You control the number of minutes the student practices each day, the amount of time given for each problem, and which fact set to practice. Or not. Moby automatically can assess the student's missing facts to practice!"

 

Doe, C. (2016, January-February). MobyMax. Internet@Schools, 23(1), 14+. Retrieved November 15, 2016, from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_bluewaterdl&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA440057570&asid=a79e0ad415d81992d15914cbd00e3623

This article focuses on reviews of new or important technology by practicing educators. MobyMax is given an A on a report card scale and it is listed as highly recommended.  It is said to be easy to use and adaptive to students.  It tends to entice students by offering games, award certificates and badges.  Another positive that the author stated is that it has a messenger portion that allows teachers, students and parents to communicate.

 

Walsh, K. (2013, May 5). Awesome Free Ed Tech Resources eBook! Retrieved November 15, 2016, from http://www.emergingedtech.com/2013/05/moby-max-is-a-proven-adaptive-learning-toolset-with-differentiated-curriculum-for-k-8-students/

Ms. Walsh concentrates on what she feels is important for teachers.  With Moby Math now being Moby Max it now works in every content area.  She feels that the program concentrates on a differentiated curriculum as well as offering progress monitoring.   She likes that students are given diagnostic tests and then they only need to work on areas that they are struggling with and not on areas that they have already mastered.  She also likes that Moby Max offers tools of motivation because this keeps the students wanting to learn more.  

 

Unknown. (2014, August 12).  I Learn Technology.  Retrieved November 15, 2016, from  http://ilearntechnology.com/wordpress/?p=5437

This article focuses on what is included in MobyMax, also known as the “bells and whistles”.  It states how students get their own learning plan that is geared around them and what they are struggling on.  The program offers direct instruction and it also allows students to make their own “discovery-based instruction”.  There are also parts of the program that allow you to build a digital class community, by doing things such as building class culture and communication.  This article even tells you many ways that you can incorporate MobyMax in your classroom, some ways include helping students that need a little extra support so they can read problems for remedial or ESL students.  This article focused on a wide range of areas that were ways to help any student in the classroom, which included the advanced student that needs challenged more.  

Corry, M., & Carlson-Bancroft, A. (2014). Transforming and Turning around Low-Performing Schools: The Role of Online Learning. Journal of Educators Online, 11(2). Retrieved November 15, 2016 from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1033256.pdf

This article points out how beneficial online learning is for a classroom, but that it should be used in combination with the classroom environment.  Online programs are another classroom tool that should be used to facilitate learning but not take the place of it.  It also showed many examples as to how it has turned low performing school around.   Students learn many different ways and this may not be the best way to learn for all students. 

McCrea, B. (2010, June 17). The Journal.  Retreived November 15, 2016, from https://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/06/17/Embracing-Classroom-Technology.aspx?p=1

Valerie Gresser wanted to make some changes in her classroom and to do this she needed finances, which were not there.  She ended up applying for a $20,000 classroom grant and used it towards new technology which included a smartboard, projector, interactive whiteboard and even an interactive electronic table for students to input data, a student response system as well as more.  Even though these are expensive changes, they got the students excited to learn.  She believes the learning environment made this happen. 

Powell, A., Watson, J., & Staley, P. (2015, July). Institute of Education Studies.  Retrieved November 15, 2016, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED560788.pdf 

Blending Learning is the idea of combining the best of traditional learning with online schooling.  This author believes that there are positives and negatives to both of these types of learning.  This article discusses what they believe to be the four types of blended learning and it even gives examples of where this is used.  They also emphasize concentrating on four areas when you decide what type of learning your school should have.  The four things to consider are your school climate, blended learning goals and benefits, professional development needs and barriers to implementation.  

Nagel, D. (2013, June 4). The Journal.  Retrieved November 15, 2016, from https://thejournal.com/articles/2013/06/04/6-technology-challenges-facing-education.aspx

Although technology is beneficial in so many ways, this article shares some things that are challenging in the field of education. These challenges include professional development, resistance to change, failures of personalized learning as well as three more.  Mr. Nagel states that schools/ teachers are taking advantage of the technology being offered but we do not properly know how to teach it.  We are also being challenged more due to there being many resources and us having to find the best resources available to meet the needs of our students.  `

McKnight, K., O'Malley, K., Ruzic, R., Horsley, M. K., Franey, J. J., & Bassett, K. (2016). Teaching in a digital age: how educators use technology to improve student learning. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 48(3), 194+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA457302061&asid=f497dcff09a6a473557b955fdbfea7b8

This is a case study that shows digital tools that teachers can use to improve student learning.   Seven model schools were studied across the United States.  Five ideas came from this study and they are that technology improves access, it improves communication and feedback, it restructures teacher time, it extends the purpose and audience for student work, and it shifts the roles of the teacher and students.   This study was in depth but only referenced a small number of schools and they only had a limited amount of time in the buildings. 

Smith, T. (2016, October). How adaptive learning really works. Technology & Learning, 37(3), 20+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA467829363&asid=3e10b1fe9fb1200d1027f3beb8082cc9

This article discusses adaptive learning in mathematics and how it is geared towards each individual student.  With adaptive learning students use technology for a majority of their day and teachers are there just in case they are needed.  The author believes that this is the math of the future.  Adaptive learning has students move at their own pace and not at the pace of their classmates or the teacher.  This is a way for students to move as quickly or as slowly as they need to go, based on how they understand the concepts.

Costley, K.C., Bell, D., & Leggett, T. (2014). More Feet Hitting the Road: Ten Ways to Get Impoverished Children’s Test Scores Up. Online Submission.  Retrieved November 15, 2016, fromhttp://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED545372.pdf 

There are many concerns facing public schools today that effect how well a student will learn.  Poverty is a huge concern all over America and one way the authors believe that we can to do to help this is to implement technology.  We have a wide variety of technology that can be used but we need to find the most beneficial for our students and we must know how to use it to its fullest potential.  Technology opens up a lot of windows as to what and how children learn.