GradPoint - a great way to get to graduation for students, teachers, and administration
Pros
- It is very user-friendly right from the get-go. I am able to navigate throughout the system, and between areas easily, going from one class to another, from one student to another, or pulling in whole classes or groups of students, depending on my needs.
- GradPoint is a very useful tool for everyone - our students, paraprofessionals, teachers, directors, and administration. So across the board, it helps us all access the information we need to on a daily basis, whether in the classroom or at home.
- As a special education teacher, it allows me to work with my particular students one-on-one and individualize their learning according to their IEP and learning styles. I like the ease of use and versatility, and ability to use it in the classroom and then at home, go over information needed to prepare for the next day.
Cons
- I have seen multiple mistakes in the questions/answers that need to be corrected/updated. I think these are kinks that need to be worked out and once resolved, will be fine.
- When I filter for one student's name and then go to one of their courses, there is no easy way to go back and see all the courses for that one student - it always takes me back to the COURSE which lists all the students, not the one student I was just working with. Would save some steps if there was an easier way to navigate back to the one student and all their courses.
- Wish there was a way I could (as a teacher/administrator) copy when reviewing the quiz/test questions with a student, so I could paste it into Google or other search so that we can research the question together. You can't copy/paste anything from inside the quiz/test review section, I am assuming for security reasons, but still, as a special education teacher, makes it a bit harder for me to go back over missed questions and review information.
Return on Investment
- Positive Impact: Works well with our independent sites all over the state, yet allows us to still be all connected.
- Positive Impact: Works especially well with me and my special education students. Can go back over each and every missed question, review, clarify, discuss, and achieve mastery. For a special education teacher, this is just lovely!
- Negative Impact: I really love GradPoint, but the only negative is since GradPoint is so technology driven, if you have a particularly tech savvy student, we have seen they can 'work around' some of GradPoint's features and 'get ahead'. I am not so tech savvy myself, but this is what my site director has told me, and I would think that is not good and should be looked at/further review/investigation.
Alternatives Considered
Rosetta Stone Language Learning Software
Other Software Used
Infinite Campus