Guide for instructors

Who this guide is for

You prepare what is taught. You build subjects and topics, approve the lesson plans the AI teacher follows, set up classes and their timetables, and read what happened in each session. Owners and admins can do all of this too.

Before you start

1. Open your organisation's address and add /app/console — or select Staff sign-in at the foot of its public page.

2. Sign in with Continue with Akadesk, or with the email and password from your invitation.

3. You arrive on the Dashboard (the Today tab on a phone): what is live now and what is coming up today.

Find your way around

The console works in a web browser on a computer, a tablet or a phone. The pages are the same; only where the menu sits changes.

On a computer, the menu is down the left side: Dashboard, Sessions, Classes, Courses, Curriculum, AI teachers, Reports and Settings, in your organisation's own words. The bar along the top holds the language (English or French), the theme (System, Light or Dark) and your name, which opens Profile & security and Log out. On a tablet, the menu opens from the button at the top left.

Use it on your phone

1. Open your organisation's address followed by /app/console in your phone's browser, and sign in.

2. The browser may offer, once, to put the app on your home screen. Select Install app (on an iPhone, the message tells you to use the Share button, then Add to Home Screen), or Not now to skip it.

3. A bar along the bottom holds four tabs: Today (the Dashboard), Sessions, Classes (in your organisation's words) and Reports.

4. The fifth tab, More, holds every other page (Courses, Curriculum, AI teachers, Settings), then your Account, Appearance, Language and Log out.

On a phone, the Sessions, Classes and Reports lists show one card per row instead of a table, and their filters fold behind one Filters button.

Build the curriculum

Open Curriculum (in More on a phone). It is organised as subjects, then topics, then lesson plans — and the AI teacher only teaches approved plans.

1. Select New subject and give it a name, a code, a level and a colour.

2. Open the subject and select New topic for each topic you will teach.

3. Open a topic and upload your Material — notes, slides or a textbook chapter. Lesson plans are drafted from it.

4. Select New lesson plan. Choose whether the teacher keeps to Only this material or uses Material plus general knowledge, then let the AI draft the sections, or write them yourself.

5. Read every section. Change what you need, then select Save draft or Save and approve.

Choose an AI teacher

Open the list of AI teachers (AI trainers in a training organisation; in More on a phone). Each one has a name, a voice, a look and a teaching style. Your organisation starts with one; select the button at the top to add more.

Set up a class

Open Classes (Cohorts in some organisations; a tab of its own on a phone) and select the button to create one.

1. Give the class a name, a subject, a level and an AI teacher.

2. Under Who can join, choose Enrolled only, your organisation's learners, or Anyone with the link.

3. Select Add a schedule: the days, the Start time, the Length (min) and the Lesson plans, in order. Sessions are created for the next 28 days and keep being created as time goes on.

4. Under Enrolled participants, add the learners who belong to the class.

5. To show the class on your organisation's public page, turn on Publish on public page and write a short Public summary.

Classroom settings decide what participants can do in the room: the Question board (post and vote on questions), Hand raising, Photo questions, whether questions are moderated, and whether a transcript is recorded.

The timetable and live sessions

Open Sessions to see the week, or switch to the list. On a phone, Sessions is a tab.

Each session runs on its own:

1. Its lobby opens a few minutes before the start time.

2. It goes live when the first participant arrives, and the AI teacher teaches the plan, paced to the slot.

3. Participants post questions and vote; the teacher answers the ones voted up and can hand a participant the microphone.

4. It ends at the end of the slot.

To add a single extra session, select One-off session. Open a live session's Live monitor to watch it: who is in the room, the questions and the transcript as it happens. You can end a session early from there. On a phone, a bar at the top of the monitor jumps between its parts.

Build a course

A course is an ordered set of approved lesson plans, run as classes with a start date. Learners who attend enough of its lessons complete it and can get a certificate.

1. Open Courses (in More on a phone) and select New course.

2. Under About, give it a Title, a Summary (shown on course cards and the public catalogue) and a Description, and choose its Subject, Level, Language and Default AI teacher.

3. Add the approved lesson plans it teaches, in teaching order.

4. Under Completion and certificate, set Completes after (the share of lessons a learner must attend) and when a session counts as attended. Turn on the certificate, choose Issue automatically or Issued by staff, and fill in Signed by and Their title.

5. Under Enrolment and price, choose how learners join, and whether it is Free or Paid. A paid course needs your organisation's payout account, which an admin connects.

6. Choose its Status, and List on the public page if it should appear there, then select Create course.

Once saved, open the course to add classes with a start date, and to follow its learners, certificates and sales in its tabs.

Quizzes, assignments and exams

A course's Question bank, Assessments, Marking and Gradebook tabs hold its assessment work.

1. Open Question bank and select Draft with AI. Choose a lesson, how many questions and their Types: multiple choice with one or several answers, true or false, or short answer. The AI reads the lesson plan and writes drafts. You can also write your own with New question.

2. Check each draft, edit it if needed, and select Approve question. Learners only ever see approved questions. A short answer needs its Accepted answers or a Model answer.

3. Open Assessments, select New assessment, and choose its Kind:

   • A Quiz: add questions from the bank, then set the Time limit (minutes), the Attempts allowed, when it Opens and Closes, and whether to Shuffle the questions.

   • An Assignment: write the Instructions, attach any Files for learners, and set the Due date, what it is Marked out of and how to treat Late work: accept it, accept it with a penalty, or refuse it.

   • An Exam: it needs Opens, Closes and a Time limit (minutes). Set Questions per attempt to draw that many at random from its questions, so each learner gets their own set in their own order. Learners have one attempt unless you allow more.

4. Select Publish. Learners are emailed, and the assessment appears in their course. Select Close to stop new attempts.

During a live session, the AI teacher asks each section's check question and learners can answer it on screen. Open the ended session to read their answers under Answers to check questions.

Mark and grade

Multiple choice and true-or-false answers mark themselves, and a short answer that matches an accepted answer gets full marks at once. For other short answers the AI suggests a mark; open Marking to confirm it or give your own. Under Marking and grades in Gradebook, Short answers can be set to AI marks are final instead, and you can still change any mark.

To mark an assignment, open it from Marking or the assessment's Attempts: read the answer and files, give a mark and Feedback, add any Files to return, and select Save the mark. A late penalty is taken off for you. The learner is emailed.

Quiz and assignment marks show to learners once final, unless you choose Hold marks until I release them. Exam marks are always held: select Release results when you are ready, and learners are emailed.

Gradebook shows every learner against every assessment, with the course total and grade. Set the Weights of the course total for quizzes, assignments and exams (together 100%). Select Export CSV for a spreadsheet. Your admins set the grades a total earns.

Set a Pass mark to make completing the course also need that total, as well as attendance. Turn on Show the grade on certificates to print the total and grade on certificates and their verify page. In Learners, a learner's menu has Result report for a PDF of their attendance and results.

After a session

Open an ended session for its attendance, the questions asked and the full transcript. Reports (a tab of its own on a phone) shows attendance by learner across sessions, with filters by level, class and dates, and Export CSV for a spreadsheet.

The phone app

Your organisation may also use the AI Learning phone app. For staff it shows the day's live sessions, the live monitor with Listen in, the sessions, the classes with their QR code or share link, and people. Sign in with Continue with Akadesk or your email and password, as on the web.

Tips and common questions

• The class has no sessions. Check it has a schedule, and that the schedule's lesson plans are approved.

• The teacher used the wrong material. Open the plan, correct the section, and approve it again; the next session uses the new version.

• A learner missed a session. They can read its transcript and notes from their History.

• I cannot publish an assessment. Every question in it must be approved. An exam also needs its window and a time limit, and an assignment its instructions or a file.

• A learner's mark does not show for them. Check whether its results are held, and select Release results.

Getting help

Ask your organisation's owner or an admin first. For anything else, use the Akadesk contact page.