Just in time for school a company called Noredink is here to help out with grammar. Grammar is forgotten by today’s youth who use emoji and SMS short hand. NoRedInk wants to help change that mindset for the youth. This site is a web app that ask school kids to fill in the blanks in sentences about celebrities, friends and interests. The goal is to make the learning process relevant to what is going on in their lives and fun. For the teachers there is a section for them to track students’ progress.
The site went live last year. Google Ventures and others are backing up NoRedInk by a sum of $2 million in funding. The funding will let the app to stay free to use. New grammar categories will be added every week until October. The first category is Capitalization. NoRedInk is well worth a look for parents as well as those looking to improve their grammar. If you don’t know your ‘their’ from your ‘there’ and ‘they’re’, you should sign up right away at noredink.com
NoRedInk.com is a web-based learning platform that helps students improve their grammar and writing skills. Here’s what makes us special:
- High-interest Content: Students generally find grammar boring because the content doesn’t relate to them. We generate all our grammar sentences using each kid’s favorite celebrities, hobbies, TV shows, and personal friends, making the content inherently interesting. Students can get unlimited practice — which is important since it often takes a long time to learn new skills.
- Adaptive Learning: Our engine provides differentiated instruction, adjusting questions based on what students get right/wrong and drilling down to their underlying misconceptions. When learners get stuck, we show them tutorials that help them correct their mistakes and keep going.
- Practice Exercises/Quizzes/Assignments: In addition to students practicing their grammar skills on their own, teachers can use the site to give assignments and quizzes that are uniquely generated according to each kid’s interests.
- Progress-tracking Features: Our color-coded “heat maps” allow teachers, students, and administrators to track progress easily. Teachers can use class trends to instantly inform instructional decisions as well as view students’ homework and quiz scores. This site was created by a teacher, so it’s easy for teachers to use.
How we believe students should learn
High-interest content
Students generally find grammar boring because the content doesn’t relate to them. That’s why we generate questions from each student’s favorite celebrities, hobbies, TV shows, and friends. Imagine taking a quiz where your best friend’s name keeps popping up! It’s no surprise that students are engaged quickly.
Authentic assessments
Multiple-choice tests aren’t particularly fun or authentic. We’d prefer to have students drag in commas, click words to capitalize them, throw out unwanted punctuation, and edit the text directly. Our goal is to make learning as authentic as possible so that kids really learn the material.
Blended learning
We believe that teachers should have the resources to help each student at the appropriate level – and that kids should be able to work at their own pace. Our site allows students to practice independently so that teachers can differentiate instruction based on results.
Adaptive technology
One benefit of technology is the ability to adjust questions based on what students get right or wrong, drilling down to their underlying misconceptions. When learners get stuck, we show them tutorials that help them correct their mistakes and keep going.
Unlimited practice
All educators know that it takes a long time for students to fully grasp new skills. Our site allows learners unlimited practice so teachers don’t have to be constantly swamped with grading.
