Educator Resource
Fewer IT headaches, more time teaching circuits
Updated August 2026 · By the CircuitSim team · 4 min read
Ironically, the biggest barrier to teaching technology is often the technology itself: software installs and the IT tickets that follow, student-privacy reviews, license paperwork, and the scramble to keep 30 machines on the same version. CircuitSim was built to remove that barrier, at least for how you teach circuits. It runs in the browser on whatever devices your students already have, Chromebooks included. Students join with a link, not an email address. Licenses are priced per seat, by the week, to match your term. Procurement can pay by card or NET-30 invoice.
TL;DR — What a school gets
- Zero-install deployment: modern browsers on lab machines, laptops, and Chromebooks; simulation runs locally in each student's browser.
- Procurement-friendly licensing: per-seat, priced by the week, bulk discounts, card or NET-30 quote and invoice.
- Privacy by design: private student seats join by link or code with no email, no name, and no sign-up form, keeping your classroom FERPA and COPPA compliant.
- Classroom structure: shared circuit and component libraries, announcements, discussion boards, roster tools.
- Honest gaps: no LMS/LTI and no gradebook. Those stay in your existing LMS.
From inquiry to a running class in 3 steps
- Start at the pricing page. Set up your group license and pay by card today, or generate a quote for NET-30 invoicing if procurement prefers.
- Create the class group and load it: the lab circuits, any custom components your course uses, a welcome announcement.
- Hand students the join link or code. They are simulating in the first five minutes of class, no account sign-up required.
Nothing to install, nothing to image
Any machine with a modern version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari runs the full product. Chromebook carts run it with no sideloading and no Linux container. There is nothing to install and nothing for IT to maintain.
Easy for your billing department to buy
Seats are per-seat and term-based, measured in weeks: a 16-week semester buys 16 weeks, not a 12-month contract straddling two budget years. Bulk discounts deepen as seat counts grow. Head to the pricing page and get started today: pay by card, or generate a formal quote your procurement office accepts online and pays by NET-30 invoice. No phone call, no sales team. If you email with questions, it is Britt and Sam who answer (Britt writing this. Hi!).
Seats that collect no student personal information
Our answer to student-data scrutiny is to have nothing to scrutinize. Educational groups include the option of private student seats: students join with a link or join code, optionally passphrase-protected, and get a working seat with no email, no name, and no sign-up form — so everything remains FERPA and COPPA compliant. Rosters behave like real classrooms: reset a seat for a newly enrolled student, rotate join codes between periods or terms, clear the lot for next year's cohort. Your district's privacy review tends to be short when there is no student data to review.
One library for the whole class
A class group carries a shared library: build this week's lab circuit once and every student opens their own copy. If your course uses a part the growing component library lacks, import the manufacturer's SPICE model through the custom component creator once, share it to the group, and the whole class places the identical part. Around the library sit announcements, a discussion board, an activity log, and roles that separate instructors from students.
Licensing and deployment at a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How are seats priced? | Per-seat, term-based licenses measured in weeks, with bulk seat discounts at higher counts. |
| How do we pay? | Card, or formal quote with NET-30 invoice via a public quote-acceptance flow for procurement. |
| What do students provide to join? | A join link or code, plus an optional passphrase. No email, no name, no personal information. |
| What does IT install? | Nothing. A modern browser and an internet connection; simulation runs locally in the browser. |
| Roster changes mid-term? | Teachers reset seats for new students and rotate join codes at any time. |
| LMS integration and gradebook? | Not today. No LTI, no assignments, no gradebook. Those stay in your existing LMS. |
Try it before you buy it
Have an instructor rebuild one representative lab on the free Basic plan. It needs no credit card and no commitment, and it answers the only question that matters: does this hold up in your course? When it does, request a quote.
Frequently asked questions
How do school purchases of CircuitSim work?
Group licenses are per-seat and term-based, measured in weeks so the license matches your semester or quarter, with bulk seat discounts. You can pay by card, or request a formal quote and pay by NET-30 invoice through a public quote-acceptance flow built for procurement offices.
Do students need email addresses or accounts?
No. Educational groups offer private student seats: students join with a link or join code, plus an optional passphrase, and the seat collects no student personal information — no email, no name, no sign-up form — keeping the classroom FERPA and COPPA compliant. Teachers manage the roster, reset seats for new students, and rotate join codes.
Does CircuitSim integrate with Canvas or Google Classroom?
Not today — there is no LMS or LTI integration. Teachers distribute CircuitSim join links or circuit share links through their existing LMS, and students submit work as shared links or exported PDF and PNG schematics. We are honest about this gap rather than promising a date.
Is there a gradebook or assignments feature?
No. CircuitSim has no assignment distribution or gradebook today. The group tools cover shared circuit libraries, announcements, discussion boards, and an activity log; grading and submission tracking stay in the LMS your school already runs.
What does IT need to install or maintain?
Nothing. CircuitSim runs in modern Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari with JavaScript enabled — no installation, no imaging, no license server. Simulation runs locally in each student's browser, so there is no school-side compute to provision. The requirements are a supported browser and an internet connection; it does not work offline.
Does CircuitSim work on school Chromebooks?
Yes. CircuitSim is a web app, so Chromebooks run the full product with no Android sideloading and no Linux container, and a typical classroom circuit simulates comfortably on low-end hardware because the SPICE engine runs locally in the browser.
What happens to a seat when a student leaves mid-term?
The teacher resets the seat and hands it to the incoming student. Seats are managed from the group roster, and join codes can be rotated at any time — between class periods, between terms, or after a code leaks.
Can teachers evaluate CircuitSim before purchasing?
Yes. The free Basic plan needs no credit card and includes the core analyses, so an instructor can rebuild a lab exercise and test it end to end before requesting a quote. Email to hello@circuitsim.com reaches the two people who built it.
More from CircuitSim: CircuitSim for educators · CircuitSim for students · Circuit simulator for Chromebooks · Custom components in CircuitSim
Canvas is a trademark of Instructure, Inc. Google Classroom is a trademark of Google LLC. CircuitSim is not affiliated with any of these organizations. Licensing and capability details are current as of August 2026.