A few parents have asked whether I recommend Atom Learning for additional practice at home, so I thought it would be helpful to explain why I won’t be recommending it to our pupils.
Teaching and feedback
I understand the appeal of a platform that marks work automatically and allows children to work independently. I tried Atom myself to see whether it would be a useful addition to our classes. Unfortunately, I wasn’t convinced that the teaching and feedback would give our pupils the support they need.
During my trial, incorrect answers often led back to the infographic or video from the beginning of the module, rather than an explanation of the particular question. Sometimes, that material wasn’t relevant to the question.
If a child didn’t understand the explanation the first time, repeating it doesn’t necessarily help: they may need the question reworded, a different example, or someone to identify exactly where their understanding breaks down.
Progress in class and exam results
We’ve also taught pupils who used Atom regularly alongside our classes, including some who used it daily. In those cases, I haven’t seen the improvement in their classroom work that I would hope for from that additional time, money and effort.
Whilst I’m sure some children benefit from the system, I’d rather stick with resources where we’ve seen a noticeable improvement in past students.
Some of our past pupils who used Atom also went on to perform below the level I felt they were capable of in their entrance exams. This was particularly the case for students who used Atom instead of our recommended homework.
Exam results depend on many factors, but these experiences haven’t given me confidence that Atom is a useful addition to our classes.
Workload and learning habits
Online quizzes can also end up taking priority over the Kin Learning homework. Children can then work more slowly in class because they missed the practice they needed.
Completing both sets of work can, on the other hand, leave them overwhelmed or mean that they don’t complete work to the best of their ability.
From what I’ve seen, Atom also doesn’t encourage children to try to correct their work themselves. When an answer is wrong, the platform supplies the answer rather than asking the child to find and correct their mistake.
Many children are reluctant to slow down and read carefully at the best of times. With some past pupils, I’ve felt that replacing paper homework with online quizzes tended to reinforce their habit of rushing through questions, both in class and online.
What I recommend
Atom has previously offered me a commission for recommending it to my students. My recommendations will always depend on whether I believe something will benefit our pupils, and I haven’t seen enough benefit to recommend adding an Atom subscription.
For now, my advice is to prioritise the homework we set and the books we recommend for your child. If marking is becoming difficult to manage, your child regularly gets stuck, or you want to stretch your child further, please let us know. We’d be happy to work with you to create a homework schedule that’s both manageable and sufficiently challenging.
If your child already uses Atom and you’re finding it beneficial, please let us know so we can factor this in when planning lessons and homework.