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Note that classroom are meant for teachers with their class or parents with their children.
Indeed, when entering a classroom, your email address is visible to the "owner" of the classroom. So be sure you want to have your email shared before entering someone's classroom.
In addition, the "teacher" has the ability to remove some of the course, to keep you from participating in discussion forums, and to prevent you from being able to write on peoples' activity streams. You should only join the classroom of someone you know and trust.
How do I gain access to classrooms when I am not a student at an actual school and am simply learning a language on here on my own like I was able to before? Are "Duolingo" and "Duolingo for Schools" two separate things now? Because I signed up for just Duolingo and I don't understand how to gain access now, it is not clearly stated anywhere
How do I gain access to classrooms
By being given a classroom code/link by the "owner" of the classroom.
when I am not a student at an actual school and am simply learning a language on here on my own
Then classroom aren't meant for you nor do you need them to learn.
Classroom are meant for School teachers (or parents) to follow the progress of their students (or children). It is a tool for teachers as it gives them tools to follow their students; it is not a tool for student as it adds nothing for the students.
Moreover, by entering a classroom as a student:
- the owner of the classroom can see your email address
- the owner of the classroom can enter your account, hence (s)he can
- change your password and, hence, take the control (=rob) your account, if they want
- change your email address in the settings of your Duo account, hence making impossible for you to gain back access to your account nor to receive any mail notification
- block your access to forums and other features.
So, as you see classroom are only meant for students entering the classroom of their own teacher, that they know in real life.
I was able to before?
I don't get what you "lost" between "before" (when was it?) and now.
If you don't know how to access classroom, it's that you never entered before, hence didn't "lost" it.
Are "Duolingo" and "Duolingo for Schools" two separate things now?
Not more now than before.
Duolingo for Schools (schools.duolingo.com) is the platform for the teachers to follow their students progress. Their students only have to use Duolingo (www.duolingo.com).
But having an account on any part of Duolingo (www.duolingo.com, schools.duolingo.com, tinycards.duolingo.com, etc.) makes you have access to all parts (with said account) so in that sense their aren't "separate", but they never have been "separated" in that sense.
it is not clearly stated anywhere
Everything seems to me very well, in details and in length explained in the Support Pages.
See there the 47 articles of the section "About Duolingo for Schools".
This told me everything I needed to know about classrooms. Thank you.
