Software+eveluation

Jill Gomez Ed 280 Dr. M. Massey Educational Software Review Smart Tutor:
 * 1) This software was designed to allow students to work independently and have their work assessed at simultaneously. This program tracks the students’ progress and designs a program for that learner. It should teach them to a mastery level then move them on to the next topic. The software is appropriate for grades K-5, in Math and Language Arts.
 * 2) This software falls into several categories: drill and practice, tutorial and instructional game.
 * 3) This would be a good program to use if you had a diversified classroom where they might need remedial work to add skills missed previously. At the beginning of third grade students could be used to assess addition proficiency, the program then designs a program for that student so that they can succeed when it comes time to learn multiplication. It could be used as “fun school” one afternoon a week to see if there are students that need extra work to keep up with their peers, or perhaps show you where you might have a student at risk of getting bored with material they’ve already mastered.
 * 4) I like that because it’s an online program that both teachers and parents can check on the student’s progress at any time. It doesn’t appear to have the sophisticated graphics associated with a lot of software created for home use, but it does use bright colors and appears to be user friendly.
 * 5) Smart Tutor can be purchased for different sized classes, a license for 5 students is $245 a year or a classroom pack for 25 is $1220 per year. It is purchased off the “Learning Today” website. There is a built in system check to on the site that makes sure that you have the right version of flash player, but I didn’t find anything else addressing system requirements. []

Brain Quest DVD Game 1-3 Grades

System requirements are a DVD player with remote and a monitor with sound capabilities.
 * 1) This is a software program that can be used with a DVD player and its remote. It is a quiz game designed around the topics of interest to students of that age.
 * 2) I would categorize this as an instructional game.
 * 3) I think this would be good to use to familiarize students with information that they might see on an achievement test in an unthreatening manner. It doesn’t fit into a single subject area, but for grades 1-3 it would be good a good immersion activity to start the school day with.
 * 4) One of the strengths of the product is fun, children are naturally competitive, but this might be a way to have them take turns in a competitive situation. The drawback was that its publisher has filed for bankruptcy and it might be difficult to find tech support if you had trouble with the program.
 * 5) This program cost $15.95. This software can be purchased through Rocky Mountain Learning Resources. []

Develop Essential Math Skills! Master Math Facts!


 * 1) The purpose of the software is to help students develop strong foundational math skills. The subject area is math and the target audience would be 2-4 grades.
 * 2) This software falls into the category of drill and practice.
 * 3) I can see using this software to teach a second grade class how to count money; it could be part of a unit study on money.
 * 4) A strength of this program is that it builds on previously learned concepts, a weakness is that it doesn’t have games that might be more apt to make students want to use it; it is more like worksheets on the computer.
 * 5) The cost of the software is $19.95 and it can be purchased through The Core Store. [] System requirements are: Windows 7, Vista and XP | Mac OS X 128 MB RAM; 160 MB Hard Disk Space

Learn About Earth Science: Weather


 * 1) This software is used to teach the earth science concept of weather. It is designed for K-2nd grades.
 * 2) I would categorize this software as tutorial.
 * 3) I would be able to use this when teaching a second-grade class about snow, then the children could use another part of the program to write and record a song about the weather.
 * 4) The ability to use a read along would make it easier for students that don’t read fluently. It is a bit pricey for a program that you wouldn’t use too much.
 * 5) A single license is $59.95, for 10 it’s $109.95 and the network license is 699.95. It can be purchased through Sunburst Digital Inc. [] / System requirements: PC ME, PC 2000, PC NT, PC XP, PC Windows 7, PC Vista, Mac OS x 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Mac 9.X, Mac OS X, Mac UB/Intel, CPU PC:486, Memory PC:8 MB, CPU Mac:68040, Memory Mac:8 MB

Kidspeak Multilingual 6-in-1


 * 1) The purpose of this program is to teach children basic words in 6 different languages. This is appropriate for grades k-6. Because it teaches basic words used in daily life it could be integrated into almost any subject.
 * 2) This program falls into several categories including: drill and practice, tutorial and instructional game.
 * 3) This software could be used in an early elementary social studies class where we were learning about multiculturalism. The words for several items could be learned in all six languages. These words could be put on labels for the items and posted in the room.
 * 4) A strength of this program is that it is immersion based so that it doesn’t feel like an artificial way to learn a language. Because there are 6 languages, a teacher would have to have all six variants down before they could be used effectively.
 * 5) The cost of the software is $45.00, and it can be purchased through World of Reading LTD. []  System requirements: 2x CD-ROM Drive; 8MB RAM; Speakers for PC: Windows 96/98/XP/Vista; 486+; 1MB SVGA card; Sound card. Macintosh requires: Classic Mode to run.