Edsby vs. Freckle by Renaissance

Edsby is well-suited for day-to-day communication with students, either in the classroom, or at home. It makes planning course progression easier because of the built in day-by-day calendar for the semester. It is transferable, so the work one does in one semester can be copied over to the next, and modified as needed. Students can see the Lesson Plan which is projected onto the SmartBoard, but the font is quite small so they cannot read it from where they are sitting, so I use SmartNotes which has a larger font and then, if needed, attach that note to the Edsby day lesson planner.

Freckle is a fantastic online learning platform. I think it works well in multiple learning environments. Last year I used Freckle in a distance learning model and this year on individual iPads in class. I love that it is a quick platform to assess student achievement. I haven't experienced a scenario where Freckle would fail however, lack of access to the internet is always a factor.

• Edsby is extremely easy to learn and use.
• Students love the "social media" feel to Edsby.

• Freckle does a great job adapting lessons.
• Freckle does a great job motivating students and participation.
• Freckle is very interactive with students and teachers to support continued participation.
• Freckle provides DOK challenge questions that support students' understanding after standards are met.
• Student inquiry and problem-based questions are also new additions to Freckle that help support led activities.

• Edsby shows the last time a user logged on. Unfortunately, if someone doesn't log out you have no way of knowing if someone has seen a recent post or is really using Edsby to its potential.

• My students get bored with just answering questions the whole time. They complain about having to get on to Freckle.
• I would like to see open ended or open response questions.
• I would like for Freckle to be able to assess fluency.

Freckle is an excellent educational tool. The platform supports students and provides them with the opportunity to be successful in mathematics.

Everything is easy to use and well as being overly user-friendly to your average student.

user friendly

Incentivized

Such an excellent program that is a hidden gem at no cost for teachers to use with students.

Incentivized

EDSBY was piloted at the school last semester, and I found it made my job easier, which is a boon since time is fleeting and I could get more done with less effort with Edsby. After the pilot the entire school district was signed up to use Edsby. I like it very much. I did use a blog on First Class which was extremely difficult to learn, and a blog on WordPress which was easier to learn how to use but not interactive like Edsby is. To my mind, Edsby is far superior to the former.

I personally love the other products more than freckle math. I love the name Freckle, and I love the concept, but I don't think my class benefits from Freckle in an exponential way. I have been through many trainings and I just don't see it the same as other Renaissance products.

• For the most part, teachers, parents and students love the system. It provides easy access to the information that they need when they need it.

• I used Freckle in the free version and was very pleased with the opportunities it offered my students and the engagement is achieved.
• I currently use Freckle premium and continue to enjoy the benefits that Freckle provides to my student's growth, more so it now provides weekly reports and other analytical reports to support students.