User guide

Finding your way around

• Activity bar: the row of buttons down the left edge of the window. Each opens a view in the side bar next to it: Courses, Agents (the AI agents you own; people only), and, for platform and department administrators, Administration. Select the same button again to close the side bar.
• Account button: the round button at the bottom of the activity bar, showing the first letter of your name. It opens the account menu: Account settings, Language, Theme, About AIshie and Sign out. About AIshie shows the versions of the web app and the server that are running.
• Side bar: the Courses view lists every course you are in, and My courses; you can search it with “Filter courses”. Archived courses are tucked under Show archived (n). Administrators also see the courses under Administered, without a seat. The Agents view lists your agents; the Administration view lists the administration pages.
• Header: in a course, the header says where you are, for example “CS101 · A 程式設計入門 › Materials”. Select the course to go back to its overview; on a page under a tab (a material or a member, say), select the tab’s name to go back to that tab.
• Course page: the row below the header gives the course code, title, the course’s status and your role, and the course’s tabs are below it. The tabs always sit in one row: those that do not fit go into the More menu at its end, and when the tab you are on is in that menu, More is shown as selected. Which tabs you see depends on the permissions of your seat (see the table below).
• Chat button: if you may ask agents questions in at least one course, this button sits at the right end of the header and opens the chat window with the AI agents (see Asking the AI). The number on it counts the answers you have not read. Select it again while the chat window is open to put the window away. Ctrl+J (⌘J on a Mac) also opens and closes the chat window.

The Grades tab holds three tabs of its own: All grades (students see My grades), Gradebook and Grading scheme. With the gradebook or the grading scheme open, the header reads “… › Grades › Gradebook”.

A course has no chat tab: you always ask agents in the chat window, which opens from any page. An old address of a course chat now opens the chat window too.

• A new version: if the school updates AIshie while you have it open, you are told “A new version is available”. Select Reload to use it, or Later to finish what you are doing first.
• A paused seat: the top of the course page says “Your seat in this course is paused: nothing you do here will be accepted until it is resumed.” You can still look, but you cannot act until someone who manages members resumes your seat.

The four permission levels

Every permission is held at a level. From lowest to highest:

Once you have acted, the screen tells you the outcome in one of four ways: “Done”, “Sent for approval. It will take effect once someone approves it.”, “Done. It will be reviewed after the fact.”, or “You are not permitted to do this here.”

“Approve & review” can itself be at Needs approval: then each approval, request for changes or rejection you make becomes a proposal of its own, which another member confirms.

The seventeen permissions

Reach narrows only the permissions about submissions and grades: “Which students” (all students, or only those listed) and “Which assignments” (all assignments, or only those listed). A student’s seat with an empty list of students reaches that student only. Materials are not narrowed by reach.

The built-in presets

When a member is added, a “Preset” is chosen. The preset is copied onto the seat, so changing the preset later does not affect anyone already seated. The table below gives the built-in presets’ levels (A = Autonomous, C = Needs approval, — = Denied). A department can set up presets of its own (see Permission presets in the Administrator guide).

In other words: a teaching assistant can enter draft grades, but an instructor posts them; a student who wants to bring their own agent into a course needs an instructor’s approval; and only agents answer questions: people do not answer in the chat.

Rules nobody can get around

• Nobody hands out more than they hold. The levels, reach and end date you give someone can never go beyond what your own seat holds.
• Nobody manages their own seat, not even to narrow it.
• Nobody decides or reviews their own actions. A person and their agents count as one party, however many steps removed. The one exception is your own agent’s proposals: what you could have done yourself without anyone’s confirmation is yours to decide (see Your agents’ proposals).
• A roster role grants nothing by itself. Roles such as Student and Teaching assistant only decide who is on the gradebook and who hands in work; what anyone may do still comes from their permissions.
• Caps. On some seats a permission can go no higher than a certain level: an agent, for example, can make decisions only by proposing them, and an agent acting for someone never holds more than that person’s seat allows. When you edit permissions, the options above a cap are greyed out, with the reason beside them.

Signing in

1. Open the AIshie address your school gave you, and enter your student number (for example 20260001) or your email under “Student/staff number or email”.
2. Enter your “Password” and select Sign in.

• A student or staff number is 1 to 64 characters, using only English letters, digits and . - _; anything with an @ in it is taken as an email.
• People sign in only with a password, single sign-on or an invitation link. API tokens are issued to AI agents only, and cannot be used to sign in to the site.

Your school’s single sign-on

A new installation of AIshie has password sign-in only. Once your school’s administrator sets up single sign-on, the sign-in page lists one or more Sign in with … buttons first, for example Sign in with 示範大學 NetID; the form for your student number and password is behind Use your student number and password instead, below the buttons (at a school that signs people in by email only, it says Use your email and password instead). On the password form, Sign in another way takes you back to the school’s buttons.

Selecting the school’s button takes you to your school’s sign-in page; after signing in with your school account, you come back to AIshie.

Single sign-on does not create an account for you: an administrator must first register you and link your school account to it (see Single sign-on in the Administrator guide). If you select the button and are told you are not registered, ask a platform administrator.

Choosing your own password after signing in with a temporary one

If your instructor reset your password, the first thing you see after signing in with the temporary password is “Choose your own password”. Until you do, no other page will open.

1. Enter the same new password under “New password” and “Repeat the password”.
2. Select Set my password and continue; you are taken on to the page you were going to.

A password is at least 10 characters and at most 1024 (letters outside English, such as Chinese characters, count as two or three each), and it cannot be the same as the temporary one. A short sentence works well.

Joining a course with an invite link or QR code

Your instructor shows a QR code in class, or sends you a link. Scan it with your phone’s camera, or open the link, and you see the “Join a course” page.

If you already have an account

1. If you are signed in, check that “Signed in as …” names you, and select Join course. If it is not you, select Sign in as someone else.
2. If you are not signed in, select Sign in to join; once you have signed in, you come back to this page.

First time here: creating an account

1. Select Create an account.
2. Fill in “Your name” (your instructor and classmates will see it) and “Password” twice, and also:
   • If the link takes any email: “Student number” (required; you sign in with it from now on) and “Email” (optional).
   • If the link only takes emails at certain domains: “Email” (required, at one of those domains; you sign in with it from now on). The form then has no “Student number” field.
3. Select Create account and join. You join the course as a student straight away.

A school can turn off creating accounts through invite links, for example once everyone uses single sign-on. The page then says only “To join, sign in.” with Sign in to join, and has no Create an account.

Setting a password from an administrator’s link

Once an administrator has registered your account, they give you a link to set your password. Open it, enter your password twice and select Set password and sign in, and you are signed in straight away. From then on, sign in with your student or staff number or your email, and this password.

If you forget your password, an administrator gives you the same kind of link: the new password replaces the old one.

Such a link works only once. When the administrator sends a new link or changes your email, the old link stops working, and the page says “This invitation is no longer valid”. Ask the administrator for a new link (for how administrators send links, see Invitation links (choosing a password) and password resets in the Administrator guide).

Language and theme

Select the account button at the bottom of the activity bar, and in the account menu choose Language (繁體中文, 简体中文 or English) or Theme (System, Light or Dark). The first time you use it, AIshie picks a language to match your browser’s. You can also switch the language at the top right of the sign-in page.

This guide is also available in 繁體中文 and 简体中文, with screenshots of the interface in that language.

My courses

The home page after you sign in, “Your courses this term”, lists every course you are in. Each card shows the course code, section, title, your role and the term; when a published assignment is due soon, it says “Next due: …”; and what is waiting for you, such as your agents’ proposals awaiting a decision, is listed on it too, and selecting it takes you there. The home page has “Filter courses” only once you are in 8 courses or more. The Courses view in the side bar lists the same courses, which you can filter, so you can jump to one from any page; archived courses are hidden unless you tick “Show archived”.

Administrators also see “Courses you administer without a seat”. Being an administrator does not let you into a course: to open one, seat its instructor, or yourself, from the course’s administration page (see Seating the instructor in the Administrator guide).

Course overview

When you open a course, the first thing you see is the “Overview”: what is waiting for you, what is due soon, and what your seat may do.

• Needs your attention: proposals awaiting a decision, actions awaiting review, draft grades not yet posted, and your agents’ proposals awaiting a decision and actions awaiting review; only what concerns you is shown.
• About this course: the course description. People with Manage members see Edit, to change the course’s title and description. The code, section, term and department make the course the offering it is; only the course’s administrators change them, from its administration page.
• Assignments: assignments due next and recently due. Students see their own items marked “Not started” or “Not handed in”.
• Your seat: your role, status, reach and when the seat ends. Staff also see when they were seated and their member ID: a member ID stays the same for as long as the seat is held, and agents key their memory on it; being removed and added again gives a new ID and a fresh start. A student’s page shows no IDs.
• What you may do: the level of each permission.

Activity and My actions

Activity lists everything that has happened in this course that your seat may know about, newest first. The chips at the top filter it by Grades, Submissions, Assignments, Documents, Members, Actions, Course and Other, several at once if you like; those who may approve actions, and those with an agent of their own in the course, also have Agents: only what agents did. While the page is open it checks for new activity every 30 seconds, pausing while the page is in the background; you can also select Refresh. Activity that has appeared since you opened the page is marked “New”; select Mark as seen to clear it. Activity records only what happened, never the content itself: open an entry to see the thing, as far as your permissions allow.

An entry that an action brought about says on its first line who did it, for example “小明的溫習助手 AI proposed” or “王小明 proposed → 林老師 approved”. Those who may approve actions see who did each one; everyone else sees who did only their own and their agents’, and someone whose name they cannot see on the member list is written “Someone in the course”.

My actions lists everything you have done or tried to do in this course, and what became of it. At the top, the number in each status is given: select one to see only that status. You can also filter by kind, choose “Newest first” or “Oldest first”, and tick “Include chat messages” to list the questions you asked in the chat as well. A proposal of yours still waiting for approval can be opened here and withdrawn with Withdraw. A proposal that was sent back for changes has the status “Changes requested”, with “What to change: …” beneath it (see Requesting changes).

Your account and how you sign in

Select Account settings in the account menu:

• Profile: your email, student/staff number (you can sign in with it; only an administrator changes it), platform role and actor ID.
• Password: select Change password. Your old password stops working at once, but browsers already signed in stay signed in. If you have no password yet (because you have always used single sign-on, say), the button is Set a password; an account needs a student/staff number or an email to sign in with a password.
• Course seats: your role, reach and end date in each course; a seat other than a student’s also shows its member ID.
• Sign-in methods and sessions: your password, single sign-on, invitation links, and every browser session they began; you can revoke each of them with Revoke. The one marked “This browser” is the one you are using now.
• My agents: a link to the AI agents you own (see AI agent owners).

People have no API tokens. To have a program or an AI tool work for you, create an AI agent and connect with its token.

On a phone or in a narrow window

• A window 899 px wide or less (a phone, a tablet held upright, a window dragged narrow): the activity bar and side bar fold into the Menu, the three lines at the top left. AIshie’s logo is at its top, then views such as Courses and Agents; when you are in a course, the Menu lists that course’s tabs under it, with the page you are on marked; your account is at the bottom. The header gives only the course code and the tab, for example “CS101 · A › Overview”.
• Course tabs: the tabs always sit in one row. When the page is as narrow as a phone’s, all of them sit in one row that you swipe left and right, the current tab stays in view, and a fade at either end shows there are more; on a wider page that cannot fit them all, the rest go under More at the end.
• Two-column pages (a document, an assignment, the overview, the grading panel, an action’s details) also go by the width of the page itself: when it is too narrow, the columns stack. On a laptop, opening the side bar may be enough to stack them; closing the side bar brings the two columns back.
• Tables become cards. The chat button is the round button at the bottom right: it tucks away while you scroll down, and comes back when you scroll up or return to the top. The chat fills the whole screen.
• Previewing files: the preview window fills the whole screen, with the phone held upright or on its side. A PDF fits the screen’s width, its paging and zoom sit together in one bar at the bottom, and two fingers zoom it in and out (see Previewing on a phone).
• Gradebook: the whole class’s gradebook becomes a list with a line for each student; tap a line to open that student’s grades (see The gradebook).
• Back: the phone’s back button or back gesture first closes whatever covers the page, rather than leaving the page: the preview window, the full-screen chat, the Menu, an agent’s conversation log, an invite link shown full screen, and “Who can read this” or a confirmation opened over one of them. When several are open one over another, each back closes one, and the page stays where it was. However you close them, back afterwards goes to the previous page as usual.

On a computer, the preview window, an agent’s conversation log, an invite link shown full screen and “Who can read this” close with the browser’s back too (or the mouse’s back button). In a wider window the chat window does not cover the page, so back goes to the previous page as usual, and the chat window stays open.

Reading materials

Course › Materials

Materials are listed in the order your instructor set. You see only published versions.

Open a material to see its text and every file of this version. A version can have several files, listed in the order your instructor arranged them, each with an icon, its name and its size:

• Select a file’s name or the eye icon to preview it right on the page, without downloading it.
• Select the download icon beside it to download it under its original name.
• Download as PDF, at the top right of the text, saves the text as a PDF.

Previewing files

Select any file in a material, assignment instructions, a submission, feedback or the chat, and a preview window opens over the page. At its top are the file’s name, kind and size, and the document it belongs to; when a version has several files, the left and right arrows (or ← → on the keyboard) take you through them one by one. Select Download to get the original file. To close it, select × at the top right, press Esc, or use the browser’s back: you stay on the page, where you were.

Only files up to a certain size are previewed: 100 MB for PDF, audio and video, 40 MB for images, and 2 MB for text, Markdown, code and CSV. For a larger file, or any other file that cannot be previewed, the window asks you to download it and open it.

Previewing on a phone

On a phone the preview window fills the whole screen, with the phone held upright or on its side. At the top are the file’s name and Download; the two arrows to the previous and next file sit beside the close button, and unless a PDF of several pages is being previewed, “1 of 3” sits between them. A PDF fits the screen’s width, and its paging and zoom sit together in one bar at the bottom: the up and down arrows turn the pages, the box in the middle takes a page number, and beside it are zoom out, zoom in and Fit width. On the last page, the down arrow is greyed out. A PDF of one page has no paging controls.

Spread or pinch two fingers to zoom the pages in and out, on the bar at the bottom too; the web page itself does not zoom. Zoom back to about the screen’s width, and the pages fit it exactly again. The phone’s back closes the preview window and returns you to the page.

Download as PDF

A version’s text, a file’s text version, a text or Markdown file, the text of work that has been handed in, and a conversation all have Download as PDF beside them. It opens your browser’s print window, with the layout already set for paper; under “Destination” choose Save as PDF, then save.

Office files shown as PDF

When a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument or RTF file (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .odt, .ods, .odp, .rtf and others) is uploaded, the school’s agent service converts each file to PDF once, whether it is a material’s file or a file in the chat. That PDF is what the preview shows, with the same layout, pictures and formatting as the original.

• Being converted: the preview window shows “Converting to PDF…”. There is no need to refresh: once the conversion is done, the PDF appears in the same window by itself. Meanwhile you can download the original.
• Converted: in the list of files, a red PDF tag sits beside the file’s size. At the top of the preview window, besides Download (the original), there is Download PDF.
• Could not be converted: the preview window shows “It could not be converted to PDF” and why; download the original to open it.

When a file cannot be converted, the window says why:

Try again puts the file back in the queue to be converted. Only people who may change the document (an instructor, for example), or, in the chat, whoever sent the file and the staff who decide for the person asking, see this button; everyone else can only download the original. Conversion is done by the school’s agent service: if a file stays at “Converting to PDF…”, the agent service may not be running, so let an administrator know (for the server side of troubleshooting, see the Operator guide). Meanwhile you can download the original and open it.

Writing and handing in work

Course › Assignments › select an assignment

1. Read the “Instructions”, and select Start a draft.
2. Write under “Your answer” (Markdown and mathematics are supported). To attach files, drop them on the box under “Files” or anywhere on the page, select choose files, or simply paste them; each file is attached to your draft as soon as it has uploaded.
3. Select Save draft whenever you like. Only you can see your draft, and you can change it as often as you like.
4. When it is ready, select Hand in and confirm. Once handed in, it cannot be changed.

The “Submissions” tab lists every attempt you handed in for each assignment, and the version of the instructions each was handed in under.

An assignment with the Group work tag beside its title is done and handed in by your group together: the group shares one draft, and any member can hand it in for the group (see Writing and handing in group work together).

Seeing your grades

Course › Grades › My grades

A grade appears only once your instructor has posted it. Open a grade to see the score, feedback, feedback files and the breakdown. If you have a question about a grade, quote the reference on its page when you ask your instructor: it records who made the grade, under which seat, and who approved it.

A grade given from your group’s grade has the group’s name beside it, followed by “Adjusted” when your teacher set your score apart from the group’s, or “Peer evaluation” when peer evaluation was counted in it, as in “第一組 · Peer evaluation”. Open it to see the group’s score, your score, and why the two differ (see Your grade for group work).

In the Grades tab, select Gradebook to see how you stand across the whole grading scheme. The total is normally a “Grade so far”: assignments with no posted grade are left out. Switching on “What-if: final grade” counts ungraded work as zero; it is only a view, and nothing is stored.

Asking the AI

If you may ask agents questions in at least one course, the chat button sits at the right end of every page’s header (on a phone, it is the round button at the bottom right). Select it (or press Ctrl+J, ⌘J on a Mac) and the chat window floats over the page, so you never leave what you are looking at. Drag its title bar to move it, and its left or top edge to resize it; select －, or the chat button again, to minimize it, and the chat button brings it back where it was.

1. Choose a course at the top, then choose an agent under “Ask an agent”: the course agents are listed first, then your own personal agent. AI after each name says it is an AI agent, not a person; beside it are whose agent it is, and whether it is a course agent or a personal agent. A solid dot before the name means you can ask it now; a hollow one means it is paused: nothing seems to be running it just now, so an answer may take a while.
2. The first time you start a conversation in this browser, you see “Before you ask” first (see Who reads your conversation). After that, a new conversation offers suggestions under “Try asking”, such as “Explain what this assignment asks for”, “Check my reasoning”, “Summarise this week’s materials” and “Give me a few practice questions”; select one to put it in the message box.
3. Type your question and send it (on a computer, Enter sends and Shift+Enter starts a new line). Type / for commands (New conversation, Conversation history), or @ to cite the title of an assignment or material.

The top of the chat window names the agent you are asking and how it is now: “Can be asked”, or “Paused” (nothing seems to be running it just now, so an answer may take a while). Hover over it to see why, and whose agent it is.

Who reads your conversation

The first time you start a new conversation in this browser, the chat window first lists three points under “Before you ask”: who can read the conversation, where the agent sends what you write to have it answered, and that nothing here is deleted. Once you select Got it, or send your first question, only a short line stays, under the message box. Select More (or Who can read this in the ⋯ menu beside the conversation’s title) for the whole notice, “Who reads this, and where it goes”:

• Who can read this conversation: the two taking part, the course staff who decide your actions, those who decide actions and can read it in the action record (agents that decide them included), and the site’s and department’s administrators, who may export conversations for audit.
• Where it goes to be answered: for an agent hosted on AIshie, the school’s agent service sends the conversation’s messages, the files attached to them, and what the agent reads in the course to its AI model. When you ask your own agent, the notice names the model and its provider; when you ask someone else’s (a course agent, say), it can say only that it goes to its AI model’s provider, as the page cannot show which provider that is.
• What is kept: conversations are never deleted. A withdrawn message is only hidden: its text stays in the action record and in exports for audit. Text that the agent service reads from an attached image or scanned PDF is kept for up to 180 days.

While the agent answers

The window shows each step it takes, such as Reading “…”…, Looking through the materials…, Reading an assignment…, Searching its memory… and Writing the answer…, and the answer appears bit by bit.

• An agent hosted on AIshie searches the course materials for the passages most relevant to your question (in Chinese or English). The search tells the agent which document, version, file and page or slide each passage comes from; you see the step “Looking through the materials” (“Looked through the materials” once done). It searches only what your seat may read. The steps show only while it answers, and the posted answer takes their place; the course materials the answer relied on are listed under it (see The course materials an answer relied on).
• When a file has a text version, the agent reads the text version first, and looks at particular pages of the original when it needs to.
• If an answer is cut off for being too long, the agent says so; reply “continue” to get the rest. A question the agent could not answer at the time is tried again the next day; the conversation stays open.
• When the course’s replies are set so that each one needs approval, the message box says so: an answer appears only once someone has approved it.

The course materials an answer relied on

Under an agent’s posted answer there may be a quiet grey line naming the course materials the answer relied on:

• One is named in full, for example ‘Based on: “第一週講義：Python 環境與第一支程式” · 第一週投影片.pdf · page 4’. Select it, and that file opens in the preview window at that page (for slides, “slide n”); a source that names no file opens that version of the material. When the answer relied on a version other than the one published now, the line says which, as “version n”.
• Several are summed up, as in ‘Based on: “作業一說明” · 2 items’. Select the line to open the list of them, each of which you can open.
• A material you cannot open shows as “a course material you cannot open”, with a lock and no title or link. When you can open the material but not the version the answer relied on (because the instructor has since published another, say), it says “another version (opens it as it is now)”: the link opens the material’s current version.
• No course material cited: the agent said this answer relied on no course material, as for a question of general knowledge.
• Nothing at all: the agent did not say. This is so for every answer from before this feature, for an answer that saw only excerpts in search results without opening a material, and for answers by agents that give no sources.

An agent hosted on AIshie lists the materials, assignment instructions and rubrics it read while writing the answer, in the order it read them; a title it only saw in a list does not count. Every reader is shown the sources as their own permissions stand now: if the instructor later archives the material, for example, students see “a course material you cannot open” where the instructor still sees the material itself; a version that has been purged cannot be opened by anyone.

Stopping, editing and withdrawing

• Select Stop while the agent is answering: your question is withdrawn and put back in the message box, and any answer the agent had begun stops too.
• Hover over a message to find Copy message below it (copied as Markdown); a question still waiting for an answer also has Edit, which withdraws it and puts it back in the box for you to change and send again.
• Select Withdraw and confirm, and the message is no longer shown; the record of the action that wrote it still keeps the text.

Past conversations and conversation options

• Select the clock icon to open your past conversations, grouped into Today, Yesterday, This week and Earlier. You can search titles and agents, and switch between “This course” and “All courses”. A conversation with a new reply is marked “New answer”.
• Select ⋯ beside a conversation’s title: Who can read this opens the whole notice: who can see the conversation, where it goes to be answered, and what is kept (see Who reads your conversation; exports for audit include withdrawn messages); Download as PDF saves the whole conversation as a PDF; and if the course has set replies to need approval or review, that is said here too.

Attaching files in the chat

You can attach files to a question, such as a draft of your work, a program or a screenshot, and the agent reads them before answering. There are three ways:

• select the paper clip, Attach files, at the bottom left of the message box, and choose the files;
• drop the files anywhere on the chat window;
• if you have copied a screenshot or a file, paste it straight into the message box.

Each file starts uploading as soon as it is added, and shows as a small chip above the message box; select × to remove it. You cannot send until the uploads have finished, and files must go with a line of text, so that the agent knows what you want.

Once sent, a message lists its files above it: icon, name and size, with a thumbnail for a small image. Select a file to open it in the preview window, or the download icon to download it under its original name; Office files are shown as PDF here too. If you withdraw a message, its files are withdrawn with it, and nobody sees them in the conversation any more.

Bringing in your own AI agent

You can create an AI agent of your own (see the AI agent owners chapter) and bring it into a course as your “Personal agent”. Under the built-in Student preset this needs an instructor’s approval. A personal agent answers only you, and sees only your own work and grades. Anything beyond a personal agent’s remit, such as drafting a submission for you, it can only send as a proposal, which you yourself approve under Your agents’ proposals (see Your agents’ proposals).

To ask it questions in the chat window, choose “Hosted on AIshie” when you create it, and have AIshie host it; an agent with “MCP access” can be used only from your own AI tools.

The member list

Course › Members

The chips at the top of the member list, “All”, “People” and “Agents”, say how many each holds; select one to see only those. You can also filter by role, and tick “Show removed” to see those who have left. Each row shows the name, student number, role, status, reach, preset and dates; people who joined through an invite link carry a tag. An agent’s name is followed by AI, and the dot before it says whether it can be asked on the site right now.

Adding a member

1. Select Add member.
2. Find the person: enter their whole student/staff number or email, and select Find. Part of one finds nobody. Platform administrators can search by name; an agent has no email, so paste its actor ID instead.
3. Choose a “Preset” and a “Roster role” (Student, Instructor, Teaching assistant, Observer, Assistant).
4. If needed, set the “Reach” (which students, which assignments) and “Seat ends”.
5. If needed, set levels one by one under “Permissions”. If any is higher than your own level, Lower n to my own levels appears; select it.
6. Select Add member. If your level is Needs approval, the button is Request to add.

• An agent that belongs to someone cannot be added here: its owner brings it into the course themselves. For a course agent of your own, use the Agents page.
• A suspended person or agent cannot be added until a platform administrator reactivates them.
• You cannot give more than you hold yourself; at Needs approval, these checks are made before the proposal is sent (see The four permission levels).

Changing a member’s permissions, reach and role

Members › select a member

• Edit permissions: change the level of each permission. A permission left empty keeps the preset’s level, shown in grey; options above your own level or a cap are greyed out, with the reason given.
• Change reach: change the list of students, the list of assignments, and when the seat ends.
• Change role: switch between Student, Teaching assistant and Instructor. A student given another role leaves the roster and is no longer marked missing, but the work they handed in and the grades they have are all kept.
• Pause / Resume: while a seat is paused, everything its holder does is refused. Their pending requests stay in the queue, but cannot be approved while the seat is paused.
• Remove: their pending requests are cancelled. If they are added again later, they get a new member ID, and the agents they brought in leave with them.
• Gradebook, Submissions and Grades, beside “Their work:”, open those pages for this student.
• A student’s member page has a Groups card: the group they are in in each group set, or “In no group”. Select History to see when they joined or left each group, how, and who did it. If your seat’s reach does not include this student, the card says that their groups are not shown to you, rather than that they are in no group.

You can always lower a permission; raising one is a grant, and must stay within your own levels, reach and end date. On your own seat, every control is switched off.

Resetting a student’s password

When a student forgets their password, their instructor can give them a temporary one.

1. Open the student on the Members page, select Reset password, and confirm.
2. The screen shows what they sign in with and the temporary password, this one time only. Copy it and give it to the student in person or by private message; never send it in a class group or any public channel.
3. Select Done to close. The next time the student signs in, they must choose their own password first.

Invite links and QR codes

Members › Invite link

1. If needed, fill in “Most people who may join”, or enter your school’s email domain under “Only emails at these domains”, for example example.edu (press Enter to add it; up to 20). Leave both empty to let anyone join.
2. Select Create link. The screen shows the link, a QR code and a countdown.
3. In class, select Show full screen to project the QR code; students scan it with their phone’s camera to join. You can also Copy the link or Download QR (PNG).
4. When time is up, select Create a new link, or New link with other settings.

Materials: adding, versions, publishing and archiving

Course › Materials › New material

One version of a material can have several files and a text note together, for example slides, a sample program and notes. You upload the files first, then create the material:

1. Select New material, and drop the files on the box, select choose files, or paste them. Dropping files anywhere on the Materials page opens this window too.
2. Each file starts uploading at once, showing its progress, speed and time left; you can cancel or retry it. The default limits are 20 files a version, each up to 50 MB and 200 MB in all (your school can change them; the box states the actual limits below it).
3. The files are numbered in the order listed, which is also the order students see: rearrange them with ↑ ↓, or remove one with the bin.
4. The “Title” is named after the first file until you change it. If needed, expand Add a text note (optional) and write a note in Markdown. To write text with no files, select Write text instead.
5. Tick “Publish at once” to let students see it straight away, or leave it unpublished for now. Select Create.

Open a material to:

• New version: start from the latest version’s text note, and put the files in again. A new version does not carry over the previous version’s files: to keep one, upload it again. Dropping files on a material’s page also makes a new version of them.
• Publish this version: publish a version older than the latest, which rolls the material back to that version.
• Title and place: rename it or move it in the list; its versions are not touched.
• Archive / Bring back: once archived, it disappears from the list, students cannot see it, and it cannot be edited until it is brought back. Nothing is deleted.

Once made, a version is never changed. If something that should not have been shared was uploaded by mistake, ask a department or platform administrator to purge it (see Purging content uploaded by mistake in the Administrator guide). Files go into assignment instructions and rubrics the same way.

A file’s text version

Each file in a version has its own text version: the text read from the file, written in Markdown, with a heading for each page (“第 1 頁”, that is, page 1). The course’s AI agents read the text version first, so its quality directly affects their answers. Anyone who may read the version may read its text versions.

• If the site’s administrators have turned on transcription (see Documents: OCR and transcription in the Administrator guide), newly uploaded files are queued automatically and transcribed into a text version by AI, marked “AI transcription” with the model used. If it is not turned on, the screen says “Transcription is not turned on for this site”, and you can write the text version yourself.
• People who may change the document (an instructor, for example) can select Write the text version or Edit to change it themselves. Once saved, it is marked “Edited by …” with the editor’s name, and later transcription does not write over it. They can also select Transcribe again, but that discards those changes for good (you are asked to confirm first).
• A text version has Go to a page, and Download as PDF.

On a material’s page, switch to the Text version tab: the version’s files are listed in order at the top, and choosing one shows its text version. On the Content tab, Text version beside each file opens it directly too.

Creating and publishing assignments

Course › Assignments › New assignment

1. Fill in “Title”, “Points possible” and “Due” (which you can leave unset). The due date is on your computer’s clock, and the field says in which time zone, Hong Kong Standard Time for example. The assignment’s page gives the time zone with the due date too; hover over the due date to see the exact time in UTC.
2. Under “Counts toward”, choose a graded component; for practice work, choose “Nothing — practice work”.
3. For work that groups do together, tick Each group hands in one piece of work, for all its members under “Group work”, then choose a group set (see Creating a group assignment).
4. For “Instructions” and “Rubric”, you can choose an existing document (Choose existing), upload files or write one on the spot (Upload or write new), or choose None.
5. Select Create. A new assignment always starts unpublished, so students cannot see it.
6. When it is ready, select Publish on the assignment’s page.

The ⋯ (“More actions for …”) at the right end of an assignment page’s title row, and on each row of the list of assignments, holds Delete…: see Deleting an assignment for good.

Deleting an assignment for good

Course › Assignments › an assignment’s ⋯ › Delete…

An assignment created by mistake, or only to try the site out, can be deleted for good, with all its submissions and grades. This cannot be undone. Only people with the Manage assignments permission see Delete…: it is in the ⋯ at the right end of the assignment page’s title row, and in the ⋯ on each row of the list of assignments.

1. Select ⋯ › Delete…. The “Delete assignment” dialog first counts what would go, and lists it under “What goes with it”, leaving out whatever is zero:
   • Submissions: every attempt in every state, that is work handed in, drafts and records of missing work (a group’s work counts once);
   • Grades: drafts and posted grades, with their history;
   • Files: the files students handed in and the feedback files, which are deleted from storage;
   • Proposals waiting for approval: those about this assignment not yet decided, which are cancelled;
   • Totals worked out again: if the assignment counts toward totals, the posted totals of the students who have one are worked out again, and the change is recorded.
   A group assignment’s peer evaluation (its form and every evaluation written) goes with it too. For an assignment nobody has started on, it says “Nobody has started on it: only the assignment itself goes.”
2. When someone has started on it, or it has grades, type the assignment’s title under “To confirm, type the assignment’s title” before Delete for good can be selected.
3. Select Delete for good. The page says “Deleted “…””, with how many submissions, grades and files went with it. If you deleted it from its own page, you are taken back to the list of assignments.

• What stays in the course: instructions and rubrics are the course’s documents, and deleting an assignment does not delete them; when the assignment has either, the dialog says so, for example “Its instructions and rubric stay in the course as they are.” Archive them as usual if they are no longer needed; to clear their content too, ask an administrator (see Purging content uploaded by mistake in the Administrator guide). Group sets and groups belong to the course as well, and stay.
• Students: a published assignment disappears from their list of assignments, and the course feed tells them “Assignment deleted”, with its title. An old link to it opens a page that says “This assignment was deleted.” and when.
• The record: the deletion itself is recorded in the action log; each earlier action about the assignment leaves only an entry marked “Details removed”, which no longer shows what it held.
• Work handed in after you opened the dialog: when you select Delete for good, you are told “Something was added after this was shown. Check what goes with it again.”, the counts are listed again, and you type the title once more.
• Needs approval: if your Manage assignments is at Needs approval, deleting becomes a proposal. The card its approver sees says “Approving deletes this assignment for good, with what goes with it. This cannot be undone.” and what would go, and its button is Approve and delete for good. If more would go by the time it is approved, approving fails.
• AI agents: an agent can delete only an assignment with no submissions and no grades; one somebody has started on must be deleted by a person.
• No assignment can be deleted while the course is archived.

Who has handed in, late work and missing work

Course › Submissions

Once you choose an assignment, every student within your reach is listed, including those who have “Not started”. Above the list, the number of students in each state is given, such as “Submitted 3” or “Late 2”: select one to see only those students, and “All” to see the whole list again.

• Mark missing: for students without even a draft. Once marked, the missing work can be graded, with a zero, for example. If the student hands in work later, it takes the place of the record, as long as the record has not been graded by then.
• Mark as late / Mark as on time: correct this on a submission’s page, for example when an extension was granted.

Both need the Enter grades permission.

When the assignment chosen is group work, the list is by group, with the students in no group listed below it (see Submissions by group).

Grading

Submissions › select a submission › the “Enter a grade” panel

1. The rubric is shown on the right. Enter the “Score”; if needed, tick “Allow extra credit”.
2. You can select Add a criterion to score criterion by criterion, then Use as score to fill in the total.
3. Write the “Feedback”, attaching feedback files if needed.
4. Select Save draft grade. Students cannot see draft grades. If your level is Needs approval, the button is Propose grade.

When the work already has a draft grade (from a teaching assistant, say), the top of the panel says who drafted it (for example “Drafted by 陳助教”; an agent’s draft is marked AI) and that saving a new grade replaces it; select Start from the current draft to work from that draft, or Open the draft to look at it. When an agent drafted it, once you select Start from the current draft, the score, breakdown and feedback it drafted have a line down their left side, showing that you have not changed them yet; the line goes once you change, clear or save them.

When someone (a grader agent, for example) has proposed a grade, the panel lists “Proposed grades waiting for approval”: who proposed it, when, and what approving it would do. A proposal is not a grade until it is approved; once approved, it becomes a draft grade. Note: if you save a draft grade now, approving that proposal later will be refused, because a proposal never replaces a draft entered after it was made; you are asked before saving.

Only work that was handed in, late or missing can be graded; a draft cannot. A posted grade can be changed only by regrading. A group’s work is graded once, and each member’s score can be adjusted on its own (see Grading a group, and adjusting one member).

Posting grades, regrading and final grades

Course › Grades

1. Filter for the assignment to post, tick the draft grades and select Post selected (n); or select Post all drafts for this assignment.
2. In the “Post grades” dialog, select Post. Students see their grades at once, and the rolled-up totals of the students concerned are written down as they stand now.

• Each grade is posted only once. To change a score, select Regrade on the grade’s page, enter the new score and feedback, and select Regrade and post. The old grade is marked “Superseded” and kept in the record. Regrading needs both Enter grades and Post grades. For a grade given from a group’s grade, select Regrade the group instead, or Adjust just one member’s (see Grading a group, and adjusting one member).
• Final grades: tick “Final grades: count ungraded work as zero” and confirm. This lasts until someone chooses Undo final grades… from ⋯ (More posting actions) at the right end of the posting bar (for all students or for one). Use it only once the term’s grading is all done, and your assignment reach must cover the whole course.
• Components graded directly (a midterm, for example): enter draft grades with Enter a component grade, then post them the same way.

Changing points possible: rescaling or keeping the scores

When you change an assignment’s points possible after grades have been entered for it, a dialog titled “n grades have been entered for it” appears:

• Rescale them: each score is converted in proportion, in a new grade; 8/10 becomes 16/20, for example. The original grades stay in the record. Work that was worth zero cannot be rescaled.
• Keep the scores: the scores stay as they are, now out of the new points possible. You cannot choose this if a score would be above the new points possible.

This needs Manage assignments, Enter grades and Post grades together, reaching every student in the course. The posted totals it affects are written down again at once.

The gradebook: the whole class, one student, and overriding totals

Course › Grades › Gradebook

When staff open the Gradebook, they see the whole class at once: a row for each student and a column for each assignment, with the totals. A student who opens it still sees only their own gradebook (see Seeing your grades).

• The columns follow the grading scheme: “Course total” first, then each component’s published assignments (by due date) followed by that component’s total; a component graded directly (a midterm, say) has a column of its own, and practice work that counts toward nothing comes last.
• The grades: a number alone is a posted grade, the one the student sees; one marked “Draft” has not been posted yet, so the student cannot see it and it counts in no total. “Posted …” under a draft gives the grade it would replace, which still counts. Scores on this page show two decimal places at most; hover over a grade, or open it, to see every place. Where there is no grade, the cell says “Missing” (recorded as handed in with nothing) or “To grade” (handed in, not graded yet), or shows a dash (nothing at all). Work handed in after a grade was given shows “To grade” beneath that grade. A grade given from a group’s grade has an icon of two figures before the score; when the grader set this member’s score apart from the group’s, a “±” follows it. Hover over the grade to have it said in words, such as which group’s grade it came from and whether it was adjusted for this member; the key under the table explains both marks too.
• The totals are those written down when grades were last posted: the figures the student was shown then. An asterisk marks one a person overrode. The “Class average” at the foot counts posted grades only, and leaves out removed students.
• The table scrolls up, down and sideways, while the heading row, the students’ names and the class average stay in place. Select a column’s heading to sort by it, highest first; select it again for lowest first. Empty cells always sort last. The icon beside an assignment’s title opens all the grades for that assignment; select a grade to open it.
• You can “Search by name or number”, or, in the “Every student” menu, show only the students “With draft grades”, “With missing work” or “With work to grade”. When some students have been removed, tick “Removed students” to list them too. The search, the filter and the sort are kept in the page’s address.
• Export CSV saves what is shown, search and filter included, as a CSV file that opens in a spreadsheet with Chinese text intact. Drafts, overrides and work to grade are marked, as in “7 (draft)” and “95 (overridden)”, a member’s score set apart from the group’s is written as in “72 (adjusted)”, missing work is written “Missing”, and a “Status” column marks paused or removed students; when there is group work, each group set it uses has a column of its own, such as “Group: 專題小組”, giving the group each student is in now. The export gives every decimal place. The list of grades is under All grades, at the top (see Posting grades).
• Only the students and assignments within your seat’s reach are listed. A seat whose reach is limited to listed assignments sees no totals and no component columns.

On a phone, or wherever the page is narrow, the gradebook becomes a list with a line for each student: name, student number, course total, and tags such as “1 draft”, “1 missing” or “1 to grade”. Tap a line to open that student’s grades, with “Open …’s gradebook” at the bottom. The menu at the top sorts the list by name or by course total.

One student’s gradebook

Select a student’s name to open their gradebook. It shows, along the grading scheme, each graded component with its score, weight and status, worked out now from posted grades. “At posting” is the total written down when grades were last posted: the score the student was shown then. Select Whole class, or use the browser’s back, to return to the whole class, with its search, filter and scroll position as you left them.

From the Total menu of the course total or of any component, you can:

• Override: enter a score (out of 100) and a reason (required, at most 500 characters). The student sees the overridden score, but not who overrode it or why; the computed score is kept beside it.
• Take off override, or add a Comment for the student to see.

A total is written down only once a grade beneath it has been posted, and it cannot be overridden before then. A component graded directly has no total to override; regrade instead.

The grading scheme

Course › Grades › Grading scheme

The grading scheme is a tree: “Course total” at the top, and beneath it components of three kinds, “Weighted group”, “Assignment bucket” and “Graded directly”. For example: assignments 40%, midterm 25%, final exam 35%.

1. Select Add component, choose where it goes under “Under”, and fill in “Name”.
2. For “How it is graded”, choose “Rolled up” (worked out from assignments or sub-components) or “Graded directly” (an exam, say, whose score you enter directly).
3. Fill in “Weight” (60 and 40 are the same as 3 and 2; at 0 it is shown but counts for nothing), and set “Drop lowest” if needed.

Each row’s menu has Add sub-component, Edit and Move. Changing a weight does not rewrite posted totals at once: they change at the next post or regrade. Moving a component that already has grades writes the affected totals again at once. An assignment bucket adds up points, so a 100-point project weighs more than a 10-point quiz; unpublished assignments count toward no total.

Approvals and reviews

Course › Approvals

A line at the top of the page says what it is for; select Rules, at its right, to open or close the page’s rules: what Awaiting approval and Awaiting review each hold, that nobody decides or reviews their own action, and that both lists show the oldest first. The rules are open the first time you come, and after that as you last left them. Select Refresh, at the right end of the row of tabs, to load both lists again.

• Awaiting approval: proposals made by others (AI agents included), oldest first. Select Approve, Request changes or Reject: a reason is optional when you approve or reject, while a request for changes must say what to change (see Requesting changes). Once approved, it is carried out at once as the proposer, provided the proposer may still do it at that moment; otherwise the proposal is cancelled instead.
• Awaiting review: things already done, waiting for someone to look at them. Select Mark reviewed, or Escalate to pass it to another member. A review only records that someone has looked; it undoes nothing.

A card previews what approving it would do: the seat it would grant, the agent it would bring in and that agent’s permissions, the reply it would send. A reply that says what it relied on shows “Based on n course materials” (several pages of one material count as one), and each of them is checked again when it is approved. Open it to see the whole record, including “What was asked” and “History”. Items you have just dealt with are listed under “Decided just now”, which is cleared when you leave the page, but every decision is kept for good in the course’s action log.

Proposals about groups (placing students in groups, a random split, a group’s grade, adjusting a member’s grade, counting peer evaluation in grades) are described in words on their cards and pages: the names of the group set and its groups, who goes where, and what becomes of each member’s score. For a proposal to delete an assignment for good, see Deleting an assignment for good.

If your Approve & review is at Needs approval, the page says “Your decisions here also need approval”: each approval, request for changes or rejection you make becomes a proposal of its own, which another member confirms.

Requesting changes: sending a proposal back with what to change

Course › Approvals › a proposal’s Request changes

When a proposal is nearly right but something needs changing first, there is no need to reject it: select Request changes, say what should change, and its proposer can change it and propose it again.

1. On the proposal’s card in the approval queue, or on its page, select Request changes (between Approve and Reject).
2. In the box, “What should change?”, write what to change. Once you select Request changes, the cursor is already in the box. A note is required, of up to 2000 characters, counted below the box; until there is one, Send back for changes sends nothing, and puts the cursor back in the box. With the keyboard only, press Tab once you have written it to reach Send back for changes.
3. Select Send back for changes. Nothing of the proposal is carried out.

• The proposal ends as “Changes requested”, recording who requested the changes and when, and the note. Its proposer sees this status, and “What to change: …”, under My actions; if the proposer is an agent, it reads the same note.
• Once the proposer has made the changes, they propose again. That is a new proposal, which waits to be approved, sent back or rejected like any other. When the new proposal names the one it revises (as an agent can), its card says “Revises an earlier proposal that was sent back”, linking to the earlier one; on the new proposal’s page, “Revises” links to “An earlier proposal that was sent back”, with “What to change: …” beneath it. Those who may decide it, and the owner of the agent that proposed it, can see this. A proposal a person makes again has no such link.
• Who may request changes follows the same rule as rejecting: whoever may reject a proposal may send it back for changes. Your own agent’s proposals are yours to send back only where you could have done the same yourself without anyone’s confirmation (see Your agents’ proposals).
• An agent’s reply in a conversation can be sent back for changes too. When a course’s replies are set so that each one needs approval, an agent’s reply offers Approve, Request changes and Reject. Once it is sent back, the conversation waits for an answer again: an agent hosted on AIshie writes its reply again as you asked, and sends it for approval once more, and the new reply’s card says “Revises an earlier proposal that was sent back”.

Reading agents’ conversations

Course › Agents › an agent’s Conversation log

Students ask the course agents in the chat window. People in the course who decide approvals (with the Approve & review permission) can select an agent’s Conversation log on the Agents page to see what the members whose actions they decide have asked it in this course: they can read each conversation and withdraw messages, but cannot write in it. Reading as staff leaves no read marker in the conversation; the sources under an answer are shown as your own permissions allow (see The course materials an answer relied on). When an agent’s replies are set to “Each approved first” or “Sent at once, reviewed after”, the replies appear on the Approvals tab.

Course agents and the policy on students’ agents

Course › Agents

This lists every agent in the course, in three groups: “Course agents” (students can ask them), “Personal agents” (brought in by members for themselves) and “Other agents” (agents registered by a platform administrator and seated in the course directly, such as grader agents). Each agent says whose agent it is, whom it acts for, and whether it is connected; the dot before its name says whether it can be asked on the site right now: a solid dot if it can, a hollow one if not (an orange one if AIshie is not running it). How it runs (Hosted on AIshie or MCP access) is given on its member page. This page needs the Manage members or Approve & review permission.

• Each agent’s “Replies” setting: Sent at once; Sent at once, reviewed after; Each approved first; or Off (it answers nobody). An agent’s replies stay within its owner’s permissions: if the owner’s own seat allows less, “Now: …” appears beside it, and replies go out at the lower level. The help under “Replies” in the screenshot says an agent’s owner cannot approve or review its replies; that line does not match the server’s rule. In fact, if your Approve & review in this course is Autonomous, you can approve your own course agent’s replies (see your agents’ proposals).
• Add a course agent: choose one of your existing agents (One of my agents) or make a new one (A new agent), check “What it will hold”, and select Add course agent. A course agent reads only published materials, and nobody’s work or grades. For students to ask it on the site, it must be hosted on AIshie and running (see Hosted on AIshie).
• Remove an agent from its ⋯ (More) menu, and its conversations are closed; its owner can bring it in again later, as a fresh start with a new seat.
• The Students and agents policy: set, for every current student at once, whether they may bring in their own agents (Off, Needs approval, Allowed) and whether they may use conversations (On, Off). Select Apply to all students. Students added later get what their preset gives (the built-in Student preset: bringing in agents needs approval, and conversations are on).

What group work is

• Group set: a set of groups in a course, such as “Project groups” or “Lab pairs”. A course can have several group sets, and each can be used by several assignments: the same groups can do a whole term’s group work.
• Group: a group of students in a set, such as “第一組”. Students are placed by the teacher, split at random, or sign themselves up while the teacher has opened sign-up. A student is in at most one group of each set.
• Group assignment: an assignment that names a group set. Each group of the set hands in one piece of work for its members: they share one draft, and any member can hand it in for the group. The members when it is handed in are the members of that work, and later changes to the group never change whose work it is.
• Grading: the group is graded once, and every member gets the group’s score, feedback and files. Whoever grades can give one member a score of their own, or add or take off points, but must give a reason; of the members, only that member sees the reason.
• Peer evaluation (optional): the members evaluate each other’s contribution to the work. The results can be for the teacher’s reference only, or move each member’s score by a weight the teacher sets.
• Who sees what: students see the names of the members of their own group; of other groups, only the name, the size and the capacity. They never see other groups’ work, grades or peer evaluations, nor their groupmates’ scores, the reasons for an adjustment, or what others said of them.
• Students in no group: a student in no group of the assignment’s group set cannot start or hand in the assignment. The list shows them as “In no group”, and they are not recorded as missing after the due date. Place them in a group; a group of one is a group.

A group’s grade goes to every member of its work, so it is entered by someone whose seat reaches all of them. For a teaching assistant whose reach covers only some students, the page says which members are beyond it, and offers no grading form.

Teachers: making group sets and groups

Course › Groups

The Groups tab lists the course’s group sets: what each is for, how many groups it has, how many students are in no group, whether sign-up is open, and the assignments that use it. Tick Show archived sets to list the archived ones too. When the row of tabs is full, as in these figures, Groups is under More at its end.

1. Select New group set, and fill in “Name” (no two sets of the course that are not archived share a name) and “What it is for” (optional; students see it too).
2. To let students choose their groups themselves, tick Let students sign themselves up to its groups, and choose when “Sign-up closes” if you want (on your clock; after it, only you place students). You can also open it later (see Letting students sign up).
3. Select Create. The set’s page opens.
4. Select Add groups, and fill in “How many”, “Names before the number” and “Capacity” (optional). The dialog lists the names “They will be called” first, such as “Group 1” and “Group 2”. Select Add n groups.

At the top of a set’s page are what it is for, the state of its sign-up with Sign-up settings…, and the assignments that use it. The “Groups” card below lists the students in no group first, then each group:

• Each group gives its size (“2 of 3” where it has a capacity), and “Full”, “n over capacity” or “Archived”.
• Its members’ names, with “signed up” beside those who signed themselves up.
• Where the group’s work stands for each assignment of the set (Draft, Submitted, Late or Missing), which you can open.
• The group’s ⋯: Rename or set capacity… and Archive group. Only a group with no members and no work is archived; archived groups are put away under Show n archived groups, where you can Bring back one.

• History: when each student joined or left which group, how (placed by hand, by a random split, by signing up), and who did it, newest first; you can find a student by name.
• Download CSV: a row for each member (group set, group, student, login ID, when they joined), with the students in no group last. The file opens in a spreadsheet with Chinese text intact.
• ⋯ › Archive set…, in the title row: the set is no longer offered to new assignments, and its sign-up closes; assignments already using it go on as they are. You can bring it back later with Bring back on its page. Nothing of the set, its groups or its history is deleted.
• A teaching assistant with See members but not Manage assignments sees all of this, but cannot change anything.

Teachers: placing students, or splitting at random

Groups › select a group set

Placing them yourself

1. Tick the students to move; the box beside a group’s name, or beside “In no group”, chooses everyone there at once.
2. Select Move to…, and choose a group, or No group. Each student’s row has a button of its own too, “Move … to…”. Every step can be done with the keyboard; you can also drag a student onto a group.

The page says who went where, for example “Moved 黃建宏 to 第一組.” Capacity binds sign-up only: you can place a student in a group that is full, and the page tells you that the group now has more members than its capacity, so sign-up takes nobody more into it.

When a group the students leave or join has work for an assignment of the set, “This touches group work” opens first, listing each assignment concerned, and explains:

• A draft follows the group: whoever is in the group now reads and writes it, so a student who leaves no longer does, and one who joins does.
• Work handed in, or recorded missing, stays the work of those it was handed in for: a student who leaves keeps their part in it and their grade, and one who joins has none.

The students are moved only once you select Move them anyway. To change whose work a piece of work handed in is, use Correct members (see Grading a group).

Splitting at random

1. On the set’s page, select Split at random.
2. Under “Make”, choose Groups of a size (and fill in “Students in each group, at most”) or A number of groups (and fill in “Groups in this set”).
3. Under “Who”, choose Only the students in no group: groups keep their members, or Everyone: empty the groups and deal them all again.
4. Change “Names before the number” and “Capacity of the groups it makes” if you want.
5. Look at “What it will do”: which students each group will have, with names in grey staying where they are, and the new groups and those left alone marked. Select Another seed for another deal.
6. Select Split. The top of the page says “Split at random, with the seed …”, how many students were placed, which groups were made, and which were left alone.

• The same “Seed” always deals the same students into the same groups, so what is shown is what is dealt.
• A group with work for an assignment of the set (a draft included) is left alone: it keeps its members, and takes nobody.
• When every group that takes students is full, you are told there is no room for everyone, and nothing is dealt.
• A split deals every student of the course, so only those whose seat reaches every student see the button. When you are not shown every group’s work for the set’s assignments, the dialog cannot show the deal beforehand; once it is made, the page lists whom it placed.
• If your Manage assignments is at Needs approval, the change becomes a proposal: the page says “Your change waits for approval: it is made once someone approves it.”, with View the request. A proposed split deals the students as its seed deals them when it is approved.

Teachers: letting students sign up

1. On the set’s page, select Sign-up settings… (or Edit in the title row).
2. Tick Let students sign themselves up to its groups, choose when “Sign-up closes” if you want, and save.
3. When you add groups (or from a group’s ⋯), you can set a “Capacity”: how many students sign-up takes it to. Without one, sign-up has no limit.

• While sign-up is open, students can join a group that has room, switch to another, or leave theirs, on the Groups tab. The set’s page says “Sign-up open”, when it closes and the time left.
• Capacity binds sign-up only, not you: you can still place a student in any group yourself. Set a group’s capacity to its size now, and sign-up takes nobody more into it.
• After the deadline, only you place students; a student in no group is told “You are in no group, and sign-up has closed: ask your teacher to place you.”
• Once a group has handed in work for an assignment of the set, changes to its members are the teacher’s: its students cannot leave it or switch, and nobody else can sign up to it.
• Students still in no group at the deadline can be placed by hand, or with Split at random on the students in no group only.

Teachers: creating a group assignment

Course › Assignments › New assignment

1. Fill in the assignment as usual (see Creating and publishing assignments).
2. Under “Group work”, tick Each group hands in one piece of work, for all its members, and choose a group set. Archived sets are not listed; when the course has only one set, it is chosen already.
3. Select Create, and publish it when it is ready.

• Whether it is group work, and of which group set, can change only until someone starts on it. Once there is a draft, work handed in or a record of missing work, the field is locked, with the reason.
• A group assignment has the Group work tag beside its title, and its details give the “Group set” it uses (which you can open); students also see “Your group”. The list of assignments says “Group work” under its title too.
• Peer evaluation is set up on the assignment’s page (see Setting up peer evaluation).
• When the course has no group sets yet, the field says “This course has no group sets yet.”: make one on the Groups tab first.

Teachers: submissions by group

Course › Submissions › choose a group assignment

The list for a group assignment is By group at first: each group’s members now, where its work stands, the attempt, and when and by whom it was handed in. The chips above it count the groups in each state; select one to see only those groups. When a group’s members now differ from those it handed in for (someone switched groups since), it says “Handed in for …”.

• In no group: below the list, “In no group: n students” and their names. They cannot hand in this assignment, and are not recorded as missing; select Open the group set to place each of them in a group.
• Record missing: a group with members but no work at all can be recorded as missing by hand, so that you can grade it. The confirmation names the group, the assignment and its members now. If the group hands work in later, that takes the record’s place. A group with nothing at all handed in by the due date is recorded as missing automatically too.
• By student: a row for each student instead, with a “Group” column; a student whose work belongs to another group (because they switched groups since, say) shows “…’s work”.
• Select a group to open its work.

Teachers: grading a group, and adjusting one member

Submissions › select a group’s work

The page of a group’s submission has these cards:

• Whose work this is: the group’s members when it was handed in (or recorded missing), with “Handed it in” beside whoever handed it in. Anyone who has left the group since, joined it after the work was handed in, or was added by a correction is marked; a change of group never changes whose work this is.
• Grades for this work: the group’s score, then each member’s grade, its state, how their score was given, the reason and who set it, with Adjust on each line.
• Enter a grade: the group is graded once.
• Peer evaluation: if the assignment has one, this group’s results (see Reading the results and counting them in grades).

Grading

1. In the “Enter a grade” card, fill in the “Group score”. The breakdown, feedback, rubric and feedback files are the group’s: every member of the work gets them.
2. Under “Each member’s score” is a line for each member, at The group’s score to begin with. To give one member a different score, choose A score of their own (and fill in their score) or Plus or minus (-8, say), and say why under “Reason (the member reads it)” (1 to 500 characters). Each line says what it “Comes to”; if that is below zero, or above the points possible without “Allow extra credit” ticked, the line says so.
3. Select Save draft grade. Each member gets a draft from the group’s grade, which you post as usual.

• When the group already has a draft grade, the card says so and offers Start from the current draft, which fills each member’s line from their grade now. Saving a new grade replaces the group’s draft and every member’s draft from it.
• When your seat is not shown the grades already given for this work, each line says “Kept as it is”: a member keeps what their grade has now, including an adjustment and its reason, and only the lines you change are written.
• Only work handed in or recorded missing can be graded; a draft the group is still writing cannot.

Adjusting one member’s grade

Under “Grades for this work”, select a member’s Adjust, choose “How their score is given”, The group’s score, A score of their own or Plus or minus, and give the reason. The dialog shows “Their score will be …”. Select Save.

• Adjusting a draft: a new draft takes its place, and the member sees nothing until it is posted. This needs Enter grades.
• Adjusting a posted grade: a new posted grade takes its place at once, the old one kept in its history, and the member’s totals are worked out again; the member sees the new score, and the reason. This needs Enter grades and Post grades.
• Going back to The group’s score takes your adjustment away; if the assignment’s peer evaluation counts in grades, the member’s score is moved by it again.

Regrading the group

Once the group’s grade is posted, no new group grade can be saved on the submission’s page: the grading card asks you to regrade the group, or to adjust one member’s grade. Open any member’s grade and, at the top of its page where Regrade usually is, select Regrade the group (the page’s “Group work” card has only Adjust). Give the “New group score”; each member’s line starts as their grade is now, and can be changed there. Once you save, every member gets a new posted grade at once, the old ones kept in their history, and their totals are worked out again. Members added to the work since it was graded are given a grade too. While any member’s grade from the group’s grade is still a draft, post it first; then the group can be regraded.

Correcting whose work it is

When a group handed in its work without one of its members, or the work should not include someone, select Correct members under “Whose work this is”: add students (those in the group now who are not part of this work are listed first), or take members off. A member with a grade on this work cannot be taken off, at least one member has to stay, and a student who is part of another group’s work for this assignment cannot be added. A student added has no grade from this work until you save the group’s grade again or regrade the group. Each correction is recorded, and the students concerned are told.

Teachers: setting up peer evaluation

Assignments › select a group assignment › the “Peer evaluation” card

A group assignment’s page has a “Peer evaluation” card on the right (for those with Manage assignments or the grading permissions). Select Set up when it has none yet; once it is set up, the card gives its settings in words, with Edit and Results below them.

1. Under “What members do”, choose Split 100 points (each member splits 100 points among the others by how much each contributed) or Rate on criteria (each member rates the others on each criterion).
2. To rate on criteria, fill in the “Criteria”: what each rates, with a description and a “Weight” if you want (from 0.1 to 10, 1 if left empty: a criterion of weight 2 counts twice as much as one of weight 1), up to 10 of them; then set the “Scale”, from 0 or 1 up to 10 at most, in whole numbers.
3. Tick Members evaluate themselves too if you want. In a group of two, peer evaluation can move scores only with this on: otherwise each member’s one evaluation of the other is all they hand out.
4. Under “Opens”, choose For each group, once it hands its work in or At a set time, for every group; then choose when it “Closes at”: the same time for every group, on your clock.
5. Under “Counts in grades”, give 0 to 100: 0 is for reference only, and no grade changes; above 0, it is the part of each member’s grade that peer evaluation moves, once it closes and you count it in grades. The dialog gives an example: at 10%, in a group scored 80 of 100, a member who received 120% of an even share would get 81.6.
6. Tick Show each student their own average once it closes if you want: it is shown only where two or more peers rated them, and never with comments or who gave what.
7. Read “Who sees what”, and select Save.

• Who sees what: those who grade read every evaluation, with who wrote it and their comments; those who decide on actions can read what was submitted in the action log. Each student reads only their own evaluation: never anyone else’s, what was written about them, or who rated them.
• Once a student has submitted an evaluation, what is evaluated (what members do, the criteria, the scale and self-evaluation) no longer changes; the dates, the weight and what students see still do.
• Switch off Students can write evaluations, and nobody can write one any more, nor does it count in grades; what was written is kept. Peer adjustments already counted in grades are taken away only once you select Count in grades again.
• While peer evaluation is switched on, the assignment cannot go back to being individual work.
• AI agents cannot write peer evaluations: a peer evaluation is a student’s own judgment of their classmates.

Teachers: reading the results and counting them in grades

The “Peer evaluation” card on the assignment’s page › Results

The results page lists each member, group by group:

• Their evaluation: when it was written, or “Not written”.
• Received: what each member gave them; when rating on criteria, the average for each criterion.
• Factor: what they received against an even share, such as “120% of an even share, from 2 peers”. Hover over it for the exact factor.
• Score at 20%: the score worked out from the group’s at the weight set, and how far above or below the group’s it is.
• Grade now: draft or posted; one you adjusted yourself says “Your adjustment: peer evaluation leaves it as it is”.
• Flags: Low, High, Rated self above peers, Rated everyone the same, No evaluation. “What the flags say”, on the right, explains each.

Under each group, Evaluations written (n) opens to show every evaluation, who wrote it, and the comments. At the top you can show only the groups that are Flagged or have Evaluations missing; Download CSV saves the results as a file (without the comments). The file holds every member’s name and what they received: keep it where only those who grade can read it. A group assignment’s submission page lists that group’s results too.

How the factor works

Every evaluation hands out the same amount in all (100 points, when splitting 100 points). Split evenly among those it evaluates, that is an even share. A member’s factor is what they actually received against what an even share from the same raters would have given them: 1 is an even share, 1.2 is 20% more than even, 0.8 is 20% less. Counted in grades:

score = group score × (1 − weight + weight × factor)

So a member who contributed evenly gets exactly the group’s score. Take 第一組, in the figure: the group scored 80, the weight is 20%, and each member splits 100 points between the other two, so an even share is 50 points.

The teacher had already set 劉怡君’s score apart from the group’s (minus 8, so 72), so her grade stays at 72 when peer evaluation is counted: your own adjustment wins.

• Someone who writes no evaluation hands nothing out, and the others’ factors are worked out from those who did; they are not penalised for it unless you adjust their grade.
• In a pair with self-evaluation off, each member’s one rating is all they hand out, so both always get an even share: peer evaluation cannot move their scores.
• A group of one, with self-evaluation off, has nobody to evaluate: no evaluation of theirs is missing, and their score is the group’s.
• A score moved by peer evaluation never goes below zero, nor above the points possible unless the group’s grade allows extra credit.
• When rating on criteria, each evaluation’s ratings of a member are added up by the criteria’s weights, then set against an even share, as with splitting 100 points.

Counting it in grades

1. Once the peer evaluation has closed, select Count in grades on the results page. While it is still open and counts in grades, the button cannot be selected, and says when it closes.
2. The dialog lists each member’s score “Now” and “After”, group by group: one you adjusted yourself says “Your adjustment, kept”, one that does not change “No change”, and one not graded yet “Not graded yet: counted when graded”.
3. Select Count in grades. Drafts stay drafts; a posted grade is posted again, with that member’s totals.

• Counting it in grades needs Enter grades and Post grades. When your seat proposes it, the proposal records each member’s factor as it is then; if any of these grades, or the form, changes before it is approved, approving is refused.
• Once it has closed (and its weight is above 0), when you grade the group again or adjust a grade, a member you have not set apart is moved by peer evaluation on their own.
• Set the weight to 0 later, or switch peer evaluation off, and select Count in grades again: this takes away every peer adjustment counted before, and each member gets the group’s score.
• The results page lists only the groups whose members are all within your reach. Counting writes again every grade of this assignment it would change, in other groups too; if any of those is beyond your reach, nothing is written.

Students: your group, and signing up

Course › Groups

The Groups tab lists each group set of the course, with “Your group: …” and your groupmates, or “You are in no group of this set.”, whether sign-up is open, and the assignments that use the set.

Open a set:

• Your group: the group’s name and each member, you marked “(you)”. When you are in no group, it says why, such as “You are in no group yet: choose one below.” or “You are in no group yet: your teacher places students.”
• Sign-up (while your teacher has it open): when it closes and the time left, and each group’s name, size and capacity. Select Join to join a group with room, Switch here to move to another group, or Leave to leave yours (you are asked first). A group that is full says “Full”, and its button cannot be selected.

• You see only the names of your own group’s members; of other groups, only the name and the size.
• After sign-up closes, or once your group has handed in work for an assignment of the set, changes to your group are your teacher’s.
• If a group fills up just as you select it, you are told “That group is full.”, and the list is brought up to date.

Students: writing and handing in group work together

Course › Assignments › select an assignment marked “Group work”

The “My work” card gives your group and its members. The group shares one draft: every member can change it, and any member hands it in for the group.

1. When there is no draft yet, select Start your group’s draft. If someone in your group has started it already, you see the group’s draft straight away.
2. Write under “Your group’s answer”, attach files, and select Save draft. On the right it says who changed it last, as in “Last changed by 王小明, 3 minutes ago”; while the page is open, the draft is read again every 20 seconds.
3. When the group is ready, one of you selects Hand in (see below).

Someone in your group changed the draft while you were editing it

When you have changes you have not saved and another member has just saved the draft, whether the page finds out as it reads the draft again or only when you select Save, it says “… changed the draft …, while you were editing it”. Open What the draft says now to see what they wrote, then choose:

• Load it as it is now: take the draft as it is now, which drops your changes here;
• Keep editing mine: keep your text; saving it then replaces what they wrote.

Until you choose, neither Save draft nor Hand in can be selected: what you write is never overwritten without your knowing, nor does it overwrite anyone else’s.

Handing it in for the group

When you select Hand in, the page reads the draft again first: if someone in your group has just changed its text or files, that is shown to you, and nothing is handed in. The confirmation says whom the work is handed in for: from then on it is their work, whatever changes in the group afterwards. Once you select Hand in, the page says “Handed in for ….”

• A member who is already part of another group’s work for the same assignment (they switched groups after their old group handed in, say) is left out of this hand-in, and the page says so; your teacher can change whose work it is.
• If someone in your group hands in the draft while you are editing it, the page says “… has handed the draft in.”; what you had not saved is kept below, under “What you had not saved”, for you to copy, and you select Discard it when you are done with it.
• If your teacher moves you out of the group while you are editing, the page says “You are no longer in …, so its draft is not yours to change or hand in any more.”; what you had not saved is kept in the same way, and the page shows your group now.
• Due dates, late work, missing work and handing in again follow the same rules as individual work (see Writing and handing in work); when nothing at all has been handed in by the due date, the whole group is recorded as missing. The list of “Attempts” says, for each, whom it was handed in for and who handed it in.

When you are in no group

When you are in no group of the assignment’s group set, “My work” says “You are in no group yet”, and there is nothing for you to start or hand in. If sign-up is open, select Choose a group to join one on the set’s page; if not, ask your teacher to place you in a group. You are not recorded as missing for it.

Students: writing a peer evaluation

When the teacher has set up peer evaluation on a group assignment, its page has a “Peer evaluation” card under “My work”. Beside its title it says whether it is “Not open yet”, “Open” or “Closed”, and below that, when it opens and closes, what you are to do, and whether it counts in grades.

1. Splitting 100 points: give each member points by how much they contributed to the work; the points must add up to exactly 100. Below them it says the “Total”, and “n left to give” or “n too many”. Select Split evenly to start from an even split.
2. Rating on criteria: for each criterion, choose a rating for each member.
3. If you want, select Add a comment about …, and fill in “Comment on the group’s work (optional)”. Only your teachers read comments, never the member they are about.
4. Select Submit evaluation. If anything is missing, you are told what, one by one, and nothing is submitted. Until it closes you can change it and select Submit changes: the last one you submit counts.

• Only your teachers read your evaluation, with your name. No other student sees it, and you do not see anyone else’s, what anyone wrote about you, or who rated you.
• Once it has closed, what you submitted can be read but not changed. If your teacher chose to show students their own average, it shows “What your peers gave you”, such as “On average, your peers gave you 120% of an even share (100% is an even share).”, but only where two or more peers rated you.
• A peer evaluation is your own judgment of your classmates: only you write it, never your AI agent.
• If you are the only member of your group, and members do not evaluate themselves, there is nobody for you to evaluate, and nothing to submit.

Students: your grade for group work

Course › Grades › select a grade for a group assignment

The page of a grade for group work has a “Group work” card: your group, the group’s score, your score, and “How it was given”:

• “The group’s score”: you got the group’s score;
• “The group’s score minus 8”, “A score of their own: …” and the like: your teacher set your score apart from the group’s, with the reason below it;
• “Peer evaluation added …” or “Peer evaluation took off …”: peer evaluation moved your score, and below it, “Received … times an even share, counted at …”;
• “Peer evaluation counted, with no change”: peer evaluation was counted in your grade, and your score is still the group’s.

The feedback, breakdown and feedback files are the group’s: every member of the work reads them. Your score, and the reason it differs from the group’s, are yours alone. You see no other member’s score, nor who adjusted yours. If you have a question about your score, quote the reference on the grade’s page when you ask your teacher.

What an agent is, and how many you can have

Activity bar › Agents, or Account settings › My agents

• In each course, your agent is your delegate: it never holds more than your own seat allows and reaches no further; it is paused while you are, and leaves the course when you do.
• AIshie keeps no model, prompt or key: those are handled by the school’s agent service (Hosted on AIshie) or by your own tools (MCP access).
• By default each person may have up to 5 agents that are not suspended; the list shows “n of limit active” at the top. Suspended agents do not count; once you reach the limit, suspend an agent you no longer use before creating another.
• A school can have only administrators register agents. Then My agents has no New agent, and the page asks you to ask an administrator for one; once an agent is yours, you can still choose how it runs and bring it into your courses.

Creating an agent

Activity bar › Agents › New agent

1. Fill in “Name”, for example “Revision agent”. The name is shown in member lists, conversations and approvals, and can be changed later.
2. Choose “How it runs”: Hosted on AIshie or MCP access. Neither is chosen for you, and it cannot be changed after the agent is created.
3. Select Create agent. The dialog tells you the next step: for an agent hosted on AIshie, choosing a model; for one with MCP access, creating a token.

If you want students to ask it in the chat window (a course agent), or to use a personal agent on the site yourself, choose Hosted on AIshie; if you want to use AIshie from an AI tool you already use, choose MCP access. If you want both, create two agents.

The agent’s page

My agents › select an agent

At the top of an agent’s page are three buttons:

• Rename: the new name is shown everywhere the agent appears, its history included.
• Suspend / Reactivate: once suspended, everything it does in every course is refused until you reactivate it; its seats, tokens and history are kept. An agent suspended by an administrator can be reactivated only by an administrator.
• Bring into a course: see Bringing an agent into a course.

Below them are several cards:

• Hosted on AIshie (for an agent hosted on AIshie) or How it runs (for one with MCP access): how to run it; see the next two sections.
• About: how it runs, its connection, when it was created, and its actor ID.
• Questions on the site: whether members of its courses can ask it on the site right now, and if not, why.
• Courses: every course it is in, and what it may do there now (its own permissions, capped by your seat). You can select Take out, or open Its proposals here.
• Waiting for approval: requests to seat it in a course that an instructor has not decided yet; you can select Take back.
• Tokens: only agents with MCP access have them (see Tokens).

Hosted on AIshie: having AIshie run it

An agent hosted on AIshie is run by the school’s agent service. Once you have chosen a model, it answers questions in its courses, and members of those courses can ask it in the chat window. The agent service obtains the agent’s one token from AIshie by the agent’s ID, so you never handle a token at all.

1. Under My agents, select Host an agent on AIshie and choose an agent not yet hosted under “Agent”; or select Set up hosting on the Hosted on AIshie card of the agent’s page. The dialog says how many courses it is in; if it cannot be hosted (because the agent is suspended, say), it says why.
2. Select Host it.
3. Under “Model and key”, choose one: if your school offers an AI plan, choose School plan, where the school provides the model and pays for it, with a daily limit; or choose Your own key, choose a “Provider”, an “API style” and a “Model”, and paste your “API key”; you can select Test key first.
4. If needed, expand Advanced: “Most output tokens per answer” (256 to 32000; leave it empty for the agent service’s default) and “Reasoning effort” (The model’s default, Minimal, Low, Medium, High).
5. On the school plan, you can tick “Answer with my own key once the school allowance is used up” under “Fallback: your own key”. Without it, once the day’s allowance is used up, the agent tells whoever asks “Today’s school AI allowance is used up. Please try again tomorrow.”, in English and in Traditional Chinese together, whatever language they asked in (unless the school’s server sets one language for every answer).
6. Select Save. The Hosted on AIshie card on the agent’s page shows “Starting”, and a few seconds later “Running”.

From then on, you manage it from the Hosted on AIshie card on the agent’s page:

• Change model or key: switch to another model or key, or between the school plan and your own key.
• More › Delete from the school’s agent service: stops it, deletes its settings and your key, and revokes its token. The agent itself stays in AIshie, and can be hosted again later.
• The card’s list of courses says, for each course, whom it answers, what it reads, and, when it is not answering, why (its seat is paused, the course is archived, or answering is off, for example).

What an agent hosted on AIshie does

• It answers questions in its courses: a personal agent answers only you; a course agent answers students.
• In a conversation you started yourself, it can make changes for you within its seat’s permissions, such as writing a document: what is Autonomous is done at once, what Needs approval becomes a proposal, and what is Denied is refused. It tells you plainly what it did. When answering anyone else, it only reads, and changes nothing.
• It reads the course’s materials: where a file has a text version, it reads that first; Word and PowerPoint files are given to the model as their converted PDF (or as the file’s text, for a model that does not take files), and Excel files are read as text, sheet by sheet. It also searches the course materials for the relevant passages.
• When it posts an answer, it also says which materials it read while writing it, and they are listed under the answer (see The course materials an answer relied on). When an answer of its is rejected, it answers again with the reason in mind; when one is sent back for changes, it writes the answer again as asked.

MCP access: using your own AI tools

An agent with MCP access is used from your own tools: Claude Desktop, an editor, an agent SDK or any MCP client can use its token to work as this agent in its courses. It cannot be asked on the site, and does not appear in the chat window.

1. On the Tokens card of the agent’s page, select New token, fill in a “Label” (for example “Claude Desktop on my laptop”) and when it expires, and select Create token.
2. The token is shown this one time only. Copy it at once, then select I have copied it.
3. Add an MCP server in your tool: the address is the “MCP endpoint (streamable HTTP)” on the page, that is, your AIshie address followed by /mcp; the header is Authorization: Bearer <token>, with the token itself in place of the placeholder.
4. For Claude Desktop, add the claude_desktop_config.json example on the page to its configuration (Settings → Developer → Edit Config), then restart Claude Desktop. The example runs mcp-remote with npx, so Node.js must be installed on your computer. Right after you create a token, the example in the dialog already has the token filled in.

When a proposal your tool made is sent back for changes, the tool can read what to change (with action.list_mine, for example). When it proposes again, the MCP tools’ revises argument names the proposal it revises, and whoever decides it sees the link between the two (see Requesting changes).

Once your tool first connects with the token, the agent’s connection changes to “Connected”; until then, the page checks every few seconds by itself. It can do nothing until it is in a course: remember to bring it into a course.

Tokens

Only agents with MCP access have tokens. The Tokens card on the agent’s page lists each token’s label, when it was last used and when it expires; tick “Show revoked and expired” to see old ones.

• A token can expire after 1 to 3650 days, or “Never”. For a tool nobody watches, an expiry is best.
• Revoke a token, and the tools using it are refused from their next call; the agent itself, its seats and its other tokens are not affected.
• If you lose a token, revoke it and create a new one; a token is never shown again.

Bringing an agent into a course

1. On the agent’s page, select Bring into a course, and choose the “Course”. A course you cannot choose says why: it is archived, your seat there is paused, your seat does not let you bring agents in, the agent is in that course already, or a request is waiting for approval.
2. Choose “What it is for”: a Personal agent answers only you, and reads what you can read (if you are a student, your own work and grades); a Course agent for students lets students ask about the course materials and reads nobody’s work, and only people who manage this course’s members can choose it. For students to ask it in the chat window, it must be hosted on AIshie and running.
3. Check “What it would get”: who may ask it, the students and assignments it reaches, when its seat ends, and what it may do. If needed, expand All permissions, and naming other levels.
4. Select Bring it in, and it is seated at once; when approval is needed, select Send the request: the request appears under “Waiting for approval” on the agent’s page, and the agent is seated only once an instructor approves it. While it waits, you can Take back the request.

Each permission is the lower of the agent’s own level and yours. On the Courses card of the agent’s page, you can Take out the agent from a course: whatever it proposed that nobody has decided yet is cancelled with it, and if you bring it back later, it gets a new seat and starts afresh.

Your agents’ proposals

What your agent proposes that needs approval appears on the course’s Your agents’ proposals tab (or, if you have the Approve & review permission, on the Approvals tab, marked “Your agent”). Rules, at the top of the page, says what Awaiting approval and Awaiting review each hold, and which are yours to decide; the rules are open the first time you come.

• What you could do yourself without anyone’s confirmation, you approve, send back for changes or reject: once approved, it is carried out at once, as if you had done it yourself. A student, for example, can approve the work her agent drafted for her, because she needs nobody’s confirmation to write her own work.
• Anything else is for someone else in the course to decide: you could not do the same yourself without someone’s confirmation (your level is below Autonomous, or it is beyond your reach). Such a card has no Approve or Reject, only Withdraw, with a lock and one line beside it: “Decided by the course’s teaching staff: you could not do this yourself without someone’s confirmation, or approving it now would be refused.” If you can see the member list, it names who decides.
• A proposal that would be refused if approved now is not yours to decide either. For example, you have already handed in the draft it changes, the points possible that its grade was based on have changed, or its end date has passed. Its card, too, has only Withdraw and the line above.
• While a proposal waits, you can Withdraw it; your agent learns that you withdrew it.
• A course agent’s replies are the exception: nobody can answer in the chat in person, so they are measured against your Approve & review. If your Approve & review in this course is Autonomous, you approve your own course agent’s replies; otherwise someone else deals with them.