ProfDesk is built for individual teachers, you sign up yourself, there's no institutional IT setup or admin approval step.
Go to Sign Up. From the homepage, click Sign In then Create Free Account, or go straight to index.php?action=signup.
Fill in your details. Name, username/password, and a valid email address. Unlike students, instructor email is required, it's how we send your verification link, password resets, and (if you opt in) message notifications.
Submit the form. Your account is created immediately, but it starts in a locked-down state until your email is verified.
2. Verify your email
Check your inbox for a message from [email protected] with a verification link.
Click the verification link. It's valid for a limited time. Clicking it marks your email verified and takes you to the login page (or, if you're already logged in when you click it, straight to your Courses page).
Log in. Use the username/password you set at signup.
Didn't get the email? Use Resend Verification on the pending-verification screen. It regenerates a fresh token and re-sends the email. Check spam/junk if it doesn't arrive within a couple of minutes.
Why verification is required: until your email is verified, ProfDesk blocks course creation and adding students. This keeps the platform's student data protections meaningful, and it also guarantees you can recover your account by email later. Only your profile/account pages remain reachable while unverified.
3. Try the optional demo course
ProfDesk does not add a demo course without asking. On your Courses page, choose Try a demo course if you want a safe workspace to explore first. The demo includes:
A realistic assessment structure with category weights already set up
Sample rubrics and a couple of graded/ungraded student submissions to look at in ZenGrader
A small starter roster so screens like Gradebook, Attendance, and Roster aren't empty
A limited, separate lifetime AI trial allowance (so you can try Generate with AI, Auto-Grade with AI, and the CLO/PLO AI assistant on the sample course without touching your real monthly quota)
After you add it, look for Resume tour on the demo dashboard. The tour points to the current dashboard tools, ZenGrader, and the OBE screens.
It's completely safe to explore. Click buttons, grade a submission, run the AI assistant, and break things. The sample course is yours to experiment in. When you're comfortable, delete it from Course Settings › Danger Zone. Sample deletion is permanent, including its files, but you can load a fresh sample afterward. Deleting it never affects your real courses.
The current Courses page lets you create a course or add the optional demo when you are ready.
4. Orient yourself on the dashboard
Your Courses page (index.php?action=courses) is the home base after login. It shows summary counts and a course table with each course's status and actions. A "Locked (Read-Only)" badge means the course is outside your Free-plan active-course limit. See Plans & Billing. Open a course to reach the dashboard described in Courses & Settings.
Your account menu (top-right, your name/username) leads to My Account, where you manage your profile, email, password, and see your current plan badge (FREE PLAN / PRO).
5. Build your first real course
When you're ready, click Create a Course. Choose Build with ProfDesk AI for editable suggestions such as a description, syllabus, textbooks, and assessments, or Set up manually for a shorter essentials-only walkthrough. Both routes start with Absolute grading, OBE off, and invitation-code enrollment selected.
