Creating a Smart Lesson

Customise content to your students' needs by creating Smart Lessons. Create your own lesson from scratch, or customise existing content however you like! Use these lessons to engage students through Information Slides, Quiz sections, and Extended Response questions.

Getting Started

Navigate to the Content tab. Click into your My Content folder, then click Smart Lesson from the drop-down menu at the top.

For information on creating other types of content, check out our articles:

Create Vocabulary, Spelling and Fact lists.
Create Pre-Built Exams.

creating a smart lesson from library tab

Now you need to start adding your slides! Click on one of the Add buttons below each section depending on what type of question you’d like to add.

add slide buttons for each section

You can add and edit sections later. For information on each different section, see below.

Sections of a Smart Lesson

For each section, there are different question component options.

Information

Information sections are designed to introduce your students to new concepts, or recap at the end of a lesson.

They are presented as a series of unmarked slides. Students are required to spend a minimum of 3 seconds on each slide before moving on.

Information Slide	This is helpful for presenting students with the information they will need to complete the lesson.
Annotated Text	This feature is great for elaborating on points or making hints.
Adding Media	This allows teachers to include sound, pictures, or videos to help engage students or to be used as question prompts.
Embed	This component allows you to embed content in the lesson from external sources.

Quiz

Quiz sections can reinforce key concepts by asking automatically-marked questions. These are repeated until your students master them. If students make an error, they'll be shown the correct answer alongside an explanation to improve their knowledge.

Multi-choice Questions	These questions are ideal for short quizzes.
Fill in the Gaps	These questions are perfect for testing how well students understand a passage of text or a topic. You can also use this component to create Textbox questions.
Highlight	These questions allow students to pick the correct answer out of a passage of text.
Annotated	These questions allow you to ask students questions about specific parts of a passage of text.

Extended Response

Extended Response sections allow your students to prove their understanding and mastery of a subject.

These can contain questions that require students to write a full paragraph answer, complete a multi-step mathematical equation or record their voice.

Extended Response sections are self-marked by the student. You can give feedback on their responses, as well as require resubmission. Find out more here.

Long Answer Questions	Students can respond to a question or stimulus in their own written words. Questions can include model answers, minimum response expectations, and keywords. These are the only types of questions that can be used for Peer Review.
Sound Recorder	Students can respond to a question or stimulus via verbal input. This options is great for testing vocabulary pronunciation and can be used to assist students who struggle with written tasks.
Scratchpad	Ideal for questions that involve the drawing of diagrams, as well as questions that test students' ability to identify objects within an image.
File Uploader	This component allows students to upload files as their answers. These can be video, audio, images or documents.
Working Formula	Helpful for Math and Science content, this component allows you to create stepped working questions.

Vocabulary (Languages Only)

If you’re creating a Smart Lesson for a Language subject, you can import existing Vocabulary List content for students to complete. Note that each section can be set up in one mode only - you'll need to add additional sections for different learning modes!

To add this section in a Smart Lesson:

Click the + Add Section button and select Vocabulary.
Select Add existing translations.

adding translations to a smart lesson

From the Content Picker that pops up, navigate to your chosen list(s) and tick them to include them. You can also include specific questions within lists, to customise what you’re importing! Just use the checkboxes.

Click Confirm Selection.

Buttons to select which translations are included

List content has now been imported into your lesson. Add additional translations whenever you’d like and don’t forget to save.

Use the Settings Options button to reveal additional settings, such as which mode students will complete the list in, and randomising the order.

Skill Mastery

Skill Mastery is an older type of section that is rarely used nowadays. While you can't create these sections, you may see them appear within Smart Lessons built by the EP team.

Skill Mastery is used to test students' ability to perform specific skills. Questions are pulled from a large pool and are presented to students in random order until they have successfully answered a certain number of questions in a row correctly.

We recommend steering away from editing existing Skill Mastery sections, as it can create issues within EP Studio.

Section options

When creating or editing a Smart Lesson, you'll be able to set specific options for each individual section.

To access these, click into the section and click Section options. Depending on the section type, you'll be able to choose to mark sections as optional for students (meaning it won't count toward student progress), ask questions in a random order, and remove the section altogether.

collapse section options button

Import Existing Questions

You can add questions from existing lessons on EP.

Click the + Add existing questions button to open up the Content Picker.

add existing questions button

From here, navigate to your chosen lessons and tick them to include them.

You can handpick which specific sections to include, as well as questions within those sections (click into the section to tick your chosen questions!).

ticking different sections when selecting content

Once imported, you can use the Edit button to customise the slides however you like. Otherwise, leave them as is!

edit button

Once you’re done, make sure you save your work! Now you can assign your Smart Lesson to students as a Task to complete.

You can directly edit content too, instead of importing it elsewhere. If it's someone else's content, however, you'll need to make a copy first. Check out our instructions here.