NRICH Feedback Survey 2005

1. NRICH Feedback Survey 2005

2. Presentation Outline • Introduction and Aims • About the Respondents • Usage • ‘Items 1-10’ • AskNRICH • NRICH Books • Content • Navigability • Best bits, worst bits and general comments.

3. Introduction and Aims • To assess the level of navigability and efficacy of site organisation, as perceived by users • To elicit comments and suggestions about how these might be improved • To compare user satisfaction with past studies

4. The Surveys • Teachers / Students • 34 questions for Teachers, 26 for kids • November through Feb • Midpoint • Changed phrasing of Q’s 1 – 10 • Added a few Q’s • About 300 respondents total • Binned about 30 reponses

5. Teachers About the Respondents Students 129 respondents total (104) 152 respondents total (109) 7% brand new to the site 23.9% brand new to the site 38.5% male, 54.8% female 49.5% male, 39.4% female 38.8% Primary 57.3% Secondary 11.7% Post-16 2.8% 7 or younger 17.4 % 8-11 28.4% 12-14 20.2% 15-16 31.2% 17+

6. Respondents by country - Teachers

7. Respondents by country – Students

8. From where do you most often access NRICH? Teachers Students

9. Internet Connection Teachers Students

10. How long have you been using NRICH? Teachers

11. How long have you been using NRICH? Students

12. How often do you use NRICH? Teachers

13. Use frequency by length of time using NRICH Teachers

14. How often do you use NRICH? Students

15. Use frequency by length of time using NRICH Students

16. How do you most often use NRICH? • Other – 8.4% • - OHTs (I dream of an interactive whiteboard) • - Used it a lot with kids until you changed. • Also online • Offline as a lesson w/supplementary material. • Google • Use it to set homework as well also as well as • interactive in computer suite for problem solving • morning. • Have only just discovered but am planning to use it • on computer. • As a pre-service teacher I find the content etc great • for future maths teaching and also to assist current • teachers that there is an extensive range of maths • information available. Teachers (only)

17. Do you mention to students when problems come from NRICH? Teachers (only)

18. Do you provide students with the URL? Teachers (only)

19. Items 1 – 10 - Teachers

20. Items 1 – 10 - Students

21. AskNRICH - Teachers How often do you use AskNRICH?

22. AskNRICH - Students How often do you use AskNRICH?

23. AskNRICH - Students Do you know about AskNRICH?

24. AskNRICH – Students who have been using NRICH for at least 6 months. Do you know about AskNRICH?

25. AskNRICH – Students who reported knowing about it. How often do you use AskNRICH?

26. NRICH Books (Teachers only) If you would be interested, how would you prefer the books be organised? • also themed would be good for small children..e.g this week we are looking at money! • Specific years for Maths • by curriculum order and national curriculum level • mixed topic

27. NRICH Books (Teachers only) • Would be interested if… • it's reasonably priced and problems were printable • one could be geared at the very youngest children • we've not already got one lurking in the department! • they were available in French or if I could have the right to translate them for use in my classroom • they were laid out in a photocopiable way. Although I would prefer to have in an easier to print format on the website. • it adds something to the website, not just a reproduction of the problems featured on the site. • they were written in spanish and have low cost in shipping & handling • when I complete my teaching degree. Would you be interested in purchasing books containing NRICH resources (e.g. problems, games, and articles), along with hints and notes where appropriate?

28. Content How would you rate the problems on the NRICH site?

29. NRICH Books (Teachers only) Would the inclusion of CD-ROMs, containing interactivities and electronic copies of problems, be useful to you? • Would be if… • The current arrangement is suitable • VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! • Could use them on IWs which do not have internet access. • they were developed in such a way to make them easier to print out. Although I would prefer to have in an easier to print format on the website • the interactive software was not available on the web • links to website for interactive resources would be useful

30. Content • Selected comments from students who said ‘no’: • i can not find what i want • I was actually looking for activities that can be done with KS2 children, but could not find much. • i would like to see different difficulties of maths problems for people in higher education etc. • I would like to see techniques on learning Maths and prooving proofs. • id prefer if there were more problems added every month • is either 2 easy or 2 hard • Links? • More Problems • more puzzels • More questions! • some is boring need more fun stuff! • There ar enot enough links on the home page. • There should be more challenging questions. • too many games Do you find there is enough material on the site? • Selected comments from students who said ‘yes’: • But more always welcome! • But more is better • Could add some prizes to winners giving in best solutions maybe. • good enough to find stuff • i strongly love the site • Large source bank which convers a large age range • the games could be more maths oriented • Teachers who said ‘no’ added: • It would be good to have activities that were linked to the KS3 Strategy, so you could quickly find suitable activities • More accessable problems for low ability Y7&8 • More articles needed • more pls • more problems • Sometimes there are some easy and closed problems, or repeats of previous problems. Also, there is always room for more mathematics! • would like more long-term projects • Teachers who commented only said: • i only use it to find interesting problme • if you can find it • Is there ever enough? • some areas are better served than others • Usually • When I can find it!! • Teachers who said ‘yes’ added: • More than enough for my tiny brain • Although navigating the archive to find some of the material requires a great deal of knowledge of the site. Not a bad thing in itself, but could put others off using the site.

31. Navigability - Teachers I find it ___________ to find what I am looking for on the NRICH site:

32. Navigability - Teachers I find it ___________ to find what I am looking for on the NRICH site: It is easy to find what I want on the NRICH site:

33. Navigability - Teachers How would you rate the way the NRICH site is organised?

34. Navigability - Teachers How would you rate the way the NRICH site is organised? The NRICH site is easy to use.

35. Navigability - Teachers Do you think there is enough information provided about how to use the NRICH site on the site itself? • Selected ‘yes’ comments: • an overview site tree would be nice • However, home page could have CLEAR link to someone who is not sure what to do. • With some clarification...Using this in the USA I find it interesting to see the students' reaction to the monetary system, some spelling differences and the words that we are not use to. Keeps them guessing! • Yes, although it is not immediately obvious as to where this information can be found

36. Navigability - Teachers I like the design of the NRICH site.

37. Comments re: LEVELS • A better explanation of the age ranges the problems are directed at is needed, possibly linking to stages in the NC • it would be useful to be able to cross-match NC levels with problems • levels are a bit strange. Would it not be better if they were leveled to the National Curriculum • is there a simple way to describe what to find in each tier other than tier 1 - easiest; tier 2, a bit harder, etc? How does content level relate to year group expectations? • needs a key to tiers and content levels • As someone outside the British school system (in my case, a homeschooling mother in the U.S.), I wish there were some explanation of what the different tiers and challenge levels mean -- how the categorizations are made, what expectations of prior knowledge there are, approximately what ages the different tiers are aimed at. Having explored the site every month since August, I now have a pretty good idea where to find the problems best suited to my sons' abilities, but it took some exploring at first and I would still love a clear definition of the tiers. • My children you r Smith and Mr Jones but I cannot find what ability it is at. They are 13 years old and solved it but was the problem for a 10 year old?

38. re: Search • It is not clear how to search on particular topics • More "maths finder" style help would be useful re: Help Guide • Need a clear help guide. I am not sure what each section is for and don't really know how to use it best. • as a parent I don't have loads of time to explore more than just the basics, maybe a mugs guide for newcomers as to the extent of what is on offer Misc. • The branches graphic is difficult to understand and get to work correctly sometim • too much to read • we found it quite difficult to submit solutions. • I sent a problem to a collegue to do with their class in the form of the web address. They asked me for instructions as to how to find heir way aroound.

39. Navigability - Students I find it ___________ to find what I am looking for on the NRICH site:

40. Navigability - Students I find it ___________ to find what I am looking for on the NRICH site: It is easy to find what I want on the NRICH site:

41. Navigability - Students The NRICH site is easy to use.

42. Navigability - Students I like the design of the NRICH site.

43. What do you think are the best features of the NRICH site? Teachers • The Problems (23) • Variety (9) • Ability for students to submit solutions (5) • Interactivities (5) • That content is updated (4) • Investigations (4) • Motivating / Inspiring nature (4) • Monthly (3) and Weekly (2) problems

44. What do you think are the best features of the NRICH site? Students • AskNRICH (18) • Games (12) • Problems (11) • Design (4) • Tiers (4) • Puzzles (3) • Weekly problems (3) • Maths (3)

45. If you could change one thing about the NRICH site what would it be? • Design (11) ( 7 of these front-page specific) • Navigability / Search (9) • Levels (5) Teachers Students • Design (14) • Navigability / Search (5) • Levels (3) • More problems (3)

46. Comments relating to design generally - Teachers • its graphical design and its graphical content. (IRAN) • the decoration (NEW ZEALAND) • The design, it was better when it was simple, and fitted on my screen with having to scroll down. • The way the problems appear at the bottom of the page so you have to scroll down to them - it took me ages to realise the problem was there!

47. Comments relating to design - front page - Teachers • Dislike the flash front page, takes up too much space. • I would make the home page simpler. • Jungle picture on home page (SPAIN) • The graphic link at the top of the homepage. (USA) • the home page • the Homepage is not too friendly to read (USA) • the parrots!

48. Comments relating to design generally - Students • Design, and overall organization of problems (17+) (PORTUGAL) • i think i will change the green colour (17+) • I use Nrich on 2 different computors and on one, the display is great, it is easy to use etc. but on the other one, the display really isn't good. For some reason the text on the left side is too big, so it continues down the page way beyond where the col(17+) • Simpler (but still stylish) layout on front page, and unified look and feel across all pages on the site. (17+) • The appearance of it. It is one big long page with large text, I would condense it into smaller text and a smaller space (15-16) • the appearances of pages (8-11) • the colours and layout (17+) • The design could be improved. It's good, but it could be better. (15-16) • The design of the website - maybe more structure and less of animated graphics - these do not load some times. (17+) (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES) • The navigational system, get rid of the Flash interface for finding problems, just use a simple HTML version. (15-16) • the layout (8-11) • the setup (12-14)

49. Comments relating to Search Teachers • Easier to find problems by topic / difficulty (that really are of that topic or difficulty) and suitable for adaptation to classrooms. This is already quite good but it could be amazing! • Easier to find what I'm looking for. • I would return to the old system of searching while you rethink the layout - I think people are being put off using the site - at least the old system was familiar to anyone who saves anything on a computer. • More refined search engine when I am thinking 'I want a problem on ...' for 'this group' • search engine for problems listed under topics • Whilst trying to search for a problem by name we had no luck - is there a way to do this, if not can there be? • make the site more easily navigable so I can find appropriate puzzles • the ease of finding what you need

50. Comments relating to Search Students • Being able to find things easier. (8-11) • easier to find the solutions to the maths problems on the postcards (15-16) • make finding resourses easy (17+) (INDIA) • TOPIC SEARCH (17+) • Provide better general resources on higher level topics and make it easier to search the articles etc that are already available. (15-16)