Games-based system aims to help students make the grade

But a Yorkshire business believes it can use children’s passion for hi-tech gadgets to help them achieve higher exam grades.

Doncaster-based I-education has created a games-based revision system, I Am Learning Home Edition.

The software, which is being made available to parents and children for the first time, rewards pupils who get the right answers by allowing them to move up a level or open up new online games. These games range from penalty shoot-outs to games with a strategic dimension.

According to Michael Wilkinson, of I-education, the latest software allows children to access the system at home to help them prepare for the exam season.

He said yesterday: “Students learn by selecting the subject they want to study.

“They then navigate through a reward-based virtual world by answering questions.

“All the evidence shows that I Am Learning encourages deeper learning and better recall than books or other online resources, but now, with the release of I Am Learning Home Edition, students are able to access it from outside school.”

Students can compete against each other as part of a global league table of users.

Reports highlighting subject areas in need of improvement can also be studied by parents and teachers.

Educational technologist Professor Stephen Molyneux said the system had the “potential to motivate and engage a new generation of learners”.

He said: “The approach used by I Am Learning Home Edition blends traditional question-based assessment with computer games-based motivational techniques.

“Add to this a rich high-stakes data analysis and reporting engine, and you have an online testing and assessment system that is a must for those wishing to explore a new, innovative way to raise students’ attainment.”

I-education, which was founded in 2007, has seven staff, and also uses the services of freelances and strategic partners.

Its turnover has more than doubled this year to £330,000.