How it works

This page is for educators, trainers, and presenters who want to turn a presentation into a live experience: quick checks, discussion, Q&A, pulse checks, and debriefing all come together in one session. No account required for your group: show the code or QR, phones out, and you’re ready to go.

What makes arsnova.eu different

Think of arsnova.eu as a live control room for teaching, training, and talks: instead of switching between slides, chat, polling tool, and quiz app, you manage interaction, projector view, and result reveal in one place.

The emphasis is on teaching control and privacy: content stays local-first in the browser, participants do not need an account, the project is open source and designed for EU-oriented operation. Markdown and KaTeX make subject-specific questions presentation-ready, from STEM formulas to short case studies.

Question formats: match the teaching goal

Choose the format that fits the room: are you checking knowledge, surfacing attitudes, collecting terms, or discussing estimates? The formats are deliberately separate so result display, scoring, and moderation fit the purpose.

  • Single Choice

    one correct option

    For precise understanding checks: one answer is correct, and results and points are immediately clear.

  • Multiple Choice

    several correct options

    For more complex concepts, common misconceptions, or questions like “Which statements are true?” — several answers can count.

  • Short answer

    model answer, not a menu

    Participants answer briefly in their own words. You provide model answers; arsnova.eu can evaluate spelling variants, tolerance, and, when needed, numbers or units.

  • Free text

    open responses

    For ideas, reflections, and expectation checks. No automatic scoring; responses can be collected and shown as a word cloud.

  • Survey

    opinion snapshot, no right/wrong

    For priorities, prior knowledge, or decisions in the room. Options are counted without score logic.

  • Rating scale

    scale with custom endpoints

    For agreement, confidence, pace, or feedback from low to high, optionally with named endpoints.

  • Numerical estimate question

    estimate numbers, see the spread

    For years, orders of magnitude, measurements, and probabilities. Includes reference value, tolerance band, histogram, statistics, and an optional second round.

Pulse Check is separate from these formats: it is for spontaneous live feedback when you do not want to build a full quiz question.

Demo Quiz

A preinstalled demo quiz shows the question formats in concrete teaching moments: knowledge check, word cloud, short answer, estimate, rating scale, formulas, and Markdown. You can find it in your quiz library and open it in preview.

Tip: Open the preview once on a second device before your first live session. You will immediately see how the host view and participant screen work together.

Quick start

  1. Create a quiz: Choose “Open quiz library”, create a new quiz, and choose the right format for each question.
  2. Start a session: Choose style, timers, teams, and leaderboard. Then a 6-character code is created, which you share as text or QR code.
  3. Moderate live: Show the question, start the answer phase, reveal or hold back results, and add a second round when useful.

Host your session

In the host view, you run the session like a small control room: bring participants in, reveal content, open discussion, and make results visible.

  • Start session: From your quiz library, start a session and choose whether it opens with a quiz or Q&A. Then the join code is created.
  • Lobby: You see who has joined; a QR code for joining is shown.
  • Projector and presenter view: Question, answers, countdown, and results are large enough for projection, stream, or second screen.
  • Controls: Use “Next question” to bring content on screen. You can start with a reading phase, then open the answer phase and decide when results appear on the screen.
  • Peer Instruction (double rounds): For suitable quiz questions, estimate questions, and Pulse Check rounds: vote first, discuss, then vote again. The before/after comparison makes learning progress visible.
  • Settings: At the start, choose style and options: business or playful, with or without leaderboard, sound, reading phase, team mode, nicknames, and timer.

Question wall in the live Q&A channel

Q&A should not disappear into a side chat. The question wall makes audience questions visible, prioritizable, and easy to moderate: you keep the thread of the session while the group collectively signals which points really need clarification.

  • Moderation with pedagogical timing

    When needed, new questions wait for your approval first. You can approve, pin, archive, or remove contributions and steer psychological safety, relevance, and timing: answer now, collect for later, or mark as a discussion thread.

  • Collective upvoting and downvoting

    Participants weight questions together. Positive and negative votes show more than popularity: they surface uncertainty, disagreement, and need for clarification. Sort modes such as “most supported”, “best questions”, and “controversial” help you spend limited live time where it matters didactically.

  • Q&A word cloud at theme level

    The word cloud condenses visible questions into words and phrases, weighted by support, robust agreement, or controversy. It can be frozen, viewed through the current sort logic, and shown in Presenter View: a fast read on topic clusters, not a decorative word list.

  • Next step: semantic tendency

    Planned next is an analysis of semantic tendencies and sentiment with a self-hosted LLM. The goal is not black-box grading, but a privacy-conscious moderation aid: Where are topics clustering, where is the mood shifting, where is framing needed?

Pulse Check

Quick pulse and comprehension checks, whether before a break, as a warm-up, or when you need an instant read. Available from the host view of your live session or straight from the home page.

  • Mood (😊😐😟): How are participants doing?
  • Yes / No / Maybe (👍👎🤷): Quick pulse check.
  • Yes / No (👍👎): Clear two-option poll with no middle ground.
  • True / False / Don't know (✓ / × / ?): For quick assessments or knowledge checks.
  • Lettered quick polls (A–D): Three or four preset choices for on-the-fly votes—no full quiz question required.
  • Tempo feedback (🙂🐇🐢🙈): Four icons let your group continuously show whether they can follow. Participants can change their feedback; you only see the aggregated trend.

You start the round in the host area of your live session or directly via the Pulse Check card “Live in one click” on the home page. Participants vote with one tap, and you see the results live as a bar chart.

  • Peer Instruction (double rounds): Round one: don't reveal results yet → start the “discussion phase” (“talk to someone next to you”) → “second vote.” The before/after view shows how the mood snapshot shifts after discussion.
  • Stop: Freeze the poll – participants see “Poll is paused” and cannot vote until you choose “Resume”.
  • Reset: Clear all votes and run the poll again.
  • New round: Generate a new code and start a fresh round.
  • Copy link: Copy the join link to the clipboard, e.g. to share via chat.

For your participants

In short: what you can share with people in your session:

  • Join: Enter the 6-character code on arsnova.eu and tap “Let's go”—works for quiz, Q&A, and Pulse Check. No sign-up required.
  • Nicknames: Depending on your settings, participants will use predefined names, their own names, or stay entirely anonymous.
  • Voting: The question will appear on their device. They just select an answer and submit. If there's a time limit, a countdown will run.

Your quiz library

Here you create and prepare your quizzes.

  • Editor: Sort questions using drag and drop, expand and collapse, check preview.
  • Question types: Single Choice, Multiple Choice, short answer, free text, survey, rating scale, and numerical estimate question. Each question can optionally have a timer and difficulty.
  • Import / Export: Import or export quizzes as JSON. Use the generation and review templates to create high-quality quizzes with your preferred AI tool, review them, and import them directly. Your content and presentations are not sent to arsnova.eu; you use your own AI tool.
  • Sync: Use the sync link to share your quiz library with colleagues or continue on other devices. Anyone with the link can open the library. Device details are only there to help you get your bearings.
  • Demo quiz: A preinstalled quiz shows all formats with examples, including KaTeX formulas and Markdown. Open it from the quiz library in preview.

Business and gamification

Two styles for different situations—selectable on the home page and at session start.

  • Business: Anonymous, no leaderboard—ideal for formative assessments, exam prep, and sensitive topics.
  • Gamification: Leaderboard, sound effects, and energy—great for icebreakers, team competitions, and high-energy quizzes.

All options (leaderboard, sound, reading phase, team, bonus) can be turned on or off individually.

More features

  • Bonus codes: Top finishers get a redeemable code (e.g. for bonus points). You see the code list; we don't store personal data.
  • Team mode: Your participants play in teams with their own team leaderboard—e.g. for group competitions in seminars.
  • Gamification: Sound effects, rewards for top finishers, and on-screen encouragement—when you use the gamification style.

Privacy and technology

arsnova.eu is free, open source, and built for schools, universities, and workplace training—with a strong focus on privacy (GDPR). Quiz content stays in your browser first. No sign-up for you or your participants. Installable as a PWA for a faster start on phones. UI in German, English, French, Spanish, and Italian.