Prepare mode allows you to review and edit the Lesson's content, questions, and model answers before releasing it to your students.
When viewing a Lesson, the green view mode toggle at the top of the page will default to Prepare mode.
Prepare mode enables the following activities:
- Preview as a student;
- Toggle assessment mode (and what that means);
- Edit the title and cover image;
- Set a due date;
- Print Lesson materials;
- Copy, duplicate, or delete the whole Lesson;
- Review teaching notes;
- Add and customize content.
Preview as a student
The student preview allows you to see your Lesson exactly as it will be displayed to your students. It hides all teaching notes and Edit/Menu options.
Clicking the Preview as student button in the top left corner of the cover image will switch to a read-only state of the Lesson. It will display with a blue header and hide all editing options and teaching notes. To exit Preview as student, click the Exit preview button in the same location.
Protip: Use the Preview as student option before releasing each Lesson to check that everything looks as it should. Think of it as taking your own advice and ‘proof-reading’ your work!
Toggle assessment mode (and what that means)
Lessons are not assessed by default, following pedagogical studies on formative assessment. When Assessment mode is enabled, every question is given a mark value and your students will not be able to take back their work after they submit it to you. Completed assessments are given a percentile grade, which also appears in the Markbook.
Assessment mode can be enabled or disabled on any Lesson by clicking the Change button next to the assessment mode indicator.
When assessment mode is enabled:
- You can assign marks to questions;
- Students do not receive feedback from auto-marked questions until you return their work; and
- Students cannot modify their work after they submit it.
Edit the title and cover image
Grab your students' attention by adding a catchy title and engaging cover image.
From Prepare mode, you can easily customize the look of your Lesson by clicking the Edit title or Add cover image buttons. To learn more about selecting the best cover image for your Lesson, click here.
Set a due date
Clicking on the Lesson's Title or the Due date button at the top of the page will allow you to set due dates for each Lesson. Once a due date is set, the teacher will see the due date in green below the Lesson's title and cover image. If multiple due dates are set for individual Classes, then they will all be visible.
You don’t have to set a due date before releasing the Lesson, but if you do, your students will be notified on their homepage.
Print Lesson materials
From the Print menu, you have the option to print teacher notes, student handouts, and model answers. If you’d rather, you can also save these documents as a PDF file instead of printing.
Copy, duplicate, or delete the whole Lesson
Using the ... dropdown menu, you’re able to copy, duplicate or delete the Lesson as a whole.
- Copying a Lesson will allow you to paste a fresh copy of the Lesson into a different Folder.
- Duplicating a Lesson will create an identical copy in the same Folder, but without any student work attached.
- Deleting a Lesson will remove the Lesson from your Subject and any student work tied to it, but don’t worry, it’s possible to restore accidentally deleted Lessons!
Review teaching notes
Teaching notes are only viewable in Prepare mode, and are always hidden from students.
Teaching notes can be used in myriad ways to enhance a Lesson, including:
- Provide extra guidance when leading an activity;
- Make notes to co-teachers or colleagues when sharing the Lesson;
- Add links to resources, model answers, or extra supplies.
To insert a new teaching note, open the Add content sidebar and drag the Teaching note widget into your Lesson.
Add and customize content
From Prepare mode, you can edit existing Lesson content or create your own from scratch. You have access to the same tools that the Stile content team uses to create all of the Lessons in the Stile Library!
There are a variety of tools available to display different types of content in your Lessons - these are referred to as widgets.
For example, a multiple-choice question is displayed using the Multiple-Choice widget, a student poll is displayed using the Live Poll widget, and so on.
For more information on how and when to use each of the widgets, click here.
Remove questions and resources
Any unwanted questions or resources can be deleted from a Lesson by clicking on the more menu above a widget and selecting delete.
Warning: Be careful with this one - Deleted widgets can only be recovered by the Stile Support team!
Edit questions and resources
Questions and resources can be edited in a variety of ways, depending on the type of widget. Click Edit above the question to view its specific capabilities.
In the example above, a multiple-choice question is edited to remove the "I'm not sure" option.
Note: Remember to click Done to save the changes.
When editing a question, you can also assign or edit the Model Answer. All Stile Lessons come with pre-prepared model answers which are by default only visible to teachers.
Model answers can be customized to best suit your learning goals, and can be released to students or remain hidden.
Add questions and resources
Blank widgets can be found in the Add Content tab of the sidebar on the right side of the screen. This is where you can get creative!
Simply drag your choice into the Lesson, and then fill it with text and resources. In the example above, the Video widget is used to add a Youtube video into the Lesson.
For more information on how and when to use each of the widgets, click here.
You may also be interested in the following resources:
- Teach mode: Lead your students through a Lesson;
- Analyse mode: Track student progress in a Lesson;
- The Students page: Organise Classes and Co-teachers.