Getting Started: Different Ways to Use MathXL for School
MathXL for School is best when used along with the corresponding Pearson text, but serves as a great supplement to any text that might be in use.
A Variety of Teaching Models
Full Year Instructional Supplement to a Traditional Class
MathXL for School is a wonderful tool to use as a supplement to a traditional class. In this model, instructors assign daily or weekly homework exercises, quizzes and/or tests for students to do outside of class or in a school laboratory setting. This allows the teacher to reduce the amount of time spent grading papers while students get help and immediate feedback on their work. Teachers can use the Item Analysis feature in MathXL for School to quickly determine class or individual student strengths/weaknesses to determine what needs to be covered in class.
Weekly Assessment Tool to Supplement A Regular Class
If students have limited access in class to computers, MathXL for School can be used for just one or two hours a week in a computer lab. During this time teachers use MathXL for School to deliver assessments that will help them determine exactly what students have learned during the week. With this assessment information, teachers can quickly create online or printed remediation exercises covering those objectives where students just don’t measure up. Teachers can also pre-test students on upcoming lessons to determine which areas can be covered quickly and which topics need more in-depth instruction.
Practice Tool with Instructor Supervision Model
In this model, students with similar mathematical backgrounds work in MathXL for School during class or in an after-school session with a teacher or tutor on hand to provide assistance as needed. Students work through learning objectives by using any of the variety of learning aids that are available in MathXL for School, but have their teacher there when they need individual assistance. This allows students who need special help from the teacher to get it—while those who can learn more independently are not held back, but can gain access to and practice with more advanced topics.
Remediation/Mastery Learning/Self-Paced Model
When the educational backgrounds of students are extremely varied, it is nearly impossible for a teacher to meet the needs of all the students in a class. (As you know, individualized instruction without technology is very difficult to achieve.) MathXL for School enables concurrent teaching—remediation and mastery at the same time in one classroom. It can be used to remediate those students who lack prerequisite skills while concurrently allowing students who have mastered the material to move on at a faster pace. Content can be delivered in modules where students are required to prove mastery with one concept before moving to the next level by making a predetermined score (such as 80%) on the prerequisite concept. Students work through the entire course content proving mastery along the way with each concept.
Course Assessment Tool
Assessing learning outcomes is one of the most important aspects of the educational system—yet it is one of the most difficult and dreaded tasks that schools and teachers face. With MathXL for School, assessment is made easy. Students are given a pretest on all of the course objectives. The Study Plan in MathXL for School is then made accessible to students as a supplement to regular class instruction. Instructors monitor student progress against the Study Plan throughout the year, providing additional feedback to students as needed. The same assessment (different algorithmically generated exercises) is given as a post-test, with the results available in the Item Analysis feature and the gradebook. This allows a teacher or school to understand what students have learned as a group or as individuals, making final reporting a breeze.
Review for High Stakes Testing
Use online banks or create exercises appropriate for various high-stakes testing such as end-of-course tests, final exams, ITBS, ACT, SAT, graduation exams, etc. For a few weeks preceding the exam or throughout the entire year, students can practice at home, in limited lab time, or before or after school. They can also take practice tests, the results of which will generate an individualized study plan focusing on areas that require additional mastery. Pearson offers another product, MyMathTest, that can be used for shorter duration test-prep sessions.
A Variety of Benefits
Providing Consistent Instruction Among all Teachers
The use of the Coordinator feature in MathXL for School enables the creation of a "master" course that is used by other teachers within the school/system/district/state. The designated coordinator of this master course will then have access to the student performance data across all sections of the course and can easily access student performance for all desired Learning Outcomes.
A Tool for Parents
MathXL for School includes a fully functional gradebook that allows teachers to include grades for all assignments—whether online or pencil/paper. When posted on MathXL for School, parents can log on anytime to check their child’s progress. Parents can also use the Study Plan as a resource for learning aids and to provide additional practice for the students when they "have no homework."
Convenience for All Students
When the school or student resources are limited and computer access is not always available, students can still successfully use MathXL for School. Homework assignments can be set to save student and exercise values and then assignments may be printed to be worked offline (these exercise sets are still algorithmically generated per student so cheating is still reduced). Once students have completed the assignments on paper, they can then enter answers and work through the assignment, accessing Learning Aids only for those items missed. With limited time in a school computer laboratory, library, or public library (MathXL Player V2 only) students can quickly enter answers, and still receive feedback on those items they miss without spending hours in front of a computer.
