Instead of one person talking and thirty listening, everyone moves on the same board.
Spoken feedback vanishes, questions scatter into chat rooms, and the term ends with a folder of final files. An LMS does not change that.
In ALLO every student is a cursor on the same canvas. Every sticky note carries a name, questions become comments on the idea itself, and the whole path stays on the board after class.
Three layers hold the whole semester.
A project is the classroom, a canvas is one lesson, a sub-canvas is one team's room. You can explain it to students in one sentence.
Project = classroom
Weekly sections as Kanban, Calendar, or List. Drag a card and the schedule moves with it.
Canvas = one lesson
Open a card and that day's handout, instructions, and recap are one canvas.
Sub-canvas = team room
A real canvas inside the lesson canvas. Move between the room and the board with the path.
Your PDF becomes the class canvas.
Import a document into a new canvas, or convert a PDF already on your board. PDF, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and HWP files land as pages, in order.
Underline with the pen, run the highlighter, drop sticky notes and stickers, pin questions as comments. A digital textbook with nothing to print and nothing to collect.
- Import PDF, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, HWP, and HWPX
- Convert a file already on the board without re-uploading
- Pen, highlighter, sticky notes, stickers, and comments on every page
Group work prep ends when every team has a room.
One click on Sub-canvas in the toolbar makes a team room. Start from a template, a blank canvas, or an imported worksheet, name it after the team, and lay down the instructions.
During class the rooms sit in a grid on the lesson board. Double-click in to check on a team, and use the path to come back.
- One sub-canvas per team with the full toolset
- Start from a template, a blank canvas, or a document
- Make the rounds from the grid, move with the path
Upload next week's worksheet early. Lock it until class.
A canvas PIN keeps the thumbnail visible and asks for four digits to open. Call out the code in class and students walk in.
For a board that is not ready, switch it to Private. Students see a padlock card, and you turn it back when the material is ready.
- Set a four-digit PIN from the canvas menu
- PIN to stage entry, Private to hide completely
- Different codes per room to stage group entry
The project is your lecture hall. Invite the class once.
One project per classroom, one section per week, one card per activity. Open a card and the lesson canvas sits beside the assignee, due date, and notes.
Students are invited once, at the project. Paste the class list and they reach every lesson all term.
- Kanban, Calendar, and List views of one semester
- Every card is an activity with its own canvas
- Paste emails to invite the whole class at once
Every student raises a hand at once.
Ten minutes on an empty canvas and the class is at home without a manual. When class starts, every cursor is a student and you can see who is in the room.
Sticky notes land live with names on them, Follow pulls every screen to one spot, and you follow the presenter when it is their turn. Feedback lands on the work as comments and stickers.
- Live cursors and a presence list
- Follow mode: the class follows you, or you follow a presenter
- Comments and stickers right on the work
Why you can hand students the board.
The activity log keeps who did what and when. Versions save automatically, you name a checkpoint before a big activity, and restore takes one confirmation.
Lock the headings and instructions that should stay put, and protect what must never move. Students see a short notice and the activity keeps going.
- Activity log and automatic versions
- Preview any version and restore in one click
- Lock, protected lock, and hover attribution
One lesson, start to finish.
Read it once before your first class. The rest of the term is repetition.
Before class
Build the lesson canvas from the handout, make one room per team, lock what should not move, and save a named version.
During class
Warm up on the open board, brainstorm live, gather eyes with Follow, then make the rounds while teams work.
After class
Check the activity log, resolve finished threads, add a short recap, and keep the board as the record.
What students actually see.
Most first-day problems are access problems. This is the student's seat at each step.
The invitation
One email, one button. It opens the classroom with every lesson already inside. No app to install.
A locked canvas
A Private canvas is a padlock card with no way in. A PIN-locked one shows the thumbnail and asks for the code.
A protected object
Locked headings do not move. Clicking a protected object shows a short notice and the activity continues.
Six short guides, one feature each.
One to two minutes apiece. Watch the one you need before class.
PDF to class canvas
2:16Team rooms
1:07PIN lock and Private
1:15Project as classroom
1:58Live class
2:17Safety nets
1:21Open the teacher's guide.
The Help Center walks the same class step by step, with every menu name and permission rule. Start with the full guide and keep the feature articles open during your first class.
Prepare and run a class in ALLO
Project, handout canvas, team rooms, access, live activity, feedback, and recovery in one walkthrough.
Canvas basics for first-time users
Sticky notes, pen, shapes, comments, and the toolbar. Send this one to students.
Understand projects
Sections, views, cards, members, and how a classroom maps onto a project.
Education plans
Who qualifies, what is included, and how to apply for a school or class.