What's new in MyClassScreen — August 2026

By David · Founder & Editor, MyClassScreen

We spent July listening to teachers who wanted clearer help pages, try-before-you-open-the-app demos, and straight answers on privacy. Here is what shipped on the marketing site and docs in August 2026. The board editor at app.myclassscreen.org is unchanged in spirit — still free, still no student accounts — but the site around it is easier to navigate.

Group maker tool page

Teachers asked for a dedicated guide to splitting classes into teams — not buried in the name picker docs. The new group maker page explains how to paste rosters, set group size, and run fair teams for labs, literature circles, and PE stations. It includes an interactive demo so you can test grouping before you project it.

The group maker widget was already on the board; this update is about honest how-to content and SEO for teachers searching "classroom group generator." Pair it with the random name picker when you need one student instead of full teams.

Interactive demos on tool pages

Several marketing pages now let you try widgets without creating an account first. The classroom timer, visual timer, noise meter, name picker, and group maker pages include live previews at the top of the page.

Why bother? Teachers told us they want to know if the timer is readable from the back row before they sign up or bookmark the app. Demos run in the browser session; saving layouts still happens in the full board editor when you are ready.

Privacy, terms, about, and contact

School IT teams and union reps ask fair questions: Does the noise meter record audio? Do students need logins? We published a clear Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, About page, and Contact form so you can forward links to your admin instead of summarizing from memory.

Short version: microphone input for the noise meter is processed locally and not uploaded. Students do not use the product directly — they watch your projected board. Teacher accounts store your saved boards and rosters under your login.

Templates catalog expansion

The templates page now catalogs more starter boards: morning meeting, silent reading, station rotation, exit ticket, and brain break layouts. Each template opens in the editor so you can swap widgets, change backgrounds, and save under your account.

Templates are free. We would rather you spend Sunday afternoon planning lessons, not dragging timers into the same grid for the fifth year in a row. Help docs for templates live on help/templates.

New guides and comparisons

We added long-form content teachers search for: a smart board timer guide, blog posts on free classroom display tools, PBIS and classroom screens, and comparison pages under alternatives. These pages link to real tool URLs with trailing slashes and include structured data for search engines.

What we are working on next

On the list for fall: more template categories by subject, deeper help articles for each widget, and continued performance work on the board editor. If something on your wish list is missing, use the contact page — we read teacher email.

Nothing in this update changes pricing. MyClassScreen remains free for core widgets and board saving. Premium tiers, if we add paid features later, will not remove what you already use daily without clear notice.