Live Session Scheduling

Who this is for

Teachers scheduling upcoming live lessons and managing class meetings.

What this page answers

• How do I schedule a live session from the calendar or class plan?
• How does meeting duration work across slots and calendar entries?
• What actions are available from empty calendar slots?
• How do conflict checks and the Next meeting card help manage upcoming classes?

Prerequisites

• At least one active class, student enrollment, or course lesson

1. Create a session from Schedule

Open Schedule (/platform/schedule), click to add a session, and fill in the essentials:

• Class or Student: Select the class cohort or individual student.
• Lesson: Pick an upcoming lesson or leave unassigned to select inside the classroom.
• Date and Time: Pick the day and start time.
• Duration: Duration comes directly from the weekly recurring slot, the scheduled meeting duration, or the class default duration. Source course lesson materials do not carry or override session lengths.
• Meeting Type: Live video session or asynchronous lesson release.

Academic leads, Operations admins, and Owners can use the teacher filter on Schedule to view individual teacher calendars when reviewing workloads or coordinating schedules.

Schedule Toolbar: Booking Hours & Google Calendar Sync

Your Schedule toolbar houses controls for setting availability and syncing calendars:

• "Booking hours": Click to enter paint mode directly on the weekly calendar. Existing lessons dim into the background, and a top banner displays: "Students can book a lesson with you in the marked hours. Drag across the calendar to mark the hours for every week." Drag across 30-minute cells (00:00–24:00) to paint or clear booking windows, then click Save. (Visiting /platform/profile#availability redirects to /platform/schedule?availability=edit).
• "Show booking hours" Toggle: Toggles teal availability shading on or off. If you have not painted any booking hours yet, the toolbar reminds you: "Students cannot book a lesson with you because you have not marked your booking hours." with a direct Mark hours link.
• Google Calendar Settings Popover: Click the gear icon on the calendar toolbar (which displays a Google G badge when sync is available) to configure Google Calendar integration. (Visiting /platform/profile#google-calendar redirects to /platform/schedule?calendar_settings=google).
  • Connect / Reconnect: Authenticate your Google account with visual status and email confirmation.
  • Target Calendar Picker: Choose which Google calendar receives Locuto sessions.
  • "Add my Locuto lessons to Google": Export lessons automatically.
  • "Block slots when I am busy in Google": Imports busy blocks as background shading to prevent student bookings without disrupting scheduled lesson cards.
  • "All-day events block the whole day": Blocks teaching availability on all-day Google events.
  • "Disconnect": Unlinks Google Calendar with an optional prompt to remove previously exported lessons.

Empty calendar slots & quick actions

Clicking any empty time slot on the Schedule grid opens a quick action menu with two choices:

• Book a meeting for an existing class: Opens the scheduling dialog prefilled with the clicked day and time, allowing you to select an existing class and attach the next waiting lesson from its plan.
• Create a class: Opens the unified Class Setup dialog (the four questions) prefilled with the clicked day and time. You can set up a new group class or an individual Class of One, configure weekly slots, paste student emails, and select the first lesson in one streamlined flow.

Meeting Duration & Dynamic Room Resizing

Lesson duration in modern classes follows clear rules:

• Duration Sources: The length of a live session is set by the class's weekly recurring slot, the length entered when booking a dated meeting, or the class default duration. Course lesson documents never dictate calendar session lengths.
• Dynamic Resizing on Move: If you drag or reschedule an unstarted meeting to a calendar slot of a different length, the future live room automatically resizes to match the new duration without truncating lesson content.

The Next Meeting Card & Lesson Unlocking

On the class Lessons & plan page, the top Next class / Next meeting card acts as your mission control:

• Automatic Next Lesson Attachment: Booking a new meeting on the calendar automatically attaches the next unheld lesson from your curriculum plan.
• Free Meeting + Button ("Choose a lesson"): If a meeting slot has no lesson assigned yet, the card displays a + icon button ("Choose a lesson"). Clicking it (or clicking the row) opens the lesson picker to assign a specific lesson to that date. The chosen lesson adopts the slot's scheduled duration and is pinned to that date, while earlier free slots remain open.
• Automatic Shift on Cancellation: If a meeting that has an assigned lesson is canceled, that lesson automatically shifts forward to the next available uncancelled meeting.
• Unlocking on Start: Live class lessons do not unlock prematurely. The lesson and its attached satellite homework unlock for students the moment the teacher clicks Start class inside the live room.
• Missed Meetings: If a meeting time elapses without being started, the card remains clear: it asks whether you want to Open for students for self-paced study or Move to the next meeting to roll the lesson forward to your next scheduled session.

Transparent Conflict Messages

When scheduling or moving a meeting, Locuto performs comprehensive availability checks:

• If a scheduling conflict arises, the system provides a transparent conflict notice.
• Rather than showing a generic error, the notice explicitly identifies:
  • The exact teacher or student with the conflict
  • The conflicting time window
  • The specific class or lesson name causing the overlap
• This makes resolving schedule overlaps fast and straightforward.

Choosing the Right Participant Setup

Adding Context: The Assignment Note

When assigning a lesson or scheduling a meeting, you can add an assignment note (up to 1,000 characters) to set expectations and outline preparation:

• What topics the session will explore
• What exercises or readings to review beforehand
• Reminders about homework or needed materials

The note appears on student calendar events, email notifications, and in the "Lesson Starting Soon" card on their dashboard.

One-Time Teacher Substitution

If a colleague needs to cover a scheduled class session:

1. Open the lesson from the calendar or schedule view and click Edit.
2. Under the teacher field, click Substitute.
3. Choose the substitute teacher from the dropdown and confirm the "this lesson only" notice.
4. The change takes effect immediately for that session without modifying the class's permanent teacher assignment.

Related pages

• Classes for the unified four-question class setup
• Class Programs & Learning Plans for sequencing curriculum and following courses
• Running Live Sessions for the live classroom interface
• Availability Schedule & Google Calendar Sync for calendar synchronization