IXL - Multimedia Evaluation for 09/20

IXL is a site that offers users the ability to choose from thousands of math skills ranging from counting on your fingers to experimental probability.  There are over 2300 skills between pre-k and geometry, and IXL does an excellent job of making it simple for teachers or students to select the appropriate practice session.  It is a drill-and-practice format, though.  The practice sessions do not include introductions, tutorials, or direct instruction.  Given that IXL categorizes math skills along grade levels, state curriculum frameworks, and common core standards, users should find site navigation to be highly intuitive.   

IXL’s strength is in its simplified approach: users select a skill and receive immediate feedback as they work.  The feedback sometimes comes in the form of an explanation or example of how to solve a problem.  Such explanations or examples are usually very short and direct.  Users are encouraged to continue working by accumulating points against a clock, through messages telling them they’ve answered correctly, and by receiving notifications of skill mastery.  

There is no audio or video instruction on the site.  It appears that IXL had made a decision to keep its offerings simple and accessible for most users.  In this regard, IXL doesn’t address all learner modalities.  Many of the math questions do employ flash animation to help clarify the problem/process.  IXL is a highly categorized, over-simplified problem generator.  If teachers approach this site with that mind, they should find it to be a useful online learning tool.

Users can access IXL for free, but this version lacks the unlimited access, tracking, and reporting that makes it useful for learners and educators.  IXL offers subscriptions for classrooms ($199 per year, 100 user accounts) or families ($79 per year, 5 user accounts). 

Visit IXL at http://www.ixl.com/

WBI Scoring:

Instructional Aspects

• Objectives clearly stated: 3
• Objectives appropriately sequenced: 5
• Instructional strategies appropriate for the objectives: 4
• Instructional activities / process clearly described: 2
• Tasks adequate/significant for achieving objectives: 3
• Resources adequate/significant for achieving objectives: 3
• Learning achievement adequately evaluated: 4
• Evaluation criteria clearly expressed: 4

Motivational Aspects

• Gaining and maintaining learners' attention: 4
• Relating to learners' interest and goals: 4
• Building on learners' prior knowledge and foreshadowing what lesson is about: 5
• Providing positive feedback and feeling of accomplishment: 5
• Motivational strategies serve for objectives: 4

Web Design Aspects

• Navigation clear and easy to access:  5
• Authorship and date clearly stated:  4
• Text follows rules of grammar, spelling and literary composition: 5
• Using of multimedia visually appealing: 4
• Mechanical aspects: 4
• Web design appropriate for objectives: 5
• Web design appropriate for learner characteristics: 4

Total:  81/100

Personal Reflection
I first came across IXL Math two years ago as I was looking for an alternative to assigning problems out of a math book for homework.  When I came across IXL’s grade-level skills, I was convinced I had found a site that would help engage students in their math homework.  Using the free materials, I started posting links on our class website to IXL practice sessions that correlated to our weekly lessons.  The homework alternative was well received, but there was no way of tracking or grading student work with a free account.  I convinced my school administrator that it was worth the small investment - $199 for a calendar year.  Access to IXL’s tracking system gave me a myriad of reports that could be customized to help me reach individual learners.  From learner deficiencies to skill mastery, I knew where all of my students were within the math curriculum.  In 2010, my 5^th-grade class had an average score of Advanced on the Arkansas Benchmark Exam.  Yes, Advanced.  There were other factors (I had a lot of parent involvement), but IXL made homework fun, different, and easy to turn in.       

In consideration of my project for Multimedia, I would like to create a website for learning math and/or science.  I hope to involve several teachers and students in creating media that assists learners with some of the most troublesome areas of the 7^th and 8^th grade curriculum.  These subjects – math and science – should involve real applications outside the boundaries of classroom walls, so scholastic networking tools and project-based learning may be important components.  I hope to infuse the site with original instructional video and audio created by various member of my school.  I’ll most likely narrow my focus in the days to come, but this is where I stand as of 9/16/12.