Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Funclass?

Funclass is a gamified Zoom app designed to supercharge live online lessons for tutors, teachers, and education businesses. It adds powerful engagement tools like points, leaderboards, avatars, and rewards — all within the familiar Zoom environment.

Funclass helps educators deliver more interactive, motivating lessons while streamlining admin tasks like homework, scheduling, and student tracking — all in one platform. Whether you teach independently or run an academy, Funclass makes online learning more effective, more fun, and easier to manage.

How is Funclass different?

Unlike generic video tools or corporate learning platforms, Funclass is purpose-built for live online teaching — especially for young and teen learners.

It combines the trusted Zoom classroom with built-in gamification tools like points, leaderboards, and avatar rewards to boost engagement and reduce distractions. No need for extra software or screen sharing — everything runs seamlessly inside Zoom.

Funclass also supports your business with features like scheduling, student tracking, and homework management, making it more than just a teaching tool — it’s an all-in-one platform to help you grow and deliver better results.

How does Funclass boost student engagement?

At the heart of Funclass lies gamification, a groundbreaking approach that transforms the learning experience. Gamification taps into the natural desire for exploration, competition, and achievement that resides in every student.

By introducing elements like experience points, leaderboards, and pet avatars, Funclass transforms the passive nature of traditional online classes into an engaging and dynamic experience, where students eagerly participate, collaborate, and strive to excel.

What engagement features does Funclass offer?

Funclass provides engaging gamification through our unique in-class reward system - learn more about Funclass rewards and avatars in the FAQ section: Funclass Rewards and Avatars.

For encouraging healthy competition within your online group lessons, you'll also love our class leaderboard and podium, built directly into Zoom. Students will rank based on the rewards you allocate, allowing you to cap off a lesson with a fun celebration of achievement.

Is Funclass suitable only for young learners?

Whilst Funclass was borne from a passion to harness motivation for young learners, research shows the benefits do not end there. Gamification has been shown to be beneficial to enjoyment, engagement and longterm retention for learners of any age!

Our pet development game is ideal for learners up to 12 years of age, and beyond. Teenage students will love our more mature avatars, designed in styles similar to their favourite video games. For older students, easily toggle off the student portal avatar gamifications altogether when you create a new course. These gamification options make Funclass the perfect Zoom upgrade for every learner, and every online tuition business!

Teacher Features

Getting started in the teacher portal:

When you first log into the teacher portal, you'll be prompted to set up your profile, including connecting your Zoom account and, where payments are enabled, linking your Stripe payment gateway.

Follow the pop-up prompts or navigate to 'Account Settings' and 'Profile' to first connect your Zoom account. Click 'Link Zoom' and follow the prompts; these will take you to your Zoom log-in where you will need to input your Zoom username and password and accept Funclass permissions. Your Zoom account will remain linked for three months. For more detailed information about linking Zoom, take a look at this tutorial.

Next, navigate to 'Payment Setup,' configure your settings and click, 'Link Stripe'. This will prompt you to either log into or set up a Stripe account, which is free to do. Work through Stripe's To Do List until all boxes are 'complete' and then click 'Confirm'. Once the Stripe pop-up box is closed, refresh your browser page and ensure the Stripe account is confirmed and complete. For more detailed information about linking a Stripe account to Funclass, take a look at this tutorial.

How to add students:

Within your teacher dashboard, select 'Courses' and 'Create a Course'; when you add a student to a new course, they will automatically be sent a link to register for their free student portal, where they will link their (free) Zoom account.

Pay special attention to the gamification options: only select the 'non-gamified' option if your student would not benefit from Funclass's avatar development game. Even so, you will still have the option to award non-gamified students reward points during lessons - these will simply not filter into their student portal.

Ticking the 'Student is in China' box automatically redirects your live lessons onto Funclass's mainland China server. This means students in China should not use a VPN when this box is ticked. Ticking this box also means that lessons with students outside China, even whilst on holiday, will not be as reliable. If your student is not in China, do not tick this box.

How to create a course:

Within your teacher dashboard, click 'Courses' and 'Create a Course'. Fill in all details relevant to your course, taking notice of frequency, duration and recurrence. You can tick to set a 'Reminder for students,' which will automatically send notifications to your students via email and inside their portals.

Once a course is saved, it will appear on the teacher and student calendars. There is no need to share classroom URLs with students, as they will join lessons directly within their student portals with one easy click of the 'Join Class' button. The student portals auto-translate to six languages, based on students' regions.

How to leave student feedback after a lesson:

When you return to your teacher portal after each lesson, you will notice a feedback form pop-up. Note your students' understanding, engagement and progress with our quick-click star rating system and insert freeform notes which will be automatically sent to your students. Feedback can also be logged within the 'Lesson History' page of your portal, in case you'd like to leave more detail or circle back to it later.

Student feedback is a valuable tool for recapping learning objectives, communicating progress and maintaining positive client relationships.

Your students will likewise be prompted to leave lesson feedback for you - this can also be viewed in 'Lesson History'. Not only can student feedback be useful for your own professional development, but you can capture these golden nuggets of testimonials for marketing purposes, too!

How to assign homework:

Use the Funclass homework feature to automate and simplify your homework assignment. With built-in notifications, you'll be able to assign to individuals or classes, set deadlines, upload a variety of resources, receive back and grade student homework all from the 'Homework' tab. Supported file types include: PPT, PDF, JPG, MP4 and more, plus there is the option to include free text.

Some teachers, tutors and tuition centres additionally use the Funclass homework feature to share resources with students, such as for offline, hybrid or asynchronous course types.

How to view lesson history:

Funclass enables teachers and tuition centres to operate efficiently, and avoid juggling multiple apps by automating regular functions. Track student attendance, course bundle usage, student and teacher feedback and homework completion within 'Lesson History' in the 'Courses' tab. Let link and file sharing of lesson recordings be a thing of the past, with seamless cross-portal updates.

Note: Zoom Pro license-holders can enjoy automatic lesson recording transfer from Zoom directly into Funclass teacher, student and (where applicable) admin portals. This feature saves you time and money, allowing you to avoid costly Zoom cloud storage fees. Zoom Basic members can manually add lesson recordings to the Funclass portal to enjoy these benefits as well.

How to view student learning reports:

Keep tabs on your students' reward points, attendance and avatar development by clicking on their name within the student roster in the Funclass 'Class' list.

How to process student payments:

Soon Funclass will add international student payment processing for independent teacher Pro plans; until then, you may benefit by upgrading to an 'Academy' plan from just £20/month*.

With Funclass you will be able to create one-off, bundle and subscription payments via our secure payment gateway, Stripe. Begin by registering for a 'sole trader' Stripe account (which is free to join) by following the steps in the Stripe linkage pop-up - you will find this within your teacher portal 'Account Settings', under the 'Payment Setup' tab. Once you've completed Stripe's quick onboarding steps, refresh your teacher portal to ensure the linking was successful; you're then ready to send your first invoice!

When you create a new course, you can opt to add a student payment, which will automatically send an email invoice to your student. With one click, your student will easily process payment using their preferred currency and form, including WeChatPay or AliPay in China!

You can alternatively create new student payments with the 'Finance' tab of your teacher portal, and assign paid lesson credits to the course of your choice.

*In addition to Stripe processing fees - which vary by payment type and geography - Funclass adds a 2% fee to student payments on the independent teacher plans, or 1.5% to academy plan student payments.

Student Features

What is an avatar?

In Funclass, students choose a pet or an avatar as their very own learning companion! Funclass includes options for a pet development game, similar to Tamagotchi, where students can raise a magical pet or a customisable avatar, inspired by teen gaming themes, which they can upgrade with gadgets, gear and fashion enhancements. There is also an option to 'turn off' avatar gamifications for mature learners - look for this toggle when you create a course.

Through Funclass's in-lesson rewards, students watch avatars level up and mature in their student portals. They can redeem Experience Points (XPs) to tailor their avatars, to collect exciting accessories and even to acquire new avatars. Our unique gamifications bring intrinsic motivation to life, harnessing the proven powers of student autonomy, interactivity and engagement, while avoiding in-class distractions.

What are XP?

Experience Points (XP) can be earned during lessons, when their teachers reward them for participation, accuracy and progress. XP can also be earned by completing homework and other out-of-class activities as designated by the teacher.

XP help student avatars grow, mature and level up. XP can also be redeemed in the student portal Shop to customise avatars with accessories, gadgets and much more.

In addition to amazing motivational and enjoyment benefits, XP foster numeracy, mathematical and commerce skills when students budget, save up and redeem their XP.

How does Funclass gamify my Zoom classroom?

Rewarding students for their effort and progress in real time is a powerful tool for reinforcing positive learning behaviours and motivating students.

Once you have opened the Funclass app within Zoom, simply click on the green ➕ button and reward the students for their learning efforts. This will generate three treasure chests for students to choose from. Reward points (or XP) are awarded randomly and automatically added to the student's portal.

Based on the number of XP, students in a group class are ranked on a leaderboard. The leaderboard starts from zero in every lesson, providing each student with an fresh chance to get the top spots.

When should teachers reward students?

Rewards can be a powerful tool for reinforcing positive learning behaviours and motivating students.

Here are some behaviours teachers can reward students for:

Consistent Participation: Reward students who consistently engage in class activities. This doesn't just mean those who answer questions correctly, but also those who regularly contribute to discussions, group work, and other learning activities.

Mastery of Learning Objectives: Recognise students who achieve mastery in specific learning objectives. This can be based on assessments, projects, or other measurable outcomes.

Improvement Over Time: Students who show noticeable improvement in their understanding or skills, regardless of their starting level, should be rewarded. This encourages a growth mindset, showing that effort and progress are valued.

Helping Peers: Reward behaviours like helping classmates, collaborative problem-solving, peer teaching and graciousness to classmates. This fosters a supportive learning community and emphasises the value of teamwork.

⚠️ Don’t abuse the rewards. There are only 100 XP per level, and currently just 10 levels in total.

How can I help my students onboard into the Funclass student portal?

Your students will LOVE their dedicated portals, where they have autonomy over their own learning adventures! When you create a new course, consider whether the Pet Development Game, Teen Avatars or non-gamified portals suit your students best - your choice will open different possibilities and collections for your students.

Students will receive email invitations to register when you create a course and add them. They will also receive email invoices if you process payments through Funclass, which is optional and plan-specific. Upon registration, they'll choose an avatar and link their (free) Zoom account. You can share a range of handy tutorials, available in numerous languages, from our YouTube channel with your students to make onboarding seamless. Or, if your students are Chinese, download a Mandarin copy of the student tutorial here.

Students will join your lessons in one easy click within their student portals; on their homepages, have them click 'Join Class', which will only go 'live' if their Zoom is connected and their lesson has been marked as 'paid'. They will also be able to view lesson history, download recordings and complete assigned homework on their portals.

Academy Features

Getting started in the admin portal:

Tuition centre owners and admins have access to all the features of independent teacher plans, plus more! Enjoy full oversight of your tutoring centre by calendar or list; effortlessly schedule, amend and cancel lessons; add or remove students and teachers; process student payments and tutor payroll, all in a few simple clicks!

Watch this simple tutorial outlining how to get started!

How to add students and teachers:

Within your admin dashboard, select the 'Student' tab on the navigation menu, and then 'Add Student'. You can choose to add your student's details manually, or automatically email your client with the Funclass registration form. Funclass makes student registration quick and easy by minimising the required fields on the form.

Pay special attention on the student registration form to the gamification options: only select the 'non-gamified' option if your student would not benefit from Funclass's avatar development game. Even so, you will still have the option to award non-gamified students reward points during lessons - these will simply not filter into their student portal.

Ticking the 'Student is in China' box automatically redirects your live lessons onto Funclass's mainland China server. This means students in China should not use a VPN when this box is ticked. It also means that lessons with students outside China, even on holiday, will not be as reliable. If your student is not in China, do not tick this box.

Adding teachers to your centre works in the same way as adding students: choose whether to fill in the registration details yourself, or send a simple onboarding form directly to your teacher. Store teacher data, such as their CV/resume, experience and qualifications and their availability directly in their teacher profile.

How to create a course:

Within your admin dashboard, click 'Courses' and 'Create a Course'. Fill in all details relevant to your course, taking notice of frequency, duration and recurrence. You can tick to set a 'Reminder for students,' which will automatically send notifications to your students via email and inside their portals. Here you can also create student invoices, customising by student or class.

How to complete teacher payroll:

Within your 'Account Settings,' select the payroll terms you prefer. You can choose from weekly, bi-monthly or monthly options, and refine a payroll date for the latter option. For UK legal compliance, your centre may require split payment: simply tick the option for 'Split Payment' within the payment settings; this will divert incoming student payments directly to your tutors (not into your business bank account) based on the payout parameters you define. There is no added fee for processing split payment, but do note for successful payroll, your teachers will need to link their bank details to their Funclass portals in advance.

Note: you do not need to process student payments nor tutor payroll on Funclass. If you choose to complete these elsewhere, simply use the 'Mark as Complete' button in 'Course History' to manually track lesson completion.

How to plan lessons and track homework:

Upload a range of files within the 'Courses' tab, to share lesson resources with your teachers. They can then open these files to screenshare them with students during lesson time. Accepted file types include: PPT, PDF, DOC, JPG and more!

Review or set student homework via the 'Homework' tab.

How to view lesson history:

Funclass enables tuition centres to operate efficiently, and avoid juggling multiple apps by automating regular functions. Track student attendance, course bundle usage, student and teacher feedback and homework completion within 'Lesson History' in the 'Courses' tab. Let link and file sharing of lesson recordings be a thing of the past, with seamless cross-portal updates.

How to view past lesson recordings and analytics, and evaluate live lessons:

View lesson recordings and a range of other lesson analytics and performance data within the 'Course History' tab, including attendance, feedback and homework.

Click 'Join Class' on your calendar or course list to join live lessons, either to co- or substitute teach, or to conduct teacher evaluations. You will need to manually turn off your audio and video, and teachers and students will know you are present in the lesson unless you view the recording only.

How to process student payments:

With Funclass, create one-off, bundle and subscription payments via our secure payment gateway, Stripe. Begin by registering for a 'business' Stripe account (which is free to join) by following the steps in the Stripe linkage pop-up - you will find this within your admin portal 'Account Settings', under the 'Payment Setup' tab. Once you've completed Stripe's quick onboarding steps, refresh your admin portal to ensure the linking was successful; you're then ready to send your first invoice!

You can alternatively create new student payments with the 'Finance' tab of your teacher portal, and assign paid lesson credits to the course of your choice.

*In addition to Stripe processing fees - which vary by payment type and geography - Funclass adds a 1.5% fee to Academy plan student payments.