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GoReact: Stimulus Activities

Adam Sweatt
  • Updated

This article is for Owners / Instructors. Click here for the student article.

Stimulus activities allow participants to record a video response to a selected prompt video (or other media). The recorded response will then be synchronized with the stimulus media, and the two will play side by side. This type is commonly used in interpreting and other language activities, for mock interviews, and other prompt-oriented responses. If you would like to see how students respond to Stimulus activities, see Recording a Stimulus video

Stimulus activities are not currently supported on mobile devices.

How to Set Up a Stimulus Activity

  1. Ensure you are viewing the main GoReact dashboard by clicking your organization's name in the left sidebar.
  2. Select the folder you wish to create an activity in.

  3. At the bottom right of the dashboard, click CREATE ACTIVITY, as shown in the figure below.

    Folder in GoReact with Create Activity button identified as described

  4. In the modal that opens, choose to create a BLANK ACTIVITY, COPY FROM TEMPLATE, or CREATE A TEMPLATE, as shown in the figure below.

    Create Activity modal showing the Blank Activity, Copy from Template, and Create a Template options as described
  5. From the Type dropdown under Activity Details, select Stimulus.
  6. Finish configuring your desired activity settings, then click CREATE ACTIVITY.

After creating your Activity, you can create more, invite users, or toggle on the New Activity View. 

How to Critique a Stimulus Activity

Giving feedback on a Stimulus recording is just like giving feedback on any other recording. To start, click the video thumbnail to play. Then, enter your critique in the feedback panel on the right.

You will see the Stimulus Media shown to the left of the participant's recording. These two videos can be resized by dragging the bar between them or between the video and the feedback panels. As you play the session, the Stimulus Media will play and pause at the same points as during the participant's recording. 

Instructor review of a Stimulus activity

Why do I hear an echo or double audio? If the participant recorded without headphones, you will likely hear the stimulus coming from both videos. You can click the Mute button in the lower-left corner of either video to silence the double audio. The echo can only be eliminated during recording.

System Requirements for Stimulus Activities

Stimulus activities require your browser to process two video streams simultaneously: playback of the stimulus video and the recorded submission. While this is easily accomplished by current-generation computers, older ones may struggle to render both the stimulus and the recording simultaneously smoothly. The primary constraints are video processing power, system memory, CPU horsepower, and internet connection speed. In general, having a dedicated video card and a relatively recent processor will provide the best results.

If your computer is struggling to keep up with both videos simultaneously, some options are:

  • Restart the computer to free up as many resources as possible.
  • Close all other applications and tabs.
  • Arrange to use a newer machine for your Stimulus activities.

Due to the widely varying hardware and (often limited) system resources in Chromebooks, their performance with GoReact may or may not be acceptable. In our testing, newer, more robust Chromebooks generally work fine, while older or more limited Chromebooks will struggle or can fail outright. If your GoReact experience on a Chromebook is not satisfactory, you will likely need to use a different device.