Basically, without subscription, there isn't much that you can do on textivate: you can access resources created by others, provided that you have the url to access the resource, or the resource is embedded on another website or blog.
Here's what you can do if you do subscribe:
1. Textivate your own texts 'on the fly'. (All subscription levels)
Play around with your own texts and vocab lists, create resources for immediate use 'on the fly'.
2. Search or browse 1000s of resources uploaded to textivate. (All subscription levels)
There are 1000s of resources already on textivate covering a wide range of topics and languages. Search by title, contributor, description, tags etc. The number of resources is growing all the time...
3. Modify existing resources for your own use. (All subscription levels)
Find resources in the public section of textivate, make changes, additions etc. Or follow a url link to a textivate resource, then make your own changes.
4. Save texts to Local Storage. (All subscription levels)
Use the local storage facility (the filing cabinet icon) to store 100s (1000s?) of resources in local storage for access on the same device. These can be resources that you have created yourself, text copied from other sources, or modified (or not) versions of other textivate resources.
5. Print worksheets. (All subscription levels)
A growing number of textivate screens feature a "Print Worksheet" button so that you can create printable textivities. So you can make use of textivate even when you don't have access to tech in class! It's so easy to generate a variety of worksheets based on any text you like, for use in class, for homework etc. You don't need to upload a text in order to print a worksheet. Nor does the text have to be your own - find something suitable via the resource browser.
See this blog post demonstrating just how simple it is to create worksheets in textivate.
6. Upload a private resource to textivate so that you can access it on another device. (All subscription levels)
If you subscribe you can upload a resource to textivate that can only be accessed by you. You can then log in on any other device and open your resource. So you can create resources on your home computer and access them at school or vice versa.
7. Keep track of favourites and recently accessed resources on textivate. (All subscription levels)
When you are logged in to textivate, textivate keeps a record of the last 10 resources you've accessed, whether they are your own resources or resources that you've come across via the resource browser. You can also "favourite" resources when you are logged in and access them via your favourites section of the resource browser.
8. Allow your students to textivate their own texts. (Premium & Group only)
Premium and Group subscribers get an additional student password, so that their students can play around with their own texts on textivate, both in class and at home, creating matching, reordering and memorisation exercises 'on the fly'.
9. Allow your students to search or browse the 1000s of resources uploaded to textivate. (Premium & Group only)
Premium and Group subscribers get an additional student password. This allows students to search and browse the 1000s of resources uploaded to textivate, covering a wide range of topics and languages. They can search by title, contributor, description, tags etc. The number of resources is growing all the time....
10. Upload resources so that they can be accessed by other people on textivate, (Premium & Group only)
Premium and Group subscribers can upload resources as Public, Shareable or MySite resources (see definitions below). These resources can be shared with your students (or with whoever you choose) via urls and they can even be embedded on other sites. See this blog post about the various ways that Premium and Group subscribers can share resources with others.
Public resources are available to all registered users of textivate, via the "Search / browse" button on the textivate front page. They can also be accessed by anybody via a hyperlink, and they can be embedded in blogs, wikis and web pages.
Shareable resources can be accessed by anyone via a hyperlink and they can be embedded on other sites, just as with public resources. However, they cannot be accessed by all users via the "Search / browse" button on the textivate front page.
MySite resources are designed to be accessed only via a website or domain specified by the contributor. If you wish to make a resource available on your own website, but you don't want others to be able to access it via a hyperlink or to access the source text via the textivate menu screen or editor screen, save your resource as a MySite resource and use the embed code to embed particular exercises on your website or blog. MySite resources cannot be shared via a hyperlink or embedded on any site other than the one specified by the contributor.
11. Create activity SEQUENCES, to set homework, assessments etc. (Premium & Group only)
Premium and Group subscribers can create a sequence of activities, which students must complete in the order that you specify. For most activities, you can also specify a target score which the student must achieve in order to pass on to the next activity.
You can have as many activities as you like in a sequence (or just one if you like). When students have completed a sequence, they are invited to log-in using your (Premium or Group) textivate username plus the shared student password for your account. They can then enter their name and upload the record of their work.
You can then access student scores etc via the gradebook icon on textivate. You get a global score, total time taken, plus a breakdown of scores and time taken for each activity, including how many times each activity was repeated.
This is a great way of checking that students have completed their homework, as well as giving you all sorts of info about their performance. More importantly, it's also a great way of ensuring that students are exposed to lots of repetitions of your target structures and vocabulary, whilst giving you a way of checking that they are putting the work in.
See this blog post for more info about sequences, including video tutorials and links to further articles related to sequences on textivate.
12) Create "Challenges" to get your students competing in class or for homework
Premium and Group subscribers can create challenges for their students. A Challenge is a time-limited competition based on one or more of your existing textivate resources.
A challenge is great way of getting students participating in competitions based on reading, vocab and text manipulation. It's an excellent way of increasing students' exposure to the target language.
Once students start competing in a challenge, the scoreboard starts to fill up with their names and scores. As students complete activities, they score points which are added to the scoreboard. Students can return to the scoreboard at any time to see where they are on the board.
A challenge can be based on teams, on pairs or on individuals. To set up a team challenge, simply assign team names and ask members of each team to log in using their assigned team name.
A challenge doesn't have to be limited to one class period. You can set a specific end point for the challenge - maybe one week from now, and let students spend time outside class time adding to their score. Why not set a challenge every week, as an optional extra, and reward those who get the highest scores?
See this blog post for more information about challenges.
13) Incorporate video (/audio) to add a whole new dimension to interactive resources. (All subscription levels)
Adding video to a textivate resource adds all sorts of other possibilities:
See this blog post on exploiting videos in textivate.
- A text describing what happens in a video.
- A text which is a transcript of the video.
- A text which is a response to the video content.
- A grammar / vocab resource accompanying a "flipped" video.
- Translation (on lots of different levels).
- Dictation (on lots of different levels).
Subscription prices:
For a complete breakdown of the various subscription options (including free use of textivate) go to the textivate home page at www.textivate.com and click on the "subscribe" link.Basic subscription costs £36 (GBP) per year and allows you to store up to 20 uploaded resources.
Premium subscription costs £72 (GBP) per year and allows you to store up to 500 uploaded resources.
Group subscription costs £180 (GBP) per year and has 10 separate teacher log ins - it's like having 10 Premium subscriptions, with a combined storage limit of 3000 resources.