It feels like Edpuzzle and IXL are taking over schools and education! There are no more teachers, everyone has to do every assignment on IXL and Edpuzzle! Well that’s not the reality, even though teachers are using these platforms to teach students, there are still teachers in schools. Who knows about the future, maybe in 3 years from now IXL and Edpuzzle will take over teaching jobs in schools. So what are the advantages and disa
dvantages of these platforms?
IXL is a way to explore the new possibilities of learning in the digital age. Founded by Paul Mishkin, created in 1998, IXL is an online learning platform created for students K-12. It offers a variety of programs such as Math, Language Arts, Spanish, and Science. IXL utilizes smart score points based on the system used to measure students’ understanding. The amount of questions answered and the time it takes to answer every question is recorded. There is no limit to the number of questions users can answer until a score of 100 is reached.
Edpuzzle is an online learning website where teachers upload videos to and add questions to check the knowledge of their students in lessons. The team of four: Quim Sabrià, Jordi Gonzalez, Santi Herrero, and Xavi Vergés helped to create Edpuzzle. Edpuzzle videos can be imported from YouTube, and have customizable questions. To adhere to watching the video fully to prevent distraction, the watching activity with Edpuzzles is monitored. For some teachers (if they wish), students are given the chance to directly change answers for a question when given another attempt at getting a good score for the lesson.
After reflecting on her S/T classes, 11th grader Genesis Melgar Vasquez exclaims how in IXL “getting the answer right” is what “stresses [her] out” due to how the application “drops [her] down so much”. While watching Edpuzzles Genesis notes “if a teacher is constantly using them” she gets “bored” and while the Edpuzzle is not “really teaching [her] anything or helping”. An advantage from Edpuzzles that is addressed by Genesis is “if it’s a short video” and “they’re not as time consuming. Some Edpuzzles were named as “boring, or not as personal” when the videos themselves are outdated and “heavily relied on” by teachers. A disadvantage pointed out was the need to “just answer questions” vs. physical homework where she retains “a lot more things” and [writes] them down easily.
Mr. David Ellison, an advanced placement math teacher at Eleanor Roosevelt, states Edpuzzles and IXLs align with the same reasons why they were created to “increase variety to keep students interested” he says. He does also believe that “students may find them tedious if done too often [he has his] concerns about too much online work.” Mr. Ellison is known for giving students a fair balance of physical and digital learning. He chooses not to argue too much about whether Edpuzzles and IXLs are an “end all be all” but he does believe that they “can be useful if not overused… especially useful is followed by class/group discussion afterwards.”
In both ways Edpuzzles and IXL’s interactive platforms both have tendencies to be advantage or a disadvantage based on how it is applied. These learning materials adapt each day for oncoming students to efficiently learn lessons and concepts to help them grow!