Users with administrator access to Discovery Education can bulk import educators, students, and classrooms into Discovery Education and build classroom rosters using our CSV (Comma-separated Values) User Import Tool. If your district does not use a rostering tool like Clever or ClassLink, we recommend using our User Import Tool.
| You need a user account with administrative access to discoveryeducation.com to access the User Import tool. If you do not have an administrator account, please contact our Customer Support Team. |
User Import Process: Overview
How does the Import Tool work?
As an administrator in Discovery Education, you can create and update student, educator, and classroom roster data in by completing and uploading five CSV (Comma-separated value) files. Each file creates, updates, or organizes your user accounts, classrooms, and classroom rosters in Discovery Education.
| Teacher.csv | The Teacher.csv file creates or updates educator accounts in Discovery Education. |
| Student.csv | The Student.csv file creates or updates student accounts in Discovery Education. |
| Class.csv | The Class.csv file creates or updates classrooms in Discovery Education. |
| TeacherRoster.csv | The TeacherRoster.csv file connects the educator accounts that were created or updated in the Teacher.csv file to the classrooms that were created or updated classrooms in the Class.csv file. |
| StudentRoster.csv | The StudentRoster.csv file adds student accounts that were created or updated in the Student.csv file to the classrooms that were created or updated in the Class.csv file, creating classroom rosters. |
What best practices and tips should I keep in mind when completing each file?
Follow these guidelines to minimize import errors:
- All column headers must be present and all required fields must be populated in each file.
- Remove any extraneous commas in the data. If the commas are necessary, contain them within double quotes (eg. "smith, jr").
- If using double quotes, use "straight double quotes" for all instances of quotation marks. “Curly double quotes” may cause an error.
- Save each file in .csv format.
- File names must contain the word "teacher" or "student" or "class" or "roster", depending on the type of file you are completing.
| To see additional Import Tool tips and FAQs, click here to jump to the FAQ section of this article. |
Opening the User Import Tool
- Click the Global Nav icon on your Homepage.
- Select Admin Dashboard.
- When My Admin opens, click Tools and select User Import.
Step 1: Downloading Blank Import Templates
To download all blank file templates at the same time:
- After the User Import tool opens, confirm you are viewing the Roster Upload tab and then click Download All Templates to download all five blank roster file templates.
Step 2: Completing the Templates
After you have downloaded each template, input your educator, student, and class data into the corresponding CSV files.
You can learn more about each file in the Input Data section of the page.
- Required fields are identified with an asterisk (*)
- Click view more details to learn more about each field.
- Review the Important Notes underneath the file overviews.
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To see additional Import Tool tips and FAQs: |
Step 3: Uploading the Files
To upload files, you can either click Select Files or drag and drop files into the Upload window.
How you upload files depends on what you want to do
| Creating users, classes, and rosters for the first time |
Add all five files at the same time.
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| Updating majority of users, classes, and rosters for the new school year |
Add all five files at the same time.
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| Updating specific users, classes and/or rosters |
If only updating educator or student details as part of a smaller roster update:
If only updating classroom names and/or details:
If only updating which educators are associated with classrooms:
If only updating classroom rosters:
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Adding all files at the same time
- Select Files: Click Select Files and select all five files at the same time.
- Drag and Drop: Open the folder containing your roster files and either hold the Ctrl key (PC), or the Cmd key (Mac) to select, drag, and drop all five files at the same time.
Step 4: Processing & Reviewing Imported Files
After you upload the CSV files the Roster History tab opens, showing Current Roster numbers and the Upload History table. All files currently being processed appear at the top of the Upload History table and will cycle through several statuses.
In-Progress Status Options
| Awaiting Processing | You uploaded a file/files successfully, but the data has not been imported into the system. |
| File Import in Process | The file/s you uploaded is/are being imported. |
Updates Complete, Awaiting Post-Processing |
All updates from the file/s you uploaded have been imported and the system is processing updates. |
| File Waiting on Dependencies |
Uploading a single file: Processing the file data, connecting it with current system data (if it exists). Uploading multiple files at the same time: Importing the additional files in the file group and processing the data. |
Processing Completed Status Options
| Failed Upload | The file was not uploaded successfully. It contained too many errors to process. |
| File Contains Errors | The file was uploaded successfully, but included some errors that could not be processed. |
| Successfully Uploaded | The file was uploaded and processed successfully. It did not contain any errors. |
Viewing and Troubleshooting File Errors
When a file contains errors, you can see each error in the Error Report, correct the file, and upload the corrected file to address the errors.
To download the Error Report:
- From the Roster History tab, click Download Error Report.
| Error Reports can be downloaded for 30 days after the initial upload. After 30 days you will still see the file name, date, the account that uploaded the file, status (Failed or Success), and amount of errors, but the Download Error Report button is no longer visible. |
- When your device confirms the download is complete, open the file on your device and expand the columns to be able to read each field. Inside the Error Report, you can see the following:
- Which rows contained an error.
- The uploaded data in each row that may need to be adjusted.
- The RowNumber column identifies the row in your original file that contains the error
- The ErrorMessages column lists each error associated with the row, separated by semi-colons.
Addressing file errors
Use the row number from the original file and error message to identify the cause of each error and determine how to address the error. Is data missing from a field? Is an email not valid due to a typo? Did you upload a roster file before uploading the Student, Teacher, or Class files?
When you have identified what needs to be corrected, we recommend creating a new file that contains only the corrected data and importing the corrections.
| To save time, you may be able to make corrections directly on the Error Report. After you have corrected the data, remove the added columns, save the Error Report as a CSV with a different name, and upload the corrected file. |
Best Practices, Tips, and FAQs
| Q: What best practices do you recommend when completing files for the Import Tool? |
A: Follow these guidelines to help prevent import errors:
- All column headers must be present and all required fields must be populated.
- Remove any extraneous commas in the data. If the commas are necessary, contain them within double quotes (eg. "smith, jr").
- If using double quotes, use "straight double quotes: for all instances of quotation marks. “Curly double quotes” may cause an error.
- Save each file in .csv format.
- File names must contain the word "teacher" or "student" or "class" or "roster", depending on the type of file you are completing.
| Q: Why can't I add passwords using the Import Tool? |
A: For user security, passwords are not accepted as an import field. For students not set up with Single Sign-on, the Student ID can be used as a one-time password for students. Upon sign in, each student will be prompted to update their password.
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Want to learn more about how to set, update, and print Direct Login student passwords? Click an article title below. |
| Q: What are School IDs in Discovery Education? |
A: School IDs are the unique identifiers for each school in Discovery Education. They can be found in your My Admin dashboard. If you would like to use your own School IDs instead of our Site Passcodes, please let us know the corresponding IDs.
| Q: What are Discovery Education's best practices for usernames? |
A: Usernames must be unique to all of Discovery Education. We recommend using an email address to ensure uniqueness.
| Q: What are Discovery Education's best practices for confirming if we are creating or archiving data during an import? |
A: Add a Status column as the last column of each template.
- Add 1 in the Status column to indicate new data should be added or keep existing data active.
- Add 0 in the Status column to archive the data in that row.
| If the Status column is not added to the template, the data will default to remain active. |
| Q: If my district isn't using a rostering tool like ClassLink or Clever, is the Import Tool the only way to create educators, students, and classes in Discovery Education? |
A: If you prefer, teachers can create their own classes manually and add students to their classes, unless your district has disabled this option. To learn more, open our Manually Create Accounts & Classes article.
| Q: Can my district use Single-Sign-On (SSO) if we use the CSV Import Tool to set up user accounts and rosters? |
A: Yes! Click here to learn more about imports for Single Sign-On districts.