When you want students to use the Focus Coach in class, you have a choice to let them either (i) use it independently (where everyone chooses their own settings) or (ii) do a Synced Session (where all students have the same settings). If you want to facilitate a Synced Session, see this article. See instructions below for how students complete a session independently:
To start a session, students can go to the “Focus Coach” tab and click the “Personal Session” button. From here, there are two options for the session: timed and untimed sessions.
- Timed sessions allow students to set a specific duration for their work
- Untimed sessions act more like a stopwatch, by tracking the amount of time spent working without a predetermined endpoint.
In both timed and untimed sessions, students can adjust the frequency of check-ins (how often they will be prompted to check-in on their focus), and they can select the sound that will play at every check-in. For students who struggle to concentrate on their work, more frequent check-ins are useful. Students can also choose “Auto” for the frequency of their check-ins, where the tool adjusts the timing of check-ins automatically based on their previous focus levels and preferences.
They’ll also have the option to set a soundtrack before they begin. These soundtracks were designed to enhance focus for students who prefer to listen to music while doing work. Once the session is started, the soundtrack can be changed by clicking on the headphones icon at the top and selecting a different one. Soundtracks will not play while a session is paused.
If a student wants to save the settings so they can easily repeat a session with the same duration, check-ins, and soundtracks, they can click “Save as preset” after they customize all the settings. This set of pre-saved settings will show up under “Presets” next time they use the Focus Coach.
By utilizing these features, students can tailor their Focus Coach sessions to fit their personal preferences and optimize their study and work time.