Presentation window – teacher's guide

1 Two windows: control and presentation

The presentation window is a tool for classroom teaching and remote lessons. When you open it, two windows open: the control panel stays on your own screen, and the presentation window is the one you show to students on the projector or share in Zoom.

The pair of windows during a lesson: the control panel on the left (for you only), the presentation window on the right – a clean display surface for students.

The windows are linked: when you press Show next step in the control panel, the step appears in the presentation window immediately. Likewise, whatever you draw in the presentation window is included in the recording on the control panel side.
The top bar of the control panel shows the reminder “Control panel — not visible when sharing”.
If you only have one screen, you can also run the lesson from the presentation window alone (with keys and the toolbar).

In Zoom: share specifically the window “Symma – Presentation window (share this)” in Zoom, not your whole screen (the control panel window is “Symma – Control panel (do not share)”). This way the control panel, your notes and the preview of the next step are not visible to students.

2 Opening the presentation window

You can open the presentation window from two places:

The toolbar at the top: the button showing a screen and a chart, with the tooltip “Presentation window (remote and classroom)”.
The Courses view: the “Presentation window” card in the row of buttons (subtitle Remote and classroom teaching).

If you have a course open when you open the presentation window, it is selected in the control panel in advance. Otherwise choose the course from the “Select a course…” drop-down list in the control panel's top bar. The chosen course determines where tasks are searched from, which lesson plans are shown and which course you stream to.

If the windows are already open, the button just brings them to the front – no new pair of windows is opened, and a lesson in progress is not interrupted.

3 Finding tasks and the lesson queue

On the left of the control panel there is Task search and below it the Lesson queue. The queue holds the tasks you will go through in the lesson, in order.

The control panel during a lesson: search and the lesson queue on the left (the first task has your own note), and on the right the preview of the next step, the note in yellow, the step controls (2 / 3) and the info message. The top bar shows that recording is on.

Where the search finds tasks

The search field “Search the course's tasks, exams and materials…” searches as you type. With an empty search you see all tasks of the selected course. Each result shows its source and the label solution ✓ if the task has a solution:

Course task – tasks of the selected course (with their number).
Question bank – tasks in the course's own task bank (with their category).
Exam question – questions in the exam question bank (with the folder name).
Material – exercises recognised in the topics' materials and confirmed by you (see below).
Matriculation exam task and Own – tasks from the matriculation exam bank or added manually.

Previewing, adding to the queue and opening

Click a search result. A preview opens on the right: the task prompt, the number of steps and the first step (or “No solution — task prompt only.”).
Choose Add to queue if you are preparing the lesson in advance, or Open in presentation if you want to show the task immediately (it is also added to the end of the queue).
Clicking a task in the queue opens it in the presentation window in a new tab.

Editing the queue and notes

Right-clicking a task in the queue opens a menu:

✎ Note… – write yourself a reminder (e.g. “Ask Eetu first”). The note is shown in the queue and as a yellow box in the control panel when the task is open – never in the presentation window.
↑ Move up / ↓ Move down – reorder the queue.
✕ Remove from queue.

🎓 Matriculation exam tasks

🎓 YO next to the search field opens the matriculation exam bank (abi.symmath.com). The subject and module are guessed in advance from the course name. Filter by module, year, difficulty or solution, preview, and press Add to lesson queue. The window stays open, so you can add several tasks in a row. Close it with the Done button. A matriculation exam task opens in the presentation like any other, and its solution is split into steps automatically.

Your own task manually (+)

The + button opens the window Add a task manually: Title, Task prompt and an optional Solution as steps. LaTeX works (e.g. \( \frac{1}{2}x^2 \)). The solution steps are separated by a blank line or a line with ---. Add and open puts the task in the queue and straight into the presentation.

A task added manually only exists in this lesson's queue. If you want to use it later, save the queue as a lesson plan (section 4) or add the task to the course in the usual way.

Find tasks in materials

Find tasks in materials below the queue goes through the text materials of the selected course's topics and looks for exercises with solutions. In the window Tasks detected in the materials you see a list where each item says solution ✓ or no solution. Untick the ones that are not tasks and press Confirm selected. From then on, confirmed tasks appear in the search with the source Material.

Recognition is only done once: the next time you press the button, the app only asks about new tasks. Material behind links is not read.

4 Lesson plans

You can save the lesson queue as a lesson plan and load it later, for example for a parallel group or for next year.

Put the queue together and press Save next to the heading Lesson queue.
Give it a name. By default the date is suggested, e.g. “23/09/2026 lesson”. Press Save.
You get the plan back from the drop-down list Lesson plan… in the same place. Choosing it replaces the current queue with the plan's tasks and notes.

Plans are course-specific: the drop-down list only shows the plans of the selected course. So choose the right course first.

5 The solution step by step

An opened task is shown in the presentation window so that at first only the task prompt is visible. The solution is revealed step by step, at the students' pace.

The presentation window: the task tab and + Canvas, the info message, the formula of the task prompt highlighted, two revealed steps and marks made with the pen and the circle tool. Drawing tools on the right edge.

Controlling from the control panel

Show next step – reveals the next step.
← Back – hides the step revealed last.
Hide all – returns to the state where only the task prompt is shown.
The counter (e.g. 2 / 4) shows how many steps have been shown.
The box “Next step — you see this before revealing it” shows you in advance what comes next. When everything has been shown, it says “All steps shown.”

Controlling from the presentation window

In the presentation window you can control the steps with keys: Space or → shows the next one, ← goes back one and P hides all. The keys work when the presentation window is active and a task tab is open in it.

Moving to the next task

When all steps of a task have been shown and there is a next task in the queue, the presentation window shows the button “Next task → [task name]”. Likewise, Space / → after the last step opens the next task in the queue. So you can run the whole lesson with just the space bar.

If the solution has more than one step, the last step is labelled Answer. A task without a solution is shown as the prompt only – you can solve it in class by drawing or on a canvas tab.

Each opened task gets its own tab at the top of the presentation window. You can return to an earlier task by clicking its tab – the revealed steps and drawings are kept.

6 Your own step division

The app splits the solution into steps automatically. If you do not like the division, you can make your own by pressing Split into steps… in the control panel (a task with a solution must be open).

Splitting into pieces: a thick line (✂ step break) starts a new step, a thin line does not. Clicking toggles it – here a break has been added between the first and the second piece of the automatic two-step division.

As pieces: click the line between pieces. The number next to a piece shows where a new step begins.
Edit as text: write and split freely. A blank line (Enter twice) starts a new step; a single Enter adds a line break within the step. Formulas \( … \) are kept. The Pieces button takes you back to the piece view.
Restore automatic removes your own division and returns to the division made by the app.
Save split updates the presentation window immediately.

Your own division is remembered for the task: when you open the same task in the next lesson, it is shown the way you divided it. Exception: the division of a task added manually (+) only applies to this lesson. If the task's solution is changed later, the app returns to the automatic division.

7 Drawing tools and highlighter

On the right edge of the presentation window there is a floating toolbar. The tools work with a mouse, a touch screen or a pen.

Tool	What it does
Pointer / move the canvas	The normal mouse. You can scroll the task; on a canvas tab, dragging moves the board.
Laser pointer	A pointer dot that follows the mouse. It leaves no trace and is not saved in the recording (it is shown in the stream, though).
Highlighter	Click a word or formula to highlight it in the chosen colour, or drag with the mouse button held down over several words. Clicking again with the same colour removes the highlight.
Pen	Free drawing, e.g. intermediate steps or arrows on top of the task.
Marker pen	A wide, translucent marker.
Circle (drag)	Drag a circle or ellipse around something.
Arrow (drag)	Drag a straight arrow.
Colours	Red, green, blue and yellow – they apply to the pen, marker, shapes and highlighter.
Undo last drawing	Removes the latest drawing on the active tab.
Clear drawings and highlights	Clears all drawings and highlights on the active tab at once.

Drawings belong to their tab: when you switch tasks and come back, the drawings are still there. Go back to the Pointer when you want to scroll the task again.

8 Canvas tab: board, formulas and images

A canvas is an empty, unlimited board for intermediate steps, students' questions or your own solution. Open it with the + Canvas tab button in the control panel or the + Canvas button in the tab row of the presentation window.

Move the board: drag with the pointer tool.
Zoom: the mouse wheel zooms in and out at the cursor.
Draw: the pen, marker, circle and arrow work as on top of a task.
Write text and formulas: double-click the board. Symma's own maths editor opens (the same one students use in exams). Ctrl+E starts a formula and Ctrl+Enter or Add puts the content on the board. Cancel or Esc closes the editor.
Paste an image: copy an image (e.g. a screenshot or a picture from a book) and press Ctrl+V in the presentation window while the canvas tab is open. The image appears in the middle of the board.

Double-clicking the canvas opens the maths editor: text and a formula (Ctrl+E), with the formula's LaTeX next to it. Add or Ctrl+Enter puts the content on the board line by line.

Canvas tabs and task tabs cannot be closed during the lesson – they stay in the tab row until the end of the lesson so that the recording stays intact.

9 Info message on the presentation screen

In the “Info message for the presentation screen” field of the control panel you can show a notice that stays at the top of the presentation window, for example “Open Zoom to hear the lesson” or “Tasks 12–15 for homework”.

Type the message and press Show (or Enter).
Clear removes the message.

10 Recording and streaming to students

🎙 Record

Record in the control panel's top bar records your voice for the lesson recording. The button text changes to Recording and the time runs next to it. Pressing it again stops the recording. The app asks for permission to use the microphone the first time.

The audio is not sent live – it is only for the recording. If you want students to hear you in a remote lesson, use Zoom or similar.
Everything that happens in the presentation window (steps, drawings, highlights, canvas) is recorded in any case. Recording adds your voice to it.
If you start a new recording, the app asks whether to replace the previous one.

📡 Start streaming

Start streaming sends the content of the presentation window to the students of the selected course in their own Symma app. A bar appears in the student's course view: “The teacher is streaming now — open the presentation on your own screen”.

Choose the course before starting the stream. Only students enrolled on the course can see the stream.
Students see the steps at the pace you reveal them, as well as drawings, the laser and the canvas. A student who joins later immediately gets the whole situation so far.
During the stream, the presentation window's top bar shows ● LIVE, and the control panel shows 👥 N watching.
The button text is Stream running. Pressing it again stops the stream. Closing the control panel or End lesson also stops it.

✋ “I can't keep up”

In the stream, students have a ✋ I can’t keep up button. The presses are shown to you as an anonymous counter: ✋ N can't keep up in the control panel and a small ✋ mark in the presentation window's top bar. When you have taken it into account (e.g. gone over a step again), click the counter to reset it to zero.

You cannot see who pressed – only how many. The times of the presses are, however, marked as red spikes on the editor's timeline, so when you trim the recording you can see at which point in the lesson students lost track.

If the streaming button is greyed out and the tooltip says “Streaming is not available”, the streaming service is not available. You can still hold the lesson and record it as usual. If the connection breaks during the lesson, the button shows “Stream: connection error” – the lesson and the recording still continue as usual.

11 Ending the lesson and the editor

When the lesson is over, press End lesson… in the control panel's top bar. The app stops the recording and the stream, saves the lesson as a draft and opens the lesson editor in the same window.

The lesson editor: the waveform, the names of the opened tasks on the timeline, red cuts (the start trimmed and one range cut out) and the cursor; the top bar shows the duration before and after the cuts. In a streamed lesson the timeline also shows the “I can't keep up” spikes.

Timeline and preview

The timeline shows the audio waveform, the name of each opened task at the point where it was opened, and the red “I can't keep up” spikes.
Clicking on the timeline moves the cursor, and the preview shows the presentation window at exactly that moment.
▶ Play plays the recording with sound. Cut sections are skipped, so you hear and see the same as the students.
If you did not record audio, the timeline says “No audio track — the timeline is based on events.”

Trimming

Trim start to here – removes everything to the left of the cursor (e.g. the noise at the start of the lesson).
Trim end from here – removes everything to the right of the cursor.
Cut out selection – first select a range on the timeline with the mouse button held down, then press this.
Shorten silences ≥ 10 s – finds the silent periods in the audio (e.g. when students are working on their own) and marks them to be cut. You can change the threshold in the field. A one-second gap is left at the ends of the periods.
Cuts are shown in red. Click a cut to remove it if you cut too much.
The top bar shows the original duration and the duration when published.

A cut really removes that part of the audio file when you publish – it is not left for students to “skip”. If steps were drawn or revealed during a cut range, they appear all at once at the cut point, so the state of the board stays correct.

12 Publishing to the course and retention period

On the right of the editor there is the publishing section.

The publishing section: entry name, course, topic, the required retention period with the deletion dates, and options.

Entry name – the date and the name of the first task are suggested.
Course and Topic – which topic the recording is attached to. If you do not choose a topic, a topic called “Lesson notes” is created on the course (once), where all recordings are collected.
Retention period is required: 30 days, Until the end of the term (default), Until the end of the school year or 12 months. The exact deletion date is shown next to each.
Attach the audio recording – when off, only the presentation is published, without sound.
Show to students in the course area – on by default.
Include the prompts of exam questions – off by default. The prompts of tasks opened from the exam question bank are then replaced with “The task prompt is not shared (exam question).”, so that exam tasks are not revealed by accident.

Press Publish to course. The app processes the audio and publishes to the course. When it is done, you see the message “Published! It will be removed automatically on [date].”

Students see the recording as a card in the course topic, saying “available until [date]”. They can play it at their own pace: steps, drawings and audio progress together, and seeking works.

The retention period is a privacy measure: audio recordings are personal data, so there is no permanent retention. When the retention period ends, the recording is deleted automatically – including the audio and the course entry. When the control panel opens, it tells you if expired recordings have been deleted. Deleted recordings stay in the trash for 7 days.

13 Drafts

You do not have to trim and publish the lesson straight away. Continue later in the editor saves the cuts and the name and returns to the control panel. Save draft saves and stays in the editor.

The Drafts list, opened from the control panel's top bar: name, course, time, duration, audio and the saved cuts.

Open the list with the Drafts button in the control panel's top bar.
Open in editor continues trimming from where you left off.
Delete moves the draft to the trash for 7 days.
Drafts do not expire – the retention period only starts when you publish.

The app also saves the lesson's events as a draft automatically about once a minute. If the window closes by accident, the course of the lesson can be found in the Drafts list. The audio recording, however, is only saved when you press End lesson.

You cannot go from the Drafts list to the editor while a stream is running. Stop the stream first. If the lesson has unsaved events, the app asks you to confirm before moving on.

14 Keyboard shortcuts and tips

Key	Where	Action
Space / →	Presentation window, task open	Next step. After the last step, the next task in the queue.
←	Presentation window, task open	Previous step (hides the latest one).
P	Presentation window, task open	Hide all steps.
Double-click	Canvas tab	Opens the maths editor for text and formulas.
Ctrl+E	Maths editor	Start a formula.
Ctrl+Enter	Maths editor	Add the content to the board.
Esc	Maths editor	Close the editor without adding.
Ctrl+V	Presentation window, canvas open	Paste the image from the clipboard onto the board.
Mouse wheel	Canvas tab	Zoom in / out.
Right-click	Control panel queue	Note, order, removal.

Tips for the lesson

Prepare in advance: put the queue together, add notes and save it as a lesson plan. In the lesson you just choose the plan and press the space bar.
Check the step division in advance for tasks with a long solution. Your own division is kept for later lessons too.
One screen and a projector: put the presentation window on the projector (e.g. Windows' “Extend” display mode) and the control panel on your own screen.
Remote lesson: share only the presentation window in Zoom, and start streaming if you like, so that students can follow a sharp picture in their own Symma and press ✋.
Always record if the lesson could be useful for absent students. You can trim and publish later from the Drafts list.