This Differentiated Curriculum Tool is a Powerful Addition to the Classroom!
There’s been a lot of talk about personalized and individualized learning over the last few years, especially as technology has helped make this long-sought goal a potential reality. Of course, knowing that it’s possible is one thing … knowing exactly how to get there is another.
And what about Adaptive Learning? This has been another popular buzzword in academic circles over the last few years. The widely respected Horizon Report has repeatedly indicated that Adaptive Learning is in education’s near term future. In fact, the 2015 Higher Ed Horizon report mentions, “the relatively recent emergence of sophisticated adaptive learning software and platforms.” Sounds good, but how can teachers implement these Active Learning platforms in their classrooms without an overwhelming amount of work?
Well, here’s the answer to both of these questions if you teach in K-8: Moby Max! Moby Max is a proven, adaptive learning toolset with a broad, differentiated curriculum for K-8 Students. And it is very affordable at just $99 for a year for an individual teacher!
About two years ago, I learned about Moby Max and shared it with readers in this article. It’s been a popular post ever since, bringing in over 30,000 views since it was published. That’s no surprise given the powerful functionality it offers.
Taking Moby Max for a Test Drive
I was both fascinated and impressed with Moby Max’s stated capabilities, so I decided to take it for trial run (and the good folks at Moby Max were kind enough to provide me a free account to do so - thanks Moby Max!). They’ve also offered a free account to a selected EmergingEdTech reader (more on that shortly)!
Getting started with Moby Max was easy. After logging in, you get prompted in a step-by-step manner. There’s also a short 5 minute video tutorial to help you with getting started, a half-hour minute Advanced Tutorial for deeper exploration, and plenty of other help resources.
The first thing you do in Moby Max is build out your student roster (this can be done manually, or they can easily be imported in batch with a spreadsheet). After populating your student roster and indicating their grade level, you'll want students to sign in and take tests that help to place them in terms of their abilities.
“Once your students sign in, they will automatically start an adaptive placement test by clicking on a subject. Each placement test will take roughly 30 minutes to complete and will identify the Common Core State Standards students have missed.”
As students work on assessments you can use the Moby Max dashboard to gauge their progress. After students complete the placement tests their overall grade level score is available, as is a more detailed breakdown of proficiency by grade level, domain and standard (aligned to Common Core state standards).
Using this information, Moby Max automatically assigns applicable, individualized lessons to help address missing or limited skills. And these lessons are much more than “drill and fill” lessons, they get far more advanced. Moby Max enables a powerful cycle of identifying proficiencies and skills that need work, helping students work on those skills, reassessment, etc., continuously building on student learning and development of proficiencies.
Another great thing about Moby Max is that you don't have to configure practically anything, but you can make lots of changes to suit your requirements and approach if you want to. You can create your own lessons, students can be reassessed as needed, and so much more.
The rich functionality of Moby Max is truly impressive. No wonder Toni Sweet of Mountain View Elementary wrote this testimonial:
“My students love MobyMax. We just finished NWEA testing and ALL my students had great growth! I love the way Moby remediates my low kids but also challenges my high kids. My students like the immediate feedback they get and are excited when they move up a level! They are very motivated to work on their assignments.”
Anyone can try Moby Max for free. Then unlock it's full potential for only $99 per year (for one teacher).
