# Getting Started

## What Is GitHub Classroom?

GitHub Classroom is a way to distribute coding homework assignments though the use of Git, a powerful tool for version control and remote storage of programming projects. For your work on Brown's JupyterHub, GitHub is the recommended method for saving and storing your active projects as it is not only the industry standard, but it you can take your projects with you as the foundation of your programming portfolio.

GitHub Classroom operates on a classroom organization level, where students are invited to join classrooms hosted by instructors. Once part of a GitHub classroom, assignments will be distributed and you will be given your own personal clone of the assignment, where you are free to make changes and save the product which is automatically synced and shared with your instructor. The next steps will help you to get started using GitHub classroom provided your instructor is utilizing this tool for their class.

## Step 0: Create a GitHub Account

In order to use github classroom, you must first create a github account (if you already have an existing account, you can skip this step). To create an account, go to [https://github.com/join](https://github.com/join?source=header-home) and complete the account creation process. We recommend you use an appropriate username is it is publicly visible.

![](/files/IZBFPsDsOY10joMnEnDM)

## Step 1: Join Your GitHub Classroom

Once you have a GitHub account, you must join your classes corresponding GitHub Classroom organization. To do this, follow the link provided by your instructor's classroom invitation link. This will require you to sign in to your GitHub account, and then you will automatically become linked!


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