Website Evaluation – Explore Learning

The Explore Learning Website (www.explorelearning.com) is copyrighted by the Pro Quest Information and Learning Company. Pro Quest, as it is commonly referred to, is a reputable company with altruistic intentions. Pro Quest has taken on many other academic learning systems besides ExploreLearning and has thus become a well known and well trusted company whose primary concern is to help both teachers and students. There is no doubt in my mind that the intentions that Pro Quest has for ExploreLearning are the same.

The author of the content on the ExploreLearning site is undetermined. It appears that a majority of the sites primary teaching tools, known as gizmos, were created by numerous math instructors from different fields ranging from grades six to twelve. The only real credentials for the site that I found were its critical acclamations. ExploreLearning won awards for “The Best Instructional Solution; Science, E-Learning Innovation, and Distinguished Achievement.” It also received nominations for the “Best Education Website” and “Best Instructional Website for Math.” The address/contact information is easily accessible and one can email ExploreLearning from the site itself. Although it is a problem that I cannot find the author’s credentials, the site information appears to be accurate and there is enough information about ExploreLearning and Pro Quest for me to believe that the site is accurate.

The site offers a lengthy evaluation of its product written by its own Director of Research and Design. The PDF entitled “Why Gizmos Work: Empirical Evidence for the Instructional Effectiveness of ExploreLearning’s Interactive Content” is its own evaluation that cites many other independent studies that evaluate effectiveness of interactive teaching methods. It attempts to show how ExploreLearning follows preferred methods for learning tools and demonstrates how the gizmos employ specific suggested techniques. Although the product review is interesting and brings up some very worthwhile points it is not clear that the use of the ExploreLearning tool actually accomplishes the measurable successes that the independent researchers have outlined. ExploreLearning’s review of itself shows that the tool contains visual, interactive, explorative, and conceptual learning tools that researchers have found to be successful learning tools, but does not offer an independent evaluation of the actual ExploreLearning tool. The web site does include testimonials from teachers that have successfully used the product and case-studies on how the tool has been used to support learning in their classrooms.

It appears that the ExploreLearning web site is updated once or twice a week. The site offers a “What’s New” link that keeps users updated when new gizmos are released and miscellaneous items need to be announced. The last time an instructional activity (gizmo) was released was on August 28, 2006. All of the gizmos are designed to fit with most state educational standards as well as textbooks so the information appears to be up to date and on par with the most recent standards.

The intended audience of this site is a variety of people. School teachers, tutors, parents, and students, particularly those in grades six through twelve, are the main beneficiaries from this site. The site makes it clear that it is intended for grades six through twelve and some college. The page meets the needs of its audience because it seems like a very resourceful, detailed, and easy to use program. With one click of a button one can access one of the hundreds of math gizmos which are grouped by level and topic and use them without any problems.

The content of the page is accurate and objective. The majority of the educational resources that the site offers are the gizmos which contain computer-based manipulatives that correspond to textbooks and/or state standards for education. They are designed as instructional aids with models to manipulate to help with conceptual learning. The content appears clearly accurate and relatively specific. Each gizmo features a short but very useful activity along with a number of questions for assessing the knowledge gained from the activity. From what I can tell, there seem to be no biases and all opinions are clearly stated.

The purpose of information that this site provides is useful to students, teachers, and parents. The web site clearly shows that it is intent on meeting as many state and textbook math standards as possible. The site provides a different alternative to understanding concepts and standards that are normally always taught in the classroom with textbooks and workbooks.

Overall this site appears to be very beneficial to use in a classroom. It seems to be an easy program to set up and use. Before I adopted it for use, however, I would take advantage of the free 30-day trial it offers. That would be a necessary step to take before passing final judgment on the product. If it is as good a quality as it seems, I could see myself using this program in the future with my students as a tool to supplement and enhance classroom instruction. I envision connecting my computer to a projector and being able to blow up a gizmo on a big screen in front of the entire class and further explain concepts using this approach. I also envision teaching my students how to us ExploreLearning so that they could work on activities on their own or in partners during class, or possibly work at their computers at home. I can see this being very beneficial because I would also be able to easily assess their knowledge using the assessment feature that the website also offers.