Comments on: What Do Adaptive Math Systems Really Know About What You Know? /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/ less helpful Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:27:54 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 By: “Adaptive” Learning Technologies: Pedagogy Should Drive Platform | edtechdigest.com /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/#comment-590958 Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:27:54 +0000 /?p=15609#comment-590958 […] fail to develop mathematical intuition and appreciation for the beauty of the subject.  In his second post, Meyer referenced quotes about two developers that built adaptive engines around analysis of […]

]]> By: louise /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/#comment-570698 Mon, 12 Nov 2012 01:32:11 +0000 /?p=15609#comment-570698 Re. Carnegie Learning
It was too expensive for our school. It’s cheaper for us to have failing students. We tried it for a semester in my classroom, but we didn’t have the part to reduce the level down to where our students are (about 4th grade for our 9th graders).
The cost is in having non-reusable books and licenses. If you buy a traditional textbook you can use it for (15) years. The Carnegie course has to be paid annually.
I saw a major improvement among students who used it, but there were also a lot of students who decided they would simply do nothing ( Facebook, facebook , facebook). The gap got larger. The course is very traditional, and our district decided they wanted to do “discovery learning.”
One thing I did like about Carnegie – they were honest. They told our school district that we were in no way ready for common core, and pretending we had students ready for common core in high school was setting kids up for failure. Nobody listened, but it’s the first time I’ve heard an honest sales team.

]]> By: dy/dan » Blog Archive » Better Online Math /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/#comment-565957 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 04:27:22 +0000 /?p=15609#comment-565957 […] of thousands of users. That clickstream can tell a teacher how many hints the learner requested, how long she spent on a given problem, whether she's more apt to score well on machine-scored exercises in the morning or evening. But […]

]]> By: Dennis Ashendorf /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/#comment-559823 Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:41:48 +0000 /?p=15609#comment-559823 Kevin, Carnegie Learning and ALEKS were the two early leaders in sophisticated math software. Carnegie used to charge well over $100 ($140 if memory serves) per license; so I stopped using it. Also, while Carnegie claimed to be adaptive; I found that all of my students went through the same pathway. (Carnegie disagreed with me at the time.) In short, I didn’t see it adapt; although I appreciated its design greatly.

At its lower price ($15!!!!), it may be a great buy. The remaining issue is one of “student choice.” It was linear in presenting the next topic. If a student was stuck, he or she stayed stuck. This was a problem that had no resolution.

My above response may be obsolete. It was five years ago. Also, Carnegie may be falling on tough times.

]]> By: Kevin Hall /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/#comment-559812 Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:34:26 +0000 /?p=15609#comment-559812 Here is a link to the Carnegie Learning demo page in case you haven’t seen it.

http://mathseries.carnegielearning.com/demos/

]]> By: Kevin Hall /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/#comment-559797 Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:22:30 +0000 /?p=15609#comment-559797 Curious what you all think of the Carnegie Learning software, which does track students throughout their work (it doesn’t just check the answer).

]]> By: josh g. /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/#comment-558704 Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:40:27 +0000 /?p=15609#comment-558704 @mr bombastic: Okay, you’re right, there are better examples. But I think it’s still indicting to note that the computer-based system can’t even tell the difference between small flaws and major, gaping holes. I’d suggest that “a little quicker” is an understatement.

]]> By: Zachary Wissner-Gross /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/#comment-556313 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 20:05:01 +0000 /?p=15609#comment-556313 To be truly adaptive, a system would have to collect a lot more data about the user than right/wrong answers and time spent on each problem. The richer the user experience, the higher the quality of data collected will be, and the more useful the feedback can potentially be.

]]> By: Jim Doherty /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/#comment-556215 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 18:06:56 +0000 /?p=15609#comment-556215 @ Belinda #25
The idea of a student being bothered by a wrong answer has nagged at me my whole teaching career (25+ years) The experience of a student getting a paper back and berating themselves for an answer that makes NO sense is reassuring at a certain level – it’s nice that they see the impossibility – but it sure would be a WHOLE lot better if there was some alarm that went off while they were still taking the test. How do we help instill that sort of early warning system for kids so that they self check more effectively during the assessment process?

]]> By: Belinda Thompson /2012/what-do-adaptive-math-systems-really-know-about-what-you-know/#comment-556176 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:24:25 +0000 /?p=15609#comment-556176 Hi Mr. Bombastic :) I was referring to making like denominators, but not addressing the numerators. It’s a bit different with this student (we might expect 2x/12), so I would would want to see what the student did on a problem with just numbers. I would expect them to add 2/3 and 4/5 and get 2/15 +4/15 =6/15. The tricky part from a diagnosis standpoint is whether to address the 2/3 = 2/15 part or the part where the result should be more than 1. I would probably address the equivalence issue because it’s related to equivalent equations. Of course with this student it might be necessary to go way, way back both with fractions and solving equations.

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