For teachers
Classroom duck race
"You always pick her." A random picker ends that argument. A duck race ends it with the whole room leaning toward the smartboard, cheering for duck 14.
Duck Race Derby picks a student, a group, or an order fairly, in front of everyone, in about the time it takes to take attendance. No accounts, no student email addresses, and the class list stays on your computer.
Sample class list
Aaron Abigail Austin Ben Carlos Elvia ...24 students
Paste first names or nicknames, one per line. The sample loads 24 so you can see a full class on the board.
Ways teachers use it
- Cold calling without the groan. Race the class, call on the winner, then use Remove winner and race again so nobody gets picked twice before everyone has had a turn.
- Presentation order. Keep removing winners until the board has given you a full running order. Recent results on the Save & share tab keep the list if you get interrupted.
- Group work. Race the group names to decide who presents first or picks a topic first. Load a sample with six teams.
- Classroom jobs and prizes. Line leader, materials manager, the reading-corner beanbag, the end-of-week prize box.
- A brain break. Let the class pin a duck each and cheer. Forty seconds, everyone back in their seats.
Built for a projector and a room full of opinions
In fullscreen, the course and the position board share the screen, and the board shows every name at a size the back row can read. Turn on high-contrast number badges in the Ducks tab for older projectors. Sound is off by default; turn it on for the starting horn and the finish fanfare, or leave it off during a quiet lesson.
If a student asks whether it's rigged, you have a real answer. The winner is drawn by the browser's cryptographic random generator the moment you press Start, and nothing you click afterward changes it. How fairness works explains it at a level a curious ninth grader will enjoy.
Student privacy
Students never sign up for anything. The names you paste are kept in your own browser and are not uploaded to Duck Race Derby unless you sign in to sync your saved lineups. The usage counts we collect (for example, "a race with 11 to 30 ducks finished") contain no names. To move a roster between school computers without an account, save a .duckderby race file to your drive. Setup links are handy for colleagues, but they include every name, so you'll be asked to confirm before creating one. Use first names or nicknames if your school prefers. Read the privacy notice for the details.
One saved race for each class period
Give each class its own race. Type a race name such as "Mrs. Smith's 3rd Period Duck Race" at the top of the Lineup tab, and it appears on a banner over the course, big enough to read from the back row. Paste that period's roster, pick a course, and choose Save this lineup.
When the bell rings, pick the next class from Saved lineups. The roster, banner, course, race length, duck looks, and winner message all switch together. If a student joins or leaves, edit the lineup and choose Save changes. Saved lineups stay on your classroom computer. To have them on every computer you use, from the classroom to home, sign in with Google or an email link and they sync automatically. Signing out on a shared computer can remove them from that machine.
Accessibility in the classroom
Students who are sensitive to motion can follow a low-motion race with the same result. Every control works from the keyboard, the position board announces the winner to screen readers, and a plain-text list of final standings appears under the course after each race.
Your class list, at the starting gate
Paste the names, press Start, and let the ducks pick.
Also see: duck races for meetings and teams and the full host's guide.