Why Should I Sign Up for MathVids?

… A school administrator (principal, curriculum director, etc.)

We have a common goal – we want students to understand math, to pass their math classes, and to do well on the math sections of the standardized tests.

We have a common problem – many students don’t like math because they have never understood it; this is partly because every year, they are taught by different teachers who reach different subsets of students. Some years a student can relate to a teacher and does well, and some years his or her learning style does not mesh with the teacher’s teaching methods.

This is the solution. No matter who the teacher is each particular year, there is an alternative way for students to learn the subject matter; it can be done at the student’s own pace, and he or she can find multiple lesson teaching the same topic so he or she can almost always relate to one of the teaching styles.

Also, teachers at your school can show the videos on the website during class instead of purchasing educational videos. It saves time, money, and disappointment once you get an educational video. There is no disappointment with MathVids, because you know exactly what you are getting, and there are hundreds of videos.

Finally, if you have computers / projectors set up in your classrooms, then when your teachers are out of the classroom, they can either teach their own videos and upload them to MathVids, or select a video that is already online for the sub to show during the teacher’s absence. Therefore, no teaching time is wasted, and students aren’t required to just complete “busy work” worksheets during the teacher’s absence.

… A teacher

I know how frustrating it can be to help students catch up when they have missed material. Also, some students simply do not respond to your teaching style or cannot find a time to come in for extra help with you. MathVids gives students an opportunity to supplement the math that you are teaching while learning at their own pace outside of the classroom.

Also, you may put your own lessons online for your students to watch if they have been absent. This way, they will never have missed a thing. All you have to do is hit record before you start teaching a class, wear a microphone while you teach, and upload the video after one of your classes.

Finally, if you have a computer / projector set up in your classroom, then when you are out of the classroom, you can either teach your own videos and upload them to MathVids, or select a video that is already online for the sub to show during your absence. Therefore, no teaching time is wasted, and students aren’t required to just complete “busy work” worksheets while you are away.

If you are ever unable to plan for a lesson, but you would like to continue your unit, you can find a video for the next topic in the unit on MathVids. Also, the website videos are great substitutes for certain lessons, because they are self-contained lessons that are being taught by accomplished math teachers from around the country. In additional, many lessons have additional lesson resources that you can use for your lessons.

Also, if you contribute to MathVids by uploading your own lessons to the website (which takes very little extra effort if you have already created a lesson), you can earn free teaching tools for your classroom, such as graphing calculators, that continues to come in from just teaching a few lessons and keeping them up on the website. The more lessons you upload, the more free stuff you stand to earn. Make sure to advertise MathVids in your school newsletter so more students / parents are aware of the website, which will help your students out as well as provide the opportunity for you to earn educational tools for your classroom. Also, talk to other teachers in your school about creating videos for MathVids.

… A home-school student / parent

MathVids can serve as an alternative to the expensive books that still require a teacher to teach the material to the home-schooled student. Instead of finding a teacher, a student being forced to learn out of a book himself or herself, or having a parent teach the student, videos on MathVids can be followed in a recommended order to fulfill a year-long math curriculum. Not only is this option much cheaper and easier than purchasing teaching worksheets, books, manipulatives, and other necessary materials, it is also a better educational alternative. Students will be taught by certified teachers who have created and taught lessons on exactly what your student needs to learn. Also, there are many different teachers with lessons on the same topic for your student to choose from, so your student can learn at his or her own pace and from a teacher that he or she understands and can relate to.

… A college student (2 reasons)

The first reason to sign up for MathVids as a college student is to view videos that show you how to do problems / how to understand concepts in high-level college classes. As you may have noticed, it is very difficult to find help with math classes above the Calculus level. It seems that nobody has made any tutorials for these classes, and very few students ever get up to these classes, so you are pretty much on your own once you get there. However, at MathVids, professors and other college math majors teach lessons on these topics. This is your source for help in your upper-level math classes. Also, a year subscription to MathVids is much cheaper than hiring a tutor.

Another reason for you, as a college student, to sign up for MathVids is to become a contributor. You can teach college-level math having just learned some math in a completed course. Even just teaching an aspect of a course / topic is highly encouraged. Or if you do not feel comfortable teaching a college course topic, you can teach a topic from a lower math course from high school or middle school. And be sure to take advantage of the free MathVids portfolio, allowing you to showcase your videos and other job search materials to a potential employer. Make sure to advertise MathVids to other math majors at your school and let your school know about the website. Send invites to join through Facebook or MySpace and help make the website more popular so that your videos are viewed more and you can find a job.

… A high school student

I know that, although your teachers try very hard and put in a lot of time, effort, and hard work, you sometimes just cannot learn from their teaching style. Everyone learns differently, and sometimes you and your teacher are not a perfect match. For this reason, MathVids supplies you with several different lessons on each topic, each taught by a different teacher in the hopes that one of these teachers matches your learning style. You can also use MathVids as a learning supplement if you need extra explanation on a certain topic, you want to go ahead, or you want extra practice materials / problems. You can learn at your own pace, on your own time when it is most convenient for you. Best of all, MathVids is cheap and easy to use. If you are really interested in MathVids, let your school know and see if your school can purchase a school-wide license so you can view these videos for little or no cost to you.

… A middle school student

Are you really having a difficult time learning math at your middle school? Do you wish that you had a personal tutor or friend who could explain this stuff so it made more sense to you? Well MathVids provides a bunch of personal tutors / teachers who teach the topics and lessons that you are learning about in school from several different perspectives in the hopes that one of them reaches you and makes sense. Some lessons may even be taught by students that are just out of middle school or high school with a fresh perspective on the material. All videos are reviewed by a certified teacher, so you can be sure that the lesson is accurate, no matter who is teaching it, but sometimes a younger person is easier to understand and learn from. Also, you can view the videos with your parents, talk about the math as it is being presented, pause or rewind the video, or skip over parts that you don’t care about, all while in the comfort of your own home. Then your parents can see exactly how the material is being presented and help you follow along and understand the lesson.

… An honors / advanced student

As an honors / advanced student, you are probably self-motivated, intelligent, intrigued by new ideas / material, and interested in learning more / going ahead. If this sounds like a description of you, then MathVids is just what you’ve been looking for. MathVids is complete with lessons on almost any topic that you can imagine, including advanced / in-depth topics as well as adjacent / fun topics that utilize the same knowledge that you have learned in school. As an example, if you were intrigued by Pascal’s Triangle and want to learn more about the patterns present in the triangle, there is a video that describes them. Or if you are interested in Fibonacci’s Sequence and want to learn more about its consequences and ramifications in the real world, there is probably a video about that. If math intrigues you and you have a desire to learn more than what can be taught in school, come to MathVids and find out anything you were interested in knowing – like, how can there be imaginary numbers – is that just something someone made up?

… A struggling student

If you are struggling with your math class even though you really try in school and try on your homework every night, but math just really doesn’t make sense to you, perhaps it’s because of the structure of your math classes in school or your teacher’s teaching style being incompatible with your learning style. Check out MathVids and watch video lessons taught from a variety of perspectives by several different teachers. Perhaps one of our teachers can explain things in a way that makes sense to you. Not to mention the fact that you can always pause, go back, and view lessons again and again until things start to make sense. If you are willing to put forth the effort to try to understand math and you want help learning, then there is a teaching style represented on MathVids that can help you understand any math topic more completely than you do now. You can view MathVids as a sort of supplement to learning at school, as well as your personal tutor at a much lower cost.