One site that I have frequently used with my pupils is Elevspel.se. It is a multi-functional site that enables students to get extra training on specific areas of different subjects. I have used it both for individual students, in pairs and with the whole class on the smartboard. This is easily done if you have access to tablets and smart board witch you can connect to eachother. I like to set up a fast link by putting it directly on the homescreen of the tablet.
The website is open for use for anyone, but you can also create an account as a teacher and then move on to create accounts for the pupils in your class. By doing this you can keep track of what your students are doing and which progress they have made. From the first page you can click on different subjects such as Swedish, English or Maths. Once you have chosen your subject there are lots of different exercises to choose from. Each exercise is labeled with what you can learn from it, for example Days, months and seasons or English prepositions. There is also some additional information about what specifically you will be training, which schoolyears it would be appropriate for and a rating from the users of up to five stars. Once you have chosen an exercise there are usually two or more levels or varieties of the exercise, marked with what you are training or the level. Every exercise consists of cirka ten questions that you answer by chosing the correct alternative. Most exercises have got the oportunity to hear the options read out by a computer voice. You get an instant respons if you choose the correct of faulty alternative and you get a scoore of how many questions you answered correctly. After you have finished an exercise you can get awarded a gold, silver or bronze medal if you have enough points.
The advantages of this website are:
- easy to use
- easy access
- can be used individually, in pairs or as a group exercise in the whole class
- a lot of different exercises to develop your skills
- several levels or options for each exercise
- easy overview of what the focus of the exercise is and who it is appropriate for
- you can track your pupils development
- you can get each pupil to work on the things that they need
The issues, or things to keep in mind are:
- the pupils need to be able to read, as the instructions are almost exclusively written
- not all exercises are good ones, the quality varies and you you need to check it out befor you put the students up to an exercise
- since there are options to choose from, you can get it right by making a guess
- the website should be used as a complement to other teaching
To sum it all up, Elevspel.se is a useful tool to work on specific areas both individually and as a group. It can be a good way to diversify the teaching and keep the pupils interested and motivated at the same time as you get an overview of what the class needs to work on and what thet already know. With consideration to its limits and a proper plan of what you want the children to learn it is a good tool.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to read your blog about Elevspel.se. You make a clear presentation how the site works. You write that the site is open for everyone but that you can create an account for teachers as well as pupils. My question is therefore; what is the difference in using the site with or without an account? Are there more features available if you have an account? I think it seems like a good complement to ordinary teaching material because as you write there are several levels and varieties of each exercise which makes is possible to adapt to the individual student. Also, there are opportunities to hear the options read out by a computer voice which makes it easier for students to understand and learn, especially for those students with special needs.
I like the way you easily write the advantages with using the website. You write that it is easy to use, but for whom? The pupils or the teachers? In what way is it easy? You also write about the negative aspects of using the website. For example, you write about the necessity to be able to read. This is very important to have in mind because you can not give students an exercise that they can not understand or work with. I think it is interesting that you write that not all exercises are good ones. What do you base your opinion on?
I agree with you that this website should be used as a complement to other teaching. I think that is very important to use all kinds of ICT as a complement to ordinary teaching materials because of different reason. For example, some skills are better trained with ICT while some are better trained using the old-fashioned book and pen. This every teacher need to adapt to its class needs and opportunities.
Thank you for your blog and nice reading.
Sincerely
Katarina Kasmarvik
Hello everyone,
ReplyDeleteI found your blogpost very interesting and I agree with Katarina about it being very organized and clear so I won't comment more on that as I feel I would repeat the same things. So all in all, very well structured and easy to follow! Good job on that!
About the ICT tool, I found the website quite dull honestly in terms of design and how attractive it is to the eye. I know, one should not judge a book by its cover, however, when I clicked on the different activities I was amazed by how Swedish everything was. Thus, I am not criticizing the tool on mere aesthetics, but also content-wise. Maybe it's a silly remark, but even buttons such as 'Next' were in Swedish, ’Nästa'. Maybe this would be ok if it's aimed at younger children who are just being introduced to the language and barely know how to read in Swedish (debatable), however for older children, such as åk 5, 6 etc basic instructions should be written out in English and not Swedish.
Furtermore, the website also has the typical fill-in-the-gap activities, which again I think is not the best type of activities as they do not make the pupils think and many times the correct answer might be chosen due to elimination of the other options rather than the students really understanding why, for example, option C is the correct one. However, you did point this out by saying that not all exercises are good ones and that the teacher should be aware of this. My question to you is, which activities have you found useful on this website and why?
All the best,
Kimia