Circles explained

Q: Can I change a circle’s type later?

No — the type determines its features and permissions from the start. If you picked wrong, create the right one and re-invite; the learners keep all their own progress either way.

Q: Why am I not on my own roster?

Because you own the circle rather than being enrolled in it. Adding the teacher as a member too would double them in every count and every report.

Q: Can a learner be in more than one circle?

Yes. Their progress belongs to them, not to a circle, so each of their circles sees the same underlying record.

Q: Should I turn on the leaderboard?

It depends on the group. It works for cohorts who already know each other and pushes quieter learners out of small mixed-ability classes. You can run a circle without it.

Q: What is the difference between a circle and a class?

Nothing, internally — "class" is the older word and "circle" is what the interface says. If you see both, they mean the same thing.

A circle is the container for a group of learners. If you teach, it is where your roster, your homework and your view of what everyone actually did all live. There are four kinds and picking the right one at creation matters, because the type decides what the circle can do.

The four kinds

Learning Circle — a tutor and their learners — Roster, assignments, a shared timeline, a class leaderboard, messaging and the Learning Lab. Private by default, and the one you want if you teach.
Family Circle — a parent and their children — Roster, timeline, per-child tracking, leaderboard and messaging. Always private; created by parents rather than tutors.
Institution Circle — a school — Everything a Learning Circle has, plus join requests and a moderator role. Created by an institution admin.
Community Circle — an open topic space — A public feed with posts, comments and reactions, moderated by its owners. For HSK cohorts and exam-prep groups rather than formal teaching.

Who can see it

Private — Invisible unless you are in it. The default for Learning, Family and Institution circles.
Unlisted — Reachable by link but not listed anywhere. Useful for a cohort you advertise yourself.
Public — Listed, so learners can find you. Available to Learning, Institution and Community circles.

Alongside visibility sits a join policy: invite-only (you add people), request (they ask, you approve) or open (anyone joins). A Learning Circle defaults to invite; an Institution Circle to request; a Community Circle to open.

What is inside a Learning Circle

Roster — Everyone in the circle, with their progress at a glance.
Assignments — Homework you set — a lesson, a unit, a passage — with who has done it.
Timeline — A shared feed of what the circle has been doing.
Leaderboard — A class ranking. Motivating for some groups and corrosive for others; use your judgement.
Messaging — Talk to the circle or to one learner.
The Learning Lab — Each learner’s seven-facet profile, subject to what their own plan includes.

You are the owner, not a member

A circle records its teacher as its owner rather than as an enrolled learner. That is why you do not appear on your own roster, and why your own study does not show up in your class analytics.

Your learning is still yours — a tutor plan includes full Pro Plus learner access — it simply lives in your own account rather than in the circle you run.

How many circles, how many learners

Neither plan caps your students, and neither caps your circles — that pair of numbers, 50 and 200, was advertised for a while and never existed in the software. What is real is a budget. Both plans have the same features; Tutor comes with 1,500 AI credits a month and Tutor Plus with 12,000, and a seat in one of your circles costs 50 credits a month for a student who is not on Pro. So Tutor carries about thirty such students and Tutor Plus about two hundred and forty — and a student who IS on Pro or Pro Plus sits in your circle for nothing, which means a tutor whose learners have all upgraded pays no seat fees at all. Splitting one group into three still costs you nothing: you are charged per learner, not per circle, though creating a circle costs 50 credits once.

Common questions

1Which circle type should I create?

A **Learning Circle**, if you are a tutor with students. It is the only type with assignments and the Lab together, and it is private by default.

2Can I change a circle’s type later?

3Why am I not on my own roster?

4Can a learner be in more than one circle?

5Should I turn on the leaderboard?

6What is the difference between a circle and a class?

Continue learning

Inviting learnersInvite codes, links and email invitations — and what a learner sees when they accept.Setting homeworkAssign a lesson, a reading, a mock exam or a word list — to a whole circle or one learner.Presenting to a circlePutting the deck on your learners’ screens, raised hands, a quick check, and what a learner can and cannot do.What your learners seeThe same screens from the other side — useful before you tell someone where to click.