TeenTech Innovation Live sessions bring the digital, scientific and engineering world to life for students aged 11-19. They focus on opportunities within a specific sector with input from local and national employers, with opportunities for students to work on real-world projects. We deliver these with volunteers from apprentice to CTO to answer questions from students.

Led by our experienced tech reporters, students understand more about the emerging opportunities, different entry points, the technical and personal skills needed. Students are then stepped through an innovation challenge, where they build their own solutions to address real-world problems connected to the topic and value their own personal qualities.

They will be given time to complete their projects and share them with us and then re-join our presenter and mentors to receive live feedback on their work.

The sessions focus on opportunities within a specific sector with input from local and national employers and universities. All our sessions are led by science and technology broadcasters who will introduce your students to some of the most exciting people working in the industry – both locally, nationally and internationally

The initial “kick-off” Innovation sessions will be broadcast live, usually on Wednesday mornings at 10:00am each week (lasting one hour). If you can't join us live, that's okay! You can still register and submit questions for our experts ahead of time. During the kick-off, students are set an optional topic-related challenge and the opportunity to submit further questions. The sessions will be available online for 7 days following their broadcast. Feedback sessions will be held each term where students will receive project feedback and have the opportunity to ask industry experts further questions.

The sessions are structured to offer the following opportunities for students and their teachers: 

• Connect with people working at all levels of engineering and technology 
• Find out more about the sector
• Develop the skills which students, as well as industry, recognise as key to their future 
• Ways to enrich lessons in science, computing, maths, animation, web design, design & technology 
• A safe, interactive platform 
• Cross-curricular learning 
• Receive meaningful feedback on challenges undertaken 

TeenTech Innovation Live sessions are self-contained, and you do not need to prepare for them, other than testing the technology ahead of time (please see the main TeenTech Live FAQs below) and printing the worksheets if you are taking part in the optional challenge. Our presenters and guests will cover the topic of the day, and set the optional challenge.

You will be emailed a link to the live stream, two days before the event, which will take you to a private page on the TeenTech website where you and your pupils can watch the session.

The video stream portion of our platform uses YouTube’s live event technology, broadcast straight to the TeenTech website. The pupils can watch the presenters but the presenters will not be able to see or hear the pupils or communicate with them directly. YouTube’s Live Chat functionality will be disabled. Please test the technology beforehand by visiting https://teentech.com/live/test/ and if it doesn’t work, let us know. You may need to contact your IT technician or supplier to unblock YouTube/YouTube live events.

The video stream portion of our platform uses YouTube’s live event technology, broadcast straight to the TeenTech website. The pupils can watch the presenters but the presenters will not be able to see or hear the pupils or communicate with them directly. YouTube’s Live Chat functionality will be disabled.

YouTube and YouTube Live are robust and reliable platforms for serving video. However, for child safety, schools are able to limit access to YouTube videos in a variety of ways.

When a live stream/event is showing as restricted or unavailable to watch at school, it is normally because of the school settings.

There are several settings that may be causing this to happen. Please see the troubleshooting tips below, which you can share with your IT admin.

How to test if my school is able to access YouTube Live content

Please visit the YouTube Live Home (this website will open in a new tab) and select any of the current live streams. If this works, and you're able to view the video, then the settings within your school allow for live streams to be played. If you receive an error message, have a look at the notes below to troubleshoot the issue.

Why does it say the live video is restricted or unavailable?

For child safety online, schools are able to limit access to YouTube videos in a variety of ways. When a live stream/event is showing as restricted or unavailable to watch at school, it is normally because of the school settings.

There are several settings that may be causing this to happen. Please see the troubleshooting tips below, which you can share with your IT admin.

YouTube may be blocked by a school filter

If you see a message "The connection was reset", your school will need to whitelist YouTube at your school (www.youtube.com) on your school’s teacher accounts.

1. You can test access by visiting any YouTube Live video on your school device/network.
2. If you receive the message above, contact your IT administrator and ask them to allow access to YouTube Live.

YouTube may be restricted by your school

If you get a message that says, “Video unavailable. This video is restricted. Try signing in with a Google account.”, it may be that your school Google Workspace settings are restricting access to certain types of videos or channels.

1. Log in to your Google Workspace (G Suite for Education) account, and navigate to the live event you wish to watch on the TeenTech website.
2. Turn off restricted mode (at the bottom of the menu accessed by clicking on your profile icon).
3. If you do not have access to changing these options, you will need to contact your IT administrator to support you.
4. Settings can be changed back, if needed, after the end of the live lesson.

Further support can found on the links below:

Google Classroom Support Configure YouTube restricted mode

LGfL has further advice on configuring YouTube access in schools

Ad blockers may be in place at your school

If you see a message that says, “Please try again later. (Playback ID:xxxxxx)”, this is most likely caused by ad blocker browser extensions. Please disable your ad blocking extension via your browser settings and extension settings. You may need to ask your IT administrator for further assistance.

There will be a private messaging box on the TeenTech site that pupils/teachers can use to ask the presenters questions without submitting personal information (other than their first name and nearest town). Questions from the pupils will be answered live by the presenters during the stream. Pupils will only be identified by their first name and class name/school name. Pupils cannot be seen or heard throughout the sessions.

We would love for you to join live so your pupils can interact with our presenter and experts, but if the time doesn't work for you, you will be able to watch the session back afterwards using the same link as the live broadcast.

You could submit questions through the link before the session, so our experts can answer them during the event! You’ll also have the chance to submit questions when you upload the completed projects.