How activities get made and what goes into them, plus the tools students and teachers have inside a chat with Sparky.How activities get made and what goes into them, plus the tools pupils and teachers have inside a chat with Sparky.
Hey Sparky
Build or edit an activity by chatting with Sparky.
The Hey Sparky menu sits in the top bar of every page. Pick a starting point and the Activity Builder opens with a draft, which you shape by chatting on the Build with Sparky tab or by filling in the form on the Build manually tab.
Seven starting points
Quiz students on material, give problem-solving practice, speak a world language, give writing feedback, debate, tutor on a topic, or start a custom activity.Quiz pupils on material, give problem-solving practice, speak a world language, give writing feedback, debate, tutor on a topic, or start a custom activity.
Chat or form, your choice
Everything Sparky drafts lands in five panels you can edit by hand: Overview, Behavior, Language, Grading, and Assignment.Everything Sparky drafts lands in five panels you can edit by hand: Overview, Behaviour, Language, Grading, and Assignment.
Try it before students doTry it before pupils do
A Session Preview pane sits beside the builder, so you can run the activity while you are still writing it.
From a chat to an activity
When a conversation with Sparky turns into a lesson idea, Sparky offers to open the builder with it.
PDFs, docs, slides, sheets, images, audio, and links, or import from Google Drive and OneDrive.
Attach the materials you already teach from, and Sparky reads them. Drag files in, upload from your device, paste a link, or import from Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive with a school or personal account.
Documents, slides, and sheets
PDF, Word, Pages, and EPUB. PowerPoint and Keynote. Excel, Numbers, and CSV.
Images and recordings
JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, and HEIC images, and MP3, M4A, and WAV audio. Video files are read through a transcript of their audio.
Google Drive and OneDrive
Bring in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, or Office files and PDFs from OneDrive, without downloading them first.
Links
Paste a web address into the message box and it attaches on its own.
Publish, share, and duplicate activities across your school or the public library.
Any activity you own can be published for others to use. Choose the public library, your school's library, or your district's library when the school belongs to a district, and anyone who finds it there can copy it into their own classes.
Three libraries
Public, school, and district. Each can be searched, sorted, and filtered by category.
Duplicate into your classes
Open a library activity and copy it into one or more of your classes, then edit it like any other.
Update or fork
Publishing again updates the library copy. Tick a box to publish a separate duplicate instead.
Share with a link
Set an activity to public, open to your school, anyone with the link, or private.
Students upload or snap a photo of their work, and Sparky can read it.Pupils upload or snap a photo of their work, and Sparky can read it.
Every message box has a camera button. A student can photograph a page of handwritten work, retake it if it is blurry, and send it. Sparky transcribes what is written exactly as written, mistakes included, and describes anything that is not text.Every message box has a camera button. A pupil can photograph a page of handwritten work, retake it if it is blurry, and send it. Sparky transcribes what is written exactly as written, mistakes included, and describes anything that is not text.
Snap or attach
Take a photo in the chat, drag an image in, or bring one from Google Drive or OneDrive.
Handwriting read as written
The transcription keeps the student's spelling and errors, so Sparky responds to the work as it is.The transcription keeps the pupil's spelling and errors, so Sparky responds to the work as it is.
A second look
Sparky can go back to an image to answer a specific question about it.
Common formats
JPG, PNG, GIF, and WebP, plus HEIC photos from phones, which are converted for you.
When a question needs something beyond the class materials, Sparky can search the web. It saves what it finds as links in the chat and is instructed to cite a source before it uses it.
Sources kept in the chat
Each search brings back up to five results, saved as links anyone reading the chat can open.
Cited as it goes
A numbered marker sits beside each claim. Hover over it to see the quoted excerpt and where it came from.
Wherever Sparky is
Search works in personal chats, in student sessions, and in the Activity Builder.Search works in personal chats, in pupil sessions, and in the Activity Builder.
Set the language Sparky uses in an activity and the other languages students may use.Set the language Sparky uses in an activity and the other languages pupils may use.
Each activity has its own Language panel. Set the primary language Sparky uses and the secondary languages students may use, which makes one activity work for a language class, for a student still learning English, or for both.Each activity has its own Language panel. Set the primary language Sparky uses and the secondary languages pupils may use, which makes one activity work for a language class, for a pupil still learning English, or for both.
Primary and secondary
Pick one primary language from a searchable list that includes regional variants, then allow specific secondary languages or all of them.
Writing, speaking, or both
Choose separately how students communicate and how Sparky replies.Choose separately how pupils communicate and how Sparky replies.
Set per activity
A Spanish conversation practice and an English essay review can sit in the same class with different settings.
Students talk to Sparky and hear it back, in the voice and at the speaking rate you choose.Pupils talk to Sparky and hear it back, in the voice and at the speaking rate you choose.
Students can speak to Sparky with the microphone button and listen to its replies. For each activity, the teacher decides whether students write, speak, or may do either, and whether Sparky answers in writing, aloud, or both.Pupils can speak to Sparky with the microphone button and listen to its replies. For each activity, the teacher decides whether pupils write, speak, or may do either, and whether Sparky answers in writing, aloud, or both.
Nine voices
Choose Sparky's voice for the activity and preview it before students hear it.Choose Sparky's voice for the activity and preview it before pupils hear it.
Speaking rate
Slow Sparky down to half speed or bring it up to one and a half times, which helps in language practice.
Speaking only
Turn typing off for an oral activity, so the student has to say it.Turn typing off for an oral activity, so the pupil has to say it.
Listen on any message
A Listen button plays a reply aloud, with autoplay as an option.
Sketch and work through problems on a whiteboard inside the chat.
A student can open a whiteboard from the chat's attachment menu and work a problem out by hand. It opens beside the conversation and saves on its own. Sparky sees the board and can respond to what is on it.A pupil can open a whiteboard from the chat's attachment menu and work a problem out by hand. It opens beside the conversation and saves on its own. Sparky sees the board and can respond to what is on it.
In any chat
Students can start a board whenever they need one, and Sparky can open a blank one for them.Pupils can start a board whenever they need one, and Sparky can open a blank one for them.
Draw on images
Mark up a diagram, a graph, or a photo of a worksheet in the same canvas.
Sparky can annotate
It can add labels and marks to a board or an image, not only read them.
Write and run code in the chat, and Sparky sees both the code and its output.
The chat has a code editor with a language picker, a run button, and an output pane. A student writes code and runs it there, and when they send their message, Sparky sees both the code and what it printed.The chat has a code editor with a language picker, a run button, and an output pane. A pupil writes code and runs it there, and when they send their message, Sparky sees both the code and what it printed.
Languages that run
Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Java, R, and Bash. The editor highlights syntax for many more.
Run in a sandbox
Code runs on a server in an isolated sandbox, not on the student's device.Code runs on a server in an isolated sandbox, not on the pupil's device.
Sparky runs code too
It can write and run its own code to check an idea or show an example.
Sparky can make images, charts, slide decks, documents, and short narrated explainer videos.
Sparky can make things as well as explain them: an image, a chart or graph, a slide deck, a document, or a short narrated explainer video. Charts and graphs are plotted with code, so the values are exact.
Slides you can present
Present in the browser, change the theme, export to Google Slides, or download a PowerPoint file.
Documents
Print, download as a Word file, or export to Google Drive.
Explainer videos
Four to six scenes, about ninety seconds, narrated in the activity's voice and language.
Optional watermarks
A school can add a watermark to AI-generated images and slides.
Set a time limit for the whole session, for each question Sparky asks, or both.
Two timers live in each activity's Assignment panel. One limits the whole session. The other limits how long a student has on each question Sparky asks. Leave either blank and that part is untimed.Two timers live in each activity's Assignment panel. One limits the whole session. The other limits how long a pupil has on each question Sparky asks. Leave either blank and that part is untimed.
Session time limit
A countdown runs at the top of the chat, turns red in the last minute, and submits the session at zero.
Response time limit
Sparky starts the timer when it asks a new question. When it runs out, what the student has typed is sent.Sparky starts the timer when it asks a new question. When it runs out, what the pupil has typed is sent.
Set in minutes
Both are whole minutes, and the response limit cannot be longer than the session limit.
Shown on the card
Students see the limits before they start, such as a 30-minute session with 5-minute responses.Pupils see the limits before they start, such as a 30-minute session with 5-minute responses.
Open an activity on a date, close it at the deadline, and auto-submit what's there.
Set when an activity opens and when it closes, each as a date and a time. Before it opens and after the deadline, students cannot start a session, and anything still open at the deadline is submitted for them.Set when an activity opens and when it closes, each as a date and a time. Before it opens and after the deadline, pupils cannot start a session, and anything still open at the deadline is submitted for them.
Available from
Publish an activity ahead of time and let it open when the lesson begins.
Deadline
Open sessions are submitted at the deadline, including what a student has typed but not sent.Open sessions are submitted at the deadline, including what a pupil has typed but not sent.
Pause
Stop new and ongoing sessions with a switch. Finished sessions can still be opened, shared, and printed.
Works with timers
If the deadline arrives before a session's time limit, the session ends at the deadline.
