We're happy to announce that Tyto Online has been named a "Top Pick for Learning" for 2018 by Common Sense Education based on our 4-star product review.
Common Sense Education's team of experts and reviewers include leaders in edtech, scholars in child development and learning, instructional designers, K–12 subject-area experts, and school technology leaders. Their ratings are not influenced by developers or funders, and they never receive payments or other compensation for reviewing any tools.
"Bottom Line: Diverse characters, immersive experiences, and useful teacher tools make this life science RPG worth checking out."
Common Sense Education has a rigorous editorial review process based on a research-backed rubric developed specifically to evaluate the learning potential of digital tools. This falls into the following three main categories, and we've shared the summary from Common Sense Education for each:
Engagement, or how engrossing the tool is to use. For Tyto Online, the reviewer summarized: "Kids play a student researcher at Tyto Academy, completing quests and learning about life science along the way. The storyline is relevant to Earth's current environmental problems and is presented in a colorful 3D game."
Pedagogy evaluates for whether learning is seamlessly baked in -- in order words, the learning isn't some side pop-up or otherwise, whether it promotes conceptual understanding and creativity, how it adapts to students' individual needs, and how well it supports knowledge transfer. For Tyto Online, they said, "This adaptive game is player-driven, while carefully structured to lead kids to the completion of their tasks. Learning is baked in, with a few opportunities for kids to generate and investigate their own questions."
Support evaluates how the product can help support varied levels of students. For Tyto Online, they offered, "There are lots of tips for the many features of the game, though kids may have trouble keeping track of all of them at first. There isn't a feature to redirect kids who get off track or repeatedly enter incorrect answers or arguments." [This is something we are currently building.]
To read the full review, follow this link: https://www.commonsense.org/education/game/tyto-online
Common Sense Education provides research-based tools to help teachers and students harness the power of technology for learning and life. Common Sense Education is a part of Common Sense, the nation's leading independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world of media and technology. Learn more at commonsense.org.
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