Important! If you are at a school or district that has a Gold license with Formative, your classes and students may have already been imported by your administrators. Please check with them if you use any rostering system before you create a class.
Learn how to
Create a class and edit it with details to help with sorting
This article also has some class-creation tips in the troubleshooting section, including how to clone your classes.
Create a class!
If you don't use a rostering system already, you need to set up your classes in Formative following the steps outlined in this article. If you do use Google Classroom or Clever or Microsoft Teams Classroom, there's no need to manually create a class! Click the link provided for instructions on automatically importing your existing classes.
To create a new class, you can choose one of the following three methods:
From your "Home" tab, click the "Create +" button, and then "Create New Class":
From your "Activities" tab you can also click the new class icon on the far right of the classes grid (you may need to scroll to the right):
From your "Classes" tab, click the "Create +" button, and then "Create New Class":
Enter class detailsIn the pop-up window that will open:
Enter the name of your class. Your students and administrators (if you are part of a Gold school) can see this.
Class color is the background color for the class icon and is just an easy way to help you distinguish your classes from one another.
Enter a two-letter abbreviation for the class or pick an icon. This abbreviation or icon will appear later on your Formatives tab classes grid.
Pick a grade and a subject to enable sorting classes and student responses. This will be especially helpful if you teach multiple grades/subjects or if you are part of a Gold school. You can tag more than one!
Pick your Org! (Not sure what to put here? Ask your administrator for guidance.)
Finalize the process by clicking the blue "Create Class" button at the bottom of the window
Any of these settings can be updated later if needed. If you are teaching multiple subjects to the same students, check out the troubleshooting tips section below for information on how to clone classes you created!
Next, add or invite students!
Add or Invite Students!
These steps should only be used if you do not use Google Classroom, Clever, or MS Teams Classroom for rostering. If you do, skip these steps and import your student roster directly into Formative. Click the corresponding link above to learn how!
Once your class has been created, the method you will choose to add a student to the class will depend on whether the student already has a Formative account, or if they have yet to set one up. Both processes start on the "Classes" tab.
To start, go to your "Classes" tab and click on the title of the class (or on the triple dots at the top right corner of the Class tile) to navigate to the Student Management page:
On the Student Management page you'll be re-directed to, click on "Add Students":
A popup window will open:
If your students do not have a Formative account yet
(If they already have accounts, skip ahead.)
You'll be able to create your students' accounts on their behalf, or send them an invitation to create their own accounts and join your class independently. Either method will work.
If students are in class with you or you want to send a mass email to the class, invite your students to create their own accounts and join your class:
Provide your students with the Join link appearing at the top of the pop-up window and ask them to enter it into their browser's URL bar.
If they do not yet have a Formative account they will be prompted to sign-up for an account.
OR
Provide them with the Join code
Direct them to app.formative.com/join
They will be immediately prompted to enter the 6 character join code
If they do not yet have a Formative account they will be prompted to sign-up for an account.
If your students have access to email, you can send each of them an invitation from this popup:
Enter the student's first and last name
Enter their email address
(you can also copy/paste the information from a CSV file to enter multiple students at once)Your student(s) will receive an email letting them know that an account has been created for them. They can then login to Formative.
If your students do not have access to email, you can set up their account with a username and password:
Enter the student's first and last name.
Enter a username for them.
Set up a password for the student. As long as the password is not weak, you can use any combination you'd like. You can keep it simple to start with, you can reset it at any time.
(you can also copy/paste the information from a CSV file to enter multiple students at once)Provide your students with the username and password you've created for them so they could login to their newly created Formative account.
Note: If the username you've chosen is already taken, you'll get an error message and have to pick a different one.
If your students already have Formative accounts
You have the option to either add your students to your class manually or send them an invitation to join your class on their own.
Invite students to join on their own via a Class join link or join code:
Provide your students with the Join link appearing at the top of the pop-up window and ask them to enter it into their browser's URL bar. When logged in to their Formative account the class will be immediately added to it.
OR
Provide them with the Join code
Direct them to app.formative.com/join
They will be immediately prompted to enter the 6 character class join code
When logged into their Formative account the class will be immediately added to it.
Add students using their existing Formative account credentials:
Enter the student's first and last name.
Enter the student's email address or username (depending on their individual accounts)
(you can also copy/paste the information from a CSV file to enter multiple students at once)If the student already has a Formative account the username can be reused for multiple classes. It's verified by matching the first and last name. You will not be able to enter a password because the student already has one.
Troubleshooting tips
How can I tell if my student has accepted the invite?
Access the Student Management page. Students who accepted the invite will appear under the default "Enrolled Students" list. You can check the "Last Seen" column to find out if these students have logged in to their accounts yet or not. You can switch to the "Invited Students" list to view the students you've sent an invitation to but have not yet accepted it by clicking on "More Options" and then on "Show invited students" (to go back to your active students list, click on "More Options" and then on "Hide invited students"):
I invited a student by mistake / I entered an incorrect email for a student - what do I do?
If you've invited a student by mistake, or accidentally entered an incorrect email address and the student has not accepted the invitation yet, you can cancel the invitation:
Click on "More Options" and then "Show invited students"
Check mark the box next to the student's name
Click on "Remove invite" from the menu at the bottom of the page
Confirm that you want to remove the invitation for the student
If the student already accepted the invitation, you can archive them from the class:
Check mark the box next to the student's name
Click on "Archive" from the menu at the bottom of the page
Confirm archiving the student
My student can not be added / join my class, what to do?
If, for some reason, a student has accidentally created a Teacher account on Formative instead of a Student account - you will not be able to add them to your class until they have deleted the Teacher account. In this case, a message will appear on your screen informing you of the issue and providing a link to the solution
The class is not showing up on my students' home page, what happened?
New classes will be first added to the students' "inactive classes" list.
This list includes all classes that have not been active in the last 3 months. "Active" within Formative means that a formative has been assigned to the class.
The class will automatically move to the "active classes" list on the students' home page once a formative has been assigned to it.
If the class is not showing up in the "active classes" list, ask your students to check their inactive classes list by clicking on the gear icon at the top right corner of their home page and choosing "show inactive classes".
What does it mean to "clone" a class?
If you're teaching multiple subjects to the same students, you can create a copy of the class and rename it for the content area (i.e. Social Studies). This will help keep your data separate and organized in the Tracker too.
Cloning a class can be done both from the main Classes page and from the Student Management page:
Cloning from the main Classes page
From the classes page, click the 3 dots menu next to the class you'd like to clone
Choose "Clone" from the dropdown list
You will be prompted to enter the details for this class, finish by clicking "Create" at the bottom of this pop-up window
You will then be able to easily transfer all students into the cloned class. You can even de-select students if you do not need to transfer all of them, and/or add students from other existing classes to this new cloned class!
Cloning from the Student Management page
From the student management page, click on "More Options"
Choose "Clone" from the dropdown list
You will be prompted to enter the details for this class, finish by clicking "Create" at the bottom of this pop-up window
You will then be able to easily transfer all students into the cloned class. You can even de-select students if you do not need to transfer all of them, and/or add students from other existing classes to this new cloned class!
What does it mean to "Lock" a class?
This is a Silver/Gold feature that prevents new students from joining the class. You can lock or unlock a class at any time. This action can be taken from the Student Management page.
Tip: Locking your class(es) will also prevent you from making any accidental changes.
From your student management page, click "More Options"
Choose "Lock" from the dropdown menu
Need to unlock? Click "More Options" again and choose "Unlcok" from the dropdown menu
Where can I find the join link/code to give to students?
From the student management page, click on "Add students" and the modal will pop on your screen:
The Join Link and the Join Code will appear at the top of the modal.
What's next?