TextActivities is a new website which includes a lot of the functionality of Textivate. It is essentially Textivate 2.0, but with so many changes from the original that we had no option but to launch it as a totally separate website.

So what are the main differences?

1) WHAT'S NEW?

1 (i) : Separation of home page and resource edit page

One of the simple ideas of Textivate is that there's a text box into which users can add text and then click on the "Textivate>>" button to turn their text into activities. BUT since this edit page is also the home page for the website, this often leads to confusion and concern that students are in some way able to edit teachers' resources (they aren't) or have access to teachers' accounts (they don't).

TextActivities has a proper home page and various info pages, with resource creation happening via a separate page accessible by teachers only.

1 (ii) : Resources / Classes... proper navigation

TextActivities has a separate resources page with various search tools, accessible from any other page on the site.

(Textivate doesn't have a resources page. It has a search popup available only via the home page and via the activity menu page.)

TextActivities has a separate classes page accessible from anywhere on the site. Teachers and students can use the classes page to access the classes to which they belong. Teachers can use this page to set up new classes.

(Textivate doesn't have a classes page. It has a classes popup accessible from the home page only, and only accessible by teachers.)

1 (iii) : Resource page

Each resource on TextActivities has its own resource page containing the resource content and all of the activities that are available for that resource.

Tabs allow users to switch between "Resource View" and "Activity View", so you no longer need to navigate back away from an activity to look at the original resource content.

All activities can be easily accessed on the same page via the activity menu. Teachers will also see options to copy or edit a resource, or set an assignment / competition directly from the resource page.

All worksheet printing options are available on the resource page too.

(Textivate doesn't really have a resource page as such. Instead it has a resource identifier and resource data which are passed from page to page, including the home page. Users have to navigate away from an activity if they wish to be reminded of the resource content. Worksheet options on Textivate are accessed via each individual activity page.)

1 (iv) : All resources have an L2 and L1 language

TextActivities resources have to have an L2 language specified. This makes it much easier to search for resources according to the target language that you are teaching. They also have an L1 language, which means that you can specify that a particular resource is for native speakers of a particular language. So it's easy to browse or search for all resources whose target language is French and which are intended for native speakers of German, for example.

(Textivate doesn't require you to set a language.)

1 (v) : Single page for all activities

As mentioned above, on TextActivities all activities are part of the same resource page. This makes navigation much simpler, as there is no longer a "Back" button on each activity which takes you back to the menu. Instead you simply choose a different activity from the activity menu.

(Textivate activities are all delivered via a separate webpage, requiring users to navigate back and forth between pages.)

1 (vi) : Multiple-mode match activities

TextActivities requires you to add the languages for your matching items. As a result of this, it is able to offer match activities with the modes:

• Translate to L2 [L1 text >> L2 text]
• Read & match to L1 [L2 text >> L1 text]

This is similar the the "Switched" option on Textivate, but with the difference being that it is clear which language is the prompt and which is the answer.

If you also enable TTS for match activities, you add the following modes too, with just TTS audio as prompts:

• Listen & match to L1 [L2 audio >> L1 text]
• Listening (dictation) [L2 audio >> L2 text]
  

With these 2 audio options, the prompt is just the TTS audio. So the first of these is like listening comprehension, while the other adds all sorts of dictation-like activities.

And enabling TTS also adds the following 2 modes, which combine text prompts with TTS audio prompts [updated 06/11/23]:

• Listen & read & match to L1 [L2 audio + L2 text >> L1 text]
• Dictation & translation to L2 combined [L2 audio + L1 text >> L2 text]

The first of these matches to the L1 and allows the student to both hear and see the L2 prompt. The second one has outputs in the L2 and uses both the L2 audio and the L1 translation as prompts, requiring various interactions with the L2 text (like dictation and translation to the L2 combined).

These 6 modes are shown at the top of the "Vocab / Matching" activity menu, and the activities available in the activity menu will depend on which mode you have chosen.

Activities which are available in more than one mode will also have a mode selector as part of the activity restart button.

1 (vii) : Activity interchangeability

For some of the Text activities -- Jumbled words, Space, No vowels, No consonants, 50:50, Initials, Word shapes, Anagrams -- you have the option to switch between these on a per-section basis whilst rebuilding the text.

This means that you can use various activity types in front of the class without restarting the text that you are reconstructing, or you can switch between easier and harder options depending on the text segment. 

1 (viii) : Random activity button

All resources have a "Random" button which will randomly select an activity and an activity configuration (mode) from all of those available for the resource. This "Random" button is also available on the Competition page, allowing students to randomly select from the available activities rather than having to choose an activity.

1 (ix) : Parallel text fully integrated

The parallel text feature has been fully integrated into the resource and the activities on TextActivities. It appears as part of the activity itself (rather than separate frame, as is the case with Textivate) AND you can turn on or off the parallel text (or the video, the big image, the audio control) without having to restart an activity.

These parallel options (text / video / image / audio) are also incorporated into the parameters for assignment activities (of which more below...).

1 (x) : Worksheets include parallel text

On TextActivities the worksheet options appear on each resource page, with various print options for Text and for Vocab / Matching. A new feature of TextActivities is the option to add the parallel text to your worksheet too.

The worksheets pop-up also includes text zoom controls so that you can have a play with your worksheet content and try it out for size in your browser's print dialog before printing.

You can also copy the answers for many worksheets options, making marking much easier.

1 (xi) : Full screen mode + zoom controls etc

Activities on TextActivities have a full screen mode, with various zoom and resizing controls to allow you to display the activity in front of the class.

Activities do not automatically resize on TextActivities (unlike on Textivate) and the whole approach is much more fluid, with activities appearing in-line, with scrolling pages etc, making them work much better for longer texts (where the font-size would typically be very small on a resized Textivate screen).

(Full screen mode is not a feature of Textivate, because Textivate always resizes the content to fit the available space in the browser window.)

1 (xii) : Class page

Each class on TextActivities has its own page.

When students log in and go to classes, they see their classes listed. When they click on one of their classes, they are taken to the class page, where they will find 2 tabs: Assignments and Competitions (similar to Sequences and Challenges on Textivate, but also very different, of which more below...). They can see currently active and recently finished assignments and competitions, time remaining (for any active assignment or competitions), scores, progress, etc.

Teachers see 4 tabs in their classes (see image above): Assignments, Competitions, Data, and Edit. They can set or modify assignments or competitions, or reassign them to the same class or to other classes. The data tab is split into "Student data", "Assignment data" and "Competition data", with all sorts of options for viewing and exporting student scores etc.

1 (xiii) : Separation of Assignment and Resource

On TextActivities you can set as many different assignments as you like based on the same resource. Assignments are set via the you Class page, and you can choose one of the pre-defined configurations or create an assignment based on whichever activities you like.

(On Textivate, the "Sequence" definition is part of the resource itself, so you have to create a new version of the resource if you want to set a different assignment based on the same text or set of matching items.)

1 (xiiv) : Assignments / Competitions based on private resources

1 (xv) : Pre-defined assignment configurations

TextActivities has a range of pre-defined assignment configurations. Click on one of these to create an assignment based on a range of activities, which tend to work from eaiser to harder.

The activities offered are only those which are possible for your resource. And once you've chosen one of these sets, you can then add to it, remove activities you'd rather not include, switch the order of activities, change the activity parameters, etc.

1 (xvi) : Assignments only allow activities which work

Unlike Textivate, which doesn't check to see if a particular activity can be added to a "Sequence", on TextActivities only those activities which will work with your resource will appear as options for your assignment.

1 (xvii) : Assignment parameters include parallel text + % in play

If your resource includes a parallel text (or video, image, audio link), on TextActivities you decide on an activity by activity basis whether or not that parallel extra is included along with the activity. This means it is easy to set up an assignment activity with a particular focus: with parallel text (=translation); with TTS (=dictation); with parallel text and TTS (=dictation / translation combined).

Several assignment activities also have a "% in play" option. For text activities, where this is available it usually determines the proportion of the words in the text which are affected by the transformation. For match activities, it usually determines the proportion of the total matching items which are used for the match activity.

Some activities -- usually the gamey ones where scores depend on factors other than the student's knowledge and understanding of the language -- have a "Completion only" mode, which means that the only score for that activity is 100%, and it has a minor impact on the total assignment score since the whole activity is counted as one interaction only.

Several other activities have "Assessment mode". See below:

1 (xviii): Assessment mode for assignments

Assessment mode is new in TextActivities. In assessment mode, the student's first interaction is accepted, the correct response is provided and the score reflects the accuracy of the inital interaction. 

So, for example, if the student is typing out the text for a letters activity, whatever letter they press the correct letter will be added, and their score will change to reflect whether or not the letter they typed was correct.

Assessment mode has a different look and feel, as you can see in the image above. Students are notified at the beginning of every assignment activity which has been set in assessment mode.

1 (xix) : Assignment preview

TextActivities has an assignment preview mode. This is available from the "New assignment" popup, allowing you to go through the assignment before you set it. A "Skip activity" button allows you as the teacher to skip through all of the activities to see what they look like and to get a feel for what the experience will be like for students.

An assignment preview is also available for all assignments that you have set, including ones that have expired, via the teacher assignment options (above image) next to each assignment. So you can click this to remind yourself what the assignment looks like. You can also get a list of the activities included in an assignment by clicking on the green "info" link below the language flag for the resource. (In the above image it says "1 activity". If you click this it will tell you what the activity is and some info re. the parameters for that activity.) 

1 (xx) : Due dates and delayed start for assignments

Assignments on TextActivities have a due date. Once you have set an assignment, you can edit the assignment due date using the edit button on the assignment teacher tools (see image in above section). Students will not be able to access an assignment once its due date has passed. (Due date also includes a time.)

You also have the option to set an assignment with a delayed start. By default (i.e. without setting a start time / date) the assignment is available immediately, but if you set a start date or time in the future, the assignment will not show for students until the date / time specified has arrived.

1 (xxi) : Assignments for specific groups or students

TextActivities allows you to set assignments for a specific list of students, for a single student, for the whole class, or for one or more groups as defined in the "Manage groups" popup for your class.

1 (xxii) : Assignment progress updates even for incomplete activities

Unlike Textivate, which only updates progress to the servers following the completion of a sequence activity, TextActivities backs up scores and completion data after each "section" has been completed.

For those text activities where the whole text is presented (e.g. Jigsaw, Gapfill) a "section" refers to a single interaction (a click on a text block, or on a word). For those text activities where the text is presented in sections, a "section" refers to the section as presented by the activity. Match activites work in a similar way too, so that progress data is updated after each match.

1 (xxiii) : Comprehensive assignment data + data export

For each assignment, the teacher can access overall performance data, similar to that shown in the image above. For each student, the data shows: number and percentage of activities completed; accuracy of interactions; incorrect interactions; bought interactions (hints); time taken; percentage score [total assessment mode percentage in square brackets].

The copy button at the top right allows you to copy this as comma-separated data for pasting into a spreadsheet / conversion into a spreadhseet file.

If you click on the green "Assignment steps" button, you can see detailed per-activity performance, including passmarks (and whether or not these were met) and extras provided (e.g. parallel text).

1 (xxiv) : Competitions with defined focus

On TextActivities teachers can set competitions with a defined focus. Then when students click through to take part in the competition, only those activities which fit within the defined focus will be available.

1 (xxv) : Competitions for individuals or teams

As with Textivate's "Challenges", Competitions on TextActivities can be set for individuals or teams. Unlike on Textivate, however, on TextActivities the teams work in slightly different ways:

If you have defined competition teams using the "Manage teams" popup in your class, students will automatically be assigned to the teams that you have specified.

However, if you set a team competition without specifying teams, students are automatically assigned to a random team as soon as they land on the competition page.

For individual competitions, students see the top 5 scores plus their own score (assuming they are not already in the top 5) in the competition leaderboard.

For team competitions, students see the total points score for each team, while teachers can also see the individual contribution of each student to the team score.

1 (xxvi) : Competition score updates even for incomplete activities

Unlike Textivate, which only updates challenge scores following the completion of a challenge activity, TextActivities backs up scores after each "section" has been completed, and it backs up scores to the leaderboard when the student changes activity, or when they navigate back to their class.

1 (xxvii) : Competition data

For individual competitions, teachers can access the above data in the "Competition data" tab in their class. The info shown is: correct interactions; bought interactions (hints); time taken; % score (based on accuracy); points.

The image above isn't the best example, but for teams, teachers get to see the same as for individual competitions, but as well as the team scores etc, they can also see the individual contribution made by each team member.

1 (xxviii) : Profile page

Teachers and students have a profile page. Students can see their assignment scores for all classes to which they belong dating back up to 12 months.

1 (xxix) : Student accounts

Student accounts are created by teachers via their classes (or by the school admin via the school admin page -- see below).

Student accounts are not email based but look like this: ABC-FirstLast -- where ABC is a 3-character code unique to each subscription, and First and Last are the students' first and last names. Just as with Textivate, you don't have to use actual names, as long as (a) the name that you use is recognizable by you (and other teachers, such as the school admin), and (b) it is relatively easy for students to remember.

It is a good idea for teachers from the same school to agree on a naming convention if you don't intend to use students' names as listed on your school management system. This will avoid a situation where students in more than one class end up with multiple usernames due to lack of consistency between teachers on the same subscription.

Students' passwords are a 4-digit PIN which is automatically generated by the system. Teachers have access to all usernames and passwords for the students in their classes and can change the PINs if necessary or remind students if they forget them.

1 (xxx) : School admin page

The person in charge of a TextActivities subscription is known as the school admin for the subscription. All subscriptions have a school admin, even if it's just for 1 teacher.

The school admin can add and remove teachers, switch the school admin role to another teacher, add and delete students, manage classes (all the same changes that teachers can make via the edit tab of their classes).

Anything else?

Be sure to let me know if you think of anything else that's new on TextActivities but not on Textivate. I'll add more things as they occur to me :)

2) WHAT'S GONE?

2 (i) : GONE: Access without log-in

Access to all TextActivities pages (beyond the home page and info pages) requires a login, so it is not possible to link to a resource or activity so that students can follow this link and use the resource without a login.

2 (ii) : GONE: Embedding of individual activities

With TextActivities you can no longer create an embedded version of an activity. You can [as of Feb 2024] share links to individual activities, including parmeters such as parallel text, TTS, mode, etc, BUT the person accessing the activity via the link needs to have a valid login.

2 (iii) : GONE: Basic / Premium / Group

TextActivities doesn't have a "Basic" option with limited features.

All TextActivities subscriptions have the same list of available features, with full access to all languages and all components. Instead, the subscription model is based on teacher and student limits.

2 (iv) : GONE: "speak::"

Textivate resources that are set up to play TTS as a prompt using "speak::" are not transferable to TextActivities. 

This is because TextActivities makes this functionality available for all match resources which have TTS enabled, thanks to the 6 match activity modes (L2 text >> L1 text; L2 audio >> L1 text; L2 audio + L2 text >> L1 text; L1 text >> L2 text; L2 audio >> L2 text; L2 audio + L1 text >> L2 text).

2 (v) : GONE: Multiple-resource sequences

Each assignment on TextActivities is based on a a single resource. But assignments that you set appear in chronologogical order by due date for students, so you can achieve something similar by setting various assignments to be completed in a specific order.

Anything I've missed?

Please let me know if you think of a Textivate feature which you think is no longer available in TextActivities. I'll add more here as things occur to me...