Virtual Nerd
Nicki Black January 12 2011 10:19:21 PM
Where to find Virtual Nerd? Visit their website, or give them a call:
http://www.virtualnerd.com - Check them out!
877-677-NERD (6373)
Or find Virtual Nerd on Facebook & Twitter, at:
http://www.facebook.com/virtualnerd
http://twitter.com/virtualnerd
Cost of service:
It varies, depending upon the length of time you wish to leverage Virtual Nerd. For example,
1 Day: $5.00/single fee
1 Week: $19/single fee
1 Month: $49/ongoing fee
3 Month: $129/single fee
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P.O. Box 8426, Gray, TN 37615
www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com
1-888-718-HOME
Want to see what my fellow TOS Crew members thought about Virtual Nerd?
http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/783627/
Award winning Virtual Nerd is one the most user friendly and professionally laid-out tutoring sites geared toward grades 7-12 that I have come across, to date. The goal of this product is simple - to provide "... a unique online resource offering students real help in math and science. Students get the essential benefits of private tutoring and access to over a thousand interactive step-by-step video tutorials presented in our patent-pending Dynamic Whiteboard." Virtual Nerd has over 1000 different Dynamic Whiteboards in pre-algebra, algebra 1, algebra 2, and introductory physics. Indeed, it is an excellent resource for shoring up a student's knowledge and strengths in those topic areas, and to encourage them to explore new concepts, as well.
The interface of Virtual Nerd is actually quite attractive, with soothing, simple colors for the eyes, large icons and whiteboard area, and a generous right hand gutter, which highlights the points you are learning (see boxes below in each representation), in real time, in the Dynamic Whiteboard. So you see for yourself what the Dynamic Whiteboard looks like, here are a couple examples below. The first example is a tutorial in physics, entitled, "What is Mass?". The second example is a tutorial in algebra 2, entitled, "Degree of a Term or Polynomial".
(images temporarily removed due to a technical difficulty with their display)
What you will be watching as you follow along in the tutorials includes your instructor demonstrating via writing, and thoroughly explaining through speaking, the concepts on the Dynamic Whiteboard, their actual diagrams in the Diagram box (top right), and then a running account of what the instructor is saying, at the moment they say it, in the Step By Step box (bottom right). At any time during the tutorial you are free to pause, fast forward, or rewind. With a mouse-over in the Diagram and Step By Step boxes, pop ups appear to further guide you through definitions, in case you need further reinforcement. The tutorials are around 3 minutes - good nuggets of time to gain solid information without being overwhelmed. I also appreciated that the instructors spoke clearly and slowly, to be easily understood.
Each instructor is extremely well-versed in the topic in which they tutor. They are good with the camera, and make even the most math-weary student (old *cough cough* and young) feel very comfortable. Virtual Nerd has a bio of each instructor available on their website, as well as bios their founders and extended team. Also included on the site were clips of various videos (news reel footage and such) of the founders explaining Virtual Nerd. It was good to have the background on everyone, but as a Mom, I also used this as a platform to illustrate to my DD how knowledge in math can take you to so many different places in the business/entrepreneurial world.
We used Virtual Nerd in our homeschool classroom as a peripheral, to piggy back with our textbooks. It is not meant to take the place of a curriculum or teacher, rather it is meant to be used hand in hand with your main studies. Generally DD watched 1 or 2 videos at a time to get through to the next lesson. We did re-watch a number of videos, as well. There is no limit to how many videos you can watch, nor is there any restrictions on scope and sequence. You are free to watch in whatever topic order you wish.
Technical requirements to run Virtual Nerd are as follows:
High speed Internet access and the ability to access the virtualnerd.com website
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) or above OR Mozilla Firefox 2 or above OR Apple Safari 2 or above OR Google Chrome 2 or above
- Flash Player 9 or above
- A computer capable of playing streaming video from the Internet (e.g., YouTube)
- Screen/display resolution of 1024x768 pixels
All told, I was pleased with the product itself, and would recommend it without hesitation of it's effectiveness and ease of use.
Happy Homeschooling!
Nicki
Disclosure/disclaimer statement, as required by the FCC:
I have been given this free product in order to write this review. I used this product in my home, and the comments and thoughts shared herein are solely my own, based on my personal experience. Any products reviewed by me as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest and genuine review of those products, and how we used the products within our family. I receive no other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.
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