Deliver Learning Catalytics in class (Instructor-Led Synchronous)

• To see who's sitting where and how they respond to questions
• To group students automatically for discussion

1. Open the course that contains the module you'll use. From the list of modules, open the module.

   Before you start the session you can preview the questions in the module using any of the navigation tools on the page.

        

2. When you're ready, click Start session.

   (If you see a message about blocking pop-up windows, unblock your pop-ups. This should be a one-time action for Learning Catalytics for the browser you are using.)

   Students who join the session see on their devices a "Please wait" message.

3. Move or close the separate student window that opens automatically.

   If you close the student window, you can reopen it by clicking Open student window under the session ID in your window.

   

   The student window is different from the optional student view, described in the next expandable section. You can display either this window or the student view on a classroom projector.

   

   When you...

   • Pause delivery of a question, the question remains displayed, but students can't respond.
   • Show results for a question, the results appear in this window with the question.
   • Stop delivery of a question, only the module name and session number remain in this window.

At any point after you have signed in to Learning Catalytics, you can click Student view on the navigation bar to see what your students are seeing on their devices.

This view includes all the controls students can use to interact with Learning Catalytics. You can use these controls to respond to questions, send messages, and see results as students see them.

You can also use this view in a practice session, without making it visible to students. Edit the module and check Hide sessions for this module from students. Later, when you're ready to start a session for the class to see, uncheck it. Be sure to Save the module when you make either of these changes.

The student Welcome! page

Please wait message

Question delivered view

You can drag either the student window or student view to a projected screen (visible in the classroom) or to a second monitor that only you can see (for your convenience during remote online delivery). Both options show the session ID and the question that is currently delivered. Compare the features that are unique to the two options to decide which would work best for your situation:

Student window unique features:

• Pie chart that indicates what portion of students have answered the current question
• Timer that shows the elapsed time since the current question was delivered.

Student view unique features:

• Controls that students see and use on their devices. If you want to demonstrate how to use these controls, display this view.
• A prominent Paused message if you have paused delivery of the current question.

• Easier access to your browser's zoom controls, which let you feature a specific section of the display.

  Note: With most browsers, pressing Ctrl + increases the zoom, and Ctrl - reduces the zoom, but some instructors prefer having access to the browser's menu for controlling the zoom level.

Until you deliver a question, students who join see a "Please wait" message on their devices. For Instructor-Led Synchronous modules, some instructors find it useful to deliver a general survey question (with no correct answer) as students enter the class.

You can monitor responses to this question as students wake up their devices and join the session.

• Confidence: Which dorm is farthest from this lecture hall (by foot)? Baker, Hanszen, Lovett, Wiess
• Direction: In which direction from this hall is the Arctic Circle?
• Multiple choice: What's your favorite iced coffee flavor? Caramel, Hazelnut, Pumpkin Spice, Mixed Berry, Pizza
• Ranking: Which contributes most to great results on finals? Sleep, Coffee, Studying, Yoga
• Short answer: What's your favorite food?

You can add a wake-up question when you create the module. Once you've started the session, simply open the question and click Deliver to push it to students' devices. Doing so also displays the question in the student window and student view, which students see if you're using a projector in an in-person classroom.

You can also add a timely question as soon as you start the session by clicking + Ask a new question on the fly. See below for details.

• Students in a Mastering or MyLab course sign in, then select Join Now on a computer or Join Session in Progress on a mobile device.
• Other students go to learningcatalytics.com and sign in with the username and password they created for Learning Catalytics. When prompted, they supply the session ID (the number in parentheses at the top of the student screen).

When you deliver an Instructor-Led Synchronous module, you can select in real time which questions in the module to deliver, and in which order. You can also redeliver a question.

Tip: You might want to prepare a module with more questions than you think you'll need, and select the questions to use based on how students are responding in class. If you are granting points for Learning Catalytics questions, students are scored for this session on only the questions that you deliver in this session.

Use any of the navigation tools on the page to select a question, and then click Deliver to push it to students' devices and display it in the student window, if you're using a projector for students or a second monitor for yourself.

The question remains available to students to respond, to indicate confusion, to change responses, and to be assigned to groups to discuss until you click Stop delivery or Pause delivery, or until you deliver another question.

You can use the Slide question type in Learning Catalytics to upload and present a .PPT or .PPTX file that contains multiple slides.

• In the module, you see the entire presentation listed as a single question, just like the other questions. In this example, the slide question is number 2.

  

• When you select question 2 and then click Deliver, the presentation opens within Learning Catalytics. That means the slides appear in the student window (which you may be projecting in the classroom) and on students' devices, as well as in your view.

• You move backward and forward through the slides by clicking the up and down arrows next to the counter above the displayed slide.

  

• At any point you can pose a different question in the module by clicking the question number and then clicking Deliver.

• When the class is ready to see more of the presentation, select the presentation question again. In this example, select question 2 again, and then click Deliver.

  The presentation opens with the slide you last viewed (see next bullet). You don't need to start the presentation from the beginning because Learning Catalytics holds your place while you deliver other questions. And you don't have to switch out of Learning Catalytics to deliver the presentation.

• For flexibility, if you want to shift your position in the presentation "behind the scenes," you can do so while you're delivering a different question. Students don't see any changes until you deliver the presentation again. You can also click Stop delivery while you're delivering the presentation question, move to a different slide, and deliver the slide question again from the new starting point.
• You can move between module questions and the presentation as often as you want during a session.
• To edit your slides or see your notes, open the presentation in presentation-editing software.
• Deliver the presentation in standard format (not wide screen).
• The presentation file size must be less than 20Mb, and animations, videos, and links in the presentation are not supported.

For in-depth information and tips on using a PowerPoint presentation, go to "Display a PowerPoint Presentation during a Session" in Module 5 of the online Learning Catalytics Quick Start Guide. Also see the video Upload a PowerPoint Presentation into an Instructor-Led Synchronous Module.

You can ask a new question at any point during a session for an Instructor-Led Synchronous module.

Tip: An on-the-fly question becomes part of the module, which means students can review their answers and the correct answer after you stop the session.

1. Open the course and the module.
2. Click Start session.
3. Click + Ask a new question on the fly in the upper right of the instructor dashboard.

4. Select a Question Type, Discipline, Prompt, and any other fields required for the type of question you are creating.

   Keep in mind that you can edit this question later if you want to keep it for future use. You might want to add information such as feedback (which students see when they review the session), tags, or notes.

5. Click Deliver.

• Anonymous responses: As students answer a question you have delivered, you see information about their responses displayed in the lower right portion of your screen. You can display these anonymous response statistics to students, with or without revealing which is a correct response.

• Specific student responses: If your course is associated with a seat map, you can click Show seat map of responses to view shading for seats that have responded. You can point to any occupied seat in the seat map to see the student's name and response, if any. Only you and assistants see those responses.

  

• Reactions: If, in the course settings, you have enabled the "I don't understand" button and the real-time graph, you can click Reactions at the top of the instructor dashboard to view (and hide) a graph that shows when and how many students have indicated that they're confused.

  

  The line automatically drops after a minute unless one or more students click "I don't understand" again. These reactions are submitted anonymously, so if someone remains confused, you might consider encouraging students to use the feature to send you a message (described below) so you can know they need follow-up help.

• Elapsed time: In the student window, you can see a counter that shows the elapsed time in minutes:seconds since you delivered the question. This metric can help you decide when to select Stop delivery.

If your course is associated with a seat map, you can use automatic grouping for students to engage in peer-to-peer instruction. So long as the question counter is still running for a question you have delivered (do not stop delivery), you can follow the steps below to form impromptu groups to discuss their responses to the question.

1. Click Assign groups.

2. Select parameters for automatically forming groups.

   Group size: 2 to 5 students

   Indicator: Response or score

   Comparison: All different, all the same, not all the same

   Group students: Anywhere in the room (appropriate for small classes or online sessions), next to each other, within 1, 2, 3 seats of each other

   If students can't be grouped: Just let them know they are sitting too far away; reassign them to a seat next to another student

3. Click Group and deliver to notify students of their group assignments and to make the question available for a second response. Students receive a personalized message telling them where to find the person or persons to talk with, but they won't know whose answer is correct.

   As students respond again, you see the pre-discussion and post-discussion responses side by side, revealing whether discussions are changing student responses.

Note: For online sessions, students can establish chat rooms to discuss the question.

You can push the results to student devices and to the student window, if you are displaying it with a projector.

Click Show all results and select either:

• Revealing the correct answer
• Without revealing the correct answer

Once the results are displayed, students can no longer change their responses.

Click Hide results on the instructor dashboard to return the question to delivery mode and allow students to respond again.

When students join a session, they see an option on their devices to send a message to the instructor. This option is not anonymous, so you know who the sender is.

If a student sends a message, you see an indicator in the bottom left corner of the instructor dashboard.

You can read and respond to the message during the session or later. See Review session results for information about checking messages and sending email to students after a session.

If class time runs out before you have delivered all the questions you want to cover, you can move the remaining questions into a different module for later delivery. See Add Learning Catalytics modules for information about copying and moving questions from one module to another.

Doing so prevents students from seeing the undelivered questions (and answers!) when they review this session.

See Review session results for information about how to:

• Interpret the results that you see as soon as you stop the session
• Review earlier sessions of the same module
• See student-by-student responses for each question
• Mark answers as correct or incorrect
• Download results
• View and edit attendance information
• Review in-class messages from the session and send email to selected students
• Delete session data