YouTestMe - Classroom2020
Introduction
Classroom 2020 is software used in the learning process to practice lectured subjects through customized tasks and projects uniquely designed for each individual student. While students are interacting with the system, a wealth of information is collected and then turned into information (reports, graphs and charts) that can be used to quickly adjust the learning process. Each student is different and the system aspires to adapt to them. This is performed by archiving each score and various statistics, which means that the system will “learn” and tailor following lessons and tests according to their capabilities. On examination, these reports can provide invaluable data to teachers, school officials and the Government, so adjusting the School/Education Program according to these is what should be the key point in improving the education process. The "Classroom 2020" software makes this cycle as fast and efficient as possible. Imagine the system where teachers will have immediate feedback about their lectures, where all students are equally engaged in the learning process, where school officials will have a consolidated view of the education process and progress, where parents will not ask their kids "What did you learn at school today?" because they will already know it. That is "Classroom 2020".
Premises
- Students learn best when they work and solve problems independently.
- The goal is not just to score well on tests, but to gain permanent and practical knowledge.
- Teachers cannot dedicate full attention to every student during the class.
- Teaching and learning would be significantly more efficient and useful if technology was introduced in the process.
- Technology is inevitably seeping into classrooms and the education process.
Using Classroom 2020 in Teaching and Learning Processes
The following scenario is given to illustrate one possible usage of the YouTestMe system in the learning process:
1. Consider a class of 25 students and each of them has a device with an Internet browser.
2. The class is set up in the YouTestMe system with students’ names and contact information such as email or a messaging ID.
3. The 45 minute lesson has a goal to teach the volume calculation of the sphere and the cylinder.
4. The teacher will provide a lecture on how to calculate the volumes and then they will use the YouTestMe system to assign a customized task to each student. On teacher's demand, system will send a task link to each of the students in the class. Every student will receive different input parameters for their task.
5. Students will calculate results and enter them into the system. The system will let them know immediately if they calculated the results correctly. If they didn't, they will be given another chance to answer.
6. In case students need help, they are able to request additional information from the system. This additional information will be a part of the lecture designed for this purpose.
Added Features
Since Classroom 2020 is specialized for education processes, several features have been added to support them.
Lesson
The main feature added in the Classroom 2020 is the concept of a Lesson. The goal behind a lesson is to save as much time as possible and enable professors to focus on each student individually, because they have a specific mindset and their own preferences in the education process. It is possible to create lessons prior to the actual class, since in order to make it available for others, it is required to publish it. A lesson is consisted of series of arranged parts that may contain descriptions and optionally - additional content or test(s). The professors can even choose when to publish every part of the lesson separately.
Additional content represents an embedded or downloadable file from a broad selection: Google docs, YouTube content, presentations, pictures, sounds/music, videos, PDF documents, etc. When it comes to testing within a lesson, there is an option to generate tests in a quick and efficient manner.
After each lesson, the statistics about students’ performance are recorded, so the lessons in the future will be tailored according to it.
Quizzes and Reports (New Features)
There are several new features added within the quizzes and reports section to those from the Testing Platform. First of those features is Question Assistance which represents certain levels of help students get when participating in a quiz. For example, a student doesn’t know the correct answer to a certain question and they require aid. They can click the Question Assistance button and choose one of the following assistance types:
- Learning feedback (Hint) – a preselected extract from the literature, chosen by the professor is revealed;
- Remove one incorrect answer;
- Increase the duration (if it is a time per question type of quiz);
- Second try – students can get a second try in case of a wrong answer.
When a student chooses assistance, it is carefully archived within the system and included in the reports later. The professors can even define a penalty (minus points) for each assistance type.
In Classroom 2020, reports get even more extensive! More information is collected and sorted into graphs and charts. Average school performances are calculated for each class, course, student or even entire institution. New charts are added specifically for comparison between various statistics (i.e. average individual student performance to average class performance for Geography course).
All of the archived reports can be sent to various external institutions for various reasons:
- Government – to track the school program;
- Companies – to search for most suitable student profiles;
- External institutions (hospitals, etc.) – to search for most suitable student profiles.
Based on these reports, students are defined by a certain level, depending on their performance. The main goal behind this student differentiation is that the students that do not perform well in certain courses will receive easier tests and assignments while those who perform exceptionally will receive more challenging assignments on those courses. Go to the Reports page to check out some of the sample reports. Note that these are only examples, many more statistics can tracked through the application.
Complex Problem Processor
The complex problem processor represents a question type whose solving procedure requires a complex calculation. It is best described through an example:
Imagine a following situation, a professor is teaching a lecture on volumes, the cylinder, to be specific. After the lecture, a quiz is distributed to test the knowledge attained on that class. The professor uses the Complex Problem Processor to search for a formula of calculating cylinder volume, adds a range of minimum and maximum values of the radius and height (1 to 4 inches) and the step between the values (0.1). Each student in the class will get different values for calculating, thus implying they need to use their minds to solve the problem.
These kinds of formulas are held within mini programs that are implemented into the application. The benefits are numerous:
- Prevents copying answers;
- Makes students use their minds;
- Saves time;
- Other.
Even though one of the most corresponding formulas are mathematical, the processor can process most of the problems that require logical thinking and deduction. Many empirical science disciplines can find this tool invaluable for creating unique tasks.
Answer Generator
When creating a question, users can open “Advanced Options”, where they can enter the number of answers and the number of correct answer(s) to be shown to students. Only some of the answers entered in the generator will be provided within the offered answers for that question (the creator can choose to show all answers if needed). According to their user level, advanced participants will get a more difficult combination of the answers offered (more incorrect answers, more “distractors”, etc.). The Answer generator only applies to Single/Multiple choice question types.
Various Additions
Open Question - A new question type, similar to essays. Works well with questions that require a free form of text to be entered, such as mathematical formulas. It is graded by the system.
Hints - Floating icons providing explanation that tempt users to click them. If they get annoying, can be turned off at any moment.
Parent Subscriber - A system that provides report about a certain student to their parents or trusted third parties such as colleges and governments. The institution decides which third party can receive reports about individual students.
Discussion Board - The professor will be able to open/create a lesson discussion board where the students will be able to comment and discuss the respective content.
Group Assignments - An assignment where the students will have to collaborate and work on a group project/assignment/task and they will be graded with a different grading system or an adjusted one.
Automatic Resolving - Added to fill in the blanks question type.
Real Time Grading - A new feature that shows the outcome of each question individually, when taking the quiz.