What's New at Skwirk

Wednesday 22 October 2014

New Content Update

New Content

Some of the great new content you'll see on the site includes:

* Over 40 new or updated chapters in our Primary English section, covering everything from aspects of grammar to Australian English and Indigenous languages.

* Cats, Dogs and Us' - new cross-curriculum learning resources from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, tailored for use on the Skwirk site.

* Full text, scene-by-scene analysis and full-cast audio performances of three of the most popular Shakespeare texts for school study: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Julius Caesar.

* A brand-new approach to Secondary Maths, using our powerful new site tools to integrate video and interactive activities with both multiple choice and short answer questions

* Realigning all secondary Science and History content for use with the Australian Curriculum. Watch the video below to find out how to find this content on Skwirk.

* And the big announcement - we've acquired OVER 1300 interactive learning activities for integration across all levels of the site! These learning activities are designed for Australian schools and cover ALL subjects. You can bookmark these activities for your personal folder just like all other Skwirk content.

This is just the beginning, In the coming months you'll see MORE work from the Bard, MORE resources to help with Literacy and Numeracy, and MORE interactive activities to help develop your learning and understanding.

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Monday 4 August 2014

New Progress Bars and Emailed Reports

Hi Skwirkers,

We have added some new features to the site this week.

Progress Bars

When students log in, they will now view progress bars. You can now measure what work you have completed and how much is left to be done. The progress bars can be seen at subject, topic, unit and chapter levels.

The progress is measured by multi media viewings and correct answers in assessments. To get 100% you need to view every piece of media and answered all the questions correctly.

Weekly Progress Reports

Starting this week, parents will be receiving weekly progress reports every Monday via email.

The reports will display your child's progress that week, along with points earned, percentage completed, content viewed and assessment marks.

The reports can also be accessed through your parent and teacher portals. If you have any questions, please contact The Skwirk Team, info@skwirk.com.au. Happy Skwirking.

Tuesday 29 July 2014

A few words from a Skwirker.

We here at Skwirk love receiving feedback. It is one of the best parts of the job. Not only do we take your ideas on board for further improvements to our resources, we also love to hear how children are responding to our content from around Australia.

We received the below email recently from Amanda McDougall and it has put a smile on everybody's faces in the Skwirk office :). We would love to hear from other Skwirkers around the country, please email us, info@skwirk.com.au. Parents you can get a trial to our resources by clicking here.

Hi fellow Skwirkers and potential skwirkers! I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you a bit about our story and journey with Skwirk. My son has been struggling with school and just recently we have made the move to homeschooling. My son has Asperges and found it very hard to concentrate at school. But since being homeschooled using the Skwirk I have seen my son improve in leaps and bounds and we've only just started! My son finds the interactive lessons very easy to use and lots of fun. The lessons are brilliantly planned out and keep the children interested and they actually want to learn. My son's reading and maths has already gone from a year 3 level to a year 5 level with this system. The fact that it is explained so well that he can actually take the time to understand the information and it's presented in a fun entertaining way makes it exciting for him to learn and I even have trouble getting him off it :)

The range of lessons from maths to english to history to geography keeps him so interested that he is once again actively wanting to learn. He has taken huge steps from a child that had no confidence in his abilities to a child that now wants to teach his little brother the things he is learning!

I highly recommend skwirk to all parents from the ones looking for a bit more help for their kids at school to the ones taking on the homeschool journey. As a mum who is not a teacher, I had concerns about providing a good education for my son but now using the skwirk system and seeing my son's improvement across the board in such a small time, I feel very confident that Skwirk is definitely the right way to go :)

all the best to all the Skwirkers out there!

Tuesday 8 July 2014

The importance of a good teacher

While technology might be revolutionising the classroom, there will never be anything as essential as a good teacher.

The value of a good teacher - and the way they interact with their student - can never be underestimated. From the ancient days of Socrates interacting with the curious minds of Athens to today's classroom environment, the teacher-student relationship has always been important.

These days, even with the addition of a whole new host of technology to the learning environment, a quality teacher is still essential.

While technological tools are a significant help, kids will always find a guiding presence, such as a professional teacher, or parent teacher, an invaluable tool.

What does it take to be a good teacher?

According to the Department of Education, Training and Employment in Queensland, teaching offers a chance to encourage and support others to achieve their goals. In teaching, there's a strong focus on being able to explain things in simple terms, relating to a wide range of people, having compassion and empathy and the motivation to make a difference.

Coping well with challenges, pressures and organisation are all other parts of working in teaching.

Why are these skills necessary in a learning environment?

A lot of these qualities involve factors that technology simply cannot provide or replace. While great online education tools and digital learning can offer plenty of benefits, information and activities, there will always be the need for a real teacher to provide guidance along with it.

Whatever the subject, whether it's mathematics, history, science or English, there's nothing like having somebody on hand to help a child with questions and to bounce ideas back and forth with.

No matter what kind of technology you're turning to in the process of helping a child to learn, always remember the presence of a teacher or leader is just as essential, as they offer something incredibly valuable to the child.