Academics' Choice Award™ Winner
Shmoop
Ages: 8 - 18Price: $0.00+; $14.99 (Price Varies)
Type: Website, Book, Software
By Shmoop University, Inc.
Description
Shmoop University, Inc. was founded in 2008, under the concept that the idea of learning was too hard. Our teaching method centers on the belief that students can love learning, and humor can be the catalyst of engagement. To support this, we build digital tools that give all students equal opportunity to succeed through easing the stress of the learning environment.
As one of the largest digital educational publishers, we have grown our Shmoop user-base to over 16 million monthly learners, with over 1,200 schools and districts using our solutions. Shmoop proudly owns 100% of our content, with an author base that boasts years of teaching experience, PhDs, and Masters program graduates.
The benefits of Shmoop's programs include:
Engagement Factor. Shmoop's wit, tone, and comedic edge provide the necessary advantage of engagement with independently driven online learning.
Diversity in Delivery. Shmoop celebrates learning diversity by offering our content and assessment in multiple avenues. You'll find examples of project-based learning, heavy video content, and a variety of articles, journals, and outside resources utilized for teaching and assessment.
Student Choice and Agency. With such a vast number of courses in such niche subjects, any student can find just the course they need to sharpen their unique skill set.
Shmoop was founded by David and Ellen Siminoff, successful entrepreneurs. As of February 2019, Andy Rahden took over as President & CEO, looking to bring Shmoop to exciting new heights. With fewer than 50 employees, we are a small business, and we are also certified by the NWBOC as a woman-owned business. Shmoop has worked with thousands of schools and districts across the country and has had numerous success stories of increased scores and engagement at the school, district, and state level.
Review Highlights:
Shmoop, in some ways, is superior to Google Classroom. Yup, I said it, BETTER than something a bunch of boring software designers could come up with. Fundamentally, Shmoop is setup for kids, not adults. The videos, courses, study guides and test prep are ready for the teacher to use immediately. You need not browse through a billion You Tube videos to find actual educational content, there are complete lesson plans for full semester classes, in depth literature guides, college test prep, you name it. Besides the fact most content designers have an MA or PhD in subject matter and that the Essay Lab offers tools to format your students work into scholarly form, you can keep all assignments, quizzes and grading on their platform - much like Google Classroom. I've been in the classroom for 20 years and have searched for the right videos and books to support curriculum for thousands of hours. Although it was time not wasted, I will say that if you are a teacher and strapped for time, and you want informative, goofy, kid-friendly ELA, test prep, history, science, social studies, and math content for your kids, Shmoop is the holy grail!
I really enjoyed exploring and discovering everything on Shmoop.com. I had heard about it before from a friend so was excited to do the review. Just the videos alone were enough to know that this would work for my students. In particular, I really enjoyed all of the courses. So much to learn. I did run into problems for 4th grade social studies as there was only one choice. I wasn't able to find any K-5 art and music course content either. Other than that, the website was amazing with endless opportunities to spend way too much time either learning something new or just exploring. I'd happily use this next year to supplement my curriculum. Excellent tool for any teacher!
I really loved the humorous, kid-friendly approach!
What I liked most is the presentation and quality of the content. Shmoop videos and website in general is made for kids - not adults. Meaning, it is funny, not too serious, interactive engaging, yet very informative.
Shmoop offers help with homework, test preparation, college preparation, essay preparation, and more. Shmoop is easy to navigate and the site has a very polished and pleasing presentation.
Many skills such as primary document analysis, writing, and higher level reading comprehension can be learned and practiced by following the content of the site. It's a great college prep/test prep website for high school students.
The site has a lot of excellent information on it to say the least. Think K12.com meets an online Cliff Notes database.
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