A free Chrome extension for Brightspace teachers: what you get without an account

Most “free” teacher tools are a trial with a countdown, or a sign-up form standing between you and the thing you came for. When a colleague asks me whether ClassWatcher is free, I want to give a straight answer, so here it is: yes, part of it is free permanently, with no account, no credit card and no expiry. This post is about exactly what that part does, what it doesn’t, and how to tell whether it’s enough for you.

If you just want the general how-to for finding non-submitters in Brightspace, with or without any extension, start with how to see who hasn’t submitted an assignment in Brightspace. This one is about the free tool specifically.

Before you install any free extension

This advice applies to any browser add-on you’re thinking about for school work, not just ours.

• Check your board’s policy first. Many school boards manage which Chrome extensions can be installed on staff devices, and some have rules about which outside services may be used with student information. If your board has a policy, follow it. If something is blocked, ask IT; don’t look for a way around it.
• Read what the extension sends, and where. “Free” tells you nothing about data. A good privacy policy says plainly what leaves your computer, what is stored, and for how long. If it’s vague, treat it as a no.
• Check that it reads, not writes. For anything that touches your gradebook, you want to know whether it can change marks or submissions. A tool that only reads the page is a much smaller risk.
• Notice what it asks you to type in. A tool that needs your login, your school address and your students’ parents’ numbers before it does anything is asking for a lot of trust up front.

If you teach in Canada, the PIPEDA guide for teacher tools covers the questions worth asking in more detail.

What the free tier is

Install the extension and open a Brightspace assignment or quiz page. A box appears on the page listing the students who have not submitted. That is the free tier, and it includes:

• the list of students who haven’t submitted, on the assignment or quiz page you’re on;
• the missing count;
• a first-name / last-name sort toggle, so the list lines up with however you keep your markbook;
• when the list was last updated.

There’s no sign-up, no trial clock and no end date, and you don’t need to enter your school’s Brightspace address. What the free tier doesn’t include: messaging, watch lists, or export.

On quizzes, one detail is worth knowing. The list shows students with no attempt. A student who has a mark but no attempt — usually a grade you entered directly — is shown separately in a grey “graded without an attempt” block, rather than being counted as missing.

A walk-through: install to list in about two minutes

1. Install and pin it

ClassWatcher is a Chrome extension. Add it from the Chrome Web Store, then click the puzzle-piece icon in your toolbar and pin it so it’s always visible. It runs on Chrome on a desktop or laptop computer.

2. Open an assignment or quiz page

Go to the page you’d normally open to see who handed in: an assignment’s submissions page, or a quiz’s grade page. There’s no scan button to press. The box arrives on the page on its own.

3. Confirm the class when it’s offered

To tell you who is missing, ClassWatcher needs to know who’s enrolled. The first time you open a page in a course it has no list for, a card asks “Is this <your course>?”, with the number of people and a role picker. Use the picker to bring in students without sweeping in co-teachers and support staff. Nothing is saved until you click Yes. You can also import from the Classlist page instead (Course Admin → Class List), if you’d rather.

4. Read the list

Once the class is confirmed, the box shows who hasn’t submitted on that page. Open the next assignment and it does the same there.

5. Use ▶ Check on Manage Quizzes

On Manage Quizzes, and on a quiz’s edit page, ClassWatcher adds a ▶ Check link beside each quiz. It takes you straight to that quiz’s grade page, where the list appears, instead of the edit screen the quiz name opens. It’s only a shortcut: ▶ Check never shows a count of its own. Manage Assignments doesn’t get one, because an assignment’s name already goes to its submissions page.

The getting-started page has the same steps with screenshots.

Habits that make a free list worth having

A list of names is only useful if you do something with it at the right moment. A few habits that have worked for me, with or without any tool:

• Check the day after the deadline, not the week after. One missing assignment is a quick conversation. Three is a meeting.
• Treat the list as “not submitted right now”, not “late”. Whether something is late is your policy call. The list is a prompt to find out why, not a verdict.
• Sort it the way your markbook is sorted. If you record by last name, sort by last name. It sounds trivial; it saves real time when you’re cross-checking thirty names.
• Write down what you did about it. A one-line note (“reminded in class”, “emailed home”) is what you’ll want in February when someone asks what happened in October.
• Remember Brightspace’s own tools. For assignments, Brightspace has an “Email Users Without Submissions” option on the submissions page that messages students directly. It works one assignment at a time, and it messages students rather than parents. This guide to messaging about missing work walks through it.

What the 🔒 buttons are

Under the free list you’ll see some controls with a lock on them. They stay visible on purpose, so you can see what the paid plans add. Hover one and the tooltip says what it does and “Included with a paid plan.” The locked controls are:

• Watch This Page — in the box, and the same Watch button on Manage Quizzes, Manage Assignments and the quiz edit page;
• Copy Names and Copy Page URL;
• Message Missing;
• the per-student message, details and note buttons on each row.

What Basic and Pro add

Basic (CA$8/month) is for acting on the list. It adds watch lists, so you can check many assignment and quiz pages in one pass whenever you choose, plus unlimited classes and watched pages. It adds parent and student messaging by text and email, with 50 credits a month (one text is 1 credit, one email is 0.2). It also adds contact history, the student panel, Quick Links, and CSV and Excel export. Texting is one-way: a parent who replies gets an automatic note that the number isn’t monitored, and the reply is not forwarded to you. Texting works for North American numbers only; email works anywhere.

Pro (CA$19/month) is for parent meetings. It adds the parent report (every assignment, quiz and grade for one student on one screen), Student Marks export, Google Sheets export and import, and 200 credits a month. There’s also a School plan at CA$129/month for one admin and ten teachers with 500 pooled credits.

If the free list is all you need, that’s fine. It isn’t designed to nag you into upgrading.

Privacy, in short

With no account, the on-page list sends nothing to us. Opening a page, checking who hasn’t submitted, importing a class and sorting the list make no requests to our servers, and we receive no information about you, your school, your courses or your students. The class list you confirm is kept in your browser’s extension storage on that computer and doesn’t sync anywhere.

Three ordinary website visits are the only exceptions. Installing the extension opens our getting-started page. Opening the ClassWatcher side panel loads our web app and asks our server whether you’re signed in; that check carries a random installation identifier and nothing else, and with no account we store nothing from it. Uninstalling opens a short goodbye page. The privacy policy has the full wording, and the support page answers the common questions.

Frequently asked questions

Does the free version expire?

No. There is no trial clock and no end date. The on-page missing list is a permanent free tier, not a preview of the paid plans, and you never need a credit card to keep using it.

Does signing in unlock the locked buttons?

No. Signing in on its own unlocks nothing. The locked controls are part of the paid plans, so they open when your account is on Basic, Pro or School. A signed-in account without a paid plan sees the same locked buttons as no account at all.

Do I need my school’s permission to install it?

That depends on your school board. Some boards manage which Chrome extensions staff can install on board devices, and some have rules about which outside tools may be used with student information. Check your board’s policy first and follow it. If an extension is blocked on a managed device, ask your IT department rather than trying to get around the restriction.

Is my class list sent to ClassWatcher?

Not with no account. The roster you confirm is kept in your browser’s extension storage on that computer, it is never sent to us, and it does not sync to your other devices. The on-page list makes no requests to our servers; the only exceptions are three ordinary website visits, described in the privacy policy.

Does it work on an iPad, a phone, or another LMS?

No. ClassWatcher is a Chrome extension for desktop and laptop computers, and it works with D2L Brightspace only. Chrome on iPhone and iPad cannot run extensions at all.