How to ‘get’ and ‘set’ a Desmos Classroom Activity

Click on the teacher link for the activity

All the teacher activities urls start with…. https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/etc123etc123
If you think you might use this activity more than once it is worth adding it to your collections.

The screen below will appear. Sign In, or if you don’t have an account yet – Create Account
At this point you can also look at the Student Preview to see what the students will experience before you set this task for them to complete.

To assign this task to your students – you have two options:

  • Single Session Code (use this if it’s just a one off!)
  • Assign to Your Classes (use this if you plan to assign more tasks to your class)

Single Session Code

If you choose single session code, this window will pop up. Choose how long you want the students to be able to join the activity.

Desmos has now assigned this session a 6 character code. To get an easy url for the students click on the 3 vertical dots on the right and Student Link
Alternatively, the students just need to type in student.desmos.com and enter the 6 character code. It’s pretty simple.

Students can then sign in to the activity – or continue without signing in. Creating an account, is very straight forward and means that students can come back to their activities.

As the teacher you can now click on the dashboard to watch, pace and monitor your students on the task.

Assign to Your Classes

Click Add a Class, click Add New Class and then give the new Class a name.

Use the url (https://teacher.des…) to navigate back to the activity if needed, select Assign to Your Classes and assign as you wish.

To get students into the activity, open up your classes from the menu on the left.

Desmos has now assigned this class a 6 character code. To get an easy url for the students click on the invite code
Alternatively, the students just need to type in student.desmos.com and enter the 6 character code. It’s pretty simple. The students in this class – will only ever need this one code.

By clicking on Assigned Activities you can now go to the dashboard to watch, pace and monitor your students on the task.

Adding the activity to your collections

To come back to an activity again, it is useful to have it stored in your Desmos collections. Whilst you are on your teacher activity page, use the url to navigate back to it if needed (https://teacher.des…). At the top right, click on the plus sign and then New Collection.

Once you have made a new collection it will appear when you click on the plus sign top right.

Dashboard

In the dashboard you’ll be able to see the student names and which slide they are on. Speak to your MSPW AC for more guidance and tips for using the dashbaord.