One of the great things about TinkerCAD is that it allows you to create classes for students to join. Having a class lets you assign students ‘nicknames’ to sign in with, removing the need for them to make their own accounts. It also lets you keep track of and see all of your students’ designs, organise them into assignments, and assign tutorials or template designs to students.
To create a class on TinkerCAD:
- Navigate to the “Classes” window either by selecting it from the navigation bar on the left, or from your profile menu in the top right
- Click “Create new class”
- Give your class a name, and select the year level (Grades 6 – 8 or Grades 9 – 12) and subject that most closely matches
- Download your class list as a CSV from Compass
- On TinkerCAD, from the class screen, select “Add students”
- Click “Paste a list of students” at the bottom of the dialog box
- Copy the names of the students in the class from your CSV file into the TinkerCAD window and click “Add student”
You will now have a class with all of your students added to it with a nickname, which will be their preferred name and last name, according to Compass, all lowercase and with no spaces. For instance, Claire Baillie becomes clairebaillie.
Students can use this nickname to join your class, create an Autodesk account, or use their existing account if they already have one. Remember that for students to retain their designs between classes and years, it’s best if they create an account.