WALK)
TALK)
GUIDE)
SYNC
Leading a Class
Premium access: TEACHERS
Bring everyone to a place in history, then give students room to investigate. Present on a classroom screen, or use SYNC to bring student devices to the same historical place and time as you lead an inquiry.
Choose How to Lead the Class
You can lead an investigation with one shared display or with student devices. When using SYNC, the teacher's computer is signed in to lead the class, and student devices join through a shared access key. The connection brings students to the places you select; it requires no student accounts, class roster import, or grade synchronization.
TEACHERS Historical content is free to explore. Classroom SYNC is a premium feature; see teacher access and trial options for bringing premium features to your class.
Lead an Investigation
Prepare a short journey around a question that connects to your learning objectives. Preview the historical places, people, and available evidence, and decide where the class will pause to compare what students discover.
- Set the question. Explain what students are investigating and what they should look for. Connect the activity to prior reading or classroom discussion.
- Give an overview. Use a few highlight steps to introduce the setting, show changes over time, and connect the places involved. Establish the context before asking students to explore independently.
- Bring everyone to one place. Stop at the historical moment you want students to investigate. With student devices following the class, start WALK to bring the class down to ground level at that stop.
- Let students investigate. Give students time to use WALK to find people and artifacts and TALK to investigate different perspectives. They can collect available items and record the sources and observations relevant to your question.
- Regroup and compare. Pause the exploration for discussion. Ask which people students encountered, how their accounts differ, and what the evidence supports. Have students explain where their evidence came from.
- Move to the next stop. Use SYNC to bring the class to another place or time and repeat the investigation. Finish by asking students to use what they found in a discussion, written explanation, or other classroom assessment.
Use shared stops with independent exploration for the walking portion of the activity. Set a time to regroup and a clear task for each stop. Groups can investigate different people or sources before comparing their findings, and you can return to an earlier step when a new question arises.
Synchronization Options
Choose how closely student devices follow your selected steps. The synchronization controls use the following settings:
| Setting | How to use it |
|---|---|
Explore independentlyNONE |
Students work at their own pace. Your step changes do not bring their devices to a new stop. Useful for independent research or an activity with instructions shared through your learning platform. |
Shared stops, room to exploreLITE |
Students move to the step you select, then can explore from there until you select the next step. Use this for WALK, conversations with interactive people, and collecting evidence around a shared starting point. |
Stay on the selected stepHARD |
Keep students at the teacher-selected historical step with independent navigation restricted. Useful for a focused explanation or remote instruction. Choose LITE when students should walk around and investigate for themselves. |
Class Links and Access
Sign in on the teacher's computer to lead. Use the
teacher quick start to copy your class link
and open a suggested highlight in teacher view. Keep that signed-in view on the computer
you will use to select steps and lead the investigation. Teacher view uses ?teach=1.
Students join with the class key. Students open the link in a web browser without creating a Running Reality account. With an active teacher subscription or trial, the key also gives student devices access to the classroom features you enable, including WALK and TALK:
https://www.runningreality.org/?key=[class-key]
The quick start can also include &highlight=[id] to open the suggested
highlight. Copy the complete link and share it through your classroom channels. To replace
the key, use your teacher profile and share the new link;
earlier links will stop working.
SYNC coordinates the historical steps and display mode for devices using the class link. It does not import names, synchronize a class roster, or send grades to your learning platform. Students join the shared investigation through the key; it does not identify them as named students in a roster.
Share Through Your Learning Platform
Copy the generated student-access URL, including its key for a live class, and add it to your learning management system (LMS). Students open the link from their usual class resources without creating a Running Reality account.
| Platform | Share with your class |
|---|---|
 Blackboard |
Add the class URL as a web link in your course content. Instructions |
 Google Classroom |
In Classwork, create a Material and attach the class URL as a link. Instructions |
 Schoology |
In Add Materials, choose Add File/Link/External Tool and add the class URL as a link. Instructions |
A location or highlight URL also gives students a common starting point for independent exploration. Put your question, reading, worksheet, and submission instructions alongside the link in your LMS.
Keep assignments, named student work, and grading in your existing classroom tools. Sharing a Running Reality URL through an LMS connects students to the activity without requiring roster or gradebook synchronization. You can also distribute the class link directly or use its QR code on printed materials.
Send Everyone to a Starting Place with a URL
A shared location URL can open the same historical place and date on every device. This is useful for an introduction, a homework starting point, or a class activity where students will navigate independently.
For example, this link opens the Manassas area on July 21, 1861, with an ad-free student view:
https://www.runningreality.org/?student#07/21/1861&38.816,-77.519&zoom=13
studentis a query parameter that removes ads for the student view.07/21/1861sets the date in month/day/year format.38.816,-77.519sets the latitude and longitude.zoom=13sets the starting scale.
The date, position, and zoom follow the # in the URL. Keep the full
address when copying it into your LMS and preview the saved link before class. You can
also share a highlight using ?student&highlight=[id] to give students
a sequence of historical steps to explore.
A location or highlight URL establishes a starting point. To bring devices to new
places during a live class, share the class link with its key and use the synchronization
controls. The student parameter provides an ad-free view; premium access
comes through the appropriate subscription or trial.
The Teacher Field Notebook
Until the notebook is available, use your classroom worksheets or LMS for students to record evidence and its citations. When assessing individual work, use the student identities and grading tools already managed by your school. The notebook is intended to support the investigation and the teacher's use of evidence while keeping class access independent of roster synchronization.
Lead a Remote Class
Use the same shared stops when teaching remotely. Give the overview through your usual classroom video or screen-sharing tool, then use SYNC to bring students to the place they will investigate. Choose room to explore or a restricted shared step to suit the activity, and set clear times to regroup for discussion.
Continue to use your school's tools for voice, video, assignments, and grading. Running Reality provides the historical setting and shared navigation for the class.