IXL vs. Mathletics


Now that the school year is winding down, I am looking forward to having more time to update this blog.

A few months ago, I embarked upon a trial of two web-based supplementary math programs. The first program, IXL, I had seen advertised on numerous occasions on the Pro-Teacher message board.  The second program, Mathletics, I learned of through a principal at a nearby elementary school.  As well, my students had participated in World Math and World Spelling Days, both of which are put on by Mathletics.

In all honesty, I wasn't that impressed with the customer service side of things.  It took quite some time for someone to get back to me with a quote, etc. that I actually forgot about the program. Eventually, I was given a one month trial for my Grade 2 class and a package in the mail with some more information.  I actually didn't find the site very visually appealing, but I figured I would let my students be the judges. Initially the students enjoyed IXL, but I could see its appeal wearing off at the two week mark.  At this point, I began the Mathletics trial.  Even though the students knew they had access to IXL for two more weeks, none of them chose to log in again.

Not only was the Mathletics team easier to reach, they insisted on providing training to any teachers who wanted to be involved.  Two co-workers and I met virtually with Deb to learn about the features of the program.  An hour later and we were sold!  There were Teacher Tools to assign and remove tasks, workbooks to print, video lessons to use with the interactive white board, and differentiation for different levels of ability.  For the students, there were live math competitions, games to unlock, certificates to print, and avatars to create. Three classes piloted the program, followed soon after by three more, and finally another three. While we were deciding who else might like to try out the program, Deb extended our trial.  By June, we had all of the Grade 2, 3, and 4 students signed up!  When surveyed 100% of my students preferred Mathletics to IXL.

-->Read about my favourite new math web app: Reflex

6 comments

  1. Thanks for the comp... my daughter is struggling with 3rd grade math and I'm looking for something to help. Hopefully mathletics will help her out.

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  2. Thank you so much for the review, it helped make a choice.

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  3. Thanks for the Review, I just started a one month subscription of IXL for 5 of my children and although so far they've been enjoying it I was wondering if they'd get more out of Mathletics overall. The price difference for home usage for so many children is quite drastic otherwise I probably would have gone straight for Mathletics in the first place!

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  4. You can use Mathletics on the iPad now, but not the iPod/iPhone, sadly.

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  5. There are many online math programs you can find today. As far as I know, Beestar has very good reputation for its huge resources. Different from IXL, Beestar has its free single math program and the quality of exercise is very impressive. I've only let my child use the free program but I also heard the GT math exercise in its membership program is very good.

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  6. We use both (as parents) but only because IXL is more structured into "years" - that is, concepts which would usually be learned together. That lets our little guy find his level with a bit more structure than Mathletics provides. No comparison as to which one he prefers though, we have to beat him off the computer with a stick if he is in the Mathletics live competition.

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