My students can't get into a course, or a quiz or certificate isn't working

When you're done, your students are back in their course, or you know which setting holds them back.

Who this is for: the account owner and editors who run an Academy, on the Academy plan. Students can't change any of this themselves. Their own guide is A student can't sign in, open a lesson, take a quiz or get a certificate.

What your students see

What the student sees	Why, and your fix
"That code has expired. Ask for a new one.", "Too many sign-in codes were asked for from this email or network." or "We couldn't keep you signed in."	Students can't sign in
"Places on this course come from Nora's Baking School. Ask them for one." or "You don't have a place on this course yet."	The student has no place
"You asked for a place. Nora's Baking School will let you know." or "Your request to join is waiting for the Academy's answer."	A request is waiting
"This course takes a course code, but Nora's Baking School hasn't made one yet. Ask them for a place." or "That course code isn't right."	The course code is missing or changed
"Your place on this course has ended. Contact Nora's Baking School if you think this is a mistake."	The place was ended
"This course isn't open right now" or "Course not found"	The course isn't published
"This course is part of your learning path. It opens when you finish “Bread Basics”."	A learning path holds the course back
A lock on a lesson, or "Pass the quiz to complete this lesson."	Lessons are locked
"You've used all your attempts for this quiz. Contact the Academy if you need another."	A student needs another quiz attempt
"Your certificate isn't ready yet. Ask Nora's Baking School to issue it."	A certificate is missing or wrong
"The AI tutor isn't available right now. Your lessons and progress still work." or another tutor message	The tutor doesn't answer
A video that won't play	Videos and files
"This Academy isn't open right now. Please check back later." on every page	The Academy is closed

Find the reason

1. Ask the student for the exact words, the course, and the email address they sign in with.
2. Open the course and click Students. Find the student (with more than five students, use Find a student) and look at their status: Invited, Asked to join, Active, Completed or Access ended. If they aren't listed, they have no place.
3. Click their name to see their record: progress, certificates and quiz attempts. See Reports and student records.
4. Preview the course to see it the way students do. See Preview a course as a student.

Students can't sign in

Students sign in with their email and a 6-digit code, without a password or a Chirp Builder account. You can't sign them in or send them a code, but you can tell them:

• A code works for 10 minutes. Only the newest email's code works, and 5 wrong tries end it.
• "Too many sign-in codes were asked for from this email or network. Everyone on the same network, such as a school, shares this limit. Please wait up to an hour and try again." Only 5 codes an hour go to one email in your Academy, and 20 an hour to one network, for all Academies together. In a class of more than 20 on one school network, some students wait for the next hour, or use their phone's mobile data. Once in, a sign-in lasts 30 days.
• "We couldn't keep you signed in. Your browser may be blocking cookies for this site. Allow cookies, then ask for a new code." Their browser blocks cookies for your Academy's site.
• They must use the email you added. With another address, they see "No courses yet". Check the address on the Students tab, or add the address they use.

See Sign in to an Academy.

The student has no place

Students need a place on each course. To give one:

1. Open the course and click the Students tab.
2. Under Add students, type their email address, one per line.
3. Leave Email them an invitation on to email them a link, tick the permission box, and click Add students.

They show as Invited until they start. Before the course is published, nobody is emailed: once it is, use Resend invite. Or let students join on their own: in Course details, change How students join to They ask, you approve or With a course code, and click Save details. That works straight away.

See Add and manage students.

A request is waiting

With They ask, you approve, requests are at the top of the Students tab, marked Asked to join.

• Approve (1) gives the student a place and emails them a link to the course.
• Decline (2) removes the request without telling them. They can ask again.

We email the account owner about new requests, up to 10 an hour for each course.

The course code is missing or changed

With With a course code chosen (1) and no code made yet, Course details says "There's no course code yet, so students can't join this way. Make one in the Students tab after you save." (2) Students then see "This course takes a course code, but Nora's Baking School hasn't made one yet. Ask them for a place."

1. Click Save details.
2. Click the Students tab, then Make a code.
3. Give the code to your students. They sign in on the course's page and enter it.

New code replaces the code: "New code made. The old one stops working." Students who type the old one get "That course code isn't right." Remove turns codes off. After 10 tries in one clock hour, on any of your courses, a student sees "Too many tries. Please wait up to an hour and try again."

The place was ended

End place takes away a student's access to the course, and their status says Access ended. They see "Your place on this course has ended." To give it back, click Restore on the Students tab: their progress is still there.

A student on a learning path can't finish the path while their place on one of its courses is ended.

The course isn't published

Students can open only published courses.

• A student with a place sees "This course isn't open right now" and "Nora's Baking School may be updating it. Please check back later." The course stays on their My courses, with a lock and "Not open right now".
• Everyone else sees "Course not found" and "The link may be mistyped, or the course isn't published."

To fix it, open the course and click Publish. Red lines in the box under the title must be fixed first. Publishing needs the account owner, or an editor the owner lets publish.

Changes to lessons, quizzes, tutors, the lesson order, and the course's title, subtitle, description and cover reach students only after Publish changes. Until then, the editor says "You have changes students don't see yet." Address, How students join, Show in the Academy's course list and Certificate on completion work as soon as you click Save details. A new Address breaks links with the old one.

See Publish a course and update it.

A learning path holds the course back

In a learning path, each course opens when the student finishes the one before it: "This course is part of your learning path. It opens when you finish “Bread Basics”." On My courses, it shows "Opens when you finish “Bread Basics”".

If the student shouldn't wait, take the earlier course out of the path: it opens for students still on the path. A course you unpublish or delete doesn't hold anyone back either. See Learning paths.

Lessons are locked

• Lesson order: In order. A lesson opens when every required lesson before it is complete. An optional lesson that comes after an unfinished required one is locked too. Any order opens every lesson. A new lesson order reaches students after Publish changes.
• Must pass to complete the lesson. The lesson completes only when the student passes its quiz, so the lessons after it stay locked until then. Students see "Pass the quiz to complete this lesson."
• Lessons don't open by date. There's no timed release: only completing earlier lessons opens them.

See Course details and settings.

A student needs another quiz attempt

You can't give one student another attempt, or reset one student's quiz. To let them carry on, change the quiz for every student, then click Save lesson and Publish changes:

• raise Attempts, or choose Unlimited;
• set Wait between attempts (minutes) to 0, if they're waiting to try again;
• or turn off Must pass to complete the lesson, so Mark complete shows instead.

The quiz's Results say the same: "A student out of attempts? To give more, raise Attempts (or choose Unlimited) and publish your changes. That applies to every student."

Attempts and the wait come from the published quiz, so nothing changes for students until you publish. Students see a wait in their own time. See Build a quiz and See quiz results.

A certificate is missing or wrong

A course certificate is issued once, when the student completes the course, and only if Certificate on completion was on at that moment. A student who finished earlier sees "You've completed this course. Your certificate isn't ready yet. Ask Nora's Baking School to issue it."

• Students who finished before certificates were on: open the course and click the Certificates tab. It says, for example, "2 students completed the course before certificates were on." Click Issue their certificates.
• A certificate you revoked: Issue their certificates skips it. Click Reissue on the revoked certificate instead.
• The name is wrong: on the student's record, click Change name and save it ("Name saved. Reissue a certificate to put the new name on it."). Then click Reissue on the Certificates tab. A student with no name gets their email address on the certificate.
• A learning path's certificate is issued once, when the student completes the path's last course, and only if Certificate for completing the whole path was on then: "Only students who finish after you turn this on get it." It can't be issued later, for example to students who finished before you turned it on.

See Certificates.

The tutor doesn't answer

What students see, and what it means:

• "The AI tutor isn't available right now. Your lessons and progress still work." Something on your side stops the tutor: your OpenRouter key is missing, not working or out of credit, the tutor Chirp is paused, its AI model isn't offered anymore, or its workspace isn't in your plan. To find out which, open the tutor Chirp in the editor. A Paused tag next to its name means it's paused: turn off Pause this Chirp under 10. Visitor limits and click Save. The preview answers even while the Chirp is paused. Otherwise, send a message in its preview: it tells you why. The preview uses your saved edits and the tutor uses the published version, so after changing the AI model, click Publish changes. See Visitors see "temporarily unavailable" or a busy message.
• "You've asked the tutor a lot today. Your lessons still work; the tutor is back tomorrow." The student reached 150 questions today, or the Chirp's Messages per visitor per day, which counts for each student.
• "The tutor has reached its message limit for today. Your lessons still work; the tutor is back tomorrow." The Chirp's Messages per day for this Chirp is used up, by students and visitors together. Raise it under 10. Visitor limits and click Save.
• "You've sent a lot of messages. Please wait a bit and try again." A student can ask up to 40 questions an hour.
• "The tutor is busy right now. Please try again in a moment." Your Chirps are writing as many replies at once as your plan allows.
• "This lesson has no tutor." The course, the module and the lesson have no tutor. Choose one under Tutor in Course details, then Publish changes.
• "This lesson's tutor isn't available." The tutor Chirp was archived, deleted or moved to another workspace. Bring it back from the archive, or choose another tutor and Publish changes.
• "The tutor is off while you take this quiz. It's back once you submit." That's the quiz's setting for the tutor.

Daily limits start again at midnight UTC. A tutor Chirp that's published answers with its published version, so publish the Chirp's changes too. See Give a course an AI tutor.

Videos and files

• A video won't play: students see the video site's own message in the lesson, and Chirp Builder adds none. Check the video's settings where it's hosted: it must be allowed to play on other websites, including www.chirpbuilder.com and your Academy's own domain if you use one. Or paste a new link and click Publish changes. See Add videos, audio, files and links.
• A download, a PDF or audio stops working: their links work for an hour after the student opens the page. Reloading the page gives fresh ones.

The Academy is closed

"This Academy isn't open right now. Please check back later." The account isn't on the Academy plan, for example after a change to another plan. Business doesn't include the Academy. Students can't sign in or study until the Academy plan is back, but certificate check pages keep working.

To get the Academy plan, email joanaltres@dfydata.com, or write to us from Help about Plan and billing.

Good to know

• The Academy has no contact button or form. Some messages tell students to contact the Academy, and they're told to look for your contact details on its home page or in their purchase or welcome email. Put how to reach you in your purchase or welcome emails, and in About the Academy (on the Academy page, click Edit Academy). It shows on your Academy's home page. See Set up your Academy.
• Some of your changes apply at once, like a new place, Approve, Restore or a new course code. Others wait for Publish changes: see The course isn't published.