When your child signs in with their own Student ID and PIN, they land on Home. It shows the one thing to do next, the days they have learned this week and their study plan. Choose a stage, then tap anything on the screen to see what it does.
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This is the real Home screen, with made up names and topics. Nothing you tap is saved.
The notes follow the stage you chose at the top.
Primary Years 3 to 6
High school Years 7 to 12
A child working by themselves needs to know where to start, and needs it to feel like theirs.
The biggest thing on the screen is what to do next. A child who is unsure where to start can just press Continue.
The dots show the days they turned up and the bar shows how far through the plan they are. It’s theirs to notice, without anyone pointing at it.
They pick the subject, choose what to work on, mark a step as done themselves and decide how their own screen looks.
These studies are about learning and motivation in general. They aren’t studies of SubjectMate, and results for any one child vary.
A review of 41 studies found that giving people choices raised their own motivation, their effort and how well they did the task. The effect was stronger for children than for adults.
What we do: your child picks the subject and the topic, and chooses how their own screen looks.
Patall, Cooper and Robinson (2008), Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), pages 270 to 300.
A review of 138 trials found that prompting people to check their own progress made them more likely to reach their goal, and more so when the progress was written down and seen by someone else. Most of those trials were about health goals, not schoolwork.
What we do: the week and the study plan put their progress in front of them, and your parent dashboard means someone else sees it too.
Harkin and others (2016), Psychological Bulletin, 142(2), pages 198 to 229.
A summary of 35 years of research on goals describes how a specific goal directs attention and effort better than a vague one. Much of that research was with adults at work.
What we do: Next up names one step, says how long it should take and shows where it sits in the plan.
Locke and Latham (2002), American Psychologist, 57(9), pages 705 to 717.
A widely cited review of feedback found it works best when it answers three questions for the learner: where am I going, how am I going, and where to next.
What we do: Home answers all three. The study plan is where they are going, the bar and the week are how they are going, and Next up is where to next.
Hattie and Timperley (2007), Review of Educational Research, 77(1), pages 81 to 112.
Australia’s education research body recommends spacing practice over time and asking students to recall what they have learned.
What we do: the week shows the days they came back, and the plan is cut into steps of about 20 to 30 minutes.
Australian Education Research Organisation (2021), Spacing and retrieval practice guide.
Home is your child’s. You have your own view.
Set up takes about a minute. You get a Student ID and PIN for each child.
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