Before You Start: What You Need to Know
Kira 2.0 is not a new site — you don’t need new access or a new login. Over the past six months, new features have been rolled out gradually. Now, when you log in, you’ll see only the new 2.0 features and workflows.
Kira 1.0 and 2.0 do not share data. Features from 1.0 (like the old Course Builder and Gradebook) operate independently from 2.0 features (Lesson Studio, the new Gradebook, and AI tools). Plan accordingly if you’re relying on historical data.
Expect some changes as the new school year approaches — the team is actively refining the experience.
Need help? Go to Help > Contact Support in the bottom left corner of your Kira screen, or email [email protected].
Reach support anytime from Help > Contact Support.
1. Classes Replace Courses as Your Organizing Hub
Classes are now the central space for managing your roster, assignments, and Gradebook.
If you used Courses in Kira 1.0, Classes will feel familiar, with some key upgrades. Integration functionality is still being built out, but the basic workflow is: select which classes to bring into Kira, and that becomes your roster.
The Classes view showing your class roster, overview, assignments, and gradebook tabs.
Adding Students to a Class
If you’re not syncing automatically from your LMS (e.g., Schoology, Canvas), you can add students by:
Email invite
Join Link
Join Code — students with an existing Kira account can enter this code directly from their Kira home page
Creating a new class — either manually or by syncing from your LMS.
To find these options, open your Class and use the Invite feature — you’ll see options to copy the join link, copy the join code, or send email invitations directly.
Inviting students or teachers using a share link, join code, or email invite.
2. Getting Work to Students: What’s Different
The Old Way (Kira 1.0)
You created a Section of course material and assigned students to it. Students could only work within that one course — adding supplemental material to the same class wasn’t possible.
The New Way (Kira 2.0)
You put students into a Class first, then assign work to them separately. This gives you much more flexibility to layer in supplemental materials without cluttering dashboards or creating confusing multi-section setups.
Important: Students won’t see anything to work on until you actively assign it. This is a required step, not optional.
Your Teaching Command Center
Once work is assigned, use these two tabs inside each Class:
Assignments tab — Tracks everything assigned to your Class. Click into any assignment, then select the three dots for options like View resource, Modify assignment, Unassign, or Archive.
The Assignments tab, showing assigned course material and per-assignment options.
Gradebook tab — Tracks grade progress for your whole Class. Click into any individual grade to open the full grading panel. Use the icons in the top right to download a CSV of grades, edit filters and viewing options, and view a legend explaining the Gradebook display.
The Gradebook tab, showing per-student progress across a course’s resources.
3. Using TN Computer Science Courses in Kira 2.0
The new versions of TN Computer Science courses are available in your Library.
Steps to get started:
Go to Library > All Resources. Search "[TN]" to find your course quickly.
Make a copy of the course — this is required before you can edit it or assign it to students.
In your Library, use "Make a copy" to add a course to your own library.
Once copied, you can rename it and organize it into a Collection (think of a Collection like a folder).
Your copied course appears in All Resources, where you can rename it or add it to a Collection.
Click the copied course to open it in the Course Studio, where you’ll view and edit content.
When ready, select Publish to make the course available to share with students.
After publishing, select Assign to send it to a Class or individual students.
Publishing a course and then selecting Assign to share it with students.
A Quick Structure Refresher
A Course is made up of units, which organize lessons, which are made up of individual steps. Kira 2.0 introduces many new content types you can build — some fit inside a course, and others can be assigned as standalone resources.
Assigning Your Course
When you click Assign, you’ll go through 3 steps:
Select target groups — assign to a whole Class, specific Sections, or Individual Students (students must already be on your roster to appear here).
Step 1 of assigning a course: choosing target groups.
Set due dates and details — name your assignment, and choose between No due date (self-paced) or Scheduled Release and Due Date (with an optional Auto-Sequence Resources toggle, so each resource unlocks as the prior one’s due date passes).
Step 2 of assigning a course: naming the assignment and setting availability and due dates.
Advanced settings — configure defaults like AI Tutor, AI feedback, instant feedback, number of attempts, question/answer shuffling, and whether students must submit before progressing. These can be customized per resource later.
Step 3 of assigning a course: advanced settings such as AI tutor, feedback, and attempts.
To change any assignment settings after the fact: go to the Assignments tab in your Class and select Modify Assignment from the dropdown.
4. Making Changes to Coursework
Kira’s provided courses are built to meet state standards as-is. Once you make your own copy, you’re in full control — but you’re also responsible for making sure any edits still meet your state’s requirements. The Kira Team cannot make changes to your personal copy.
Modifying an assignment from the Assignments tab options menu.
How to Edit
To change existing content: Hover over any element to reveal its edit toolbar.
To add new content: Use the toolbar at the bottom of the screen to insert text, media, and interactive elements.
To edit after assigning: Reopen the resource from your Library, or from the Assignments tab inside the relevant Class.
The View resource option for reopening an assigned lesson to make edits.
Meet Ask Kira AI
Ask Kira AI is your built-in teaching assistant, available right where you’re already working. You can:
Select any question, activity, or section
Ask Kira to make it clearer, more challenging, or more engaging
Review suggested edits before deciding whether to keep them
Select any element to reveal its toolbar, including the Ask Kira AI option.
Nothing changes automatically — you stay in control and can undo edits anytime.
Opening Ask Kira AI directly from the lesson editor toolbar.
Set expectations: AI edits typically get you about 80% of the way there — your expertise fills in the remaining 20%. Don’t expect a perfect result on the first try; treat it as a collaborative process.
A teacher asking Ask Kira AI to restructure a lesson, and Kira’s proposed plan.
Prompt Ideas to Try with Ask Kira AI
Structure & Format
"Restructure this lesson for whole group instruction, where informational material is at the beginning in a presenter-friendly way, and activities are at the end."
"Restructure this lesson to serve as a worksheet with only some reminders and review about content — assume most learning will happen outside of this lesson material."
"Update this lesson by taking all questions currently embedded in the interactive video activity and relocating them as standalone questions directly below the video, then convert the video to a standard media-type video."
"Split this lesson into two parts — one for direct instruction, one for practice and application — so each fits within a 45-minute class period."
Student Engagement & Support
"Go through this lesson and add callouts of different collaborative and engagement structures the teacher can use to keep students engaged."
"Add a short warm-up activity at the beginning of this lesson that gets students thinking about what they already know."
"Add a vocabulary callout box for each new technical term the first time it appears in this lesson."
Accessibility & Differentiation
"Create a simplified version of this lesson at a [5th/6th/7th] grade reading level, keeping key concepts and vocabulary but using simpler sentence structure."
"Translate the text content of this lesson into [Spanish], keeping all formatting, structure, and activities intact."
These are starting points — edit, combine, and iterate until the lesson feels right for your classroom.
5. Teaching with Kira
Live Classroom Mode
From any lesson or course, click the play button and select Live Session. Invite students via a pop-up notification or a join code. As you move through the material, students stay in sync with you — and you can use the Focus On Me button to pull everyone to a specific spot in the step.
A live classroom session — students see and follow along with the exact step you’re on.
Screen-Free Options
Need a break from screens for accommodations, a specific activity, or a backup plan for internet outages? You can now download any Kira lesson as a printable PDF.
Exporting a course as a printable PDF from the version menu.
A few notes on printing:
Inherently virtual elements (like videos and Action Tiles) won’t print — they’ll show a placeholder instead.
Coming soon: a Quick Grader tool that will let you grade scanned copies and save results directly to a student’s rostered profile.
6. Creating New Content in Kira 2.0
TN Computer Science courses are shared with you directly, but Kira works for any subject — Math, Science, ELA, History, and beyond.
Ways to Start Creating
The AI Tools panel on your homepage, with Lesson Studio, Grading Queue, and Kira AI chat.
From the homepage AI Tools section, Lesson Studio, or the AI Tools page, you can build content three ways:
Choose Standards — select standards and generate fully aligned lessons instantly.
Paste or Prompt (fastest option) — turn notes, outlines, or prompts into a lesson in seconds.
Import Content — convert docs, slides, or webpages into interactive lessons.
The "Start creating with AI" screen: Choose Standards, Paste or Prompt, or Import Content.
Remember: a "lesson" in Kira can be anything — a worksheet, a bellringer, a single-step whole-class activity, and more. Get creative with the format.
Other AI tools available include: Course Studio, ChatPods, Assessment, Literacy Studio, Rubric, Lesson Warm-ups, Lesson Plan, Study Guide, Progress Report, Reference Letter, and Text Leveler.
The full AI Tools page, listing all available creation and assist tools.
Tagging Standards
Proper standards tagging ensures your Student and Class Atlas data is accurate.
To tag a single lesson: Open Ask Kira AI, click the + button, and choose Tag with Standards.
Tagging an individual lesson with standards using the + button in Ask Kira AI.
To tag an entire course: Click the settings wheel next to Ask Kira AI, set the Country, State/Region, Subject, and Grade for the course, then select Tag with AI.
Tagging standards for an entire course using the course settings panel.
7. Student & Class Atlas: Turning Data into Action
Student Atlas
View individual student learning profiles to spot where a student is struggling and track their progress over time.
The Student Atlas, showing an individual student’s zones of proximal development, skill distribution, and tiered support needs.
Class Atlas
Aggregates Student Atlas data across your whole class, giving you a class-wide view and helping you identify areas where additional whole-group support may help.
The Class Atlas, with a class summary, recommended next steps, and class-wide skill data.
Requirements for Atlas Data to Populate
For data to show up correctly, make sure:
The assigned Course or Lesson has been tagged with Standards, and
Grades have been released to students.
Getting the Most from It
Use the data dashboards to monitor student progress in real time, and use the Recommended Actions chats to get suggested next steps and generate personalized follow-up materials based on the data.
(Coming soon: organizational-level data insights for admins.)
Quick Reference: Kira 1.0 vs. Kira 2.0
Kira 1.0 | Kira 2.0 |
Courses | Classes |
Sections of material assigned to students | Students added to a Class first, then assigned work separately |
Course Builder | Lesson Studio / Course Studio |
Original Gradebook (no shared data with 2.0) | New Gradebook |
No built-in AI editing assistant | Ask Kira AI |
No Live Classroom mode | Live Classroom mode with Focus On Me |
No printable lesson exports | Download any lesson as a printable PDF |
Still Have Questions?
Reach out anytime:
In Kira: Help > Contact Support (bottom left corner)
Email: [email protected]
Not seeing your CS curriculum? Contact support directly for help locating it.