A consistent and intense training process is critical for success. This is very similar to physical fitness training.
Below is a summary of the key elements for the supervisor to consider.
Establish a monitoring and coaching protocol
It is important for the student to be properly introduced to the program and to establish training expectations.
Have the student work on the demo while being supervised to make sure the student understands how to do each exercise properly. Allow the student to work on the demo until they are ready to begin training. Some students with very weak skills may need a significant amount of time working on the demo until they gain sufficient confidence that they can handle the training.
Make sure the student understands how to access the individual exercise tutorials. Many of the exercises have significant changes in complexity at different levels and the student may need extra help to understand the new requirements.
Delayed Math is typically hard to understand at first but is relatively easy once it is understood. Extra time may be required to begin that exercise.
Tap Beat changes on level 3 and is hard for many students who don’t have any music training. The tutorial provides a manual training tool to help students understand the difference between notes on the scale.
Speed 3 on Visualization Golf is very challenging. Make sure students review the tutorial to understand this challenge.
Supervisors need to establish a weekly review process so students know they will be held accountable.
Students also need to have access to someone often enough to answer questions when they are stuck. More supervision may be required the first week or two, but in general students should be able to train independently most of the time.
The supervisor should check weekly to make sure a student is not hopelessly stuck at a given level. Make sure the student understands the instructions and if that is not the issue, extra coaching may be required to help them gain the skills necessary to pass to the next level. Coaching is discussed in more detail in a section below.
Reports
When a student logs in, there are several tabs. The Report tab provides detailed reports on the training activities.
The default page shows the overall status.
Click on each exercise name to review detailed reports for that exercise.
Click on the appropriate link to review training records by week or by day.
This same information is also located in the administrative system if you have administrative access.
Active time
Time is recorded only for completed rounds. It does not include the time in between rounds reading instructions, day dreaming, etc. It also does not include time spent training on a given round if the reset button is hit and that particular round is not completed. So the active time reported is significantly less than the elapsed time logged in. Ideally a student will report active time of at least 75% of elapsed time for a session. However, we often see 50% or less.
Rounds Completed vs. Rounds Passed
The report shows the number of rounds completed and passed for each exercise. A round is one cycle of completing a series of tasks for a given exercise. Each round lasts approximately 1 minute, although some rounds can be completed faster and some take longer depending upon how the student trains. Each round is scored. If the student demonstrated proficiency, typically a 90% score or better, the student is passed to the next speed or level. Please review the tutorial on advancement logic.
Students will generally have a fairly high pass rate until they reach the level that challenges their skills. That varies by student. Once a student reaches this challenging level, passing will become harder, which is to be expected. The pass/fail rate will decrease as the levels become harder. The training does not strengthen skills until a student labors at passing a challenging level. Even if the student fails many times at this stage, as long as they are trying their best, the training is of value. At some point, either the student will pass or will need some coaching. Please review the section on coaching below. Often a student will struggle at a given level, train intensely and they have a break through.
Level of Engagement, training process
The level of engagement and the quality of the training process can be evaluated by reviewing several aspects of the report.
Active time
The first element is active time vs. elapsed clock time. If the student trained for an hour, the ideal active time is 45-50 minutes per hour of training. If it is less, it is likely because the student is having trouble understanding the instructions, is distracted, or is hitting reset too often. The supervisor may need to observe the training to determine if there is a training issue.
Flow Chart of training progress
The flow chart is located in the administrative system.
The flow chart shows how many rounds were completed per level and speed at a quick glance. It will show if the student is generally passing at lower or higher speeds and whether they appear to be stuck at a certain point.
Note how the student started off passing fairly easily on levels 1-3 at higher speeds. Level 4 became noticeably harder, but this student continued to at least pass at lower speeds. The student has continued to improve their overall skill level. Levels 4 and 5 required more attempts, but once they hit level 6 and 7 they passed more easily again. Level 8 on has been challenging, but they have at least been training hard enough to finally pass at lower speeds. Their skill in the category is definitely improving.
There were some levels where the student appeared to be stuck at speed one with some fairly high round amounts. For example, on level 5 the student required 22 attempts to finally pass that round. Over ten failures at this level would indicate some degree of struggle. It is not bad yet, but worth evaluating to avoid the student becoming too frustrated. Even if it takes 20 or more rounds to pass, the critical issue is to avoid frustration and the student giving up. As long as they understand the challenge and continue trying, a reasonable number of failures is OK. However, at some point, coaching is required.
The green boxes indicate the student passed that speed. A yellow box indicates the students failed that speed and was advanced to the next level back one speed (fail forward). The goal is for a student to pass each level at the highest speed possible. But, we do not wish for a student to become hopelessly stuck on a level because of speed. If they have failed a speed three times during a given login, but passed at a lower speed, they are advanced up a level, back a speed. They demonstrated they mastered the complexity of that level, but could not handle any higher speed. At some point if a student has been mostly passing at lower speeds, the coach can move the student back several levels to see if they can now pass the lower levels at higher speeds.
Coaching
Coaching is critical during three stages:
- Introduction.
- Making sure the student understands the instructions on a new challenge.
- Student should ask for help if they don’t understand.
- Monitor should ask student periodically if they need any help
- Monitor should look at the reports to identify when a student is not getting any or few answers correct on a given level. That is a likely indication the student does not understand what is expected.
- When the student is stuck and/or frustrated.
- Encourage the student to speak up when this occurs.
- Review the reports often enough to identify when the student is stuck. For teachers monitoring multiple students, there is a report under the Stats tab that can be run to identify which students may be stuck.
It is important that the student understand the difference between between being challenged and being stuck. Challenged is when they clearly understand the instructions and are getting many correct, but they are struggling to pass. As long as they are mostly getting the answers correct, continued training for a significant period of time is good brain exercise. Being stuck is when the student is not getting many right and is not sure how to succeed.
If the student is close to passing but has more than 30 attempts, or if they are getting few if any correct, they are stuck. The parent or supervisor needs to take action. First make sure they fully understand the instructions. If they are close but cannot quite pass, back them up a level or two to regain momentum. If they do not understand the instructions, work with them on the exercise until they understand what is expected. Refer to the tutorials as needed. Provide hints and answers as needed to help them move forward.
If coaching advances them beyond their skill level, move the level back and let the student pass on their own.
Modification to training variables
Under the report tab, there is a link which allows the student or monitor to change several training variables. The program automatically advances students based upon results. No changes are required. However, under certain circumstances the student or monitor may wish to adjust the variables to enhance the training experience.
Active–The exercise can be turned off if the student on the last level. The last level or two are bonus levels and are typically very difficult. They are available as a challenge, but if they provide too much of a challenge, the exercise can be turned off. Students typically have mastered the desired skills if they have reached the last level.
Duration–This variable sets the required training time to complete an exercise for a given cycle. The minimum is 360 seconds or 6 minutes of active time per cycle. If a student would like to work on a given exercise longer within reason to improve their chances of passing, this time can be increased up to a maximum of 600 seconds or 10 minutes.
Speed–Any speed can be selected. If a student is not challenged by lower speeds, this value can be bumped up to higher speeds to avoid having to do the lower speeds. If the student is stuck on a higher speed, move it down a speed.
Level–You can move up or down one level. If a student has strong skills and would like to bypass some of the lower levels, they can move up more quickly to find a more challenging level. Although it is still good to advance through all of the levels naturally. If a student passes, the first level and is on level 2, they can bump up to level 3. Once they pass one speed at level 3, they can bump up to level 4, etc. If a student is stuck on a given level, the level can be set back one to regain momentum.
Teachers and trainers with access to the administrative system can also change the training variables in the administrative system. More variables can be changes and over a broader range.
