Independent learner guide
An independent learner uses the student portal without a teacher, roster, or institution. Choose challenges from the library, write your own, run them, and review your results.
How to use this guide
This guide is divided into numbered workflows. Each workflow is a task made of numbered steps, and workflows appear in the order you first need them.
What is available today
A platform administrator creates your account and sends a temporary password. The beta supports sign-in, the library, your own challenges, self-run sessions, and result review. Self-registration, subscriptions, billing, and sharing your challenges are not built yet.
Workflow 1
Self-service sign-up is not available in the beta. A platform administrator creates your independent learner account and makes the library visible.
Sign in with the temporary password from your administrator. The sign in form asks you to set a new password, and the temporary password then stops working. If you did not receive one, select Forgot password? and use the emailed one-time code.
Read the privacy policy and terms of use, tick both boxes, and choose Agree. You are asked again when either document changes.
Workflow 2
Choose Sign in on the portal card to open the sign in form.
Enter both in the sign in form. The portal never sees or stores your password.
The window closes when sign-in finishes, and the portal loads your dashboard.
The sign-in screens are identical for assigned students, so the student guide's sign-in walkthrough shows exactly what you will see.
Workflow 3
The section is headed "Pick your own challenge". Each card shows its title, description, type, status, and buttons; a subject pill and, on a challenge with an age rating, an "Age N+" pill sit beneath them. "Yours" cards appear first with Edit and Archive. Choose Create your own challenge to add one, and note that the assignment list is empty for independent learners. If you do not see the library, your account is not set up as an independent learner. Contact your administrator.
Type part of a title into the library search box, or pick a challenge type or a subject from the dropdowns beside it, to narrow a long list. Every built-in challenge has a subject, such as Science, History or Philosophy and ethics, shown as a pill on its card. Clear the search box and set the dropdowns back to All types and All subjects to restore the full list.
Completed challenges are hidden by default. Tick Include completed to show them with Review and Run again.
The library shows ten challenges per page and adds Prev, Next, and a page indicator when needed.
Any card that is not already yours offers Make my own copy beneath its description. It copies the full challenge - its type, subject, age rating, scenario, constraints and grading, not just its title - into your own challenges as "title (copy)" and opens it in the editor, so you can run it as is or change it first. The copy is saved the moment you choose the button: Save challenge keeps your changes, Cancel keeps the copy unchanged, and Archive on its card removes it if you did not want it.
Some built-in challenges deal with mature topics and carry an age rating, shown as a pill such as Age 16+ on the card. A rated challenge appears in your library only when the date of birth on your account shows you are old enough. If no date of birth is recorded for you, rated challenges stay hidden until an administrator records one - the portal cannot check your age without it. Nothing on the page says a challenge is hidden, so if you expected to see one, ask your administrator to check your date of birth. Challenges you write yourself are never hidden from you, whatever rating you give them.
Workflow 4
Choose Create your own challenge beside the Library heading. The challenge uses the same agent and judge as built-in challenges. There is no visibility to choose: a challenge you write or copy is always private to you, and the editor says so under its heading.
Pick the Type first: it decides how the agent runs the conversation, the line under the picker says how, and it cannot be changed once the challenge is saved. Subject and Age rating are optional; a subject lets you find the challenge with the library's subject filter. Enter the required Title and The challenge. Add a description, constraints (one per line), a goal, a time limit, and grading criteria as needed; a blank goal uses the type's default, shown greyed in the box, blank grading uses a default set, and a blank time limit means the challenge is untimed. The fields cannot be typed into until the form has finished loading, which takes a moment.
Save challenge returns you to the dashboard with the new card marked Yours. Start challenge opens its session.
Edit opens the fields again. Saving creates a new version; an open run keeps its original version.
Archive removes the card from your library while finished results remain available.
Workflow 5
Choose Start challenge, Resume, or Run again based on the row status. Library runs have no assignment or due date.
The agent gives the scenario and task. Each turn names its speaker. The How this challenge works panel names the type and links to its full requirements and scoring reference.
Enter your response and choose Send response. Your turn appears immediately as Sending..., the conversation keeps its newest turn in view, and the box stays locked until the agent reply arrives.
Your session saves as you work. Choose Pause beside Send response, or simply close the tab, and choose Resume on the card later; a paused run reads Paused. Choose Start over to abandon a run and begin again. A run also finishes when you reach the platform's turn limit: the agent gives a closing reply and the run is scored on the work so far. The run screen does not count your turns down, and a challenge with a time limit shows the minutes allowed and used under its title. You get two attempts at each challenge and can start up to five new challenges a day (the day resets at midnight UTC); the card shows the attempts you have left. Start over is not offered when a new run would be refused, and the card says why, so you never lose the run you have open.
Types appear on library cards, assignment cards, in the run screen header, and in the How this challenge works panel at the top of every session. Each type runs the conversation by its own rules and is graded differently; see the challenge types reference for what each one asks of you. When you write your own challenge, the same reference explains what to put in the Scenario for the type you pick.
Explain why evidence matters, name uncertainty, and revise your view when the conversation gives you a reason.
The student challenge walkthrough covers the same turn flow.
Workflow 6
There is no separate history page. Completed runs are hidden until you choose Include completed; runs that read Abandoned or Timed out remain listed.
Review opens the full report: score, summary, dimension scores with a rationale for each, what to practice next when named, and the transcript. Abandoned runs have no report; a timed-out run still does, scored on the work done.
Run again starts a fresh conversation. The row shows only your latest run.
Use the score, summary, and transcript to decide what to practice next.
Workflow 7
On a wide screen the panel stays open on the left; on a narrow screen choose the menu button. The panel contains Dashboard, Notifications, Feedback, Join a class, Options, About, and Sign out. The bell in the header also opens Notifications and shows how many are unread.
Choose light, dark, or system theme, and choose whether Enter sends or starts a new line. Both settings are remembered.
Join a class takes the class code a teacher gives you. Joining turns your account into a student account in that class's school: the class's assignments appear on your dashboard, and the library section, which is for independent learners, is no longer shown. Only join when you mean to study with that class.
To erase your account and personal data, open Options and choose Delete my account in the Delete your account card. Read the warning, type your account email address exactly, and choose Delete permanently. Your sign-in is deleted; your name, email, date of birth, and the text of your challenges are erased; and you return to the sign-in page. This cannot be undone: nobody can restore the account, and using the portal again means signing up as a new user. The Privacy Policy lists what is erased and what remains in anonymous form.
Sign out ends your session and returns to the sign-in card.
Product direction
Planned
Self-registration is switched off in the beta. An administrator creates the account.
Planned
Plans, billing, and usage limits are not implemented.
Planned
Challenges you write are private. Sharing and a community library are planned.
Planned
Independent-learner support guidance for safeguard cases is not built.
