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eSpindle Learning
- Wide-ranging
word lists: With its 95,000-word database, eSpindle
offers real variety - and real learning - to students in each session.
Students can study the words provided for their skill level and
personal goal, or actively upload priority words.
- Words that are spelled correctly from the start will not
be repeated in subsequent sessions.
Instead eSpindle will simply register which words do need work.
In other words, eSpindle replaces the typical study-test approach with a
more dynamic test-study approach.
- Misspelled words are repeated in subsequent quizzes in carefully
planned intervals.
This provides a reliable measure of long-term retention
than traditional testing.
- Appropriate for multiple learning styles: Students can listen
to the related audio files (i.e., word pronunciation, samples sentences)
as often as needed in order to fully absorb a word's spelling and
meaning. eSpindle will never grow impatient or make the student
feel bad!
- Advanced-level students can proceed to a quiz level that is
appropriate for them, and that addresses their particular goals -
maybe winning the Spelling Bee or mastering the most commonly
misspelled words.
- No cramming for tests, and no final exam:
Since eSpindle adapts to and keeps track of the individual's progress,
learning is a continuous and ever-intriguing experience -
genuine learning for life.
- Providing unlimited access, eSpindle is an ideal tool for
students that want to improve but don’t have live tutors available to
them. It is accessible from home, school, or library,
anywhere an Internet connection is available. No commuting, no
geographic limitations.
- At any time, parents and teachers can log onto the eSpindle site to
review a student's progress, see which words have been mastered
and which need more work. These performance reports can
effectively replace time-consuming tests.
- Just a few minutes of efficient eSpindle tutoring per week
produce reliable results, and free teachers, parents and students
from laborious, boring and frustrating spelling list chores. |
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Old-style Spelling word lists
- Limited word lists: Most
students will already know as many as 75% of the list, but will still be
obliged to spend their time and attention "studying" them.
- Top students will
possibly know all the words already, receiving neither the benefit of an
enlarged vocabulary nor the mental stimulation derived from a challenge.
- Less proficient spellers,
including those not fluent in English, or those with a learning
disability, may lag behind their peers and be in need of more tutoring -
a need that, due to issues of school time and financial resources, might
go unmet.
- The "cramming" effect:
Students will typically study their word lists on the morning of a test,
so their test scores will reflect only the power of their short-term
memories, instead of actual comprehension and retention.
Administer a "surprise
test" on the same list a few days or weeks later, and the scores will
probably show that many of the words' spellings and meanings have indeed
faded from students' memories.
- Students need live
interaction/audio feedback to memorize the words, which may not be
available to them if their parents don’t have time or are not proficient
in English.
- In sum, a minimal level
of new learning is the return on the investment of considerable time,
money, and other resources on the part of students and teachers/parents.
- Teachers report that
spelling word lists and related tasks take up on average 2,5 hours per
week of their precious classroom time.
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