Go live
This is the part that sounds technical and is not. You will install one free program, click a few buttons on YouTube, and paste one link into your class. Do it once on a quiet afternoon and it takes two minutes every week after that.
Before you start
What you need
- A session with cards prepared.
- A computer with a webcam and a microphone.
- A Google account, for YouTube.
- About an hour the first time. Two minutes every time after that.
What you will have
- Your class watching you live inside their classroom page.
- Cards, polls and questions running alongside the video.
- A recording students can watch again afterwards.
Choose your streaming route
There are two ways to get your face and your screen in front of your class. The difference matters, so read this bit before picking.
| YouTube Live | Zoom or Google Meet | |
|---|---|---|
| Where students watch | Inside your classroom page, next to the cards and polls. | In a separate tab or app, away from the classroom page. |
| Setup effort | An hour the first time, then nothing. | None, if you already use Zoom. |
| Recording afterwards | Automatic. The class can rewatch it. | Only if you record it yourself and share it. |
| Can students talk back? | Through the questions panel, not by voice. | Yes, by voice. |
| Delay | A few seconds behind you. | Almost none. |
YouTube · Install OBS
OBS Studio is a free program that takes your camera, your microphone and whatever is on your screen, puts them together into one picture, and sends it to YouTube. It is what almost everyone who streams anything uses. It is free, it has no adverts, and there is nothing to buy.
Download it from obsproject.com and install it the way you would install any other program. Choose the version for your computer — Windows, macOS or Linux.
The first time you open OBS it offers an auto-configuration wizard. Say yes. Choose Optimise for streaming when it asks, and let it run. It looks at your computer and your internet connection and picks sensible settings, which saves you making those decisions yourself.
YouTube · Create the stream
Go to youtube.com, sign in, and click the camera icon with a plus in it at the top right, then Go live. This opens YouTube Studio.
Choose to stream with Streaming software (not webcam), and fill in:
- Title — the name of your class and the week, for example “Tuesday Python — Week 3: loops”.
- Visibility — choose Unlisted. This means only people with the link can watch, which is exactly what you want: your students have the link, the general public does not. Do not choose Private, because that stops your students watching too.
- Audience — YouTube asks whether the video is made for children. Answer honestly for your class.
On the next screen you will see a Stream key, hidden behind a Copy button. This is a long password that tells YouTube “this video is coming from me”. Copy it.
YouTube · Connect OBS
Back in OBS, go to Settings (bottom right), then Stream in the list on the left.
- Set Service to YouTube — RTMPS.
- Paste your stream key into the Stream Key box.
Click Apply. You only ever do this once — OBS remembers the key for every future class.
The two other settings worth checking
If you ran the auto-configuration wizard, these are already sensible and you can skip ahead. If you want to check them, or your video looks poor, here is what they mean and what to use.
| Setting | Where | What it means | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Output resolution | Settings → Video | How big the picture is. Bigger is sharper but needs more internet. | 1280×720 for teaching. 1920×1080 only if your internet is fast and you are showing fine detail. |
| Frames per second | Settings → Video | How smooth movement looks. | 30. You are teaching, not streaming a video game. |
| Bitrate | Settings → Output | How much data your video uses each second. Higher looks better but needs a faster upload speed. | 2500–4000 for 720p. If your video keeps stuttering, lower it. |
| Encoder | Settings → Output | Which part of your computer does the work of compressing video. | Whatever OBS picked. If you see an option with your graphics card’s name — NVENC, AMD, Apple — that one takes the load off your processor. |
YouTube · Build your scene
A scene is a layout. Most teachers need one: your screen, with your face in the corner.
In the Sources box, click + and add these, in this order:
- Display Capture (or Window Capture if you only want to share one program). This is what is on your screen. Add it first so it sits at the back.
- Video Capture Device. This is your webcam. Drag it to a corner and drag its handles to make it small.
- Audio Input Capture. This is your microphone. Speak, and check the volume bar at the bottom moves into the yellow but not the red.
OBS · Stream — Pick YouTube and paste your stream key. Done once, forever.
YouTube · Start streaming
About ten minutes before class, open OBS and click Start Streaming at the bottom right.
Switch to YouTube Studio. Within a few seconds the preview should show your picture and the connection quality should read as good. You are now broadcasting — but nobody is watching yet, because nobody has the link.
This is your moment to check three things: can you see yourself, does the volume bar move when you speak, and is anything on screen that should not be.
YouTube · Paste the link into your class
In YouTube Studio, find the share icon and copy the video link. It looks like https://youtu.be/aBcD1234 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBcD1234. Either form works.
Now go to your class in Teachnow AI, open the session, and click the Live tab. In the panel headed Stream and student video layout there is one box. Paste the link there and save.
That is it. Your students’ classroom page now plays your video inside the page, right next to your cards and polls.
Using Zoom instead
If you would rather use Zoom or Google Meet, the process is much shorter.
- Schedule the meeting in Zoom or Meet as you normally would.
- Copy the join link.
- Paste it into the same box on the Live tab and save.
- Start your meeting at class time.
Your students see a button labelled Open live stream, which opens the meeting in a new tab.
Running the room
With the video sorted, the Live tab is your teaching desk. Here is what is on it and when to reach for each part.
Pushing cards
Your prepared stack is down the left. When you get to a card in your lesson, click Push. It appears on every student’s screen straight away, and stays there until you push the next one.
Video layout
Two buttons control how students see your video, and you control it for the whole class, not each student individually.
- Floating — a small draggable video window, so the card is the main thing. Use this most of the time.
- Full video — the video takes over. Use it while you are demonstrating something on your screen and there is no card to look at.
Polls
Push a poll you prepared, or write one on the spot in the poll box. Answers arrive as a live tally you can put on screen. A poll every fifteen minutes is a good way to catch a class that has quietly stopped following.
Questions
Students type questions into a panel on their side, and they queue up on yours with a count of how many are waiting. You can answer out loud, or have Lumi draft an answer for a question that is off to one side of what you are teaching.
Class pulse
A quick check on how the class is doing — whether they are following, lost, or ready to move on. Useful in a class where nobody wants to be the first to admit they are stuck.
Practice answers
When you push a practice card, answers appear as students submit them. You can see who has finished and who has not started, which tells you when to move on.
Attendance
Anyone who opens the session page is counted as present. You can correct the record afterwards from the gradebook if someone had trouble connecting.
Ending the class
Three things, in this order:
- In Teachnow AI, click End session. The After class panel appears with two links: one to put your remaining cards into Materials, one to set homework.
- In OBS, click Stop Streaming.
- In YouTube Studio, end the broadcast.
The link you pasted stays with the session, so the YouTube recording becomes the class archive — the first thing students see in Materials, ready to rewatch.
Then move on to setting homework and marking the practice work from the session.
Troubleshooting
Students say they cannot see the video
Check three things in order: that OBS still says it is streaming, that YouTube Studio shows the broadcast as live, and that the link you pasted is the one for this broadcast and not last week’s. Pasting an old link is the single most common cause.
The video is stuttering
Your internet is not keeping up. Lower the bitrate in Settings → Output — try 2000 — and drop the resolution to 1280×720. Also close anything else using the connection, and use a cable instead of wi-fi if you can.
My screen is black in OBS
On a Mac, allow OBS under screen recording permissions and restart it. On Windows with two graphics cards, use Window Capture instead of Display Capture.
Nobody can hear me
Look at the audio bars at the bottom of OBS while you talk. If they do not move, your microphone source is missing or muted — check the speaker icon next to it, and check the right microphone is selected in its properties.
My students are a few seconds behind me
Normal for this kind of streaming. It is why questions come in through the questions panel rather than by voice. If you want it shorter, YouTube has a low-latency option in the stream settings — but do not chase it below a few seconds; stability matters more.
I forgot to paste the link and class has started
Paste it now. Students see the video appear as soon as you save — there is nothing to restart.