Welcome to the fourth post in our “Teaching through COVID-19” series. A quick recap for those just tuning in. In the coming weeks, bahabeach will be publishing different installments in our series “Teaching through COVID-19”, with each article highlighting a different learning product. These posts are meant to answer your most frequently asked questions about learning products, and how you can use them in a distance learning capacity. Our post today covers Jasperactive, a fantastic learning platform for PC-based learning (currently not available for Macs or Chromebooks). Check out the details about launching and utilizing Jasperactive below.
- What features are available in this program to help my students continue learning at home?
- Jasperactive is a web-based platform, so students can continue learning outside the classroom. The following resources are available within Jasperactive courses:
- Pre-tests
- Guided Lessons
- Practice Exercises
- Downloadable Projects
- Practice Exams, delivered through GMetrix
- What courses are available through Jasperactive?
- Jasperactive offers courses that map to the following bahabeach certifications: Microsoft Office Specialist and IC3 Digital Literacy.
- What resources are available for me to prepare lessons my students can do at home?
- Jasperactive has a multitude of resources available for teachers to use in planning and preparing their lessons. These resources are all available within your Jasperactive account, and can be downloaded at your convenience.
- Lesson Presentations
- Course Mapping
- Course Outline
- Lesson Notes
- Answer Keys
- Data Map
- Data Files
- How do my students get access and set up their accounts?
- Once you have set yourself up as a teacher within your Jasperactive account (details can be found in the video training here), you can send codes to your students to use in their accounts. Make sure they follow the step by step instructions below to get started:
- Registration starts on https://mos.jasperactive.com/Login.aspx.
- In the New User box, students will enter the case-sensitive code that you sent them, and then click Activate.
- Students will then be directed to the Registration page. They can choose to map their login to an existing account, such as Facebook or Office 365, for single sign on, or they can click Skip and create an independent account.
- After inputting their personal information, students will need to agree to the license agreement, and the course listings (which you will select when setting up the administrator account).
- After completing these steps, students will be automatically sent to the Student Panel.
- In order to fully use the Jasperactive system, students must install Jasperactive locally on their computer. Once logged in, they will simply click the installation icon (a small J next to the home icon) and select Home Version for their final install.
- If students are using Jasperactive for Microsoft Office Specialist certification courses, they must also have Microsoft Office installed locally.
- Do my students need to install anything?
- Yes. Jasperactive is a web-based training application but it also requires a local installation on your machine, and on the machine for students who will be using Jasperactive. Because Jasperactive uses Live in the App exam testing, students will also need to have Microsoft Office installed before MOS courses can be completed.
- Which web browsers work best?
- Jasperactive functionality works best in Chrome, Edge or Firefox browsers.
- Can they work offline?
- No. Jasperactive is a web-based training application, so an internet connection is required.
- Is there a video/demonstration component that the students can complete before taking any practice quizzes?
- Jasperactive does not use videos. Rather, in the “Learn” step of the student’s course (detailed below), students will be given specific tasks to complete, access to an e-book and step by step instructions for each required task.
- Can I see what my students are doing? What they have completed, how they have done on their quizzes, etc.
- Absolutely! Jasperactive has created multiple reports for you to view.
- Progress Report
- Grade Report
- Master Analysis Report
- Is your course broken up in modules so I can assign short learning every day?
- Yes. Jasperactive breaks down courses according to their Prescriptive Learning Pathway. The Pathway has five key steps:
- Benchmark: This is a timed pre-test style exam. The Benchmark is mapped to be similar in duration to the certification exam, so tell students to plan for 50 minutes here. The purpose of the Benchmark is to determines students’ skill level and build a prescribed course plan using only the lessons they need.
- Learn: Each prescribed lesson begins with a skill testing quiz to determine and deliver only those lesson topics the student needs to learn. Hands-on learning exercises operate live directly within the actual desktop application.
- Practice: Students can repeat the practice exercises multiple times to perfect their skills.
- Create: This is a project-based exercise that is completed outside the Jasperactive framework. Once the project is complete, the students will upload the final file, and Jasperactive will grade the project based on a pre-established rubric. This is the “freestyle” step, since it gives students a chance to work through a designated project, without step by step instructions.
- Validate: Once students have completed all their assignments, they will move on to the final step. In the Validate step, US students will be taken to a final examination within GMetrix, while non-US students will be taken to an exam, like the Benchmark. This step is great to help students alleviate testing anxiety and practice pacing themselves through a timed testing environment.
- What works without downloads and what needs to be downloaded to be fully functional?
- In order to use Jasperactive, students must download the Jasperactive software, and any applications associated with their course (such as Microsoft Office).
- Can I give feedback to my students within their account?
- At this point, Jasperactive does not have direct feedback enabled within the platform.
Looking for a more visual representation of the platform? The Jasperactive team has created a whole channel of how-to videos to help you get started. You can find them all here. You can also check out their exclusive training with bahabeach here.