introduction
by Lisa Tunstall
Quia gets its name from Quintessential Instructional Archive. According to Mark D. Sheehan (2010), Quia started in 1998 as a web based flashcard generating tool for English language learners. Quia moved beyond flashcards to a generator of a variety of puzzles and games and now has 16 templates for “flashcards, word searches, battleship, challenge boards and cloze exercises.” (Sheehan, 2010) Today, Quia has three platforms for educators and learners that can be used for online and blended courses: Quia Books, Quia Web, and IXL. This review will examine Quia Web's online activities and quiz capabilities.
Quia’s purpose for the past 16 years has been to bring technology into the classroom, and its new platform, Quia Web is one of the first contenders in the long list of Learning Management Systems. In Quia web, teachers are able to create classes and customize online content. The challenge for Quia, as with all Learning Management Systems, is to have features that no one else has, or to have features that everyone else has, and to do them better.
In the Getting Started Video, Quia’s class templates, creation tools for quizzes and automatic grading are presented as valuable time savers. Testimonials from real teachers, such as Holly Rogers from Oregon, attest to the time saved when a teacher must be absent from class. She says “I love Quia when I am absent because the students are engaged in learning and I don’t have stacks of papers to grade when I get back.” Valuing end user feedback and providing superior customer support are highlighted in the video. The most appealing feature of Quia is its 10 year database of teacher created reusable learning objects and the ability to adapt, edit or create your own.
Quia gets its name from Quintessential Instructional Archive. According to Mark D. Sheehan (2010), Quia started in 1998 as a web based flashcard generating tool for English language learners. Quia moved beyond flashcards to a generator of a variety of puzzles and games and now has 16 templates for “flashcards, word searches, battleship, challenge boards and cloze exercises.” (Sheehan, 2010) Today, Quia has three platforms for educators and learners that can be used for online and blended courses: Quia Books, Quia Web, and IXL. This review will examine Quia Web's online activities and quiz capabilities.
Quia’s purpose for the past 16 years has been to bring technology into the classroom, and its new platform, Quia Web is one of the first contenders in the long list of Learning Management Systems. In Quia web, teachers are able to create classes and customize online content. The challenge for Quia, as with all Learning Management Systems, is to have features that no one else has, or to have features that everyone else has, and to do them better.
In the Getting Started Video, Quia’s class templates, creation tools for quizzes and automatic grading are presented as valuable time savers. Testimonials from real teachers, such as Holly Rogers from Oregon, attest to the time saved when a teacher must be absent from class. She says “I love Quia when I am absent because the students are engaged in learning and I don’t have stacks of papers to grade when I get back.” Valuing end user feedback and providing superior customer support are highlighted in the video. The most appealing feature of Quia is its 10 year database of teacher created reusable learning objects and the ability to adapt, edit or create your own.
Quia's test editing, game making and survey generators are all user friendly with many help features. Test generation and feedback are accomplished in the same way as in TestMoz or google forms.
weaknesses and challenges
It is clear that Quia has worked hard to create a user friendly way to provide online learning activities for students. The challenge for Quia is to win over teachers who demand more from students than rote memorization and superficial learning.
Quia is not free. Teachers will pay $49 per yearly subscription, but that rate goes down for every group of 10 subscribers.
Education World reviewer, Cara Bafile, interviewed Quia creator, Paul Mishkin, who highlighted popular features of Quia. Among them are control over content, flexibility of access, positive student reactions and the ease in tracking student progress.(Bafile, 1999)
According to Paul Cancellieri of Graphite Common Sense, 15 teachers gave Quia Web an average rating of 4 out 5. His personal review was more pragmatic. His review lists pros as “Kids will enjoy the variety of ways to practice content, and teachers get instant feedback” and cons as “Games don't provide real interaction with content, leading to only superficial understanding.”
Bottom Line: Engaging activities help with vocabulary and curriculum recall, but they don't build critical-thinking skills. (Cancellieri, 2014)
Quia is not free. Teachers will pay $49 per yearly subscription, but that rate goes down for every group of 10 subscribers.
Education World reviewer, Cara Bafile, interviewed Quia creator, Paul Mishkin, who highlighted popular features of Quia. Among them are control over content, flexibility of access, positive student reactions and the ease in tracking student progress.(Bafile, 1999)
According to Paul Cancellieri of Graphite Common Sense, 15 teachers gave Quia Web an average rating of 4 out 5. His personal review was more pragmatic. His review lists pros as “Kids will enjoy the variety of ways to practice content, and teachers get instant feedback” and cons as “Games don't provide real interaction with content, leading to only superficial understanding.”
Bottom Line: Engaging activities help with vocabulary and curriculum recall, but they don't build critical-thinking skills. (Cancellieri, 2014)
APPLICATION IN AN ONLINE CLASSROOM
The best way to envision the application of Quia is to see it used in the real world. Alice Keeler is author of several shared activities and has a profile page in the Quia Community. Her math pages have examples of quizzes and games. Though most of her quizzes require a login, some, like her Test on Geometry Rules and Vocabulary, require only a first and last name.
The examples of games I found do seem to support Paul Cancellieri’s appraisal of the value of the activities. Mr. Welton’s 2010 8th Grade Jumbled Words is a good example of an activity that does not tap into a deeper understanding of content. However, his Absolute value extension and Alice Keeler’s Negatives and Exponents are games that are engaging while providing practice in more difficult concepts. Mrs. Humberson’s Battle the Two-Step Equations in medium difficulty mode is confusing. Try this game in easy mode. All of the games, like the quizzes, are best used for reinforcing basic knowledge and practicing basic skills rather than developing higher order thinking skills.
The examples of games I found do seem to support Paul Cancellieri’s appraisal of the value of the activities. Mr. Welton’s 2010 8th Grade Jumbled Words is a good example of an activity that does not tap into a deeper understanding of content. However, his Absolute value extension and Alice Keeler’s Negatives and Exponents are games that are engaging while providing practice in more difficult concepts. Mrs. Humberson’s Battle the Two-Step Equations in medium difficulty mode is confusing. Try this game in easy mode. All of the games, like the quizzes, are best used for reinforcing basic knowledge and practicing basic skills rather than developing higher order thinking skills.
LEARNING OBJECTIVEs
Middle Grade ESL Students will unscramble the math vocabulary words from the current lesson with 100% accuracy.
Geometry students will match triangle formulas and basic geometry axioms and postulates to the correct notations with 90% accuracy.
Algebra 1 students will compute absolute value expressions with 90% accuracy.
Algebra 1 students will compute negatives with exponents with 100% accuracy.
Geometry students will match triangle formulas and basic geometry axioms and postulates to the correct notations with 90% accuracy.
Algebra 1 students will compute absolute value expressions with 90% accuracy.
Algebra 1 students will compute negatives with exponents with 100% accuracy.
References
Bafile, C. (1999). Quia: A Quintessential Teacher's Helper. Retrieved from Education World: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr154.shtml
Cancellieri, P. (2014). Quia Web Review. Retrieved from Common Sense Graphite: https://www.graphite.org/website/quia-web
Humberson, M. (2014). Mrs. Humberson. Retrieved from Quia Web: http://www.quia.com/profiles/jhumberson
Keeler, A. (2011). Alice Keeler's Profile. Retrieved from Quia Web: http://www.quia.com/sv/501283.html
Quia Create Your Own. (2010). Retrieved from Quia Web: How to Get Started: http://www.quia.com/tutorials/quia_account
Sheehan, M. D. (2010). Product at a Glance: Quia. Retrieved from The jaltcalljournal: http://journal.jaltcall.org/articles/6_1_Sheehan.pdf
Welton, M. (2010). Mr. Welton. Retrieved from Quia Web: http://www.quia.com/profiles/jwelton10
Cancellieri, P. (2014). Quia Web Review. Retrieved from Common Sense Graphite: https://www.graphite.org/website/quia-web
Humberson, M. (2014). Mrs. Humberson. Retrieved from Quia Web: http://www.quia.com/profiles/jhumberson
Keeler, A. (2011). Alice Keeler's Profile. Retrieved from Quia Web: http://www.quia.com/sv/501283.html
Quia Create Your Own. (2010). Retrieved from Quia Web: How to Get Started: http://www.quia.com/tutorials/quia_account
Sheehan, M. D. (2010). Product at a Glance: Quia. Retrieved from The jaltcalljournal: http://journal.jaltcall.org/articles/6_1_Sheehan.pdf
Welton, M. (2010). Mr. Welton. Retrieved from Quia Web: http://www.quia.com/profiles/jwelton10
Lisa Tunstall
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