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There are a number of issues with online or Internet access only programs. However, there are three main ones.
Back to the Future Education considered making the MathsPOWER lessons available online but after discussing this with parents, teachers and students decided it would not be a good idea due to the following:
- Online programs allow students to access any lesson (rather than the correct lesson for where the individual student is up to) hence running the huge risk of missing pre-requisite knowledge needed to understand a lesson or topic. As a result, students don’t fully understand the work. It therefore becomes only a short-term fix, so the student very soon becomes bored. Parents also find it more difficult to keep track of where the student is up to. (With CD software, featuring sequenced lessons, students feel a better sense of achievement and ownership as they progress in a set sequential order. Even most CD software programs don't even have a set sequential order and this is a definite stand-out feature of the Maths POWER program.)
- Feedback given by most parents was that the students would be tempted to surf the net rather than focus on their study routine.
- Online lessons are only ‘rented’ for the time you subscribe. You don’t own the program (as with a software program) to use at a later date after subscription has elapsed or for a younger sibling.
BEWARE that most online programs only provide ‘click and drag’ practice and drill exercises rather than an actual ‘lesson’ i.e. a teacher’s voice properly explaining and engaging the student.
There has yet to be any evidence of success with online programs, as they don’t provide the long-term results that students and parents seek. Due to these issues, online maths learning programs in the past have failed.
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