When is the rest of the content going to be posted?
As soon as I can! I wanted to get the first modules up so that I’m supporting as many students, parents and teachers as fast as I can, since COVID-19 means more students than ever need support in maths
Will you add college and primary school topics?
I hope so! I’m only just getting started. There’s a lot of college topics on the YouTube channel – try there for starters.
Why can’t my Year 7 student view your videos?
There can be some issues with kids under 13 accessing YouTube due to YouTube’s age limitations. I try to set videos for Year 7 as “made for kids”. If your student has created a Gmail account but listed their age as under 13, that might be the barrier? There should be family settings you can change so they can access the videos.
Why aren’t you running ads or charging for access?
I’m all about removing barriers to success in mathematics. Cost and distraction are both pretty big barriers: so no ads, and free maths help for everyone.
I’ve got questions/ideas/feedback/want to interview you – how can I get in touch?
There’s some great free video sites out there, for sure. I’ve tried using them in the classroom and they aren’t easily accessible to students who aren’t comfortable with maths. It’s those students that I’m primarily trying to help. Khan Academy is US based and often uses different language and notation…and their course structure doesn’t align with the Australian Curriculum. WooTube is great but students who aren’t used to success in maths often find it intimidating. It’s barriers like these that I’m trying to avoid.
Why are your videos so easy/too hard?
In the classroom I’ll often have two or three videos for a lesson: at different levels for different students. To get started, I’m focusing on the core skills for each topic – teaching at about a C-grade level. Some students will find these too easy … they might like to try WooTube. Ideally I’ll get a second set of videos up – aimed at students who need a bit more of a challenge…and maybe a third for slower-paced learning…but that’s in the future. If you check out the Year 10 page, you’ll see how this looks.
I can’t learn by video – how does this help me?
That’s a tough one. I know some people really don’t like learning by video (I don’t!). In a classroom, I’d be teaching those people in person, but I can’t do that here. If you’ve got someone who will watch the video with you and talk it through, that might help.
When will you have proper subtitles/transcripts/accessibility options?
I’m really sorry those aren’t up yet. I’m relying on donations to fund the creation of the resources…it’s high on my priority list to get proper accessibility functionality for the site, the videos, and the worksheets.
How come you’re a maths teacher if you’ve got a maths disability?
I get asked this one a *lot*… I really love maths and teaching it, and just because my brain goes blank sometimes, or I mix up numbers…I don’t think that makes me a worse teacher. Actually I think it makes me better – I understand the barriers my students face and can try to find ways around them.
