protégé

The student is the teacher.

Gloam is confused about your lesson. Your students explain it, in their own words, until it gets it. They learn by teaching, and you see exactly what they understand.

Download Protégé See how it works

Free for every school, for Windows and Mac. It runs on one teacher laptop, AI included, and nothing about your students ever leaves it.

Students explain. Gloam gets it.

Gloam starts out confidently wrong. A student sets it straight, in their own words.

You taught Gloam the tilt.

No quiz, no marks. When an idea finally clicks, Gloam's lantern lights up, and the valley with it.

Nope. Earth is tilted. In June our half leans toward the sun, so the light hits us more directly and the days are longer. That's summer.

Your turn. Gloam has a new theory.

Why does a metal spoon feel colder than a wooden one, even when they've been in the same room all day?

“metal is a cold material. it was born that way.”

In class, Gloam reads whatever students write, using the AI on your school's computer. This preview uses written answers.

Zero grading. A clear picture of every student.

Bring your own lesson

Upload your notes, slides, a PDF or a Word file. Gloam drafts the lesson on your computer: the key ideas, the wrong ideas students usually have, and the questions it will ask.

My notes: why we have seasons

Earth's axis is tilted 23.5°. When a hemisphere leans toward the sun, sunlight is more direct and days are longer: summer. Common mix-up: summer is when Earth is closest to the sun (it isn't!).

  1. The tilt
  2. Direct light
  3. Day length
  4. Hemispheres

You approve it

Read Gloam's draft, change anything, and approve it. Students only ever see a lesson you approved.

The teacher's lesson page: the title, grade and language, and Gloam's wrong theory, ready to edit and approve.

Watch the candles light up

Each student's candles show which ideas they explained well and where they're stuck. "What the class thinks" shows the wrong ideas many students said out loud. Candles are Gloam's estimate, never a mark, and you can correct any of them.

Pretend students and their candles
StudentThe tiltDirect lightDay lengthHemispheres
Moss Otter
Comet
Pixel Fern
Bluejay
Quiet Storm
Noodle

What the class thinks: 9 students said Earth is closer to the sun in summer.

One idea, every grade.

The class's grade picks the world, the words and the Gloam. Nothing feels too babyish, or too hard.

A sunny storybook meadow with a round, bright Gloam.
Kindergarten to grade 2 A sunny meadow, tiny words, big buttons, and read-aloud on from the start.
A storybook forest with mushroom houses and a playful Gloam.
Grades 3 to 5 A mushroom forest and a cheeky, playful Gloam.
Windy sea cliffs at twilight with a dramatic Gloam in a scarf.
Grades 6 to 8 Windy cliffs and a goofy, very dramatic Gloam.
A moody night valley with a deadpan Gloam.
Grades 9 to 12 A night valley and a dry, deadpan Gloam who hates being wrong.

Nothing leaves the laptop.

  • Protégé, its AI and voice typing all run on one school computer. Its makers never receive anything about anyone.
  • Nicknames, not names. No emails, birthdays or photos. Students sign in with secret pictures.
  • Students are told Gloam is an AI, and who can read what they write.
  • No trackers, ads or analytics, in Protégé or on this website.
  • Deleted on your school board's schedule, with tools to see, correct or delete one student's information.
Privacy, in plain words
the internet the school laptop

Every student can play

Every student screen has "Ways to play". Try them here: they change the preview, like they change Protégé.

Also: talk instead of typing (turned into words on the school's computer, never saved), less motion, and full keyboard and screen reader support, in English and French. The settings follow each student to any Chromebook.

How accessibility was checked

wait. so the spoon is stealing my heat?

Explain it to Gloam…Teach

Wake Gloam up on your laptop.

One download. No accounts with anyone, no credit card, nothing to pay, ever.

Download Protégé

For Windows 10 and 11, and Mac. About 60 MB, then Gloam's brain downloads by itself (a few GB, once).

  1. Open the installer. If Windows says it "protected your PC", choose More info, then Run anyway. (Protégé is free, so it isn't paid-signed.)Drag Protégé into Applications. The first time, open it from System Settings, Privacy & Security, then Open Anyway.
  2. Gloam wakes up. Protégé opens in your browser and sets itself up while you make your account.
  3. Make a class. Students join from their Chromebooks with a short code. Nothing to install for them.
Protégé setting itself up: Gloam asleep in the night valley while its brain downloads, and a card to make your teacher account.

Other downloads: Windows installer, Mac, and for school IT, the portable Windows zip and Mac zip. The setup guide has everything else.

For school boards

Everything a privacy officer, IT department or principal needs to say yes. Built for Ontario's laws first, and the strictest rules worldwide.