The same Academy, with classroom gates
On the School plan, Academy stops being a pile of optional reading and becomes a structured learning space: assign a course, require it before a student can use the slicer or start a print, see who's done and who isn't, and graduate students into the next class when they pass.
Require a safety course before the first print
Set up an organisation feature unlock that ties "Start a print" to a course - a safety walkthrough, the don't-touch-the-nozzle basics, your school's specific lab rules. Until the student completes the course and passes its quiz, the start-print button stays locked. Same pattern works for the slicer (require a how-a-slicer-works course before students can slice), for clear-bed (require a what-a-good-print-looks-like course), for filament changes - any of the printing primitives can be gated behind course completion.
Author your own courses for the way your class works
Build slides, embed YouTube videos, drop in images, write quizzes with multiple-choice or free-text questions, and ship them to one class or the whole school. "Designing your first part in Tinkercad," "How a slicer thinks about layer height," "Reading the printer screen after a power outage" - your curriculum, your wording, your school's rules. The course editor is the same one Enterprise customers use, so you're not stuck inside a stripped-down classroom version.
Sample courses to seed your curriculum
Not sure where to start? Here are five courses most school accounts end up running in some form. Use them as a jumping-off point - rename, re-order, edit the slides to match your equipment and your school's rules:
- 3D printer safety essentials (~15 min) - appropriate PPE, hot surfaces, what to never touch
- Slicer basics: from STL to G-code (~25 min) - slicing settings, print orientation, supports
- Reading a failed print (~20 min) - common failures, what they mean, what to do
- Loading and changing filament (~15 min) - manual change flow, jams, swap procedures
- Maintaining your printer between prints (~10 min) - bed cleaning, nozzle wiping, regular checks
Promote students to the next class when they pass
When a student finishes a course, SimplyPrint can automatically upgrade their user rank ("Beginner" to "Intermediate"), add them to a school class, or unlock additional features for that user. Completion isn't just a celebration screen - it's how a freshman becomes a junior, how a Tinkercad-only student earns access to advanced slicer settings, how a safety-course completer joins the lab.
Teachers see one view, students see another
On the School plan, every course slide can carry teacher notes that only teachers see - answers to the quiz, talking points for the lecture, callouts about common student mistakes. Students get the polished course; teachers get the same course with the lesson plan baked in. The student dashboard surfaces a "Learn about 3D printing" CTA next to the file upload tile so students find Academy without anyone having to point them at it.
A record of who finished what
Every course completion is recorded against the student's account, including which version of the course they passed (so a curriculum revision doesn't erase last semester's records). Pair it with the print history export and you have a single place to answer "has this student finished the safety course before they printed?" - useful for parent meetings, for end-of-term reporting, and for the inevitable insurance question.
Completion records double as evidence for school insurance and STEAM-equipment liability requirements - proof that every student passed mandatory safety training before touching the printer.
What's included on the School plan
Everything on this page is included on the School plan. Course authoring is also available on Enterprise (without the structured e-learning workflow); reading the public course catalogue is free on every plan.
| Feature / Limit | Free | Basic | Pro | Print Farm | Enterprise | School | Cloud Slicer | Filament Manager |
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Academy e-learning space
Progression, unlock-on-completion, teacher view with teacher notes, student dashboard CTA. School plan only.
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Custom course authoring
Build your own courses with slides, quizzes and embedded media. Enterprise and School.
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Student and teacher dashboards
The dashboards that surface the Academy CTA to students. School plan only.
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Want to learn more about our plans?
View full pricing & feature comparisonFrequently asked questions
Can I really stop a student from printing until they pass a course?
Can I assign a course to one class, not the whole school?
What kinds of courses can I author?
Do teachers see different content than students?
Does Academy issue a certificate?
Can I see who's finished a course and who hasn't?
How does this differ from the regular Academy page?
Learn more about SimplyPrint Academy
Academy for schools is part of SimplyPrint's wider Academy product. Explore the parent page for the public course catalogue, custom course authoring on Enterprise, and the general Academy capabilities.