Frequently asked questions : Chessity for teachers and coaches

The Manage Students and Dashboard tools only show students who are active users of Chessity. If a student is inactive for a time, the system automatically hides them. This cleaning up ensures that your student lists are always as well-organized as possible. 

If students are missing from your student lists because they are hidden, you can find them by clicking on the button 'Show inactive students'.

hessity's extensive teaching tools are available to anyone with a (premium) Chessity account. However, if you don't have a premium account yet, a free account will give you three days of access to all functionality.

Chessity helps teachers with a complete student management system and the most advanced student monitoring system.

This FAQ relates to student accounts. For users with an individual (private) account, see I don't have full functionality. Why is that?

Students set to work in the simplified (beginner) mode only see a limited number of features. The beginner mode is the default setting used for new student accounts.

Note: if you have created an account for a second teacher or trainer in your student account management and you have not changed the default settings, this teacher or trainer will also see the simplified view (which means that they do not have access to the coach tools).

Simplified mode:

Regular mode:

If you want to give a student (temporary) access to more functions, you need to disable the beginner mode for this student in the Manage Students tool:

By default, students must unlock the gaming section by making lessons.

When the arena is locked, the student must first earn 5 stars (per week) to be able to play games. This forces the students to make lessons and not just play games.

By hovering over the button Games with the mouse, the screen shows how many stars the student still has to earn to unlock the Arena:

Rather not have a star lock?

Use the Manage Student tool to disable the star lock on the Arena:

The toolkit for teachers and coaches  can be found on the coach tab. 

When you teach Chess with Chessity, our tools for teachers and coaches are extremely useful:

Short explanation of the tools in the coach toolkit.

Use the Manage Students tool for your account management and to customize your students' settings. This is also where you can buy new accounts.

The Student Dashboard measures and tracks the progress of your students. It gives you an overview at group level of the progress of your students. By clicking on a student's name, you can see which lessons they have already completed and how well they did.

The Task tool is a tool for assigning homework or a weekly task. You can select lessons to assign to individual students.

A student who has been assigned tasks can immediately see this on his or her homepage. An icon with a backpack is displayed. This backpack contains the students’ tasks:

The Demo board tool turns your IWB or computer screen into an interactive demonstration board on which you can set up chess positions and give classical instructions. 

With the Add Coach Banner tool, you can personalize your students' learning environment with the school logo or other images.

The Coach Manager tool allows you to create coaching accounts for teachers or trainers. See further: How do I create accounts for teachers/coaches

For schools and chess clubs with many students, organizing your students into groups is very useful. Groups allow you to filter your view of the student management tool. Organize you students into smaller, more workable groups, for example by teacher or class or by sections that meet on different ways.

Groups can be created and removed, and students can be assigned or reassigned, anytime. Students can be assigned to more than one group. When you remove a group, the associated student accounts will be retained.

The Manage Students tool includes a special panel for group management. This allows you to divide your students into groups according to your own wishes and insights. 

Group management is a very flexible instrument. For example, you can group students per class per class or year of study, but also per level. You can also determine what the group is called. The name of the group can indicate the chess level, for example ‘Pawn group', but also the name of the class at school, such as ‘Class 3B’ or ‘Grade 7’.

How to organize your students into groups: 

1. Open the Groups panel in the Manage Students tool (on the Coach page): click the green button.

2. Enter the desired name of the new group and click on 'OK'.

3. Check the students you want to divide into a group

4. Select the action 'Assign to group', select the desired group and click on 'OK'.

Use the tool Manage Students to assign students to another teacher or trainer.

Check the name of the student(s) you want to assign to another coach. From the 'Choose action' drop-down menu, choose the 'Assign users to another coach' option. Fill in the user name of the new coach and click OK.

Confirm the action:

The student is now shown in both the new coach’s dashboard and in the student management. The new coach now also has the rights to change the password for this student or to choose other settings.

Note!

Students can only be assigned to a user who has been designated as a coach via the Coach Manager.

See also: How do I create accounts for teachers or trainers

Chessity is designed in such a way that students have freedom in the pace at which they take lessons. A student can only move on to the next lesson once he has completed the previous lesson. As soon as a star is earned for a lesson, the next lesson is unlocked.

Students can choose for themselves whether they want to continue with the next lesson or whether they want to get three stars on the current lesson first.

If students go through their lessons too fast (with few stars), the system will ensure that they are slowed down and first deepen their skills.

For every fifth lesson (the games with mix tasks), a blockage is built in: students who have only one star for the previous lessons have to return to these lessons in order to earn more stars.

This automatically prevents a pupil from moving too fast into the depths while they have not yet sufficiently mastered a skill or grasped a concept.

In the student monitoring system (Coach - Dashboard) you can see exactly which lessons your students are at and how many stars they have passed. This information helps you to guide and coach your students in their learning process.

Students only see the level in which they are active (plus the levels they have already completed).

The next level appears on their homepage if:

• the student has played the last lesson in a level OR
• has collected all the stickers from the level OR
• passed the exam (also via an entry test)

In Chessity, the role of the chess teacher is primarily that of a coach. Students take the lessons independently and at their own pace. The method adapts in various ways to the level and learning method of the individual players. This takes place ‘under the hood’, allowing the players to focus on the game, while improving their skills and learning ever more quickly.

As a coach, you can track the progress of your students in a student tracking system, which also provides you with insight into the way the performance of individual students can be improved.

In a frontal, group-based instruction model (the traditional teaching method), the teacher explains, for example, the way a knight moves or what the double attack is to the entire group, after which all the students make assignments and practice. The teacher checks the assignments and provides the students with feedback, individually or as a group, and may give additional explanation.

In a Chessity class, the students come across the knight moves or double attack in their own time. When they make mistakes, there is immediate feedback by the program. In the student tracking system, the teacher can see which of the children have problems with knight moves o double attacks. While the other kids continue with their lessons, he can bring these kids together and provide additional explanation or recommend they first acquire a third star for the lesson in question or – in the case of the knight moves – play the game Jumping Jack for additional practice.

As a coaching teacher, you are a guide to your students on their own learning curve, and learning to play chess has become truly customized.

Our friendly little robot Chessto - as small and cute as it is - is a very powerful, innovative and absolutely unique instrument. Filled to the brim with specially designed artificial intelligence, Chessto is virtual teacher en chess trainer that offers deeply personalized teaching to your students.

While the children learn independently with high-quality instructions from Chessto and feedback from the program, the teacher has plenty of time for personal attention to individual learners. This can take the form of chess instruction or game analysis (chess trainers) or coaching children in their learning process (teachers), or both.

For students, especially children, it is simply great to be helped by Chessto; exactly with the things they find difficult or don't quite understand yet. Just as often as is necessary and in the way that thsi individual student learns the most from.

This is what Chessto does:

1. Explaining and teaching

How does a knight move? Can a queen make far moves? And how do you take an opponent's piece without losing one of your own pieces? At Pawn Level, Chessto acts as a virtual chess teacher that helps children learn how to play chess.

Chessto also plays a prominent role in teaching and practicing checkmate and defending against mate. Not only does it help the children to understand the concept of 'mate' properly, it also activates prior knowledge in a structured way. This makes it easier to process and remember the new information. Children learn to automate the thinking steps, so that they can better apply the lessons they have learned in their chess games.

Chessto doesn't mind explaining things three times, ten times, or even twenty times. It never loses its patience and is always helpful and cheerful. However, the robot has deliberately been programmed in such a way that children cannot sit back and let Chessto do the work.

2. Coaching during a game 

Chessto is full of sophisticated artificial intelligence. As soon as children are able to play a real game of chess, it helps them during their games with tips and advice based on their personal level of chess and user data. Chessto teaches them proper opening strategies and what choices they have to make in the different phases of a chess game. Think of aspects like developing pieces, castling and king safety, and attacking safely. At the right time, focused on the individual learning objective of the user, while Chessto adapts to the level of the user. In short, Chessto offers truly customized learning, that focuses on what it is all about: the chess student.

Our user data shows that the chess level of children improves by leaps and bounds in a very short period of time. After half an hour of playing chess with Chessto, the effect is already measurable!

3. Coaching in the learning process

Chessto keeps an eye on which lesson(s) still need to be made in order to get a new badge on the way to the exam. It coaches the students in their learning process.

Once a week, Chessto distributes these lessons to the students as a special mission. Mission accomplished? Then a new badge will be displayed on the homepage and the students will be a step closer to their chess diploma.

Chessto tasks that have been open for more than a month are automatically deleted.

Yes, Chessity has an elaborate student monitoring system that provides coaches and chess teachers with detailed insight into the progress of their students. You need a coach account to get access to these features.

Yes, they can. Chessity has been organized in such a way that all students can move through the lessons at their own pace. Students won’t progress to the next lesson until the previous lesson has been completed successfully.

Students can decide for themselves whether they want to continue or first attain a third star for the current lesson. If students move through their lessons too quickly (with few stars), the system slows them down until they improve their skills.

In the student tracking system (Coach – Dashboard), you can see exactly where your students are and how many stars they have attained. This information helps you support your students in their learning process.

To learn and improve in chess, it is important that children practice regularly. That works best if practicing is fun and children enjoy it. That's why Chessity makes use of game-based learning.

Motivating reward systems

Chessity motivates through an effective reward system. The brain is very sensitive to rewards. Rewards encourage people (of all ages!) to learn and be open to change. If after a well-made task a reward follows - if only the sound of a tinkling cash register or a cheering Chessto, as in the lessons at the Pawn Level - this teaches the brain that something has worked and you have to tackle such a problem in the same way the next time .

Reward incentives in Chessity

Chessity is full of audiovisual and other reward stimuli for the brain. Tinkling coins, mini-games in which frogs and rockets win a race for you, stars you earn, lessons you unlock, and real chess games and online tournaments in which winning the game thanks to your skills is your reward.

On the way to an exam, the student sees 'reward stickers'. These stickers represent the skill areas that a student must master before they can take an exam:

If a student has mastered a skill sufficiently, the sticker is shown in color on his home page. Experts in online learning state that virtual rewards as these work even better for many people than rewards in physical form.

Compact levels, fast progression to exams

The levels in Chessity are composed of compact lesson series of 40 lessons each. This allows students to obtain their chess certificates (diplomas) in a relatively short time. This is a powerful incentive to proceed to the next level. In addition, it motivates the other children in the group or class to strive to earn their diplomas as well.
Because students quickly level up from Pawn to Knight to Bishop Level etc., they  learn in a state of flow and are very engaged learners.

Mastery status in avatar

Avatars in Chessity show the highest level a user has successfully completed with a diploma.  If you have passed the Pawn exam, a pawn is shown next to your profile picture. Passed the Bishop exam? Then there is a little bishop next to the picture. This visual proof of mastery is a virtual status symbol and has a super-motivating effect.

Do you want students who can already play chess to start quickly at the right level in Chessity? Then use an entry test, which you set up in the Exams tool (coach tab):

• Click on ‘Coach’ in the menu bar
• Click on ‘Exams’
• Go to the tab ‘Eligible students’
• Enter the user name of your student and select an exam level.
• Click on ‘Add’ to make the exam available on the student’s homepage 

Unlock lessons

It is also possible to unlock all lessons for a student. He or she does not have to unlock lessons by succesfully completing previous lessons, but can start with a lesson of his or her choice.

• Click on ‘Coach’ in the menu bar
• Click on ‘Manage students’
• Check the username in question.
• From the drop-down menu, choose the action ‘Unlock all lessons’ and click ‘Ok’.

Please note!

Children often (highly) overestimate their own level and skills. They start with too difficult lessons, which leads to frustration. Taking a step back is difficult for many children. Our advice is to be very cautious about unlocking all lessons! The use of entry tests is the best method to get children working at their own level.

Only users with a coach account see this tab. It shows exactly what your students have written in the Café and who they have been in contact with.

No, Chessity does not have a traditional teacher manual.

First of all because there are huge differences in the way schools and chess clubs organize their chess lessons and the methods chess teachers use. Chessity is such a flexible teaching method that schools and chess academies can use it as they see fit. The focus is always on the individual learning process and development of the student; the teacher primarily has a coaching role to play.

Modular knowledge database for chess coaches

Make sure you read the questions in the various sections of these FAQ. They provide a lot of information about the teaching concepts and the use of Chessity, and the way coaches can organize the system for their students. If there are new questions, we add them to the FAQ. That way, we build a modular database for chess coaches.

Information about creating, setting or purchasing (additional) student accounts can be found in the ‘Accounts’ section.

If you have specific questions or want to share your own experiences, your suggestions, your successes or your doubts with us, feel free to contact us. We are here to help you. Besides, your feedback can help other coaches and helps us improve our product.