In this tutorial I'll be showing you how to teach with one of my favorite programs,
Actively Learn. Actively Learn allows you to make any video, webpage, or text into an interactive
learning experience and it's a perfect example of how we can use technology to enhance our teaching.
So stick around and I'll show you everything you need to know about how to use it.
My name is Sam Kary and this is my YouTube channel for The New EdTech
Classroom.
Be sure to ask any questions you might have about Actively Learn in the comments below,
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First let's look at the Actively Learn student experience so you can see what it's like. Although
you can make any type of content interactive, Actively Learn's primary focus is on interactive
text. In this student-facing article you'll notice right away that there are questions directly
embedded in the article, such as this poll question that students would answer while they are reading.
One feature of Actively Learn that I really appreciate is the fact that students can't scroll
past the question and have to answer it in order to continue reading. In addition to poll questions,
you'll also notice that there are highlighted words in the text and that if students click on
the highlighted word, they can see a note that their teacher left for them, as well as respond
to that note directly on the page. Next there are also multiple choice questions directly embedded
in the text, as opposed to just at the end of the text, and when a student chooses an answer they
will immediately know whether or not they got it correct or not. The entire text is also interactive.
For example, students can highlight any word and choose to add a note, they can have the word read
aloud to them, they can get a definition of the word, or they can choose to have a word
translated into another language. Here you can see that Actively Learn also has interactive videos
that work similar to a program like EdPuzzle, where students have to answer interactive questions in
order to proceed through a video that they are watching. Okay now that we've seen some of the
key features on the student end, let's start from the beginning to look at how to set up an account,
how to set up classes, and how to create and assign interactive assignments. I'll be showing you how to
use the pre-created assignments in Actively Learn, as well as how to bring in your own
content and make that interactive as well. First you'll want to go to the Actively Learn website,
and I've put the link for it in the video description below, and then you can create
an Actively Learn account for free by clicking 'Create Free Educator Account.' From there you can
sign up with Google, Clever, or Microsoft, or you can manually enter your information to sign up.
Then you'll just need to enter your school information and you can create a free account.
With a free plan, you can create an unlimited amount of interactive reading assignments in ELA,
Social Studies, and Science. You also have access to loads of pre-created interactive content and you
can import your own text to make those interactive three times per month. The free version also has an
automatic gradebook and a Google Classroom integration. The paid version will allow you
to access unlimited text imports, as well as real-time data about student progress, amongst
many other features. Before we look at how to create and assign interactive articles, let's
look at how to add a class roster. Next to 'Classes,' click the 'Add' button and click 'Add new class.' There
you'll be able to import a course from Google Classroom, or if you don't have Google Classroom,
just manually create a class. If you do sync your class through Google Classroom, you'll
just need to select which classes to import, select the grade level, and then click 'Import.'
Then students will just need to log in with their google accounts to get in. If you manually enter
a class, you'll just need to give students a class code that they can use to sign in.
Now that we've created a class, let's look at some of the pre-made interactive articles on Actively
Learn, as well as how to assign those to students. Back on the home dashboard, you'll see that you
have many ways to search for articles, including an open search box, Curriculum Units, Topics, and News
and Articles. If you have access to a prime account, you'll also see this school library option, and 'My
Imports' will allow you to bring your own static text in and add interactive features to those.
You can also filter articles based on grades, lexile level, or standards. When you click on
an article you'll see that it gives you ideas for teaching the text on the right-hand side,
as well as assignment directions at the top. If you have a prime account you'll see this extra
help text summary, but with a free account that option won't show up. On the top left-
hand side of the screen you'll also notice text settings that you can use to adjust the
way the text appears on the page. For example, you can change the text margins and spacing,
the text size, you can choose from a few different font types, as well as change the background color.
You can also choose whether or not paragraphs are numbered, which I like to leave on because it
leaves it easier to reference specific paragraphs in the text. And then lastly you'll see that there
are also dyslexic settings that will auto-adjust the font type, size, margin, spacing, and color.
To return the text to the way it originally was, choose 'Restore Defaults.' Next you'll see that each
article already has pre-written interactive questions, such as this opening poll question,
in addition to the pre-created questions. You'll also notice that this article
already has different words highlighted and that each highlighted word corresponds to a
pre-made teacher note that either provides students with definitions of words or gives
them additional relevant background information, such as this informational blurb about Babe Ruth.
As you continue to scroll down the page you'll notice that there are additional pre-created
interactive questions. This one is multiple choice and there are open-ended questions as well. Notice
that underneath this question there's a blurred out explanation. This is another prime feature
that would give students an explanation about the correct response after they answer the question.
In addition to using pre-created notes and questions, you can also fully customize articles
by clicking 'Customize.' Once on the customizing screen you'll be able to customize this article
pretty much any way you'd like. For example, you can edit the assignment directions at the top of
the article to reflect your own instructions. Then if you click on the three dots next to a question,
you can delete it entirely or choose 'Edit' to edit the question, as well as the answer choices.
You can even just quickly transition a question from a poll to multiple choice or short answer.
Similarly, if you click on a highlighted word in the text, you can also delete or edit the author's
note. To add your own custom interactivity to the text, just highlight any word and choose an option
from the drop-down menu. First you can add your own questions by clicking 'Insert question.' There you'll
be given an option to add a short answer question, a multiple choice question, or a poll question. So
if, for example, you wanted to ask students a short answer question, you could just type out
your question and then when you're ready to add it, click 'Save.' You'll notice that it will prompt you
to add a standard to your question, which you can only do with a prime account. If you want to write
a multiple choice question instead, you'll just need to write the question and the answer choices,
and to make the question more rigorous you could also have students identify more than
one correct answer. In addition to questions, you can also highlight the text and choose 'Insert
note' to add your own custom note on the sidebar. If you highlight text and select 'Insert link,'
you can copy and paste a relevant link in and that will turn that part of the text into an active
hyperlink when students click on it. Once you're done and you're ready to assign the article, click
'Assign.' Choose the class you want to assign the article to and then you can either give students
the direct link to the assignment, or they will see it on their assignment dashboards when they log in.
Note that if you have a Google Classroom account and have it synced with Actively Learn,
it will also post the assignment as a draft in Google Classroom that you can edit and assign
if you'd like. Although there's loads of content already added to Actively Learn, of course there
are also going to be times when you need to import your own content in and make that interactive.
Remember that with a free account you can only do this three times per month.
One thing I love about this feature is that it essentially allows you to make any piece
of content you can imagine interactive. You can import articles from the internet,
Google Docs, PDFs, create quizzes, and bring in videos and make those interactive too. To import
an internet article, you just need to copy and paste the url for an article you want to make
interactive, click on it once you've imported it, and you'll see that you have all the same options
to add interactive questions to the webpage that you did with an article. You can also bring in your
own pdf files, though you don't have quite the same flexibility as with articles or a web page.
After you've chosen a pdf file and uploaded it, you'll still be able to add custom notes
and hyperlinks to a pdf by highlighting each word, but you can only add interactive questions to the
end of a single pdf page. Let's look now at how to bring in a video as the last file import type
that I want to show you. Here just copy and paste the url to a YouTube video and then the video
will show up in your uploads as well. When you click on it, you'll be able to answer the same
types of interactive questions that you can with articles: short answer, multiple choice, and polls.
The last major Actively Learn feature I want to show you is the gradebook.
To access grades for all the assignments you've created, select your class, and choose gradebook.
If you choose an individual assignment you'll be able to get a detailed breakdown of how
students responded to different questions on the content you've assigned, as well as give
them direct feedback. You can see how the entire class responded for each question,
and by clicking on the responses, you can also see how individual students responded as well.
When you get to the short answer questions, you can give students a quick formative grade,
as well as leave them written feedback, and you can also allow students to revise their responses
if there's something that they need to go back in and fix. Actively Learn is a powerful program
that helps you turn text web pages, pdfs, and videos into interactive learning experiences.
Transforming content from static to interactive is one of the most clear ways technology can
enhance our instruction and I definitely recommend that you give Actively Learn a try.
If you have any questions about Actively Learn, please be sure to ask those in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching my video to the end. If you're interested in learning all about how
to use instructional technology to increase student engagement, personalize instruction,
provide authentic learning experiences, improve communication with families, optimize your
organization systems, and so much more, then check out my online course, The 21st Century Classroom.
In the video description you'll find a link to 21centuryclass.com,
where you can learn more about the course, as well as sign up for the latest enrollment updates.
In the video description you'll also find the link to my website, where you can find additional
resources for teaching with technology, as well as links to my social media accounts on Twitter,
Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and TikTok, where I post 60 second quick tips
about teaching with technology. Thanks again for watching and have a great week!