This platform has a lot of potential. The real-world information combined with the ability to provide customized and differentiated learning experiences for students is very attractive. However, at present, the offering falls short of its promise in several respects. First, the writing technique leaves something to be desired. Ambiguity and poor writing abound in the articles, making the comprehension tests based on this material undiagnostic at best. Second, there are some outright inaccuracies in what is considered a right/wrong answer, which will confuse students and cause frustration in addition to creating a miss on the learning front. Overall, this seems like a nice adjunct to a live teacher, but the beta phase might have benefited from closer scrutiny and further development. This is too important a time in kids’ education and too delicate a transition to common core for a major part of the curriculum to be managed by a flawed software program. Nice ideas, poor execution.
This platform has a lot of potential. The real-world information combined with the ability to provide customized and differentiated learning experiences for students is very attractive. However, at present, the offering falls short of its promise in several respects. First, the writing technique leaves something to be desired. Ambiguity and poor writing abound in the articles, making the comprehension tests based on this material undiagnostic at best. Second, there are some outright inaccuracies in what is considered a right/wrong answer, which will confuse students and cause frustration in addition to creating a miss on the learning front. Overall, this seems like a nice adjunct to a live teacher, but the beta phase might have benefited from closer scrutiny and further development. This is too important a time in kids’ education and too delicate a transition to common core for a major part of the curriculum to be managed by a flawed software program. Nice ideas, poor execution.