Alternatives to Quia
EDTECH Editor-Gaynor
As you know, Quia.com will now charge $49 per year per teacher (for one
classroom, not multiple classrooms as in high school or elective teachers'
situations) for using their site. I am investigating a site license, but
they are not yet responding to my emails. The good news is that they
pushed back their deadline to pay or not use their site to Feb. 25. Rather
than continue to wail and gnash my teeth towards their poor choice in
marketing, I looked into other sites to recommend to you. Here are my top
two choices (thanks to those of you that suggested some of these sites):
1. http://school.discovery.com/quizcenter/quizcenter.html
This site is from Discovery Channel. Its Quiz Center is free and easy to
use. There are more options for quiz creation than in Quia, and you can
have the site email you the students' scores. Disadvantage? Discovery's
site goes down a lot (it's so busy that you can't get the site to load)!!
If you don't test a lot or can punt with pen and paper, use it. Otherwise,
I'm not sure I'd trust it to be ready when I needed it.
2. http://www.teachervision.com/tv/quizlab/index.html
This is Fun Brain's Quiz Lab. Ask our school's second grade team and
they'll tell you how awesome Fun Brain is. It's only $29.95 per teacher
per year (cheaper than Quia). It's user-friendly and has more options than
quia. You can create your own page where students go and click on the
activity you've selected for them (even ones you didn't make but want to
use regardless) or tests. This is the "purtiest" of the choices.
Disadvantages: cost (I like free) and the site can run slow.
Honorable mention goes to:
3. http://halfbakedsoftware.com/ - This is Hot Potatoes, a more bare-bones
but still free site. You will need to spend more time making your quizzes,
but you can create modules (quizzes, activities, etc.) to bundle together.
Not for the beginning computer user, but well worth it for you tech fans.
I did hear of some programs for schoolwide use, but these cost in the
thousands. Please keep me posted as to your experiences with these and
related sites. I want to keep passing on the word so we can all keep using
online assessment in our classes!
Lorrie Jackson
K-8 Technology Integration Specialist
Lausanne Collegiate School
1381 West Massey Road
Memphis, TN 38120
(901) 474-1000, ext. 1205
ljac...@lausanneschool.com
www.lausanneschool.com
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SIGNOFF EDTECH
EDTECH Editor-Gaynor
FYI! I received an email back from Quia last night telling me what their
pricing structure is. Below is the email that I received from them.
Charlyn
Brady ISD Technology Director
~~~~~~~
Subject: Re: Premium Quia Inquiry
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 14:19:30 -0800
x-From: Paul Mishkin <pmis...@quiacorp.com>
Organization: Quia Corporation
Quia's pricing is based on the number of instructors within an
organization that will be using it. Our annual pricing is as follows:
$49/instructor for 1-9 instructors
$39/instructor for 10-99 instructors
$29/instructor for 100 or more instructors
These prices include free access for all students.
You would only need to purchase a subscription for teachers that
actually use Quia.
It may also be helpful to know that if any of your teaching staff
subscribe individually, they can request pro-rata refunds from Quia
after you purchase a school-wide subscription.
Once you know exactly how many instructors will be using Quia and are
ready to subscribe, let me know. We can accept payment by purchase
order, check, or credit card. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any
other questions. Thanks for supporting Quia.
Paul Mishkin