Using chats in Flint

Here is how to use our general-purpose AI to create rubrics and worksheets and answer one-off questions.

Written by Lulu Gao
Updated this week

Why Sparky has a stand-alone chat

📌 For a more comprehensive comparison between ChatGPT and Flint, see here.

Most Flint activities have specific learning objectives in mind. If teachers or students want to ask more general questions they can access Sparky outside of an activity. The perks of having students use this instead of ChatGPT or similar tools include:

• Access to the best models for free (we use the latest Claude model)
• Ability to use tons of content generation and research tools. Learn more here: Tools available when chatting with Sparky
• Data privacy (free tools like ChatGPT feed all conversations back into their training for new models, whereas in Flint, no conversations are sent back to model providers like OpenAI)
• Administrator oversight (admins at your school can see all the conversations students are having and inappropriate/dangerous messages are flagged by Flint for admins to review)

Where you can access the stand-alone chats

You can start and access a chat in three different areas in Flint:

The input bar

The input bar that can be found at the bottom on your homepage gives you quick access to starting a chat with Sparky, your AI assistant in Flint. Here, you can type in or speak any question or request, as well as attach content for Sparky to reference.

Chat shortcuts

Alternatively, you can start a chat by selecting one of our chat shortcuts. These will start you off with a beginning message to Sparky and guide you in providing the necessary information to get an output you want.

"My chats" page

Finally, you can also create a new chat on the "My chats" page. Here, you can also see and continue previous chats within Flint.

Chatting with Sparky

Using Sparky outside of an activity

You can chat about anything within Flint chats, including asking about current events, asking various questions, or requesting image, rubric, or worksheet creation.

If your workspace has distinguished between users (teacher vs student) through an LMS/SIS integration, then this chat will treat those roles differently. Sparky will be more like a helpful assistant to teachers and act more like a responsible tutor to students. This means, with students, Sparky will not write essays/responses for them and would guide them on how to solve problems rather than outright giving answers.

Voice conversations

Speak directly to Sparky using voice input

Click the microphone icon to start talking, and Sparky can respond with audio output for a more natural conversation experience.

Multi-file generation

Create multiple types of content in a single request

For example, you can ask Sparky to generate a lesson plan, a worksheet, and a grading rubric all at once — just describe what you need in one message.

Examples of multi-file requests:

• "Create a lesson plan on the water cycle, a student worksheet with fill-in-the-blank questions, and a rubric to grade the worksheet"
• "Generate a presentation on photosynthesis along with a video that explains the key concepts"
• "Make a vocabulary quiz and a study guide for my unit on the American Revolution"

Each generated file will appear in your chat and can be downloaded, exported to Google Drive, or printed individually. Connect your Google Drive or OneDrive to easily access and work with your existing files. Sparky can read documents, analyze spreadsheets, and help you build on your existing materials.

Viewing past sessions with Sparky

Owners of the workspace can view all chat sessions. Members will be able to view their own past conversations only.

Viewing your own sessions

You can view your own sessions on the "My chats" page. You can navigate to this page using the "My chats" button on the left-hand sidebar on the homepage.

Viewing other users' sessions (only for workspace owners/admins)

Owners of the workspace can search through and view all activity with activities and chats within the workspace. To do so...

1. Click "Search" in the sidebar.

2. In the Search menu, chat sessions are listed at the bottom based on recency. Click on "See all session results" to expand this list and see more items.

3. Type in the "Search" bar at the top a name or keywords to narrow down your search.