Dreambox Learning: Trial - Kindergarten Week One

The first week with Dreambox Learning in my Kindergarten class has gone smoothly and the students as well as parents report that they really like it.

I teach in a full-day Kindergarten program, there are 22 students and we have four computers in our class.  In our district we have access to IWB's, document camera and access to weekly use of a computer lab.  I plan on using the Dreambox web-based learning during math workstation time, free choice (after lunch and completion of assigned work), small group instruction and as an after school resource.  This resource will complement our Math curriculum.  In order to move ahead with the trial I needed approval  from Dreambox and from our district's Curriculum Director.

Day One (April 1, 2013):
Dreambox and the district approved a month long trial.

Dreambox gave me an access code and assigned me a Dreambox Customer Support contact.

The combination of informative and helpful videos and links on the First Time Setup page were excellent.  When I hit a snafu while attempting setup my roster by importing the Dreambox Excel template, I  was able to figure out how to manually enter my class roster without the help of the Customer Support team .   Within a hour and a half my class roster was created, I had sent email's to my student's parents and had Dreambox linked to my class webpage.  The hyperlink on my webpage makes it easier for my students to access in class and from home.

I created a spot on the roster for myself so I could do some exploring and a place on the roster for a principal to also explore.  I found (as a first time user) that the initial start was sluggish (from an adult's perspective).  The program begins with  the user choosing their avatar character and then guides them through a series of mouse agility tasks.  My initial impression was the the response time between activities was slow with frequent "loading" times and I was a bit concerned my students might not find the characters engaging.  However,  my students do not find response time slow and they report that they like the user interface.

Day Two:
During class time I introduced and modeled Dreambox to the class.  A few children eagerly finished lunch and jumped on the computer.  The only thing I had to do was to tell them what picture password I had assigned them and they were off and running.  That evening at home eleven students had taken the initiative to sign on and were using the program.

Day Three-Five:
The students are enjoying Dreambox and the time they have spent using Dreambox ranges from 4:30 to :31 HH:MM.  I have not had any parents or students report any confusion or problems.  As the students watch each other on the computers they are sharing their results and their experiences on the various areas of "Adventure Park" and giving each other recommendations on where to go to "have fun".  After the first five days 20 of my 22 students are using this at school and at home.

Pros:

• The interface for both the student and teacher "user-friendly" and easy to navigate.
• My struggling learners are the students who have logged the most time so far and they are enjoying this web-based, differentiated learning experience.
• Students are enthusiastic about using this resource and are having fun while learning.
• The features which instruct the user when they miscue are wonderful (i.e. demonstrating a more efficient way to build a group of 60 - the pacing, the labeling and the explanation are excellent to support learning and clarity - it is like having a tutor sitting with the student).
• The Class Reports (Summary, Proficiency, Progress, Usage, CCSS and Roster) are informative and innovative.  I really appreciate how it lists what areas the child is working in and the option to print the page, email the report or export in an Excel Spreadsheet format.  In addition the option to view a Weekly or Detailed report on each student is an empowering feature to inform future instructional steps for individual, small group work.
• The Manage Students reporting and navigation is informative and easy to use.
• My experience in working with the Dreambox Learning staff has been professional, informed, responsive and enjoyable.
• There are many levels of support through hyperlinks and videos for teachers as well as parents which makes the website and product easy to learn and navigate.
• Parents like the option of being informed on their child's progress via email updates and I like the feature of the Parent Letter to send home to inform parents about the program.
• I appreciate the options to tailor how much access students have to the "reward" areas like the Carnival  or House to ensure that the students are spending time learning vs. playing.

Cons:

• I like the use of the "math box" (a.k.a. rekenrek) for numeration work, however I would like to see a greater diversity in virtual manipulatives.  I wonder if the children will quickly become bored with the same virtual manipulative.  I found that as a user I was disappointed to consistently see the same manipulative in each of the lessons/games throughout the various areas in Adventure Park.
• It would be helpful to have the option to print user cards with their password on it to send home or to keep in their math notebook (RAZ-Kids has this option).
• Being limited to use on computers is restrictive, this will be a stronger and more viable product  when it supports iPad and Android based tablet formats.  My understanding  is that Dreambox is looking to do this in the 2013-2014 school year.
• When this is released for use on tablets, I think there needs a "writing" option for both problem solving (showing their thinking) and practicing number formation.
• At this point in time only three of the five CCSS standards are covered (Operations and Algebraic, Counting and Cardinality and Number is Base Ten).  There are no lessons for Data and Measurement or Geometry.  My understanding is that Dreambox wanted to initial focus on numeration accuracy and are planning to add to their offering in the future.
• Within the first week my stronger students have already nearly mastered the Kindergarten curriculum established in the Dreambox program.  I wonder how Dreambox measures mastery and if the standards for mastery are set too low, perhaps there should be some way to report details on mastery or an assessment and then assessment report.
• In the Student Detail report it would be helpful to see what lessons (a.k.a. stories) from the Adventure Park are associated with specific CCSS standards.
• It would be helpful to have an "Exit" button in each of the areas in the Adventure Park.  Currently the students need to go "Back" to the entrance of the park in order to "Exit".  This is time consuming during in class transition times.
• Cost - I wonder if the cost of $25 per student, per year will be too costly especially for Kindergarten when you consider that only 60% of CCSS is supported and within one week many of students have already mastered what is offered for Kindergarten.  Finally there is the drawback of  being limited to running on computers only at this point which limit students access to this resource in the classroom.

Overall impression after first week.

I am delighted with how this resource offers opportunities for learning math that have are not otherwise available.  The children are really enjoying this resource and it will be interesting to see if their enthusiasm is sustainable over the course of the month trial.  It was an easy and efficient, intuitive installation and I feel like I have strong support from the Dreambox team.  I think the strengths are in the reporting features, the user interface and the reward system which makes it engaging for students as well as teachers, parents and administrators.  I would like to see more diversity in the characters, avatars and math manipulatives offered.  It would be a stronger product if it were priced like RAZ-Kids offered by Learning A-Z at around $100 p/class of 25 for a year.

http://www.dreambox.com/