Online lesson settings

Why this exists

Online lessons need clear, safe rules: when the room opens, who lets a family in, what a parent can do and whether anything is recorded. These settings decide that once for every online lesson at your centre. Tutors then just teach, and families get the same safe experience every time.

Your centre can teach lessons online in its own classroom inside the portal. Settings > Online lessons holds the choices for every online lesson at your centre.

Before you start

You need the settings.edit permission. Turning on video needs integrations.manage too. Some choices ask you to confirm with two-step sign-in.

Turn on video

1. Go to Settings > Online lessons.
2. Under Video, press Turn on online lessons. This uses the platform's video service: nothing to sign up for, and the minutes used appear on your bill.
3. To use your own LiveKit account instead, connect it under Settings > Integrations > LiveKit.

Once video is on, staff can choose Online classroom when booking a lesson.

The waiting room

The classroom opens 15 minutes before the lesson and closes 30 minutes after. Choose how the family comes in:

• Let the family in as soon as the tutor is in the room (the default).
• The tutor lets each person in, useful for group lessons.

Either way, nobody from the family is ever in the room without the tutor.

Parents in the room

• Parents take part (the default): camera, microphone, the board and sharing their screen. Everyone sees "Parent in the room", and the tutor can mute them, stop their screen share and clear the board.
• Parents watch only: camera and microphone off, the board read only, reactions and a raised hand still allowed. Everyone sees "Parent watching".

If the page says watch only is not switched on for your centre yet, parents take part.

Recording

Off unless you turn it on. A lesson is only recorded when every child on it has a parent's consent to recording. Recordings are kept for 90 days unless held for a safety concern, and every viewing is logged. If the page says recording is not switched on or not set up yet, nothing is recorded, even with the switch on.

Lesson notes from the tutor's words

Off unless you turn it on. When it is on, a tutor can choose in each lesson to have their own microphone turned into text, which helps draft the lesson wrap-up. Everyone sees "Tutor's notes on". The text stays on the tutor's device and is never saved on the server. If the page says this is not switched on yet, it cannot be used.

Good to know

Admins and compliance staff can drop in on any online lesson. They are always shown as "Centre staff watching", and every visit is logged.

Related

• Connecting your services
• Two-step sign-in