Live Sessions & Classroom

Overview

This page is for students who have a confirmed booking and want to know how to get into the live classroom, what they can do once inside, and how to find a recording afterward. It covers the pre-join window, the session room and its tools (video, in-room chat, notes, the shared whiteboard, and file sharing), how a booking progresses through its states, and where recordings appear once a session is complete.

You join a session straight from the booking itself — there is no need to install anything. When the session reaches its time, your booking page shows a Join Now button that opens the classroom in your browser. After the session, your notes, any shared files, and a recording (when one is available) all collect on the same booking page.

Everything on this page works from your existing booking. To create a booking in the first place, see Booking a Session.

The join window: when you can enter

A session is not joinable around the clock. Tuitionable opens a join window tied to the scheduled time of your booking, and the Join Now button only becomes active inside that window.

Before the window opens, the join control on your booking page is shown but disabled, with a countdown such as “Opens in 12 min”. The button only becomes active once the booking is confirmed (or already in_progress) and the current time falls inside the window. If you try to open the room before the window, you will see the message “This session is not available for joining yet.”

Arrive a few minutes early. The 30-minute lead time is there on purpose so you may use it to test your setup and troubleshoot audio/video while your tutor waits.

Joining a session

From your booking page, click Join Now once the session is live. The first person to join the meeting will change the booking status into in_progress — you do not have to wait for your tutor to “open” the room first.

What happens behind the scenes

• If the meeting has not been created yet, Tuitionable creates it automatically using your tutor’s configured video provider the first time someone joins.
• The booking flips from confirmed to in_progress and the session clock starts.

The lobby

When the room loads you start in a short lobby with a camera preview, the subject, the scheduled date and time, and a Join Session button. This is your chance to confirm your camera is working before you enter the live video.

Only two people on the booking — you and your tutor — can enter the room (administrators aside). If you open someone else’s session link, access is refused.

Inside the session room

The classroom is a single full-screen page: the video (or whiteboard) fills the main area, and a side panel on the right carries the tools. A top bar shows a live indicator, the subject, and the booking number; a progress bar and timers track how much of your booked time remains.

Controls

Along the bottom you will find the call controls: mute / unmute, camera on / off, screen share, raise hand, fullscreen, and an End button. Ending asks you to confirm first before ending the session.

Side panel tabs

If the other person ends or cancels the session, your room detects it within a few seconds and switches to a “Session Complete” screen.

Supported video providers

Your tutor sets the provider for their sessions, and Tuitionable runs your booking on it automatically. Tuitionable supports three providers:

Some providers display inside the classroom page; others open in their own window. Either way, the same join link appears on your booking and in the room, so you reach the meeting the same way regardless of which provider is in use. For the tutor’s side of this, see Classroom & Video Providers.

Whiteboard & file sharing

The whiteboard

The room includes a collaborative whiteboard. Switch the main view from Video to Board using the toggle at the top of the video area, and you and your tutor draw on the same canvas in real time.

• Tutor and you automatically land on the same board — the room is derived from your booking, so there is nothing to set up or share manually.
• The board is collaborative for the duration of the session. Tuitionable does not save a copy of the canvas, so capture anything you want to keep (for example, with a screenshot) before you leave.

Sharing files

Open the Files tab and use Upload to add a document, image, or other file mid-session. Both you and your tutor can upload, and either of you can download anything that has been shared.

Files persist after the session ends, so you can come back to your booking page later and re-download the worksheet or notes your tutor shared.

Session states

Every booking moves through a series of states. The state controls whether you can join, whether a refund applies, and what you see on the booking page.

For how money flows when a session is cancelled or missed, see Cancellations & Refunds.

Finding & playing back recordings

When a session has been recorded and the recording is ready, it appears on your booking page under Session resources once the booking is completed. Open the booking from your Student Dashboard or bookings list, scroll to Session resources, and press play.

How playback works

• Recordings hosted by the platform play in an inline video player on the booking page, with the file size and length shown beneath it.
• Playback is streaming-only — downloading is disabled, and the playback link is tied to your own logged-in session, so it is not a shareable link you can share.
• Only the student and tutor on the booking can play a recording.
• Some recordings are saved as an external link your tutor pasted in (for example, a Drive or Loom URL).

If the recording isn’t there yet

If your tutor is still preparing the recording, the page shows “Your tutor is preparing the recording. We’ll show it here once it’s ready.” If no recording was kept for the session, it shows “Recording is not available for this session.”

Not every session is recorded. Recording is optional and depends on how your tutor ran the session, so treat a recording as a bonus rather than something to rely on. Take your own notes during the session as well.

Recording consent

Recordings in Tuitionable are consent-based. When a session is being recorded, you'll see a Recording Notice banner as you enter the room:

“This session may be recorded for education, quality and review purposes. By joining, you consent to being recorded.”

A recording is only kept when both sides have consented — when a tutor uploads a session recording, they must confirm that both parties agreed to it before it can be saved. Recordings are also subjected to a retention period and are removed automatically after it elapses, so they are not stored indefinitely.

Have a question or concern about a recording of your session — or want it removed? Reach out through Getting Help & Support. For your broader data rights, see the Privacy Center.

Troubleshooting

Related pages

• Booking a Session — create the booking that gives you a session to join.
• Cancellations & Refunds — what happens when a session is cancelled or missed.
• Messaging — the conversation that powers the in-room chat.
• Classroom & Video Providers — how tutors choose and connect the provider your session runs on.