Quia is pronounced as 'key-ah' and is short for Quintessential Instructional Archive. The website provides a variety of tools including:
* Templates for creating 16 types of online activities using our own content.
* A complete online testing system with automatic grading, immediate feedback, and detailed reporting.
* Online surveys for gathering student and teacher feedback.
* A class Web page creator to share Quia activities and class announcements with students and parents.
* Access to millions of shared activities and quizzes in over 300 categories.
* ...and more!
The website allows teachers to either subscribe for an annual membership or take a 30 day trial package that is free. I believe it would be great if teachers were to buy the product since it is absolutely mind-blowing.
The product allows for kinaesthetic learning that includes other learning styles such as visual, auditory, inter-personal, intra-personal, etc. Also, the activities can be graded up or graded down depending on which 'Higher order' or 'Lower order' skills the teacher's targeting.
What I found fascinating was the fact that it minimises 'Teacher Talk Time' since students can interact with the computer and learn online. The product can easily be incorporated into various streams of learning irrespective of the subject that is targetted.
I did work on creating various activities but I have to say that they are woefully unprofessional. I did attempt to create another activity on 'Cultural Awareness' but even that seems like the work of a child who is just now learning how to use the Web. I believe constant playing with the tools in Quia will help in improving my skills in creating relevant activities for my lessons.
I would suggest this website to all teachers and will ask them to incorporate it into their lesson plans since it is relevant to the 'New Age' generation of learners who are more proficient than us in the use and usage of computers and their jargon.
