Overview

In some cases, students are enrolled in more than one teacher's class who uses Membean. For example, you may have a student who is taking two English classes at the same time or a student who is enrolled in both Reading and English. Unfortunately, students can only be assigned one class at a time. This article will explain why we don't allow students to exist in multiple classes at the same time and how you can still make it work if you do find yourself in this situation. 

Why We Don't Offer It

It's important to understand that a student's data stays with them throughout the entirety of their time on Membean. Training, quizzes, writing assignments, activity--it's all attached to the student's account rather than tied to a certain class. 

Each teacher sets their own training cycle and training expectations when creating classes. These are communicated directly to students in the Current Cycle section of their dashboard. We let students know exactly what they have to do and when they have to do it by. For example, the student below is required to train for three 15-minute days each week:

You can see that they have met the teacher's goal of 15 minutes on 12/21.

Now let's say this student is taking a second English class that uses Membean, and that teacher requires three 20-minute days every two weeks. Notice how a different cycle length and different training goals affect the Current Cycle section: 

Because the teachers have different expectations, we cannot clearly communicate to students whether or not they're meeting their teachers' goals. This student's training on 12/21 met one teacher's goal, but not the other's. 

This also brings up the question of shared minutes. Like we mentioned earlier, training data sticks with the student no matter what class they're currently enrolled in. Should the 45 minutes required from the first class count toward the 60 required for the second, or does the student need to complete 105 minutes total? Training too much can be detrimental to long-term retention. Based on brain research, the most effective way to retain information is to study in short sessions spaced throughout the week. By allowing students to be enrolled in multiple classes, we'd be compromising that, and students would get burned out. 

How You Can Make it Work

If you find yourself in a situation where there is no other option than to share a student, there are a couple of workarounds. Neither option is ideal, and both come with some unique challenges.

  1. Create a separate class for the student and add the other teacher as a co-teacher. This will give you both access to the student at all times. The co-teacher can assign quizzes and writing assignments without it affecting the rest of your class. 
    • The Catch: If you have many students who need to be shared with multiple teachers, this means you'll end up with a lot of class tiles, which means more places to check. It also means you and the other teacher need to agree on your training cycle and expectations. 
  2. Have the student switch back and forth between classes. They can click "change" from their dashboard and enter the appropriate code based on whose class they are currently in. 
    • The Catch: Your student will disappear from your roster when they are in the other teacher's class. If you are collecting grades, you'll need to transfer them back to your class or have them transfer themselves. You don't need to worry about any training data being lost; that always travels with the student. You'll also need to make sure the student is back in your class before issuing an assessment in order for them to receive it. This may get tricky if you and the other teacher are assessing on the same day.