Evaluation of student use of learner website: Studyit

The Ministry of Education commissioned CORE to evaluate Studyit, a free online resource to support senior secondary students, initially in Maths and Science to NCEA level. The site also has an area with advice and resources for English and open forums.

The evaluation of Studyit was conducted with a view to achieving two main objectives:

Understanding more fully the impact of each service on users, teachers, schools, and the service providers themselves
Determining how web-based services (in general) are currently aligning and integrating with children and young peoples’ overall learning experiences and outcomes

Key findings:

A summary of the main findings are as follows:

Students used Studyit website to find out information and ask questions about a range of essential learning areas including Maths, Languages, Science, Arts, Social Studies and Technology.
Learners were able to utilise the website to assist them with planning and preparation for exams and coursework, for investigating, researching, organising and making sense of their assignments, reflecting and communicating.
One of the unique features of the Studyit website is not only the involvement of experts and teachers but also the high level of student-to-student interaction that is encouraged to aid learning.
There was also a high level of social interaction in the forums, which demonstrated a range of observable online social skill development that includes communication, building relationships, empathy and the ability to assist others.
Studyit provides a valued source of immediate learning for 15-18 year old NCEA students who are actively involved, but there is also likely to be immediate learning value for those students who are registered and who use the site but do not actively participate.

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