This week in EDOL 533 I read about educational software. There are many different types of educational software and they can be used for all age levels and curriculum areas. One software I would like to highlight is Success Maker. You can go to the Success Maker website by clicking here.
My school district uses Success Maker for Math practice. There is also software available for Reading comprehension. When students login to the software they have a beginning adaptive test to identify their strengths and weaknesses. The objective of this software is to determine each student’s grade level and track their progress. The individualized learning that Success Maker offers allows students to learn at their own pace. The Math problems are interactive and fun for the students. The software uses different learning style modes to accommodate all learners. The software engages students and they want to succeed. One of the best tools for teachers is that Success Maker collects data for each student. This helps to identify students’’ abilities and to track their progress. Having this information available to teachers can help them plan their lessons.
I have used this software while substitute teaching. I took the kindergarten class to the computer lab and they each found their own computer to use. The students must sign in to the software using their individual user name and password. Since I didn’t know each child’s name I had to use my class roster to help them spell their last names. This took about half the class time for me to get around to the majority of the students. I’m sure that as the school year progressed the kindergarteners would get better at spelling their name and using the computer. I would like if the software could allow a teacher computer to log the whole class in by assigning computers to students. That would speed up the process immensely.
The next time I use Success Maker I will be giving my students a note card with their username and password on it. This will help make login quicker and easier. Older students may not need this or only need it the first few times. Younger students could use this for several weeks to help them learn their login.
I will definitely be using Success Maker in my classroom to help reinforce Math concepts to my elementary school students. The software is engaging and fun for students while at the same time being a great progress tracking software for teachers.
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