Bobbin Lite is the version of Bobbin that comes with the move from Lessonspace. It gives you the same virtual lesson space and whiteboard you're used to, without the AI features. This article explains how Bobbin and TutorCruncher work together, so your admin team and tutors know where to do what.
If you haven't moved across yet, start with Moving from Lessonspace to Bobbin Lite.
What's included in Bobbin Lite
The virtual lesson space and whiteboard
Your resource library, available inside the lesson space
Live lesson attendance
Online lesson recordings
Optional short written summaries of recorded lessons (see Lesson summaries below)
Bobbin Lite doesn't include AI lesson plans, lesson insights, lesson or progress reports, full transcripts, or the in-person recording app. You can try the AI features on chosen courses (see below), or upgrade to the full version of Bobbin at any time from the billing page in your Bobbin Lite account.
Trying AI on chosen courses
Administrators can switch AI on for individual courses. Online lessons on those courses then get the full Bobbin experience: recordings with transcripts, lesson insights, lesson and course plans, and progress reports.
Open the course in Bobbin.
On the AI for this course card, click Switch AI on.
Confirm with Switch AI on.
Courses with AI switched on share 20 hours of AI across your organization. The card shows how many hours are left, and so does your billing page.
When the hours run out, those courses work like the rest of Bobbin Lite again. Lessons that already had AI keep it.
You can switch AI off at any time. Once the hours are used up, you can't switch it on for another course.
Switch AI on before the lesson, not after. Bobbin checks the switch when each lesson ends. If AI was on for the course at that point, and you still had hours left, that lesson gets its transcript, insights and reports, even if you switch AI off later. Switching AI on after a lesson has finished won't enable AI for that lesson.
Settings for courses with AI
Once at least one course has AI switched on, Administrators get extra settings for the AI content those courses produce:
AI courses under Workspace > Settings > Lessons: whether tutor notes are required, whether reports need admin approval, whether report emails include a PDF, whether tutors see their own AI teaching feedback, and whether the engagement score is shown. Report approval is managed in TutorCruncher, so it shows here as read-only.
Lesson Insights, also on the Lessons tab: which insights appear on lesson pages, and in what order.
AI content style: how AI-written lesson plans, summaries and engagement notes are laid out.
In-person recording under Workspace > Settings > Beta: lets tutors record in-person lessons on courses with AI switched on with the Bobbin mobile app, while your shared AI hours last.
Each of these is marked as applying to AI content, which only runs on courses with AI switched on. If you switch AI off on your last AI course, these settings disappear again, but they keep their last values for lessons that already used AI hours.
Approving reports on courses with AI
Report approval only affects courses with AI switched on. Ordinary Bobbin Lite lessons don't have lesson reports generated within Bobbin, so there's nothing to approve on them.
Report approval is turned on and off in TutorCruncher. Go to System > Settings > People and Activity > Activity and turn on Approve lesson reports before sending. It flows through to Bobbin on the next sync.
When it's on, reports for lessons on courses with AI switched on are held when the tutor completes the lesson. An Administrator then approves them on the Report approvals page in Bobbin. TutorCruncher's own Reports Approval page is for reports written in TutorCruncher, not the ones Bobbin creates. A lesson waiting for approval is only marked complete in TutorCruncher once its reports are approved in Bobbin.
Which platform to use for what
TutorCruncher is still your main system for running your business. Bobbin is where your lessons happen.
Use TutorCruncher for
Managing clients, students, and tutors
Creating Jobs
Scheduling, rescheduling, and canceling lessons
Invoicing and payments
Lesson reminder emails
Use Bobbin for
Joining and running lessons
Managing your resource library
Seeing who's in a live lesson
Watching lesson recordings
Sending attendance emails
Sending Lesson reports to clients
Scheduling lessons
Create your Jobs in TutorCruncher. Once Bobbin is the online integration on a Job, the Job and its lessons appear in Bobbin automatically.
Administrators can also book a lesson from inside Bobbin. This is a shortcut, not a separate booking: the lesson is created in TutorCruncher automatically, so it's the same lesson in both places. To avoid duplicates, book each lesson in one place only. When you book from Bobbin, you'll need to add a topic for the lesson.
Changes to existing lessons, such as rescheduling or canceling, should be made in TutorCruncher.
Joining lessons: who uses which link
Everyone has their own classroom link, and Bobbin decides who someone is from the link they use, not from who is sitting at the computer.
Tutors and Administrators sign in to Bobbin with their TutorCruncher details, open the lesson and click Join Space. A Tutor's link is personal to them and won't sign anyone else in.
Students use their own link. It's on the lesson's page in Bobbin, under Join links in the classroom's Lesson tools panel, and in their lesson reminder emails. It works for every lesson on their course.
If a Student opens the Tutor's link by mistake, they see This link belongs to your tutor and can type their name to ask to join. The Tutor then chooses which Student on the lesson they are, under Waiting to join in Lesson tools. This only works while a lesson is running.
Note: A Tutor can't let someone in as an Administrator or Tutor this way. If the person picked has an Administrator or Tutor role in your organization, the Tutor sees That person joins as a tutor, so they cannot be let in this way. That person should sign in to Bobbin with their own details instead.
For more on starting lessons and letting Students in, see The tutor-led classroom.
Testing Bobbin before your first lesson
Many organizations try a test lesson after moving across. To get a result that matches what your Tutors and Students will see, set the test up the way it will run for real:
Use a different person for each role. Bobbin always treats an Administrator or Tutor as someone who runs the room, so the same person can't also join as the Student.
Use each person's own link. The Tutor signs in and clicks Join Space. The Student opens their own link, not the Tutor's.
Use a separate device for each person. If you open a Student's link on the Tutor's computer, that window joins as the Student, so the Tutor appears in the classroom under the Student's name.
Start the lesson first. The Tutor clicks Start in Lesson tools before letting the Student in, so attendance is recorded against the right lesson.
When a lesson ends
When someone leaves a lesson, or the tutor ends it for everyone, they see a button that takes them back to the lesson's page in Bobbin. To send people somewhere else, such as a feedback form, fill in Link to show when a lesson ends and Button text under Workspace > Settings > Lessons.
Lesson recordings
Recordings are managed in Bobbin. An administrator can turn Lesson recordings on or off under Workspace > Settings > Lessons > Record online lessons. If your lessons aren't being recorded, check this setting is enabled first.
In the same place, you can also choose:
Days to keep lesson recordings: how long recordings are kept before they're deleted, up to 365 days.
Roles that can view recordings: which roles can watch recordings. Administrators can always view them.
You can watch recordings from the lesson in Bobbin, or from the lesson in TutorCruncher.
Recordings are stored free for the first 90 days. After that, storage is charged at £0.10 per GB per month ($0.14 per GB per month for US customers).
Note: Recordings of lessons held in Lessonspace before you moved aren't transferred to Bobbin. You can still find them in your Lessonspace account.
Lesson summaries
Bobbin Lite can write a short summary of each recorded online lesson. It's off by default. To turn it on, go to Workspace > Settings > Lessons and switch on Summarize recorded lessons.
While it's on, recorded online lessons are transcribed and get a written summary, which appears on the lesson's Summary tab in Bobbin. A few things to know:
Summaries need recording too. A lesson only gets one if both Record online lessons and Summarize recorded lessons were on when it ran. Turning them on later doesn't add summaries to past lessons.
A Lite lesson gets a summary only, not insights, lesson reports or lesson plans. For those, switch AI on for the course.
Lessons where a student has opted out of recording aren't recorded or transcribed, so they don't get a summary.
If a summary doesn't appear, it can't be regenerated from the lesson page. Contact our support team with a link to the lesson.
While the setting is off, Bobbin Lite records lessons as video only and doesn't transcribe them. Courses with AI switched on are transcribed either way while your shared AI hours last.
Your Lessonspace account
You can keep your Lessonspace account open after moving to Bobbin. Past whiteboards and recordings aren't moved to Bobbin, so we recommend keeping the account active for as long as your tutors need to refer back to them.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I see "Authentication failed, link expired or not valid" when I play a recording?
For security, recording links are temporary and expire after a few hours. Refresh the lesson page in Bobbin and try again, which generates a fresh link. If you still see the error, contact our support team at [email protected] with a link to the lesson.
Why aren't lesson reminder emails being sent?
Reminder emails for lessons on TutorCruncher Jobs are sent by TutorCruncher, not Bobbin. Check your Lesson reminder settings in TutorCruncher.
Why does a Student see "This link belongs to your tutor"?
They've opened their Tutor's link instead of their own. They can type their name and ask to join, and the Tutor can let them in as the right Student. For next time, send them their own link (see Joining lessons: who uses which link above).
Why can't a Tutor let someone in, with the message "That person joins as a tutor"?
The person the Tutor picked has an Administrator or Tutor role in your organization, and Bobbin won't seat them in a Student's place. They should sign in to Bobbin with their own details and join the lesson that way.
Why does someone appear in the classroom under another person's name?
Bobbin names each person after the link they joined with. If someone opens another person's link, for example a Tutor testing with a Student's link on their own computer, they appear under that person's name. Ask everyone to join with their own link.
If we upgrade from Bobbin Lite, do we still get free trial hours?
Yes. Your 20 free trial hours start counting from the day you upgrade, so hours you used on Bobbin Lite don't count against them.