Why was SlINGBiT created?
There has been a surge of new online educational technologies on the market that support personalized and adaptive learning in the field of math instruction. With a growing number of connected devices in the classroom, more and more teachers are choosing subscription-based online platforms such as Khan Academy, IXL and Whizz Education to support math instruction in their classrooms rather than purchasing traditional math textbooks. These online platforms are financially attractive with an increasing number of options that are free or comparable in price to the amortized cost textbooks. Not only do these programs offer individualized instruction and assessment, they provide important analytics on where and for how long students have worked on particular topics (Feng, 2014). These affordances allow teachers to tailor lessons to best meet specific learning needs of their students. “The most successful classrooms are student-centric, with the teacher providing the support using the data provided by blended learning” (Rajkumar, 2016, p. 119).
What are the issues with current online educational technology?
While personalized educational technologies have revolutionized math instruction, there are several reasons why they have not experienced unanimous adoption. First off, many educational institutions simply do not have access to the adequate technology to run online learning platforms. Secondly, many educators worry that the videos and software modules are simply “a high tech version of lecturing and drilling, and further contribute to the idea that schools have been reduced to joyless test-prep factories” (Thompson, 2011, p. 7). Thirdly, current online learning platforms seldom allow for units and lessons to be modified, reordered and embedded into third party course ware.
How does SlINGBiT solve these issues?
While Slingbit can only hope to inspire greater adoption of educational technology in the class, it is committed to supporting engaging and innovative learning environments. In order to disrupt both online and blended learning environments, Slingbit is committed to offering course ware that can be be duplicated, modified, embedded and shared between members. Slingbit empowers users to contribute to a growing library of user-generated and peer-reviewed instructional and assessment tools. Since Slingbit course ware can be hosted on nearly every digital platform, teachers can easily embed learning activities into their current course website, a digital worksheet or learning management system. While educational facilities increasingly adopt more and more connected devices into their classrooms, Slingbit is poised to offer the most innovative, personalized, adaptive and engaging web tools, all the while preserving the teacher’s agency over their instructional design.
Feng, M. (2014). Towards Uncovering the Mysterious World of Math Homework. Grantee Submission.
Rajkumar, R., & Hema, G. (2016). Improving Schools Mathematics Teaching Learning through Blended Learning Math Resources. In P. Selvarathi & G. Singaravelu (Eds). Perspectives of New Educational Policy 2016. Paper presented at the National Seminar on Perspectives of New Educational Policy 2016 [NSPNEP-16] organized by College Development Council and Department of Education, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore (pp. 119-122).
Thompson, C. (2011). How Khan Academy is changing the rules of education. Wired Magazine, 126, 1-5.