Building your first deck

Log in at octodecks.app. The first time you sign in, the Teacher Hub shows you two ways to begin.

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1. Click Start with a blank deck to follow this guide exactly.
2. Or click Start from a template for a ready-made lesson structure with activities already in place.

Once you have some decks, the Hub shows your recent work instead. To start a new one, open the Deck Library and click New Deck in the top-right corner.

Your new deck opens in the editor. It has three columns and a toolbar across the top.

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• 1Slides. Every slide in your deck, in order. Click one to edit it. + Add Slide is at the bottom.
• 2Canvas. The slide as students will see it. Click any text on it to edit.
• 3Settings panel. Options for the selected slide: its layout, images, the correct answer for a quiz, support and challenge, and your teacher notes.
• 4Present. Starts a live lesson when you're ready. See step 13.

Click Untitled Deck at the top of the screen and type a name. This is the name you'll see in your Deck Library.

You don't need to press save. OctoDecks saves as you work, and a ✓ Saved message with the time appears next to the name.

Every new deck begins with a Starter Slide. It's the first thing students see when they come in. The Join at box in the corner shows your live room code once you start presenting, so students can join straight away.

1. Click the heading on the canvas. It gets a blue outline, which means you can type.
2. Type your starter question. We used "Why are kettles made from polymer?"
3. Click anywhere outside the text to finish editing.

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You can also use the settings panel to add a picture. Paste an image address into Image, or click the upload button next to it. Use Image position to put the picture on the left or right. Interactive activity adds a live activity, such as a Word Cloud, to the starter.

Click + Add Slide at the bottom of the slides list. The picker shows the most-used layouts first.

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1. Click a layout to add it. We added a Statement slide for the key concept.
2. Can't see the layout you want? Type in the search box, for example timeline, poll or image, or click All layouts.
3. Click the new slide's text on the canvas to replace the example content.

Live activities are what make OctoDecks interactive. Students answer on their own devices and you see the results on the board straight away. Let's add a quiz question.

1. Click + Add Slide and choose Multi Choice.
2. Click the question and each answer on the canvas and type your own.
3. In the settings panel, under Correct answer, choose the right option. Choose No correct answer — polling only if you're gathering opinions rather than testing.

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A Results slide appears straight after your question. During the lesson it shows the class's answers as a live bar chart, so you can see who's got it before you move on.

We finished the lesson with an Exit Ticket slide, where students type a short answer before they leave.

Every slide has a Make it work for everyone section in the settings panel. Support adds key words that students can tap during the lesson to see a picture and a definition. Students switch it on themselves, so nobody is singled out.

1. Select the slide and click Support in the settings panel.
2. Under From your bold words, click a suggestion to add it. You can also click + Add tagged word to type your own.
3. Add a picture and, if you like, a short definition for each word.

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Slides with support show a small Aa badge in the slides list, so you can see at a glance which ones have it.

Challenge gives a slide a harder version. During the lesson, students can choose it for themselves. The standard slide is called the core version.

1. Select the slide and click Challenge in the settings panel.
2. OctoDecks copies the slide and shows it on the canvas with a green Challenge version label.
3. Edit the text on the canvas to make it harder. We changed the key concept into an explanation question.
4. Click Back to core when you're done.

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Compare with core shows both versions one above the other, which helps you check that the step up is right. Under Further resources you can add links that only students on the challenge version will see.

At the bottom of the settings panel is a Teacher notes box for each slide. It's marked Private — not visible to students, so you can use it for your script, questions you want to ask, or reminders about particular students or groups.

Hover over a slide in the slides list to see its controls.

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• 1Drag handle. Drag the dotted handle up or down to change the order.
• 2Duplicate. Makes a copy of the slide straight after it. This is handy for a run of similar questions.
• 3Delete. Removes the slide. You'll be asked to confirm first.

Made a mistake? Use the undo arrow in the toolbar, or press ⌘ Z (Mac) or Ctrl Z (Windows).

Click Theme in the toolbar to choose an accent colour and a background for the whole deck. The half-dark, half-light background follows each viewer's light or dark mode. Any other background stays the same for everyone.

Your deck is already saved (see step 3), and it appears in All Decks in your Deck Library. Click the OctoDecks logo in the top-left corner to go back there.

The File menu has everything else:

• Lesson code, such as 9X2 · Forces L3, is printed on this deck's worksheets. You can also choose a Folder once you've created folders in the library.
• Import… opens a deck file (.octodeck or .json) that a colleague has shared with you.
• Export saves the deck as a file to share, a PDF, or a PowerPoint (.pptx).
• Worksheet makes a printable student worksheet from your slides.

When your lesson is ready, click Present to start it on this screen. The arrow next to it has two more options:

• Presenter view (2 screens) puts the slides on the board and your notes and controls on your own screen.
• Present offline (no Wi-Fi) runs the slides without an internet connection. Live activities need a connection, so they won't work in this mode.

When you present, a room code appears on the board. Students go to octodecks.app on any device and type the code. They don't need accounts. The next guide, Running a live lesson, covers what happens from there.