Qlovi

Qlovi includes two major components: an online library, and a platform for serving up reading lessons. The library has over 1,000 fiction and non-fiction titles from various publishers. It includes passages and questions from readworks.org as well. The bookstore is searchable by keyword and reading level, including Lexile scores. Students borrow books which are then placed in a virtual backpack -- it's important to note that borrowing books requires a payment through a system of purchased tokens. Most likely distributed by a teacher, every student will need to use the tokens to borrow their own books.

Once inside Qlovi's book viewer, students can read and annotate. Outside of the student experience, Qlovi gives teachers a platform for creating, scheduling, and grading lessons and assessments based on the books in the library. Similar to some learning management systems, lessons can include warm ups, embedded reading questions, quizzes, essays, and exit tickets. There are some sample lessons to help teachers get started, and assignments can be aligned to the Common Core standards. A dashboard gives teachers and students a view of their reading progress and assigned lessons. Teachers grade student work directly on the Qlovi learning platform and this data is available on the dashboard.

Overall, Qlovi feels like a work in progress -- the learning potential is there, but some important details need improving before most teachers and students are likely to find it useful. The site simply offers teachers a library of reading materials and a platform for delivering lessons -- there aren't any features that offer students digitally responsive, collaborative, or adaptive learning. While it's empowering to give students choice in what they read, the bookstore's selections here are limited -- many seem like they're from second-tier publishers. While selections are intended to be high interest, kids won't find the popular titles they're used to seeing elsewhere. Not all of the books are leveled in Qlovi's system, and the keyword search includes a limited number of categories or tags. On top of this, a full class set of books can be rather expensive in Qlovi. Of course, there's a value to variety, and in the short term, Qlovi's pricing might be better than paperback; however, over just a few school years, buying physical books might not be as expensive.

A more functional digital reader would certainly also add to Qlovi's value. It's quite limited when compared to other popular e-readers, like Kindle's or Adobe Digital Editions. Here, students aren't able to search through the books or add bookmarks. Also, they'll need to start from the beginning every time they revisit a text. Only two font sizes are available; both rather small. Overall, the student interface is confusing, with some features -- like the graphic organizers -- that aren't as intuitive as they could be. Additional limits include a lack of support documentation and navigation help.