Student Picker

What is the Student Picker?

Student Picker is a classroom-first name picker. The default behaviour is the one teachers actually want: nobody gets called twice until the whole class has been called once. When the round finishes it either starts a new one automatically or waits for you, and it keeps a count of how many times each student has been picked so you can see the pattern over a lesson.

Absences are handled without editing the list. Untick a student in the entry options and they stay in your class list but drop out of the draw until you tick them back.

How to use it

1. Paste your class list — first names or initials are enough.
2. Untick anyone who is absent today.
3. Leave “no repeats until everyone has been picked” switched on for even coverage.
4. Press “Pick a student”. The name appears in large type.
5. Use “Full screen” to project it, or “Presentation order” to generate a running order for the whole class at once.
6. Press “Start a new round” whenever you want to reset the coverage.

How the random selection works

Each pick draws uniformly from the students who are present and have not yet been called this round, using rejection sampling over crypto.getRandomValues(). Because the eligible pool shrinks after each pick, coverage is guaranteed: over a full round every present student is called exactly once, in a random order. Turning off no-repeat mode returns to a plain uniform draw over everyone present.

The full algorithm — including the rejection-sampling step and the wheel stop-angle calculation — is written out on the methodology page.

Practical examples

• Cold-calling during a discussion without unconsciously favouring the same hands.
• Choosing who reads next, with the class able to see that it is a fair draw.
• Building a presentation order for twenty students in one press.
• Picking a student to demonstrate a problem on the board.
• Spot-checking homework by drawing three names from the present students.

Available options

• No-repeat rounds with automatic or manual reset.
• Absent toggles that keep students in the list.
• Pick counts per student for the current session.
• Presentation order generation.
• Full-screen classroom mode with a large result.
• Sound off by default, animation off if you prefer, and read-aloud available.

Privacy

Student names deserve more care than most lists, so this tool is deliberately conservative. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is saved automatically, and the class list disappears when you close the tab unless you deliberately save it. If you do save a list, it stays in that browser on that device — which means a shared staffroom computer is a poor place to save it. Use first names or initials where you can, and do not enter student ID numbers, contact details, addresses or notes about individual students: this tool needs none of that to work.

Full details are in the privacy policy, which also has a button that deletes everything this site has stored in your browser.

Fairness and limitations

No-repeat mode gives every present student exactly one turn per round, which is fairer over a lesson than independent draws — with plain random picking, some students would be called three times before others were called at all. What the tool cannot know is context: whether a student is having a hard day, whether they were called yesterday, or whether the question is one they are ready for. It is a fairness aid, not a substitute for reading the room.