Frequently Asked Questions for Faculty
Use the table of contents below to browse frequently asked questions for faculty using Teachly. You can get more detailed help on our support page.
If you have any questions about Teachly not covered here, please do not hesitate to contact us at teachlyhelp@gmail.com
- What is Teachly?
- How do I log into Teachly?
- I have a teaching assistant, how do I give them access to Teachly?
- Can I use Teachly without a teaching assistant?
- How do I add students to Teachly?
- Can I add or remove questions from student profiles?
- What if students join the class late or leave?
- What if I don’t use assigned seats?
- Do I have to set the seating chart each time?
- Can I create sessions in advance for my whole semester?
- How do I interpret my course dashboard?
- How do I export participation data for grading?
- Can two assistants track participation at the same time?
What is Teachly?
Teachly is an ed-tech application that strives to make higher education classrooms both more inclusive and more effective by providing faculty a window into their teaching that they would otherwise not have. Teachly creates increasingly personalized learning experiences for students by making data readily available to faculty and their teaching teams.
Data are critical to Teachly’s mission — data about students, about faculty teaching habits, and about in-class interactions. Teachly lowers the barriers to use data by bringing the data faculty need into one place to help faculty take more immediate action in the classroom. Teachly has 3 key features:
- Real-Time Stats: Teachly generates session-by-session analytics — combined into thematic dashboards — that identify patterns and help to flag students that may be falling through the cracks.
- Student Profiles: Teachly builds rich, searchable student profiles about their backgrounds, interests, and goals. This allows for personalized interactions with each student.
- Interactive Seating Chart: By visualizing data as they’re laid out in the real world, Teachly focuses attention on spatial blind spots, as well as on individual students that may need support.
How do I log into Teachly?
Harvard affiliates: Please navigate to teachly.hks.harvard.edu and use your HarvardKey credentials to log in. HarvardKey will then authenticate your account and open your profile. If you are an open Teachly user, please follow the self-registration process to create your account and continue into the site.
Non-Harvard Affiliates: Please navigate to app.teachly.me and use your preferred email credentials to create an account, selecting the “I am an Educator” option. You will then be asked to create your course (the rest of our user support guide will help you with this!).
I have a teaching assistant, how do I give them access to Teachly?
In the course set up process, you will be asked to submit information about your TA at Step 2. If you do not know the information at this time, you will be able to add your TA under Manage Course.
Can I use Teachly without a teaching assistant?
While it is possible to have students fill out their profile information to gain insights on their backgrounds, it would be difficult to track participation on your own without a teaching assistant.
How do I add students to Teachly?
There are 3 ways to add students to Teachly.
- Enrollment link
- Enrollment QR code
- Manual search and add
Visit our support page within the Teachly web app for more details on each option.
Can I add or remove questions from student profiles?
At this time, faculty cannot edit what is asked in student profiles.
What if students join the class late or leave?
On your course page, navigate to Individual Student Profiles. On this screen you can remove students via the actions buttons on the right hand side. You can also add students by clicking on the Add Students button in the upper right hand corner.
What if I don’t use assigned seats?
You can still use Teachly if you do not assign seats in your class. Instead of setting up the seating chart when you start a session, you can click Switch to List View to view your student names and photos in alphabetical by last name list. You can capture participation, take attendance, and view the heatmap function from this view.
Do I have to set the seating chart each time?
Once you create your seating chart in your first session, the seating chart will copy over to following sessions.
Can I create sessions in advance for my whole semester?
You can create sessions in advance, but be sure to have set up your seating chart before doing so since the seating chart carries over from the previous session.
How do I interpret my course dashboard?
Please see our Support page for an overview of the dashboard and a brief video on interpreting your dashboard.
How do I export participation data for grading?
Under “Manage Course”, there is a Download CSV of Student Participation option under the Learn About Your Teaching heading. Click this link to download a CSV of student attendance and participation up to that day.
Can two assistants track participation at the same time?
At this time, only 1 teaching assistant can track participation during a session. Another can be logged into the course to look at student profiles but cannot be in the same session.