What IRISWEBX Live is
IRISWEBX Live is the live-learning part of IRISWEBX ALMS — teaching delivered in real time, rather than through recorded material a student works through alone. This page is the practical help; the IRISWEBX Live overview covers what it does.
It is not a separate product your institution buys alongside ALMS. It sits inside the platform next to digital resources, assignments, quizzes, online examinations and video lectures, and it is covered by the same subscription as everything else — see the account and subscription guide.
Because it lives in the platform, a live class belongs to a course, and the people in it are the faculty member and students already enrolled on that course. There is no separate meeting list to keep in step with your roll.
What you need
The same things the rest of ALMS asks for, and nothing more. There is nothing to install from an app store, and no licence for your students to buy.
- A current web browser on a computer, tablet or phone — Android and iOS both work
- An internet connection steady enough for video
- An ALMS sign-in for your institution, with the course assigned to you
- If the session uses your camera or microphone, permission to use them — your browser asks the first time
Who does what
Live classes follow the same role rules as the rest of the platform, so nobody gains access to a class their role does not already reach.
| Role | In a live class |
|---|---|
| Faculty | Runs the class for their assigned course, and keeps the attendance, assignments and assessment that go with it. |
| Student | Attends the classes on the courses they are enrolled in, from a browser on any device. |
| Academic Dean | Sets which courses run, who teaches them, and the academic standards they are held to. |
| Administrator | Holds the accounts, permissions and configuration that decide who can reach what. |
The security guide sets out what each role can reach across the whole platform, and the policy framework defines the responsibilities in full.
How it fits with the rest of ALMS
The point of running live classes inside ALMS rather than in a separate meeting tool is that the class is not an island. It belongs to a course that already has a roll, a schedule, assignments and a grade book, so the teaching and the record of it stay together.
Attendance and session tracking come with that. Who was in a live class is recorded against the session rather than kept in a separate list for somebody to copy across afterwards.
Before a class
Most problems with a live class are settled in the five minutes before it, not during it. For a first session with a new group, it is worth asking students to do the same.
- Sign in to ALMS before the start time rather than at it
- Check the course is the one you expect, and that you are assigned to it
- Test your connection, and prefer a wired or strong Wi-Fi signal over mobile data
- Allow camera and microphone access if you are asked, and check the right ones are selected
- Close other video calls and heavy downloads competing for the connection
If a class will not start
Work down this list before reporting it — the first three settle most cases, and each one tells the team something useful if it does not.
- Reload the page, then sign out and back in
- Try a different browser, and a different device if one is to hand
- Check whether anyone else on the course has the same problem, or only you
- If your college network filters traffic, ask whether it is blocking the connection
- Confirm with an administrator that the course is assigned to you
If it still will not run, tell the team what you tried, which course and class it was, when it happened, and whether it affected one person or the whole group. That is usually enough to find it without a second round of questions.
What the team confirms for your institution
Some things about live classes depend on how your institution is set up, and are not published here. Ask the team rather than assuming:
- How many people can be in a class at once
- Whether classes can be recorded, and where recordings are kept
- What a student sees if they miss a live class
- Which browsers and versions are supported for your staff and students
- What bandwidth to plan for across a campus running several classes at once
Tell us how it went
IRISWEBX Live can be rated on its own on the feedback page — choose IRISWEBX Live under "What is this feedback about?", and the rating and comments go to the team building it. Faculty who have taught a full term on it are the most useful people to hear from.