Pearson Active Teach Review

[SomeRandomTeacher]

Pearson Active Teach, also known as Active Learn, or Active Learn Online - for Secondary - reviews and opinions.

The ActiveTeachPrimary is very good. And our kids have responded and advanced well using it.

However, the system for secondary is poor. very poor. I say.

The interface has been designed by a 14year old with zero real world experience. The functionality is just aweful - click after click to get somewhere useful. Silly popup boxes (instead of in-app tabs, or in browser tabs, etc). limited back button functionality. ALL details not completed, such as nothing is sorted alphabetically, etc, etc.
It really has the feel of an incomplete "suggestion" of an app.

There are so many irritations and frustrations with this system i would like to hear from anyone else who uses it.

As for the company Pearson. Wow! It really is the American Privitisation of the Education System. (Example: The other day the system was turned off for some reason - which totally bombed my planned class - and the help phone number was a premium number. Cheeky sods!!)

Even though its advertised as the be all and end all of online education, after speaking to some company reps they told me "its just a revision aid. nothing more"

Has anyone actually educated a child with this system ?
Thanks.

[woodlands01]

I'm using this for teaching new A-Level Maths specification. We could not afford to buy new text books for students so subscribed to this instead. I find it goo, has everything I need and the students haven't complained at all.

[KittyVonCatsington]

I agree with you OP, used to use it with the old ICT GCSE qualification and it’s was next to useless. Haven’t bothered with the new CS GCSE.
Yes, Pearson is very business driven but so are all the other exam boards. It’s why they literally can get away with anything!

[Fffion]

I use it and am content with it.

[Acopyofacopy]

It’s great when it works. Not so great when the system is down for maintenance and you had planned a lesson 100% based on their chapter revision resources including audio files... I had to make up a Year 11 lesson on the spot last week...

I do love activelearn for flipped learning and individual study, though. And it is self marking!

[Fffion]

It’s fairly reliable though. I think there was a problem for a couple of hours last Thursday, but it’s otherwise worked well this term.

I’m old enough and ugly enough to not rely on technology and come up with a lesson on the hoof (not too often though).

I download the worksheets for each module, and don’t tend to use the built in video clips or project the text book, so I can pretty much work off-line. I love the Progression Services.

It’s been tough introducing PAL but I am determined to make it work.

[SomeRandomTeacher]

Still Disappointed !
The most annoying part of ActiveLearn is when i report a bug or some other failure - of which there are lots! - i get an automated response asking for mountains of extra data... which page, screenshots, examples, browser settings, computer information, all again for each student involved, etc, etc.
I have explained that no, i dont have time to beta-test (proofcheck) their system. And i have explained how a proper system provider collects reports. But they arent interested.
After 24hours they close the incident and dont do anything about fixing the issue. Not nice!

Eventually one helper admitted AL is just an assistant to an actual lesson. Its no where near a replacement. (contrary to adverts!)

Also, the company claims to have an army of experts: podos, teachers, psycho, techies... and yet their system is a far cry from other professional products. It looks rather "fischer price", has some terrible design, lacks some basic functionality, has many irritations (like not sorting correctly)... the list goes on and on. And when i point out some poor design, or an obvious bug, i´m told the Army of Experts thinks otherwise. (i actually asked for details of this Army of experts, and was just given a runaround.)

So its sometimes better than nothing. But its unreliability, and its no-actual-teacher-involved-design, makes it an if-y tool at best.

Apparently some improvements are coming, but the ONE person working on it, is rather busy doing other things...

[SomeRandomTeacher]

Just to be clear, im talking about ActiveLearn Secondary.

Lately, (daily for 2 months) i´ve had bug after bug. 40plus students all whinging about this that or the other not working. I wish i could just use Book and Paper !!

Most importantly i think is Is It Worth It ???
So instead of standing next to the chalkboard explaining stuff, i can now play a video OF A MAN who looks like me STANDING NEXT TO A BOARD EXPLAING STUFF.
Seriously? thats their "hitech futuristic classroom".

Maybe good for home-schooling. It falls way short for classroom.

And PS. Who has ever done well in Maths doing ONLY 3 QUESTIONS per topic?