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Admin Essentials Checklist

Your comprehensive guide to optimizing and securing your workspace for your faculty and staff.

Jacob Edington avatar
Written by Jacob Edington
Updated over a week ago

Based on direct feedback from administrators working in all kinds of school environments, Flint has made some major updates to better support the real-world challenges educators face with AI tools. These aren’t just new features—they’re practical solutions built to meet actual needs. Every setting and configuration we’ve added plays an important role in making sure AI is used in a safe, responsible, and meaningful way. If you’re an admin, it’s important to think of these tools not as extras, but as essential guardrails that help protect students, reflect your school’s values, and support thoughtful AI use in the classroom.

🔄Terms & Integration

  • Create your new term first (keep it inactive during setup)

  • ✅Set term for full academic year and import all.

    • If there are spring classes that a teacher does not want a student to be able to see, they can go into the group settings and mark it as "unpublished" so the student is unable to see it.

  • ✅Identify which system (SIS or LMS) has complete roster data as well as designations of students and teachers.

  • 💡If you want to run the integration but have all the classes hidden to allow your teachers to decide whether the class (group) is visible to their students, mark the group settings as unpublished.

  • 💡If you DO NOT want students to have the ability to share links with others to have them join a class they are not in - set the group settings to private.

  • ⚠️The very last step of the integration asks if you would like to remove users not included within the import - this pertains to staff members as well as accounts that may already be in the term that were not apart of the rostering. Please consider this prior to checkin.

  • ⛔ DO NOT delete the current active term (24-25), even after it is inactive as this will delete all of the content teachers and students have previously created.

  • 🔄 Re-run integration after add/drop periods because Flint does NOT automatically update (just click through the 5-step verification)

    • Flint does not automatically update.

EdLink:

  • If you are having trouble with role designation, EdLink does have the ability to adjust how the roles come into Flint. Please review their sharing rules and note the difference between 'Share by Class' and 'Share by Person.' Sharing by Class will be more useful when attempting to share active classes.

  • Any issues with EdLink, reach out to Jacob Edington - [email protected] - and he will connect you someone at EdLink for further assist

Safe Testing Tips

  • ✅ Test everything in inactive term state

  • ✅ You can delete/archive test terms without affecting users

  • ✅ If you have issues with EdLink or assigning roles, please contact me and I will be able to bring in someone from EdLink to assist.

🛠️Workspace Settings

⚙️ General: Mission & Background

What is it? A critical setting that provides Flint with contextual information about your educational environment.

Why it matters: This helps provide Flint with the appropriate context about your school to better align its responses with your specific educational values, culture, and context.

Best Practices:

  • Write a summary of everything about your school in a Flint Chat and then ask it to create a 1000 character summary of what Flint would need to know. From there you can edit and adjust as you see fit.

  • Include key details about your school type (e.g., IB, public, private)

  • Mention geographic location

  • Highlight core educational philosophy

  • Specify grade levels

⚙️ General: Moderation Guidelines

What is it? Instructions for how Flint should handle sensitive or inappropriate content.

Why it matters: Ensures consistent, compassionate, and appropriate responses to challenging situations.

Best Practices:

  • Provide clear escalation procedures

  • Include contact information for support resources

  • Specify tone and approach for different scenarios

  • Provide the student handbook link to refer students to a certain section

Example: "When a student uses inappropriate language, refer them to Section II Article III of our handbook.”

⚙️ General: Self-Harm Moderators

What is it? Designated staff members who receive email notifications for self-harm alerts.

Why it matters: Ensures notifications are sent to appropriate individuals for rapid response to student safety concerns.

Best Practices:

  • Choose staff members trained in student support

  • Ensure multiple moderators for coverage

  • Regularly update contact information

🔒 Access Controls: Workspace Hours

What is it? A feature that allows administrators to set specific time windows for Flint workspace access, controlling when students can interact with the AI platform.

📚Libraries

Public Library vs. School Library

Public Library (formerly Templates):

  • Contains activities shared across all Flint users

  • Provides inspiration and ready-to-use templates

  • Accessible to all Flint users

School Library:

  • Contains activities specific to your workspace

  • Curated by your organization's educators

  • More tailored to your specific educational context

💭Flint Community

What is it? An organic and collaborative platform for educators across the globe

Key Features:

  • Feature enhancement request submissions

  • Success story sharing

  • Professional learning network

Continuous Improvement Through Collaboration

Flint is more than just a platform—it's a collaborative ecosystem driven by the needs of educators. Every enhancement request, every suggestion, and every piece of feedback brings us closer to creating the ideal AI educational tool. We don't just listen; we actively implement changes based on the real-world experiences of administrators and teachers.

How to Contribute:

  • Share your enhancement requests through the Flint Community

  • Provide detailed feedback about your experience to [email protected]

  • Participate in user surveys and focus groups

Your insights are the catalyst for innovation. The more we hear from you, the more precisely we can develop features that truly support educational excellence.

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