What does collaborating mean?
*Please note that collaborating is a feature for our Gold teams and schools. Click here to find out more!
Collaborating is a feature that allows you to do more than just create and share a copy of a formative or a folder with another teacher. As a Gold plan member, you can user collaborating to allow other teachers in your organization to access your original formatives or folders, assign them to their own students or even edit them with you.
Formatives that are collaborated upon will collect all student responses, across teachers and classes, which an admin at the organization could then access to view and analyze.
Formatives and folders shared with other teachers in this way will automatically be added to the collaborators' Formatives tab on their account.
**Note: to remove a shared formative or folder from a collaborator's account, the collaboration access must be removed at the source. This action can only be taken by either the owner of the formative, an admin at the org, or other collaborators with editing permissions on the formative/folder.
Collaborator access levels
There are two levels of access you can grant to a collaborator:
Edit & Assign: this allows all collaborators to edit the original formative - perfect for teachers who want to create formatives together! Your collaborator will also be able to assign the formative to their classes and share it with additional collaborators.
Assign Only: your collaborator will be able to assign the original formative to their classes, but won't be able to edit it or share it further with additional collaborators.
Note: Admin permissions override collaborator permissions. This means that if you've added an admin as a collaborator to your formative, even if you granted them with "Assign only" permission they will still have the ability to edit the formative via their Admin privileges.
What happens when a collaborator edits my formative?
If you or your collaborator make changes to a shared formative/folder, this will be reflected immediately on all your collaborators' screens as well. If they have already assigned the formative to a class, then the changes may affect their data (for example, if you delete or add answer key options).
If you're not sure if collaborating is the right option, check out how to share a copy of a formative or how to publish it to the public library or your team/school's private library.
Add collaborators
There are two ways to give collaborating permissions on a formative or folder to others, one by adding collaborators directly to the formative/folder (this can be done either from the Formatives tab or from within a specific formative), and the other by sending them a direct share link that will allow them to assign the original formative to their classes. (See below for instructions on both ways!)
If you have a large amount of collaborators to add, and you only need them to have "Assign only" permissions, we recommend using the direct link!
Add a collaborator directly to your formative (or folder) from the Formatives tab:
Click on the box to the left of the formative (or folder) you'd like to add a collaborator to
Select "Share" from the menu at the bottom of the screen
Start typing the name(s) or email address(es) of your colleagues. For ease of use you will be presented with options to choose from based on the initial letters you've entered.
Choose the level of access (Edit & Assign, or Assign Only) you want to grant your collaborators
Click "Add" and the colleague(s) will be added to your formative!
Add a collaborator directly to your formative from within the formative:
Access the formative
Click on the triple dots in the top right, and select "Share"
Start typing the name(s) or email address(es) of your colleagues. For ease of use you will be presented with options to choose from based on the initial letters you've entered.
Choose the level of access (Edit & Assign, or Assign Only) you want to grant your collaborators
Click "Add" and the colleague(s) will be added to your formative!
Remove a collaborator from the formative or change their level of access
Return to the same "Share" menu in any of the methods described above, click the "edit" option below the list of added collaborators, and on the collaborators details page that will open change the level of access by choosing from the dropdown menu, or remove the collaborator entirely by clicking the trash can icon next to their name.
Add a collaborator by sharing a direct link
Any collaborator that has "Edit & Assign" level of access can share the direct link at the bottom of the "share" modal with other teachers within the organization.
Teachers on your team who receive the direct link will be automatically added to the formative as collaborators with the ability to only assign the formative to their students.
If the collaborator added in this way is an admin at the same level of the organization or above - they will also be granted the permission to edit the formative.
Simply copy and save the link to your clipboard. You can then share that link with your colleagues.
Transfer Ownership of a formative (or folder) to another collaborator
The owner of a formative (or folder) or the Admins at Gold schools/districts have the ability to transfer the ownership from one teacher to another collaborator. This is a great tool when teachers leave the organization - whether temporarily or permanently - and another teacher needs to take managing the assignments they created.
To transfer ownership on a formative or a folder:
Open the "Share" menu as described in the sections above and click on "Edit" to reveal the full list of current collaborators
If the teacher you want to transfer the ownership to is not yet a collaborator on the formative proceed to add them first
Click the "Transfer Ownership" button next to the name of the teacher you would like to make the owner of the formative, and proceed to confirm completing the action on the warning message that will appear below
NOTE: Once the ownership has been transferred, only an Admin or the new owner of the formative can reverse it.
FAQ & Troubleshooting Tips
🙋🏽 I tried to add a collaborator to a formative/folder, but it says 'User not found.'" / "User's license doesn't allow for collaboration."
You and your colleague must both have Gold licenses before they can be added as a collaborator on a formative. Please check with your team Admin or Org Manager that this person has been invited, and check with your colleague directly whether they have clicked the link in the invite email they received. You'll also get these messages if you misspelled your colleague's email address.
Once your colleague has been invited and accepted, you can re-add them as a collaborator to the formative!
🙋🏽♀️ If I add a collaborator to a formative/folder, where will that formative go?
If you're the original creator of the formative/folder, it will remain on your formatives dashboard, but there will be a little "shared" icon next to it (3 circles).
The same formative/folder, with that share icon, will instantly appear on your colleague's dashboard when you add them as a collaborator.
