Chris+L

= BrainPOP = = = =After having a bit of a play-around with BrainPOP, I have found it to be a rather effective learning tool across various subjects and curricula. As I am primarily a high school English teacher, I of course assessed BrainPOP’s effectiveness in my own classroom, and although having not yet tested it in a true classroom environment, I can definitely see possible applications and look forward to employing it in future.= =An example of BrainPOP’s functionality is its introduction to Shakespeare. Wanting to give this website a test-run, I looked at it from a year 9 or 10 student’s point of view, and with said perspective I assessed the website’s pitch as if all knowledge of the topic was new to me:= =I was greeted with a Flash interface with a myriad of options:=



=One of these options and the focal point of the page is a short flash movie depicting information about Shakespeare and broad concepts and contexts of his plays:=



=This is a great authoritative resource in its own right, and can be more extertaining and exiting for the students than a stock-standard chalk-and-talk session.= = = = = =Another option available to the students is the FYI button:=



=This option takes the students to a page with textual information in greater depth than what is shown in the Flash movie. In this instance clicking this button took me to a page that talks about Shakespeare’s sonnets, with contextualising information such as what a sonnet is, what are the characteristics of a sonnet, how many sonnets Shakespeare wrote etc.=

=In terms of dialogical learning and responding, there is also a small selection of interactive activities that are centred on the video:=



=Particularly helpful is the Q&A section, which takes the user to a page with questions students are likely to have about Shakespeare, such as ‘Who was William Shakespeare?’ and ‘Why should we read Shakespeare’s work?’. It is noteworthy that this is all Flash based and thus is pleasing to the eye, and relatively easy to navigate.= =Also noteworthy is that this Shakespeare example is only a small part of the English learning tools available on BrainPOP, and that the English tools are only a small part of the cross-subject learning tools available on BrainPOP.= =A criticism that can be made is that BrainPOP does not offer any indication of age groups or year levels, and because everything is so standardised, otherwise useful information can either be too challenging or too simple to engage the students. Another criticism is that to access many of the features, you must have a paid subscription. There are a few //free// topics, but the beauty of this website is that there is so much content, and the fact that it is stifled and hampered with subscription fees definitely narrow its scope and effectiveness.= =If the subscription fee is overlooked however, this website becomes a simply great resource and teaching/learning tool. I will definitely be employing it (if only the free options) on future rounds and in my own teaching.=