom questions like "Give me strengths and growth areas for parent-teacher conferences."
• Moderation Settings: Customize which categories trigger email alerts. Add colleagues as moderators to receive notifications.
• Subclasses: Create nested classes for differentiation. Example: A subclass for English language learners with specialized learning goals.
• Centralized Hub: Single location where students access all class activities and track progress throughout the term.

Setting up Classes

Classes: Class Context

What is it?

The Class Context feature helps educators provide context for their class, allowing Flint to better understand and meet student needs. Once set, this information automatically applies to all activities within the class, ensuring consistency across your content.

Why is it important?

It provides context for how Flint should respond to and prompt students within activity sessions in the class.

How to do it -

1. If you're creating a new class, scroll down to see the "Class Context" field
2. If you're updating an already existing class - navigate into the class
3. Click on the class settings
4. Insert your class context
5. Click update

Classes: Setting Moderations

What is it?

Gives teachers the ability to determine which moderation categories should be flagged. All categories are automatically checked off; however, teachers can update them at their own discretion.

Why's it important?

Moderation settings are important to flag any inappropriate situations or any instances of self-harm.

How to do it-

1. Navigate to your class settings
2. Scroll down beneath the class context
3. Ensure the moderation categories you want included are checked off

Now for the fun part! Activities are customized AI experiences for your students—think tutoring, practice, assessments, or creative projects.

Two Ways to Create Activities:

Option A: Explore the Library, Duplicate, and Customize (Recommended for First-Timers)

This approach helps you understand what's possible and avoid reinventing the wheel:

1. Browse the Public Library or your school's library for activities in your subject area
2. Experience the activity as a student to understand the student experience and identify what you like and don't like
3. Click the three dots and select "Duplicate" to make a copy you can edit
4. Customize the activity by telling Sparky what you want to change. Example: "Turn this Spanish restaurant roleplay into a French café conversation"
5. Preview your changes and iterate until it's perfect
6. Click "Create" when ready

Benefits: See what's possible, learn from others' designs, avoid common mistakes, understand different activity capabilities

Option B: Create a Custom Activity from Scratch

1. Click "Create custom activity" on your homepage
2. Tell Sparky what you want to create (be specific!)
3. Upload any materials (PDFs, links, rubrics, etc.) to guide the AI
4. Preview the activity using the automated or manual preview
5. Ask Sparky to make revisions as needed
6. Click "Create" when ready

Tips for Great Activities:

• Be specific: Clear learning objectives lead to better AI responses
• Upload materials: Especially important for obscure topics, specific viewpoints, or current events
• Test thoroughly: Use the preview feature to see how students will experience it
• Iterate: Your first activity won't be perfect—that's okay! Revise based on student feedback