Moogie's Blog

About Moogie

2008-09-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

As I become more familiar with blogs and how they fit in with everything else on the Internet, I realize people can arrive at THIS blog from a lot of different places, not just from our Home Page. So that means I'd better explain who and what exactly Moogie is!

Moogie on the Net is a totally free*, elementary, middle, and high school math intervention and remediation software designed to assist teachers and their students with mathematics proficiency. Originally designed for the Ohio Math Proficiency Tests, Moogie on the Net has been expanded to meet the ever-changing requirements set forth by the NCTM for 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th grade learning objectives/outcomes, By itself, Moogie on the Net is drill and diagnostic software. It is not meant to teach students or to present them with new material, but rather, to help them learn the process of solving problems. Teachers teach; we just help.First and foremost, unlike most math tutoring or test-preparation software, Moogie on the Net is much more than a computerized, electronic flash card. With Moogie on the Net, there are no canned or stale questions because the numbers always change! By itself, Moogie on the Net leads students through all the Learning Objectives for the desired grade level and targets the individual questions students have the most trouble with. By re-trying those tougher questions - always with different numbers - students learn the process of solving the problems!
Moogie on the Net is divided into 3 portals, one each for students, teachers, and parents. I have posted a quick overview for each.

About Moogie - for Parents

2008-09-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

Parents are important too!

Parents as "Parents"

If your son or daughter is using Moogie on the Net at school, you can use his/her User ID and Password to get a simple overview of their work.

Parents as "Teachers"

If you have one or more children, they are not using Moogie on the Net at school, and you would like to use Moogie with them, you can be their Teacher with Moogie! This is perfect for Home-Schoolers too! Simply create a Teacher's Account for yourself - there are no educational requirements to be a Teacher - all you need is the desire to help.

About Moogie - for Teachers

2008-09-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

Moogie on the Net can be used by Teachers for free!

All teachers who sign up and create an account are automatically granted a Free Basic Membership - pretty cool, eh?

Special Note: Right now through November 1, 2008, all teachers who use Moogie are automatically given Gold Membership status!

Getting Students

Teachers typically create their own students' Moogie accounts. Students can also sign up on their own and use Moogie without a teacher, and you can simply become their teacher (in Moogie's eyes, kind of like adopting them) if you want.

Working with students

Students typically do their work with Moogie in either the General Arena or the area for Assessments.

General Arena - The General Arena is divided into strands. You can instruct students which strand you would like them to work in, although they are free to work where ever they wish. Moogie uses his patent-pending scoring method to focus students' efforts where they need the most help. Teachers can see exactly how their students are doing overall, by strand, by Learning Objective, and even by each question. For each, teachers can see both the students' Scores and their trends.
Assessments - Moogie offers quite a few Common Assessments students can take. After taking an Assessment, students who do not do well are encouraged to do A.W.W.S. Workouts that let them Actively Work the Weak Spots they had on the Assessment. Teachers can see at a glance all their students, how each has done on the Assessments they've taken, and how much AWWS follow-up work they've done for each. Teachers can also view how a class does, overall, on each specific question. It's pretty powerful!

Free Features for All Teachers include:

Objective Hot Spots - Teachers can instantly see the overall troublesome Learning Objectives (and the strongest ones, too) that their students are having
Red Flags - See which specific questions are troubling your students. Then work with them to "stomp out their Red Flags."
Track Records - All student activity and progress is completely logged so teachers can see who has done what, and when they did it.
Communicator - Similar to Instant Messaging, teachers and students can send messages to one another. Teachers can also send messages to other teachers at their school who also use Moogie on the Net.
Question Inspector - Take a look at the questions your students are seeing and working with.
Assessment Handouts - Teachers can create printable Handouts for their students. This is ideal for situations where you want students to be able to do their work in a real test-like situation. It's also well-suited for classrooms with limited computer time or resources. Students can then quickly enter which questions they missed, and Moogie will instantly create personalized AWWS Workouts for those who need them. Free Basic members are permitted to create three Handouts; Gold Members do not have this limitation.

Additional Features for Gold Member Teachers

Unlimited Students: Gold Member teachers have no limitation on the number of classes or students that they may have.
Design MEPs: Instead of having students do Work-Outs in the entire General Arena, easily create Moogie Educational Plan(s) and select precisely which Learning Objectives you want your students to work on.
Create Assessments: Create your own Assessments for students which cover the Learning Objectives you need to assess. You can also automatically create Assessments based on your students' Hot Spots and Red Flags. It's pretty amazing! And with all these Assessments, you can...
Create Unlimited Handouts: Gold Member teachers can create as many printable Handouts from as many Assessments as they like!

But Your Support is Needed

I believe that any student who wants math help should be able to get it without having to worry about how to pay for it. But I still have to pay my electric bill, so to help with this, I ask that people who visit Moogie on the Net to please spend a minute or so to check out the Google ads. Unfortunately, those clicks don't add up nearly enough to cover expenses. That's why I've introduced Teacher Gold Memberships - hopefully, teachers will find that Moogie's extra features are worth $20 a month.

About Moogie - for Students

2008-09-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

First things First!

Learning math is like learning to play your favorite sport, game, or even the fiddle (if that's what you're into). The only way to become good at it is to practice, practice, practice! That's where Moogie comes in.

Any and all students are invited to sign up, create an account, and begin "working out" with this sport (or game) we call Mathematics. And the best part of all, it's free for students!

Since only you know where your weak areas truly are, you are free to work where you or your teacher feels you need it the most! Please remember that Moogie is not a teacher; Moogie is just a tool to help you work where you need to. It's always better to have a human teacher working with you, because those robotic teachers always have loose bolts, they talk funny, and they constantly need more oil! But even if you are here by yourself, taking matters into your own hands, and aren't using Moogie with a teacher, that's OK too. Sometimes you need just a little extra "something" to help out. Either way, Moogie is here for you!

Doing Work, students will see two or three tabs:

The "Plan" tab is for students who are using Moogie with a teacher. It's similar to the General Arena but only lets them work where their teacher has selected. Most students won't see this tab.

The Assessments tab lets students take Assessments... this a fancy name for things like quizzes or tests that cover a specific topic or area. If you do well on an Assessment, Moogie will say "That's Great" and encourage you to take another one. But usually, Moogie will offer you an A.W.W.S. Workout that lets you Actively Work the Weak Spots that you had on the Assessment.

The General Arena tab lets students choose a broader area of Math they want to work in and get more practice with. As you continue to do Workouts in the General Arena, Moogie will focus your efforts on where you are having the most trouble.

Moogie Isn't All Work and No Play!

Every time you answer a question, you earn Credits. How many Credits you earn depends on how hard the question is and whether or not you answer it correctly. You also earn Tokens for your work. Credits allow you to "buy" virtual prizes in the Prize Room or more Tokens. Students need a Token each time they want to play in Moogie's Arcade.

In addition to the Prize Room and Arcade, students can also:

View their Network Rankings

Print out their own Official Moogie I.D. Card

If they work hard enough, gain entry into the "Moogie Millennium Club!"

Other Great Stuff

Moogie also provides links to other resources you might find helpful, such as Video Tutorials. These links can change, depending on what we happen to stumble upon, what's currently cool, and from feedback from students such as yourself. So keep your eyes open! If you see something helpful, let me know - I'll do the same for you!

All for free?

I think "money" is a four-letter word. I believe that any student who wants math help should be able to get it without having to worry about how to pay for it. But I still has to pay my electric bill, so to help with this, I ask that each time you use Moogie, please spend a minute or so to check out the Google ads. It's weird, but you never need to buy anything - all you have to do is look, and I get a few pennies.

Welcome!

2008-05-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new (real) blog for Moogie on the Net!
Actually, it's for Emanuel Software...
And... want to know a big secret? Everywhere on the website, when talking to the people using the site, we always use the first-person plural - the "Queen's we" - when, truth be told, it's just me, Joe, the guy who created Moogie and whose picture you see at the top. But if anyone asks, let's just keep this our little secret, OK?

So.... that being said... Moogie Math is pretty much a one-man operation. I first starting writing Moogie back in 1996 for my students, and he's come a long way since then. I am really hoping this blog will be a way to actually hear feedback - on a regular basis - from teachers on what you are doing with Moogie, how it's working for you and your students, which parts of the site are your favorite, which ones you think are perhaps silly, and (on those rare occasions) if there's a glitch and something is strange or not working quite right.

I sincerely hope that everyone will consider this blog to be just like the teacher's break room. It's 3rd period, you can see me over in the corner, drinking coffee, grading papers, and wondering why Johnny and Susie did so poorly on the quiz they just took after we spent the entire class time yesterday going over that concept. I encourage everyone to come up, talk to me, and tell me what's on your mind. All the teachers who use Moogie also frequent the break room and are also there to hear the comments you make, listen to the questions you have, and to offer opinions of their own.

With this blog, not only will Moogie be fully used and explored, but it will grow and mature to become the best that it can be... just like your students will!