How to create and run a Live Quiz session

A Live Quiz gives you a read on your whole class within a minute or two of asking: teach a subtopic, release a hinge question, and see whether it landed.

When to use it: In class, when you want to check understanding before moving on.

Live Quiz sessions work the same way wherever you run Signal — in your browser, in Microsoft Teams, or in Canvas. The only step that differs by platform is how students join, covered under “Running the session”.

What a Live Quiz is for

A Live Quiz runs live in class and focuses only on checking for understanding. It does not include the other check-in types an Engage session has — no engagement checks, comments or reflections.

That narrowness is the point. You teach a subtopic, release a hinge question, and get a clear read on the class before deciding what to do next.

Setting up

1. Name the session, and check your display name — that is what students see.
2. Describe the session in the AI generation box: year group, topic, and the subtopics you plan to cover. The more specific the description, the better the questions.
3. Choose how many hinge questions to generate. Two or three across a lesson is typical for in-class use. You can generate up to 20 and release only the ones that are most relevant at the time.
4. Prepare for later rather than starting immediately if you are building the session in advance.

Reviewing the generated questions

Each question comes with its answer options and an explanation. The explanation covers why the correct answer is correct, and why each incorrect answer is wrong — including the misconception behind it.

That is what makes a hinge question effective: every wrong answer is diagnostic into student thinking, rather than a trap.

Questions generate as single answer by default. You can switch a question to multiple answer and ask Signal to rewrite it. You can also add questions manually.

Other question types

• Poll works exactly like a quiz question, but has no correct answer.
• Open answer lets students type a response. These need success criteria attached, and Signal will generate a model answer that you can either show to students or keep for your own reference. Open answers are harder to read for understanding, because there is no clear right or wrong, so multiple choice hinge questions remain the recommended format for in-class checks.

Neither poll nor open answer is generated by default when you create a session, because hinge questions are the focus.

Running the session

Share the join link with your students — or let the session appear automatically for students in Microsoft Teams or Canvas with linked accounts.

Start the session, then teach as normal. Release your first question once you have taught the relevant subtopic.

Students see the question, but not the explanation or the answer unless you reveal it. Once a student submits, they cannot edit their response. These are quick checks, not exams.

Reading the results

Responses appear live, and Signal gives you a recommendation on the Barton scale.

The Barton scale

• Under 20 per cent correct, or all incorrect — reteach.
• Between 20 and 80 per cent correct — recap and check again.
• Above 80 per cent correct, or all correct — move on.

The recommendation is guidance. The decision stays with you.

Where a result sits within a band matters too. A class on 33 per cent is at the low end of “recap and check again”, and may well warrant reteaching; a class on 75 per cent is at the top of the same band and probably only needs a recap.

For multiple answer questions, scoring works on correct answers out of total possible correct — so the figure depends on both the number of students and the number of correct options.

The rest of the data

Per question, you also get:

• Correct and incorrect counts.
• Fastest and median answer times.
• Individual student explanations.
• Flags for potential guesses, and for answers pasted in from elsewhere.
• An AI summary of the answer insights, grouped by common themes.

There is more detail on all of this in reading your check for understanding results.

Revealing and moving on

Reveal answer gives you two options: reveal and close the question, or reveal and keep it open. Closing stops any further submissions; keeping it open lets students who have not yet answered still submit.

You must close the current question before you can release the next one. If students need to answer in their own time, or may join late, an Assessment session is the better fit.

After the session

Ending the session gives you the overall insights across all questions. Export to PDF for a question-by-question breakdown.

Presenter view displays questions on the board without showing individual responses, and any question can be previewed as a participant before you release it.