Ten minutes to sign in was not good enough.
Small details. Real classroom time.
From passwords to QR codes, then labels that fit the sheets schools already use. A story about taking everyday friction seriously.
The backstory
Normal does not have to mean inevitable.
On a school visit, we watched pupils getting ready to use SchoolGPT. Signing in was taking around ten minutes of the lesson. To the school, this was familiar: young pupils, usernames, passwords and a teacher moving around the room to help.
We saw time that could be given back to teaching. The issue was not whether the login page technically worked. It was whether it worked well for the children and adults who had to use it.
Version 1
Usernames and passwords
Give each pupil a way to sign in.
The first version used a username and password. It met the basic requirement, but the classroom visit showed the cost of typing, remembering details and helping everyone get started. A functioning feature was still creating an avoidable task for the teacher.
What it taught usWatch the whole class use it, not just one person in a demonstration.
Version 2
QR codes for pupils
Can we make getting into the lesson simpler?
We introduced QR-code sign-in so pupils could scan their code instead of typing a username and password. The change came from seeing the classroom, listening to the teacher and deciding that a familiar delay was still worth tackling.
What it taught usSomething a school has learned to tolerate can still be something we should improve.
Version 3
Labels that fit YPO sheets
Can the QR codes line up with the labels our office already buys?
The administration team pointed out the next detail: preparing and distributing the codes takes time too. They asked us to align the QR-code print layout with their YPO label sheets. So we did. Better sign-in should not simply move the workload from the classroom to the school office.
What it taught usThe job is not finished until it works for the people preparing it as well as the people using it.
Why this matters
We value your time, including the small bits.
During school hours, we aim to respond within minutes, not hours. We want to hear about the label that does not line up, the extra click or the small change that would make a busy day easier. Those details are part of the product, not a distraction from it.
Talk to us about your schoolThe ten-minute delay describes what we observed on one school visit, not a measured average across schools. Our response-time aim is not a guaranteed service level.