Syvum Digital Learning System
Wouldn't it be great if your learning material could gather knowledge about your skills and your proficiency in the subject? It would then continuously present you with new challenges, at the same time making sure that you have a good grasp of the topics you have already studied. It would also tell you how much you have learnt, and how much more you still have to learn. That is exactly what this technological innovation is all about.
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Introducing SDLS
Continuing the tradition of providing a truly unique and extremely fruitful learning experience, Syvum presents a new technology that powers the Syvum Digital Learning System (SDLS) concept. SDLS works behind the scenes of the interactive and dynamic learning material on Syvum. It remembers your performance history, including the questions you have been presented with and whether you responded correctly to them. It uses that information to optimize your learning curve leading to the mastery of all concepts. Since it knows that you have answered certain questions correctly, the probability of including those questions in the future sets automatically goes down. Conversely, the probability of the incorrectly answered questions reappearing is increased.
What is "Performance Index?"
The "Performance Index" for a given activity for a user represents the average performance of the user in that activity. It is calculated and displayed for two cases: first one for the last 5 attempts, and the second one for all the attempts for the activity. For example, performance index reported as "80% (5) | 34% (21)" implies that the user solved an average of 80% questions in the last 5 attempts, and 34% questions in the total 21 attempts so far. Only the overall performance index is displayed if the total number of attempts is less than 5.
What is "Proficiency?"
The proficiency of the user in any activity is measured on a scale of 0 to 100. If there is insufficient data to calculate the proficiency, it appears as "Not Known." Everytime you attempt an activity or quiz, your proficiency in that activity is recalculated based upon your answers. If you answer all questions in an activity correctly, the proficiency increases by the maximum amount. If you answer some questions correctly, but some incorrectly, your proficiency may go up or down depending upon the level of difficulty of the questions. If you answer all questions incorrectly, your proficiency goes down.
A student or a teacher can use the proficiency as a guideline to decide the next step in the learning process. A high proficiency usually means that SDLS has verified a great command of the subject. However, a low proficiency does not necessarily imply lack of knowledge of the subject. Since the proficiency is directly related to the number of questions that the user has attempted, it increases gradually as the number of questions correctly answered increases. It may be the case that the user already has a good command over the subject, in which case, the "Performance Index" will be very high.
Take control
SDLS allows the learning process to be controlled at two important levels. The first is at the level of the author of the learning material. The author specifies the level of difficulty, and the probability of repetition based upon the prior knowledge of the skills of the students. For example, a new concept being introduced to the students of a particular grade level may be deemed to be of a high level of difficulty, and the questions may be assigned a high probability of repetition. However, the same topic may be given a lower level of difficulty and a reduced probability of repetition of questions, when being reviewed for a higher grade of students. When you author your own material, you can control these parameters.
The second level at which you can control the learning process is as the student. When you are learning a new topic, you may set the learning process to a more rigorous mode, which comes with a thorough learning experience testing you on each concept several times until you achieve a high proficiency. On the other hand, when you are reviewing the subject just before taking a test, you may switch to a rapid learning process that has minimal repetition and is designed just for the quick review that you need. As a student, you take control of your learning process using the learning pace concept described below.
Learning pace
As a learner, you can adjust the rate of learning new material to a level you feel comforable with. Syvum currently offers several levels of the learning pace including a rigorous learning pace, a standard learning pace and a rapid learning pace. If you find the that the questions are being repeated too often, you can switch to a higher learning pace than your current setting. If you find that you are not learning new concepts due to a constant bombardment of unfamiliar material, switch to the more rigorous mode. To change your pace of learning click here. You must be signed in as a Syvum member.
How to use SDLS
SDLS is available automatically on most topics covered by Syvum. When you author your own content using our online authoring tool, Syvum automatically enables it with SDLS. As a student, all you need to do is sign in as a member and you are ready to go. You can choose your own learning pace. If you are a teacher, you can monitor the proficiency and performance index of each student in your class using the student groups feature provided by Syvum.
Already a Syvum member: Sign in and start using SDLS now
Not a member yet?: Register now
Disclaimer: While the concepts of proficiency and performance index are useful for tracking the learning process and to decide the future course of learning, they do not constitute a guarantee of performance of students in any quizzes, activities and tests administered by any organization.