Actively Learn is a digital reading platform that allows teachers and students to interact within readings and digital texts. This online tool allows students to read a document as a class/group, making comments and answering questions throughout the reading. The teacher can evaluate such notes and quiz answers.
Teachers and students have the ability to check assignment basic data (included in the free version of the application). Students also can make personal notes and choose to share them with the class. Moreover, students can look up words, definitions, and translations. They can choose to listen to selected parts of the readings or even translate them. Lastly, teachers can direct their students to specific parts of the text in order to create discussions and add media to support/complement any part of the reading. This is a great tool for collaborative learning!
If you are looking for a way to enhance your students’ learning with reading assignments, and you want to add more action to the reading process, Actively Learn is a good option to try out!
Actively Learn screenshot
Tool Snapshot
| Price |
Free limited plan; Prime plan with more features |
| Learning |
Cognitivism, Social Learning |
| Ease of Use |
★★★☆☆ |
| Privacy |
★★★★☆ |
| Accessibility |
★★★★☆ |
| Class Size |
Unlimited |
| ISTE*S |
Empowered Learner, Global Collaborator |
Actively Learn Overview Video
Watch on YouTube
Transcript
Actively Learn & the SAMR Model
- Substitution: Students read a digital text on Actively Learn (instead of a traditional print text)
- Augmentation: Students while reading online assignments can look for definitions in real-time and even have a time-real translation. Also, students can discuss (with notes), in a synchronous and asynchronous setting, the same reading.
- Modification: While students are reading the digital text, they can interact with classmates and collaboratively annotate key words and phrases.
- Redefinition: Students’ reading experience is scaffolded, personalized, interactive, multimodal, and engaging.
Learning Activities
Students can read and discuss class materials. The teacher can create an activity where students solve questions and critical thinking can be implemented using this tool, regardless of the topic. And, after discussing with their classmates or asking questions to the teacher, students can be evaluated on their responses and class participation.
History
Students read a chapter of World War II and answer teacher questions inside the text and then they share notes with the class and start a discussion (s) with their classmates.
Sciences
Students do research in teams, collaborating in order to generate a future presentation about photosynthesis. They can ask questions to the teacher about sections of the books or articles they don’t understand.
Learn Foreign Language
Students read a book in other languages, they can use the translator feature to improve their reading experience. They are going reflect on the lecture as a class adding media, notes about the reading, author, the time, etc.
Language
Students read poetry, then they interpret the reading and share their interpretations with notes to the class.
Language
Students will read a book, and in teams, they are going to share notes, discuss as a group and then they are going to answer the questions made by the teacher inside the book.
Resources
How to Use Actively Learn (by NewEdTechClassroom)
Watch on YouTube
Research
Galda, L. & Liang, L.A. &. Cullinan B. E. (2014). Literature and the Child. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Momtaz, E., & Garner, M. (2010). Does collaborative learning improve EFL students’ reading comprehension. Journal of linguistics and language teaching, 1(1), 15-36.
Obendorf, H. (2003, August). Simplifying annotation support for real-world-settings: a comparative study of active reading. In Proceedings of the fourteenth ACM conference on Hypertext and hypermedia (pp. 120-121). ACM.
Schilit, B. N., Golovchinsky, G., & Price, M. N. (1998, January). Beyond paper: supporting active reading with free form digital ink annotations. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 249-256). ACM Press/Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.