FAQ for Teachers

How can I create a group?

The teacher can create groups for students:

  • Go to the Home Page: Groups ⇒ Create New Group ⇒
  • Add the name of the group, and a short description (optional).
    • You can enter a list of student emails into the same form. You can attach additional teachers to the Group.
  • Click Create
  • Once the group is created:
    • The Group Library will appear. The teacher can share stories from the Private Library to the Group Library.
    • The teacher can follow the performance of the students by going to ⇒ Analytics.
    • The teacher can add students to the Group.

How can I add students to a group?

  • Go to the Home Page: ⇒ Groups ⇒
  • Select the group from your list of groups ⇒ click on its Title ⇒

There are two ways to add students:

  1. If the teacher knows the email addresses of the students:
    • Go to the Group ⇒ click on People ⇒
    • Add student emails
    • Each student will receive an email, asking them to join:
      • If student was already registered, she gets invitation to join group in an email.
      • If the student was not already registered in Revita, she becomes registered, and receives an email with her new username and password. (She can change the password any time after logging in.)
  2. If the teacher does not know the email addresses of the students:
    • Go to the Group ⇒ click on Show Key
    • Copy and post the Group Key in a place where the students can pick it up — e.g., on the web site of a course.
    • Students can join the group using the key. Each key is valid for 1 month. New keys can be made any time.

Can I hide stories from the students for later use?

  1. When sharing a story from Private Library: Click Share hidden
  2. After a story has been shared: Go to Group Library ⇒ Select story ⇒ Click on its Title ⇒ Click Hide story
  3. Later you can Unhide story

Can I copy stories from my old course into a new course?

  • Go to Home Page ⇒ Click Groups ⇒ Select the new group ⇒ Click Inherit stories
  • Select existing group(s) from which you want to inherit their libraries
  • All stories (and flashcards) will be imported into the new group, and will apear as hidden from the students

How does Revita create exercises based on a story?

  • Revita analyzes each story,
  • Divides it into snippets (2-3 sentences each),
  • For each snippet, creates exercises that match the level of the learner:
    • Words and phrases in the story are linked to grammatical topics that the learner needs to master.
    • The map of the topics can be seen by going to the Home Page ⇒ Progress ⇒ Grammar Progress
    • Revita selects which grammatical topics are best suited to the learner’s current level.
    • Learner’s level is evaluated based on all preceding answers to exercises: which topics the learner finds easy / difficult.
  • Revita tries to select exercises that match the learner’s level:
    • if exercises are often too easy — the learner will become bored,
    • if exercises are often too difficult — the learner will become frustrated,
  • in either case — she will quit practicing. Thus it is very important to find the right level of difficulty, though sometimes there may be an easy or a difficult exercise.
  • Exercises are selected at random, so each time you work with a story, the exercises will be different.

Can I decide exactly which exercises I want in a story?

  • Choose a story from your Private Library ⇒ Click on its title ⇒ Click Create Tailored Story
  • This allows you to specify — for any word or phrase:
    • Which exercise all students will see,
    • What hints / feedback they receive.

My question is not in this list, whom can I ask?

If you have any questions — or suggestions or comments — please contact the team through the Contact page, or write to the Revita team at revita@helsinki.fi