Running a live lesson

Open your deck in the editor. Present is in the top-right corner, and the arrow next to it gives you more options.

• Present shows the slides on this screen. Use it when your computer screen is mirrored to the board.
• Presenter view (2 screens) puts the slides on the board and your notes on your laptop. See step 9.
• Present offline (no Wi-Fi) shows the slides only. There's no room code and no live activities, so use it only when your connection is down.

After you press Present, OctoDecks asks you to click once more. That click is what lets it go fullscreen.

Click anywhere, or press Space or Enter. The slides fill the screen and a room code appears.

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• 1Join code and head count. This stays on screen on every slide, with a live count of how many students have joined.
• 2Join box. The starter slide shows the web address and code in large type, so the back row can read it.
• 3Back and Next. These move through the slides. See step 4.
• 4End Session. Use this when the lesson is over. See step 10.

Students join on their own devices:

1. Go to octodecks.app.
2. Type the room code from the board.
3. Tap Join lesson.

They don't need to sign in or give a name. Each student gets a number (001, 002 and so on) based on the order they join. The number stays on their screen for the whole lesson, and the count in the top bar goes up as each student arrives.

Click Next → and ← Back at the bottom of the screen. You can also use the keyboard: →, ↓, Space, Enter or Page Down to go forward, and ← or ↑ to go back. Most presentation clickers work too.

Students' screens follow yours, so everyone is always on the same slide.

Each student sees the current slide on their own device, with a small toolbar at the top:

• A− / A+ make the text smaller or bigger, and Aa switches the font. Students can set these for themselves.
• Live shows the device is connected to your lesson.
• Challenge me switches to the challenge version of any slide that has one. Students choose it themselves, and it doesn't change what anyone else sees.

Key words you added as Support have a dotted underline. Students tap one to see its picture and definition:

When you reach a Multi Choice slide, the answer buttons become live on every student's device. Students tap an answer, and if you set a correct answer, they're told straight away whether they got it right.

Your screen doesn't show who picked what, so students won't copy the most popular answer. A bar along the bottom counts responses as they come in.

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Press Next to go to the Results slide. It shows how the class answered as a bar chart. The correct answer stays hidden until you're ready.

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On an Exit Ticket slide, each student gets a box to type their answer in, and taps Submit ✓.

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Answers appear on your screen as they arrive:

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• Click the × next to an answer to remove it from the board.
• ❄ Freeze input stops new answers while you discuss them. Click it again to reopen.

If your board is a second screen rather than a mirror, choose Presenter view (2 screens) from the Present menu. The slides go fullscreen on the board, and your laptop shows this:

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• 1Current slide. What the class can see right now.
• 2Up next. A preview of the next slide, so you know what's coming.
• 3Teacher notes. The private notes you wrote in the editor.
• 4Timer. How long the lesson has been running.

The first time, Chrome or Edge may ask for permission to manage your windows. Allow it, and OctoDecks will put each window on the right screen for you.

Click End Session in the top-right corner. OctoDecks offers to save a copy of the lesson first:

• Export as PDF or Export as PowerPoint saves your slides together with every live response from the lesson. You can then upload the file to Google Classroom.
• End without saving closes the session straight away.

Either way, the session closes, students go back to the join screen, and the room code stops working. You return to the editor.