Seneca Learning

Seneca Learning provides "bite-sized content" for students on a wide range of topics. This bite-sized content is chunked out in full courses that cover key topics for tests and exams, especially U.K. exams. The learning design is grounded in cognitive science and research-backed pedagogy. Teachers choose courses (or assignments) to add to their class and give access to their students. Students then work through the material at their own pace. Students work through an interactive site that expands, kind of like cue cards or slides. There's a mixture of material review (e.g., summary of the plot, themes, and concepts in Macbeth) and question that test students understanding and recall. The review material is presented in a combination of text and visuals. The text gets typed in (at an adjustable speed), but there's no audio. Questions vary from more traditional options like multiple choice to manipulating sliders and filling in blanks. Sometimes the same question is delivered in several formats.

Paid versions (currently unavailable in the United States) add courses and learning modes that help students review material more effectively. Tutoring is available also.

Seneca Learning clearly has a focused, deliberate approach to content delivery and review, inspired by its work in cognitive science. Material is chunked well and features a thorough review with well-spaced and mixed assessments that test recall. While this might be effective for test prep, some students will find it repetitive or frustrating if they've got a good handle on the topic already. There's some gamification (like challenges, awards, and leaderboards) to spice things up, and a nice mixture of visuals and text. There's also a handy option to speed up the display of text, but no audio that would improve accessibility. Some more free exploration, or more creative and critical-thinking opportunities, would be useful -- if only to give students a breather and some choice. That's not to say that there isn't any at all, however. Once students have gone through the strict, adaptive format first, there's an open-notes version for some lessons (though this may be available only on Premium for some modules). This gives students a bit more freedom and is a welcome addition.

On the teacher side, while there are a lot of topics to choose from and assign, the selection method itself is a bit clunky and requires adding the course and then previewing the individual lessons to determine what should be assigned. To preview content, teachers must go through the modules as the student would, one piece at a time, which can be time-consuming. Some slight improvements to this process would make a huge difference. 

Overall, though, Seneca Learning provides an all-too-rare research-backed method for content review and practice. It could be just what some students need to prepare for standardized assessments or to get a confidence boost or refresh on some key knowledge. Moreover, the data presented to teachers and parents will be helpful for identifying student strengths and areas of improvement.