Derivita Power User Stories: First Impressions

Last week, our Marketing Director, Arianna Irwin, sat down with High School Math Teacher and Derivita Power User - Michelle Oreilly to hear about her journey with the Derivita software. 

Michelle has been teaching for nine (9) years and teaches mathematics at Brighton High School within Canyons School District in our home state, Utah. Michelle teaches Math 1 and Math 2 with mostly tenth and eleventh grade students and she has been using Derivita in her courses for the past four years and has launched over 47,700 assignments in the Derivita platform.

Watch the full video interview on YouTube here.

Before Derivita, Michelle programmed her own math questions directly in Canvas to align with her teaching goals and curriculum. She remembers, “The questions didn't give feedback unless I had programmed it all individually. So it was very time consuming. So I feel like Derivita came into my life at a time that I definitely needed it because it really streamlined my prepping process”.

First impressions of Derivita

She remembers her first impression of the platform, “the graphing things that give them [students] feedback, allow them to try it multiple times and give them little tips and tricks - all of that was amazing. I thought that was a really powerful part for the students being able to practice at home”. When students don’t know how to approach a problem or they don’t know if they are on the right track, it can be discouraging and they may not want to continue with the practice assignment. Michelle says, “I like that Derivita lets them know if they’re getting it right and then also gives them feedback to guide their thinking if they're struggling”. 

As for her students’ impression of the platform, she comments; “It's really user friendly. The only time I have problems is in the geometry stuff when their input needs to be very specific and how it's coded to accept their response. Aside from that, I think they really like being able to check their answers”. Her students get the opportunity to try a question multiple times and identify their own mistakes and learn from them. This process guides the conversation in the classroom so they know what questions to ask to better understand the given concepts. 

Michelle’s favorite Derivita feature

Michelle’s favorite feature is the randomization of the questions in the Derivita Item Bank. Each question is equipped with 10’s-100’s of randomizations, so each student can be assigned a question testing the same concept with varied values. Michelle comments, “So my favorite thing is the randomization of the prompts that not all of the students are doing the same prompt. It really forces them to be more critical in their thinking and not just replicate form and procedure. They have to look at their problem and actually kind of consider their values and how it impacts the scenario at the same time”. 

The Best Part of Teaching and Learning?



Michelle finishes her Derivita Power User Story with her favorite part about the teaching and learning process. She says, “Every year some student will give me a different way of thinking about the problem or something else to add to the notes that leverages a different perspective that I hadn't considered. I just think lifelong learning is very cool.” As do we at Derivita!

Ready to start your own Derivita user journey?

Request a demo in your preferred LMS with a Derivita expert today!