e-learning

6 Things I Really Love about Superstar Teacher: Learn without Leaving Home!

Some of you may have heard of Superstar Teacher. It is an online learning platform that provides lessons through videos and supplementary materials. Conceptualized in 2011, it aims to offer students and parents the ease, joy and efficiency of learning through the internet. It is developed by a team of curriculum specialists, delivered by the best teachers, and promised to be fun and interesting. 🙂

In the video lessons, there are interactive quizzes to assess students and track their understanding. Supplementary materials like worksheets can be downloaded, printed and used along with the videos. Study tracker tool and monthly reports are also available to track progress and performance. Additionally, it’s available on app store – our child can learn anywhere and anytime!

Superstar Teacher offers 4 subjects – Math, Science, English and Chinese from Primary 1 up to Secondary 4 with optional printed worksheets (perfect for those who does not have a printer). Lessons delivered will focus on topical coverage and strategy-based learning to tackle tough schools’ and national examinations (PSLE and ‘O’ levels).

Core subjects are priced at $528 each for primary levels and $598 each for secondary levels (can be used for one year). They can be renewed for another year from $99 onwards – very cost-effective when sharing with siblings. 😀

It all sounds pretty amazing, if you ask me. But the more important questions are – How effective it is? Is it suitable for more-dependent and less-intuitive students? What’s the impact of increasing our child’s screen time with e-learning portal? There’s a lot to consider before you jump on the e-learning bandwagon.

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10 Things You Need to Know About KooBits – Singapore Math Portal (Plus Free 6-Month Trial)

Let me start this post with a question. What are the challenges that you and your kids face in primary school Mathematics? I listed a few here:

  1. The method of teaching is very different from how we were taught last time.
  2. They can’t understand concepts.
  3. They feel bored doing too many uninteresting worksheets over and over again.
  4. They lack motivation.
  5. Too many assessment books in the market, you do not know which one to buy.

As a mom of a Primary 2 boy, all these struggles and challenges are no strangers to me. I admit I was a little overwhelmed with Singapore Mathematics syllabus. Our kids need to have a strong understanding of mathematical concepts, as well as applying the concepts in problem solving, reasoning and higher order thinking.

So, we need to expose them to a wide variety of questions. Through consistent practise, they will find the concepts familiar and spontaneous. However, too many worksheets will kill the joy of learning the subject. Thus, we often wonder what is the most effective and inspiring method to teach our kids math.

In short, I want an effective learning system that needs minimum efforts but produces BIG results. Ideally, it should be engaging and motivating too. Does such learning system exist? You may wonder.

KooBits Math Portal

KooBits 1

Recently, I was introduced to KooBits Math Portal, an online math learning system for primary students. Some of you may have already using it because over 30 primary schools in Singapore have adopted this e-learning system. They are Nan Hua Primary School, Xinmin Primary School, Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School, St Hilda’s Primary School, and North Vista Primary School, just to name a few.

Here are TEN things you need to know about KooBits in terms of its features and benefits:

1. Largest collection of challenging math word problems and video lessons

KooBits ProblemSums has one of the largest collections of challenging math word problems and video lessons, featuring more than 700 mathematical skills and 10,000+ problem sum questions for our kids to master.

Yes, it’s massive! You’ll never need to shop for assessment books again. Developed by a group of innovative MOE educators, technologists and researchers over years, it’s also aligned with the latest MOE math syllabus.

KooBits 8 - Profile Page Dashboard

The learning activities are divided into 3 main sections – Self Practise, Homework and Challenge. The Challenge section is further divided into Daily Challenge, Sunday Mini Challenge and Peer Challenge. There is an interesting Challenge Points (CP) reward system that allows the kids to earn points when they use this e-learning system.

KooBits 2 - Challenge

  • Daily Challenge is available every day except Sunday. There are 10 questions with varied level of difficulties for our kids to solve daily.
  • Sunday Mini Challenge, as its name says, is only available on Sunday.
  • Peer Challenge allows our kids to challenge their peers (random or from the same school).

2. Customized based on the child’s learning profile

Unlike other e-learning programs in the market, KooBits ProblemSums is not a ‘one size fits all’ program. It’s customized based on our kid’s learning profile over time.

By doing 10 questions each day in the Daily Challenge, our kids get to try 240 questions a month. That’s where daily bite-sized exercise makes more sense than last-minute studying for exam. The results from the challenges, self practise and homework are recorded in the system to develop our kid’s learning profile. So, our kids get a customized set of questions every day to further work on their weaknesses.

I do not know how the system can do such complex customization, but it totally wins me over.

3. Promotes self-learning and independence

All questions come with an immediate feedback mechanism to guide students, as well as detailed step-by-step solutions with necessary models and diagrams. Thus, it promotes self-learning and independence. Double bonus points for busy parents like us!

KooBits 10 - Challenge Question

4. A differentiated skills map

KooBits 6 - Self Practice

The system recognizes that every child is unique, and they learn at different speed. Thus, a differentiated skills map like this is very useful. It allows our kids to learn at their own pace, and thus ease their tension. The progress is also captured in the system, and the topics are aligned with the latest MOE syllabus.

5. A smart proficiency report for parents

KooBits 9 - My Report

Another important feature of this system is the proficiency report. From this report, parents get to know the number of questions practised by their kids and their proficiency in each topic.

I’m pretty sure no one else can do this. Even your kid’s Math teacher at school won’t be able to tell you which specific topic your kids are weak at. With this report, we can help our kids leverage their strengths and overcome their weaknesses.

6. Daily and weekly homework assignments with printable worksheets

For schools who have adopted this e-learning system, the teachers can assign homework to their students via this portal. Parents can also create homework for the kids based on the schedule of MOE curriculum or randomly selecting certain skills and topics. There is another set of homework automatically created by KooBits portal. You can also print these homework assignments into printable worksheets.

7. The official Math Olympiad questions

KooBits 10 - High Ability

The past 19 years of official Math Olympiad questions are also available on KooBits portal. Good news for the advance students (and kiasu parents too!). They can now stretch their thinking and deepen their understanding with these non-routine high ability questions.

8. Join competition to win prizes

KooBits 9 - Prize

KooBits has a very interesting reward system that motivates our kids in the form of Challenge Points (CP), badges and virtual credits. They can also win attractive prizes from the weekly online competitions. I’m sure this will motivate the kids to continue learning from the system, and achieve even better results.

9. Develop effective learning habits

As I’ve mentioned in point # 2, daily bite-sized exercise is far better than last minute exam preparation. By doing exercises every day, we instil consistency and develop effective learning habits in our kids since young, which they can carry on into secondary school and beyond.

10. Accessible everywhere

KooBits Math Portal can be accessed from anywhere as long as you’re connected with the internet. It also supports login from PC, MAC, iPad, Android or other tablets. Instead of playing games on the iPad, our kids can get their hands on math questions wherever they go.

KooBits 10 - Edison
Edison doing his Sunday Mini Challenge while waiting for his lunch to be served at Pizza Hut
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Free 6-Month Trial!

Last but not least, I’ve good news for all of you. You can sign-up for a 6-month free trial with no credit card required. Simply click on the link below to gain access to your FREE TRIAL.

[su_button url=”http://synad3.nuffnang.com.sg/gtrack/click/14071″ target=”blank” background=”#F9999A” size=”5″ center=”yes” rel=”nofollow”]Sign me up for FREE trial![/su_button]

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The benefits of KooBits far exceed the regular paper-based assessment books and teaching method. It’s interactive, engaging and effective. Quoted from Edison, “KooBits is very fun and I like it. I want to keep practising to become the top scorer.”

Get your free trial today, and transform your kid’s perception of math from hate to LOVE!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Nuffnang. All opinions are honest and are my own. We strongly recommend KooBits based on its benefits and uniqueness.