Frequently Asked Questions

“My daughter is doing her O-levels. As a parent, I’m concerned about strangers joining her sessions. Will Ascent be safe for her to use?”.  

Answer: Safeguarding is very important, and we recommend that your daughter creates Private Sessions to support her Goals. That way she can invite only those she knows and trusts. With Private Sessions only those with an invite will know about and can join your daughter’s Sessions. 

“If you’re performing better than your peers, and then you’re helping your peers to get better with Ascent… How does that help you? Doesn’t that make it worse for you?” 

Answer: Not really. One of the best ways to learn and really remember something is to teach another person. That way you really get to know the information because you often have to explain it in new ways to help the other person understand it. Anything you don’t fully understand is quickly identified (in time before the exam!) and then you can then work on improving your knowledge to an even greater level. The level of intellectual discussion with your peers will go up which leads to a better understanding of the subject matter. There is also a well-known theory in economics which describes how your competitive advantage actually increases by having more competition from your peers – so by helping others get better you are driven to become even better yourself

“I’ve logged in with a username and password so why can’t I see any of the Goals or Sessions my peers have organised?” 

Answer:

First check that you have joined the correct group. On the Groups page your icon should appear for that group and if you tap your icon you should see your name. 

If you don’t see your name then check that you are signed in using your Gmail account. Only a Gmail account allows the full functionality of the Goals and Sessions.  

When your peers invite you to a Goal or Session, they will invite you via your Gmail-linked account (so you’ll need to be logged in to Ascent with that Gmail account to see them). Note that If you sign in via a non-Gmail username/password, this will create an Ascent account but you won’t have access to any Goals/Sessions that your peers are creating. 

Please also ensure you have given permission for Ascent to access your calendar which will allow the Sessions to appear in your phone’s calendar. 

If you can see people in your group but there are still no Goals then it indicates no-one has yet created a goal. Please create a new Goal and associated Sessions and invite your peers to join you in these collaborative learning sessions.