Live Mode is an interactive mode for BrainPOP quizzes that lets teachers lead the Quiz as a live whole-class activity from any BrainPOP topic. Students participate from their own devices using a unique session code, or without devices at all.

In a live session, students answer questions at the teacher's pace, and receive real-time feedback. Teachers control the flow from the front of the class, monitor the class's responses as they come in, and receive a session results summary with a question-by-question breakdown for targeted follow-up discussion.

Live Mode makes BrainPOP quizzes even more engaging during whole-class instruction, without the setup or independent pacing of a traditional assignment.

Key Features

• Launch a live session from any BrainPOP quiz, no student login or class roster required
• Students join via a simple URL and short, unique session code
• Teacher-controlled pacing: advance through questions when your class is ready
• Real-time response monitoring: see how many students have answered each question and reveal class-wide results as you go
• Session report appears in the Teacher Dashboard for later review — Coming in Summer 2026
• Students receive individual answer feedback; teachers see and present aggregate class results
• Optional session settings: background music, hints, and correct answer explanations
• Post-session results summary with question-level breakdowns for targeted follow-up discussion

IN THIS ARTICLE

What You'll Need
Using Live Mode
     Starting a Live Session
     Joining as a Student
     Leading the Live Session
     Participating as a Student
     Results Summary
Troubleshooting Live Mode
Next Steps
Frequently Asked Questions

What You'll Need

• An individual teacher or admin account included in a School or Homeschool plan
• A subscription that includes BrainPOP (3-8+) — Coming for BrainPOP Jr. later in 2026
• For student participation, a desktop or tablet display is required. Smaller screens such as mobile devices are not supported — Without Devices mode coming for students in Summer 2026
• A projected display or large screen is recommended for front-of-class presentation

Using Live Mode

Live Mode offers realtime instruction with student participation in two parallel experiences: the teacher's host view (presented at the front of the room or virtually) and the student's participant view (on each student's device).

Starting a Live Session

1. Navigate to any BrainPOP 3-8+ topic and open the Quiz.
2. On the Quiz start screen, choose the Live Mode button.

3. Choose whether you want students to participate On Devices or Without Devices. 

(Without Devices mode coming in Summer 2026)

4. Choose your preferred settings for the live session. Each setting can be toggled on or off to suit your class's preference, your teaching style, or your instructional intent.
   • Hints — Students can receive hints for scaffolding or extra support. Designate the maximum number of hints students can use during the live Quiz.
   • Music and sound effects — Background music and sound effects play at key moments to build dramatic energy and cue transitions between questions.
   • Animated images — Playful animations punctuate key moments in the session.

5. When you are ready to allow participants, choose Start Teaching. When using With Devices mode, a short, unique session code is generated and displayed, along with a link to join. 

   Students can join by going to www.brainpop.com/join and entering the session code. You can also choose Copy Link to share a unique join URL with students in your LMS or class chat that includes the join code and automatically enters it for them.

6. As students join the waiting room, the participant count grows. Choose Show List to monitor the waiting room and manage participants.

7. Choose the pencil icon to edit a student's name yourself if they join with a goofy name or it needs to be changed for any other reason. 

   Choose the trash can icon to remove anyone who shouldn't be there. (If a student needs to join again, they can use the same session code.)

Joining as a Student

1. To join a live mode session, students will navigate to the join URL and enter the session code, then choose Next.

2. Students will be prompted to enter their name, and then choose Join. To save their Live Mode quiz results to their activity history in their timeline, students can choose to log in to their BrainPOP accounts instead.

• When students choose Log In to BrainPOP, they'll be taken to our login page, where they can sign in with Clever, Google, or their username and password. Once logged in, they'll go into the waiting room without having to enter their name, and their name will appear automatically in the teacher's participant list.
• Students who log in to BrainPOP a different way (such as ClassLink LaunchPad, or the Canvas or Schoology LMS) should log in before joining the Live Mode session if they want to join using their BrainPOP account.
• Students can also join a Live Mode session while already logged in. If they are already logged in to BrainPOP when they join, students will go right into the waiting room.

3. Once they've joined, students will enter the waiting room, where they can choose a character to represent them. Each character choice offers several fun image options. One they've chosen their preferred character image, students will choose Submit. (Or they can skip choosing a character at all.)

Leading the Live Session

1. When everyone has joined, choose Start Session to begin the Quiz. The first question will appear in the teacher's host view for front-of-class display, and in the student's participant view simultaneously.

2. Monitor the response counter as students answer the question — as students submit their responses, the counter will show how much of the class is ready to move on. If needed, you can move on at any time without waiting for every student to submit their answer.

3. When you're ready to reveal the answer and how everyone did, choose View Results.

• The correct answer will be highlighted, and any incorrect answers students submitted will be marked.
• Above the question and answer choices, you'll find a breakdown of how the whole class answered (without naming anyone). The breakdown shows how much of the class gave the correct answer, an incorrect answer, or skipped the question by not submitting an answer. 
• Use the # or % toggle to show the breakdown numerically or as a percent of the whole class.
• Click the warning symbol next to an incorrect answer choice to see how many students chose that answer.

4. Choose Show Explanation to dive deeper into the correct answer with the class.

• The explanation will always be shown in the student's participant view as well.

5. When you're ready to move on, choose Next Question, and continue the same way until the end of the Quiz. 
6. When you're done reviewing the results from the last question, choose Finish and Review Results to view the Results Summary for the whole quiz.

Participating as a Student

1. As you advance through the questions, they'll appear simultaneously in the students' participant view. on their devices. Students can read the question and select their answer.

2. If you've enabled hints when starting the live session, students can choose the Hint button for support and see how many hints they have left.

3. When they feel confident in their answer, students should choose Submit Your Answer and then wait for other students to do the same until you're ready to reveal the answer and review the question.
4. While you review the question and the students' answers, students will see their answer choice highlighted alongside the explanation.

Results Summary

When the session is done, you'll see a results summary that breaks down the class's responses for the entire activity. Depending on how the class did, a next step may be recommended above the summary to build deeper knowledge on the topic.

• The pie chart breaks down the class's responses to the whole quiz and gives an average score.
• A question breakdown shows student answers to each question by four categories: Correct, Partial Credit (for questions with multiple responses), Not Answered, or Incorrect.
• Choose View next to any question in the breakdown to return to the question and review it again.

In the students' participant view, each student will see their own personal summary showing how they scored overall, and on each question. They can choose View Result to review their individual response again.

Troubleshooting Live Mode

Here are some recommendations for resolving common issues when using Live Mode:

I don't see the Live Mode button on the quiz start screen

Confirm you are logged in to a BrainPOP account on a School or Homeschool plan. Live Mode is currently only available on BrainPOP (not BrainPOP Jr., Science, ELL, Español, or Français) and on web desktop only.

My students can't access the join link or session code

Confirm students are using a desktop, laptop or tablet — mobile devices are not supported. Check that students are entering the correct code for the same current, active session you see in the teacher view. If the session has already ended, a new session will need to be started.

A student joined with the wrong name or an inappropriate name

From the waiting room, find the student and choose the pencil icon to change their name, or use the trash can icon remove them from the session so they can re-join and enter their name again.

A student got disconnected mid-session

The student can return to the join URL and use the same session code to re-join. You can monitor the participant counter to notice if someone drops out unexpectedly.

The session code isn't working

Each session generates a unique, one-time code. Make sure you're sharing the code for the current active session. Expired or previously used codes will not work — start a new session to get a fresh code.

Students see a waiting screen and no questions appear 

Make sure you've chosen Start Session from the waiting room to begin the quiz and let students see the questions. Students will remain in the waiting room until the session starts.

I can't find my Live Mode results after the session ended

At least initially, if you've left the Results Summary by choosing Exit Quiz, you won't be able to return to view it. In Summer 2026, we'll be releasing Session Reports for Live Mode so that results will be visible from your Teacher Reports page like Assignments.

I want to change the music or hints setting mid-session. 

If you don't like the session settings for hints, music and sound effects, or animated images that you chose before the session started, you can change them during the session! Once the session is in progress, click the gear icon to make any changes.

Next Steps

When you're done with a Live Mode session, here are some recommended ways you can continue and deepen the learning for your class:

• Create an assignment — Assign the recommended Next Step learning activity shown on your Results Summary to students who need additional practice on the topic.

• Print activities — Print other activities on the topic for students who could use more offline or at-home reinforcement, or for extra credit.

• Keep the whole-class instruction going — Revisit the BrainPOP Movie, or use Connected Texts, Vocab Builder, or other activities on the same topic to extend learning as a class.

• Run another Live Mode session — Try Live Mode and explore other activities on a related topic to keep collaborative learning going, using Browse by Curriculum to follow your curriculum or just following students' curiosity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do my students need BrainPOP accounts to participate in Live Mode?

No! Students can join as guests by entering their first and last name — no account needed. However, only students who log in with an existing BrainPOP account will have their individual results saved and visible in their activity history. 

In the Session Report (coming in Summer 2026) you'll have a record of the class’s results from the live session regardless of whether students were logged in.

Do I need to have a class set up to run a Live Mode session?

Nope! Unlike an assignment, Live Mode does not require a class roster. Any logged-in teacher with a School or Homeschool plan can start a Live Mode session from any BrainPOP 3-8 quiz, no prior setup needed.

Can students change their answers after submitting?

Not at this time. To keep the session moving smoothly, students cannot change their response to a question after they've submitted it. As the teacher, though, you can go back to view earlier questions and results.

Can students who join late go back to complete the earlier questions?

Not at this time. Questions that were missed by students who joined the live mode session after it started will be treated as "Skipped".

Will Live Mode results appear in student dashboards and teacher reports?

Yes, they can. If students are logged into their accounts when joining the session, their results appear in their activity timeline just like any other BrainPOP activity.

The Session Report (coming in Summer 2026), will allow teachers to review results from all participants in the session individually, whether the students were logged in or not. The Session Report will display the name students entered when joining, or the name on their student account if they were logged in.

What devices and browsers are supported?

Live Mode currently supports web desktop displays only (laptop, desktop, or tablet). Mobile phones are not currently supported. For more general information about BrainPOP's support for devices and browsers, check out our system requirements.

Can I reuse a session or session code?

No. Each Live Mode session is a unique to that session. Once the teacher exits the session, the code expires. To lead another session on the same topic, simply return to the Quiz and choose Live Mode again — a new session code will be created for the session.

Can I set up a Live Mode session and share the code or link in advance of class?

No. Because each Live Mode session generates a unique code for that session, the session cannot be set up in advance. A new Live Mode session will create a new join code and link.

How many students can join a my Live Mode session?

Live mode is designed for a typical classroom, but would support up to 100 students. It is not intended to be used in a very large assembly setting, for example.

Can I use Live Mode on any BrainPOP topic?

Yes! Live Mode can be launched from the Quiz on any BrainPOP 3-8 topic.

Can I use Live Mode on activities other than the Quiz?

Not at this time. As we explore bringing Live Mode to other activity types, we do encourage using other activities in front-of-class instruction though! We also encourage you to let us know if there are other activities you'd love to use Live Mode with.