Tassomai

View Original

Supporting remote learning for science, maths and English, the scientific way!

As many families discovered, all too painfully during previous lockdowns, learning from home is a poor substitute for being in the classroom with a teacher. Equally painfully during the same period, teachers around the country discovered how difficult it is to monitor how pupils are getting on once they are outside the school gates for long periods of time.

Addressing the gaps as students return to schools, and planning catchup for those most in need is another mammoth task, and one that will preoccupy us all in the months to come. That’s something Tassomai can help with, but for now the focus is once again on ensuring schools have an effective remote teaching and learning plan in place. For many schools, that plan has Tassomai at the centre - a program built on learning science with a proven track record in helping teachers to identify knowledge gaps amongst their students.

The remote learning challenge

Once students lose access to the close monitoring and frequent feedback that their teachers provide, many are likely to struggle. Some will struggle to improve through their work; others may struggle to do any work at all. As problems persist, they exacerbate the need for therapy, but with no way to keep an eye on how things are progressing, it’s extremely difficult for teachers to anticipate what will be needed on students’ return. With so many weeks’ learning already lost, we’re all under a great deal of pressure to cover the remaining curriculum; the risk of further compounding lost weeks with recaps on the return from any closure may prove calamitous.

Why Tassomai more than addresses your needs

Tassomai is no silver bullet, but it does directly address several of the problems with quickly-imposed remote learning and catchup programs. 

  • it’s a self-setting, self-marking daily learning exercise that gives correction and feedback and provides as much as an hour’s work each day for each student. By differentiating its provision to every student’s own abilities, every student learns and reinforces their learning with each day’s activities

  • it’s highly accessible and an easy task for students to do daily: provided students have access to an internet-enabled device (we know that’s not 100% of students, but it’s close), they can do their Tassomai in a few minutes each day - but nothing stops them from doing more

  • it’s easily monitored by teachers - you can see immediately who has been active each day (or over any custom time period), how much they’ve done, how much time they’ve spent, and how well they’ve been working. Teachers can instantly see who needs a phone-call home to give that extra nudge

  • teachers are able to customise the work that students are doing on Tassomai, closing off topics not yet covered in order to focus the practice on other areas, for example.

  • it shows teachers exactly where the gaps are, helping them to plan intervention for individuals or groups; all the data is explorable and interactive, and highly detailed

  • it does this job for both Key Stages 3 and 4, and does so not only in science, but English and maths too

  • through embedded, adaptive retrieval practice, not only does Tassomai provide a robust, “set and forget” homework during normal term time and bolster remote learning needs, it also moves the time-intensive practice of knowledge-building and retrieval onto each student’s own device. This, in turn, liberates classroom time for teachers to focus on their students’ needs, helping them to develop their skills in the subject with a solid, confident foundation.

Invaluable, and great value

Edtech like Tassomai can be seen as expensive, but it’s not - and given the immensely powerful job it can do in a school setting to support all students - we would say it’s incredible value when you compare it to the price of a textbook!

Our expert and dedicated team is on hand to support in any way we can and, if you’re not sure whether Tassomai is the right tool for your school, we offer free trials to schools for several weeks, giving ample opportunity to assess its impact and make the right decision.

By Murray Morrison, creator of Tassomai.