Saturday, September 29, 2007

Interesting Instructional Software

I found a program called "English in a Flash" published by the Renaissance Learning company.
The hardware required is pretty typical, Windows 2000 or 2003, 1Ghz Pentium etc. There is also a required back up system process that isn't given much detail. A standard subscription costs $1499 and a complete subscription is around 19.95 per student with a minimum of 10 students.
The software is designed to help ELL students catch up to their peers in their handle on the English language. It is primarily a drill and practice program where students develop vocabulary and are exposed to grammar in context, rather than learning rules. On a first glance there seems to be a high control over presentation rate. Feedback is simple, you review the wrong answers immediately after the exercise. There are pretests that determine levels of knowledge and lessons are added and removed according to these assessments. There have been high reviews, and intense studies that show this software is effective in catching these students up so they can participate in the activities of the English speaking classroom.

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