How to set timers in Flint

With Flint activities, you are able to set times both for the entire session and each response within an activity.

Here's how to do it:

Open the activity
Click "Activity Settings"

Once you're in the activity builder, you'll have two options:

Option A: Set timers through "Build with Sparky"
Option B: Set times through "Build Manually"

Open the activity.

Opening an activity

Click "Activity settings"

You'll now be at the activity dashboard. You can find "Activity settings" in the top right side of your screen.

Screenshot of activity analytics dashboard, where you can find Activity Settings in the top right hand of your screen.

Option A: Set timers through "Build with Sparky"

Through "Build with Sparky," you can ask Sparky to make adjustments without having to manually set timers for sessions or response.

Ask Sparky to make the session timed

You can easily message or use your mic to ask Sparky to add a timer for the session. In this example, I just asked "Can you add a timer for 10 minutes?" Sparky will then immediately set a 10-minute duration for each session.

Asking Sparky to add a 10-minute session timer

You can also use the same method to remove a timer. For example, if you no longer want sessions to be timed, just ask "Can you make sessions untimed?"

Ask Sparky to make each response timed

This is the same process as when you ask Sparky set a timer for each session. Simply message or use your mic to ask Sparky to set a timer for each question. In this example, I've asked Sparky to make each question have a 2-minute time limit.

Screenshot of chatting with Sparky, where the user asks Sparky to limit each student response to 2 minutes

Click "Update activity" to confirm any changes.

Option B: Set times through "Build Manually"

Click "Build Manually"

Screenshot showing activity builder, where you can toggle between build with sparky and build manually on the top center of your screen.

Click "Assignment"

You can find "Assignment" in the lefthand sidebar.

Screenshot showing Build manually settings, where you can find the Assignment section in the lefthand sidebar

Set a session time limit

Under "Session time limit (minutes)," you can set a time limit for sessions. You can either set a specific time by typing the time limit, or click the arrows that will increase or decrease the time limit by five minutes.

Screenshot showing Build Manually settings where session time limit has been set to 25 minutes

Set a response time limit

Under "Response time limit (minutes)," you can set a time limit for responses. You can either set a specific time by typing the time limit, or click the arrows that will increase or decrease the response time limit by five minutes.

Screenshot showing response time limit in Build Manually, where response time limit has been set to 2 minutes.

Click "Update activity" to confirm any changes.

When should I set a timer for an entire session vs each response?

Setting a timer for the entire session can be good for timed quizzes or quick warmups, ensuring that students spend only the allocated amount of time on an activity.

Setting a time per question can be great for ensuring students finish problems within a set period of time (for example, a mock AP exam where a student may want to finish one MCQ every 2 minutes).

What happens at the end of a timed session?

When the timed session ends, the session will be automatically submitted for the student. If the student was in the middle of crafting a message, their final message will be sent and then the session will be submitted.