Qwizdom Launches K-8 Online Learning Community
Qwizdom has opened a free online community designed for K-8 educators, students, and parents.
Called Qtopia, the new community provides a range of online learning tools, including games and other activities, and also serves as a platform for accessing homework, managing and tracking grades, and reviewing materials for tests. It debuted at last week's FETC 2011 conference in Orlando, FL.
According to Qwizdom, the community was piloted lat month with "a variety of teachers." One of them, Marty Harrington, a technology teacher at Georgia's Gray Elementary school, said in a prepared statement: "With Qtopia, I have seen students that are typically unmotivated perform better while having fun and enjoying it."
In addition to games and self-paced online activities, Qtopia provides:
- Classroom practice materials and "thousands" of learning objects for use by teachers;
- Student progress tracking;
- Online homework delivery and automatic grading;
- Lesson planning;
- Notifications for parents and students; and
- Remediation tools and instant feedback.
An enhanced version of the site, Qtopia Plus, is also launching. It's designed for district-wide adoption and includes ReadySet state standards-aligned curriculum and reporting capabilities for the entire school district. While the standard version of Qtopia will be offered free, Qtopia Plus will only be available for an annual fee. Qwizdom also introduced Qtopia Home Plus, an enhanced version of the service that's designed for parents. Expected to be available "soon," Qtopia Home Plus will provide additional lessons, expanded answer explanations, and games designed for after school use.
The standard version of Qtopia is available now free of charge for teachers, students, and parents. Further information can be found here.