World Regions Lab Beta Instructor Guide
A practical start for your course
World Regions Lab teaches world location, regional relationships, and critical map reading. Use Levels 1 through 3 for the common geography foundation in introductory sociology or political science. Assign later levels or historical investigations when they support your course. Students can begin with very little map knowledge.
This is a beta. Pilot a small assignment before using it with a whole class. Placement is a suggested starting point from a short sample and has not been validated as a diagnostic assessment. The reports are useful learning records; use your institution's assessment system for secured examinations.
Set up your first assignment
- Open the resource page at https://yoavduman.com/lab/world-regions-lab. Choose Open full app. The practice version embedded on the page uses device storage and does not connect to the class inbox.
- Try Find my starting point and a Learn activity yourself. Then open My work and confirm that saving works in your browser.
- Open Instructor access, sign in with ChatGPT, and enter the instructor activation code supplied by the owner. Choose Assign levels, enter an assignment name, select the required levels, choose a learning route, and write the directions.
- For connected reports, select Publish class code. Share its eight-character code or student link in your LMS. Use the same signed-in instructor account to open the reports later.
- For a simple file submission, an approved instructor can choose Create assignment link. Students download their reports and submit through your LMS. This directions link has no connected class inbox.
- Tell students which levels are required, whether placement can change that requirement, what identifier to put on the report, and whether reflections should be included.
- Test the link and submission procedure with a learner workspace before the deadline. A student must choose to submit; joining the assignment does not send progress.
A small first assignment
Ask students to try placement or Show me first, finish the assigned foundation levels, and submit a progress report. Add one short return on a later day. Keep the first deadline flexible enough to resolve saving or access problems during the beta.
Instructor login and code settings
Instructor access is marked with a lock in the app header and footer. Sign in with ChatGPT, then enter the activation code the owner supplied. A successful activation enables that account to teach. Signing in as a student alone does not open teaching tools.
Create the class code students use
In Assign levels, choose the levels and write directions. Leave Class code you choose blank to generate an eight-character code, or enter eight letters or numbers of your own. Publish class code creates the connected assignment. If the code is already in use, choose another. Share the class code or student link in your LMS.
Students enter a class code in My work. Instructor activation codes belong in Instructor access. Your account login, instructor activation, and student assignment code serve different purposes.
Owner control of instructor access
Only the owner account can open Owner controls. The owner must also enter the separate private owner password. In this panel, the owner can generate an instructor code tied to the email on the recipient's ChatGPT account, review access requests, replace or disable the shared starter code, remove instructor access, and change the private owner password.
An individual invitation works once for the intended account and expires after seven days. Copy invitation prepares the instructions; Draft email opens them in your email app. The app does not send email automatically. A request saves the signed-in person's verified email for owner review; it does not automatically grant access.
Changing the shared starter leaves existing instructor roles and class codes intact. Removing instructor access immediately blocks teaching tools. Class records remain until the assignment is deleted. A new owner-issued invitation can restore teaching access.
Keep the owner panel private
Do not put the owner password or instructor activation codes in a syllabus, public guide, or student assignment. Use Lock owner controls when finished, and Sign out on a shared computer. Source files contain configuration names and application code, with production secrets held on the server.
Choose the level that serves your course
| Level | Title | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Find your bearings | Orientation, map units, continents and regions, Alaska and Hawaii insets. |
| 2 | Learn key places around the world | Key countries, named regions, coasts and neighbors. |
| 3 | Cities, capitals, and scale | The 32-place foundation, 12 selected capitals, political roles and scale. |
| 4 | Zoom into regions | North Africa and the Sahel, Asian and African connections, islands. |
| 5 | Follow the connections | Routes and movement, distinguishing adjacency from permission. |
| 6 | Read the social map | Fictional social data, counts, rates, missing observations and inference. |
| 7 | Question the frame | Projections, centers, names, dates and regional conventions. |
| 8 | Investigate people and power | A bounded social or historical investigation using sources. |
| 9 | Make and defend a map | A spatial argument with evidence, omissions, limits and revision. |
Use placement without making it a barrier
Find my starting point offers an untimed 15-question check, an unscored interface warm-up, and explanations after completion. Show me first starts guided teaching at Level 1. Students may choose any level; you decide how that choice relates to the assignment.
The check samples six Level 1 items, six Level 2 items, and three Level 3 items across location, relationship, and representation. The earliest sampled gap suggests Level 1, 2, or 3. Strong performance across the foundation suggests Level 4. Skip leaves an item unassessed; I don't know yet records a learning gap. Optional confidence does not affect the recommendation.
Distinguish learning from checking
Learn runs map notes, supported practice, and an independent checkpoint. Hints and worked examples support practice, which has a finite ending. Completing the teaching sequence earns a completion stamp regardless of checkpoint score. Check records a checkpoint attempt without marking the teaching sequence complete. A stamp and a correct answer are different kinds of evidence.
Collect and interpret student work
- Students open My work, enter the class code, and choose Join assignment. They check the title and directions before sending work.
- They sign in with their ChatGPT account, select Preview & submit progress report, enter the name or course identifier you requested, and decide whether to include written reflections.
- They review the summary and select Submit to instructor. They should wait for the submission confirmation. Individual activity cards also offer Preview & submit this record.
- In Instructor access, sign in with the account that published the assignment. Open Class reports, choose Open reports, and use Refresh reports to load new submissions.
- Use Export reports for the loaded reports in JSON, including any submitted reflection text. Download activity table (CSV) summarizes activity records; it does not preserve the full written reflections.
| Report evidence | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Completed teaching levels | Which Learn sequences were finished, rather than a claim of mastery. |
| Placement summary | A recommended starting point and the sampled skills. It does not waive assigned work. |
| Recent activity records | The latest 20 activity records in a connected full report, with independent correct answers and supported items. |
| Paused activity summary | Where a saved learning activity stopped, when one is active. |
| Optional reflections | Historical reflections and map defense text only when the learner chooses to include them. |
| Investigation participation | Written work was recorded. Political viewpoints and historical arguments have no automated accuracy score. |
Give feedback that students can use
For an early pilot, award participation for the assigned teaching work, report submission, and a later return. Use checkpoint evidence to identify where another explanation would help. For written investigations, comment on the claim, source, spatial reasoning, and limits. A defensible disagreement can meet the learning goal.
Protect the relationship between saving and sharing
Saving keeps work in the learner's private workspace. Joining a class loads directions. Submitting sends the selected record to the assignment's publisher. Reflections stay private unless included. Downloaded instructor copies remain separate if a student later clears private work or withdraws the latest stored report.
Connect geography to history and power
Keep the geographical foundation and historical investigations in the same course route when students need location knowledge to analyze a case. Assign one bounded investigation instead of treating the app as a survey of world history. Students read source material and respond to three open reflection prompts.
| Investigation | Questions to develop in class |
|---|---|
| Decolonization and borders | How independence, inherited boundaries and political authority relate. |
| South Asian partition in 1947 | How territorial decisions affect membership, movement and belonging. |
| Spain and Atlantic empires | How empire, territory and unequal rights connect across the Atlantic. |
| Israel and Palestine | How proposed boundaries, interim arrangements, claims and lived rights differ. |
These cases use modern locator maps. They do not reconstruct period boundaries. Ask students to identify the date of a source, its author, its purpose, and what it can support. Avoid treating a document's claim as an uncontested description of events.
Teach the map conventions
The atlas uses generalized Natural Earth map data and a de facto boundary convention. Country units, names and regional groupings are course references. Regions overlap and their definitions depend on the question. The Sahel's approximate physical band and a program grouping should be discussed separately. Equal Earth, Mercator and the globe let students examine how representation changes the view.
Offer accessible ways to participate
Students can use country buttons or a text relationship route alongside pointer interaction. Preferences include reduced motion, optional sound and browser read-aloud where supported. Encourage keyboard navigation and browser text zoom. A named association and outline recognition measure different tasks; the beta report does not record the input mode for each activity record. State the intended mode when it matters and ask students to identify what they used.
Test your assignment with the devices and assistive technology your students actually use. Screen-reader, phone and classroom usability evaluation is still part of the beta pilot. Allow an equivalent spatial narrative or course submission if a map interaction creates an access barrier.
Help students keep their progress
The full hosted app automatically saves to a private workspace. Save now requests an immediate save; the status in My work confirms what was saved. Guest work belongs to that browser's private cookie. Sign in with ChatGPT for an account workspace across devices.
Before moving guest or device-only work to an account, use Back up progress. After sign-in, use Import backup if needed. Import replaces the current workspace after confirmation; it does not merge two versions. Keep a backup of both if a cloud/device conflict asks you to choose.
Pause and save is available in learning activities, including placement and the main question games. Some short interactive labs restart their controls when reopened. Their saved completion activity records remain in My work. A student should check saving before closing a tab, especially during a connection problem.
Resolve common problems
- An empty instructor inbox usually means the student joined but did not submit, the instructor opened a different assignment, or a different instructor account is signed in. Check the code, confirmation, and publisher account, then refresh reports.
- A failing class code may be mistyped or belong to a deleted assignment. Check the eight-character code and use the full app. Device-only practice cannot submit to the hosted class inbox.
- If cloud saving fails, export a backup before leaving, then use Try saving online again. During a temporary outage, do not assume a device draft has reached the cloud.
- Download report creates an HTML progress report. Open that file in a browser and use its Print / save PDF button. Students can submit the HTML or resulting PDF according to your LMS directions.
- To remove an assignment, export needed records first. Removing the assignment also removes its stored submissions. A student's Clear my private workspace action does not remove reports you have received.
Know the beta limits
The class inbox displays up to the latest 500 submissions per assignment; connected full reports include the latest 20 activity records. Private work keeps up to 200 activity records. Use exports for important course records. There is no automatic LMS grade passback, institutional roster import, or identity-verified exam mode.
Core maps, lessons and placement do not need a paid map API, GPS permission or AI token. ChatGPT sign-in is active. Direct Google sign-in and automatic email delivery are not connected in this beta. Optional authoring tools support a local question pack and source downloads. Owner controls require the signed-in owner account and a separate private owner password. An instructor activation code grants teaching access; a class code connects a learner to one assignment.
For beta feedback, use https://yoavduman.com/contact. Include the page or activity, browser and device, the action you tried, and what happened. Omit student identifiers and private reflection text unless needed and authorized. Map data credits and source links are available in Sources & map notes.