| At SchoolSpace, we put safety first, and that includes making sure only the right people can enter each of your virtual worlds. This article explains how access is managed through Single Sign‑On (SSO), guestlists, and temporary access, so you can feel confident about security whether you’re a school leader, staff member, or parent. |
Why Restrict Access?
SchoolSpace gives you a lot of flexibility when it comes to who can enter a virtual world. Of course, one key reason is security: you want to make sure only the right people are joining your school’s spaces.
You might also want to:
- Create separate worlds for different grade bands, like K–5, 6-8, or high school.
- Limit access to specific classes, clubs, or student populations, like an honors group, robotics team, or MTSS Tier.
- Occasionally invite trusted guests into a world — like a parent joining for a family engagement event, or a guest speaker visiting a career fair.
No matter the situation, SchoolSpace makes it easy to set up access controls that fit your needs.
Fast and Secure Integration (SSO + SIS)
SchoolSpace integrates directly with your Student Information System (SIS) and your Single Sign-On (SSO) provider.
This means:
- Students and staff can log in using their school email - no extra accounts needed.
- User accounts are automatically synced with your SIS. If a student moves grades or changes classes, their SchoolSpace access is updated.
- We support major identity providers like Clever, ClassLink, and others.
- You can use LTI 1.3 to embed SchoolSpace into your LMS (like Canvas, Schoology, and more).
This SSO + SIS setup gives you a secure foundation for all other access controls - no need to manage accounts manually. Getting started is simple and most schools are fully set up within 20 minutes.
Restrict Access to Worlds based on User Attributes
Once your school is set up with SSO and connected to your SIS, you can further restrict access to a specific SchoolSpace world based on key student or staff attributes, like grade level, class enrollment, or club membership.
These attributes determine who can enter which worlds.
What this means in practice:
You can create a world and set it to allow only specific groups of students. For example:
- A “K–2 Playground” world for your youngest learners.
- A “Robotics Club House” that only members of that extracurricular group can enter.
- A “9th Grade English” world tied to students in a particular class.
And, if you’ve connected to your LMS, you can limit access to enrolled participants in a course.
This helps keep interactions safe, focused, and age-appropriate.
Invite Others with Guestlist or Temporary Access
Sometimes, you may want to invite someone who’s not part of your school into a SchoolSpace world. Examples might include:
- A career day guest speaker
- A parent-teacher conference
- A family engagement night
- A student showcase for the community
You can do this using our Guestlist Bypass option. It allows you to give temporary access to non-school users without weakening your security.
Options include:
- Guestlist: Add specific emails to a list. Only those guests can enter the world.
- Guestlist Bypass SSO: Allow trusted guests to log in without a school account and still allow your student users to enter the world with traditional SSO login.
- Require Display Name: Lock guests to a specific display name so you know who they are in the world.
- Password Protection: Add a password to a world for temporary access (great for one-time events).
School staff can add guest emails manually or upload a full guestlist file. Guests must log in with an email address from the list. After the event is over, the guestlist can be cleared. Learn how to set up a guestlist.
Keep Learning!
Prevent Unsupervised Interactions with Chaperone Mode and Silent Mode