To start a class session, begin by going to the Classes menu. Here you will see all your classes listed as cards.
You can use the bar at the top of this view to search for classes, filter by class type or location, or switch the view from a card view to a list view.
Once you've found the class, you can start a session by clicking the Start button in the lower right corner of the card. (In list view, click the 3-dot menu, and from that menu, select Start class.)
Before the class starts, you might also want to create or modify your students' seating arrangement. To do so, click on the three-dot icon and select seating chart. Learn more about creating a seating chart.
After you click the Start button, the Class session settings and Student selection menus will appear.
On this screen you can confirm optional settings before starting the class, and deselect absent students. Settings will be remembered on the same browser and computer when starting the next class.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| End class after | Set the time the class should end, or select duration to set the length of the class in hours and minutes. |
| Limit Tabs | This setting will determine the maximum number of tabs students may have open during the session. |
| Access plan | Block or allow certain sites or apps during the class session. For more information, see Blocking Plans |
| Site Lock to Collection | Start the class with Site Lock active. Select a collection to enable this option. When a collection is selected, you will also have the Do not open tabs option available, which functions the same as when using Site Lock while a class is already active. |
| Close all open tabs on start | All open browser tabs on student devices will be closed when class starts. |
| Allow students to raise hands | This setting enables or disables the hand raise feature, which is available when students click the Securly Classroom extension icon. |
| Allow students to initiate chat | When enabled, students can initiate a chat session with the teacher by clicking the Securly Classroom extension icon and selecting the Chat opiton. When disabled, the student must wait for the teacher to initiate the chat. |
| Play chat alert sound for students | This option will cause an alert sound to play on student devices when the teacher sends a chat message. This can be useful during remote teaching to get student's attention. Typically, it would be disabled during in-person class sessions to avoid sounds that could distract other students in the room. |
A list of students in the class will appear on the right. All students will be shown with a checkmark to indicate that they are selected for inclusion in the class session. Click on any student who should be excluded from the class, such as students who are absent.
You can also use the controls at the top to search for specific students, select All or None, and sort by first or last name.
A student will appear more than once if they're using multiple devices. Each device will be listed separately with a number next to the student's name to show which device is being monitored. For example, if "Ava Kim" is logged in on two devices, one of the devices will appear as "Ava Kim (2)", as shown below. You cannot select only one of those devices a student is logged in on to monitor. Unselecting (or selecting) one device will unselect the other as well.
If a student is still in another active class, an alert will be shown indicating the name of the class. The teacher has the option to include or exclude them in the new class. If the student is included in the new class, control of the student device will be transfered to the new class, thus pulling the student out of the previous one.
When starting a class with students who are still active in a previous class, an additional warning will be displayed.
Click the Start now button.
As soon as you start the class, students will receive a monitoring notification. They will also get a similar notification when you stop the class session.
If you don't want students to receive these notifications, you can turn it off from System settings. Irrespective of whether you enable or disable the notification setting, the Classroom extension icon on the student devices will turn dark blue and show the active session when hovering on it.
When the class session is running, the time remaining will be displayed in the upper right.
There are several class options that teachers can set from the My Account menu, such as whether or not to play chat alert sounds and choosing a display name for students to see as the teacher's name in chat windows. Refer to the My Account section of this guide for details.