By Sean Scarpiello
Upon graduating from high school and college students often feel intimidated and uniformed on many of the day to day duties of a normal adult. For example, many students graduate without knowing about their credit score, paying loans, or doing their own taxes. To help combat this problem, the online based education company EverFi aims at teaching students many of the financial responsibilities needed as an adult. Further, EverFi has also begun offering classes in technology and STEM education. These online courses are designed to not only teach students information relevant to being fiscally responsible, but also to challenge students to think critically.
First, EverFi’s financial classes have a lot to offer to students in grades 4 and up. The online based content in their Vault Program teaches 4th through 6th graders about topics in investing, credit/debit, and money management. Further, their program designed for 9th through 12th graders focus on the taxes, mortgages, 401Ks, credit cards, and other practical information for students about to graduate from high school. This is important as many of us graduate high school and even college without any of this knowledge which is key to being a thriving member of society. These courses are offered in an online format so students can access coursework from any place that has an internet connection. The format of EverFi is also designed to engage students and force them to think critically about their coursework. This is beneficial in and of itself as it helps students to not only memorize a list of financial and business terms but to apply this knowledge and use it to evaluate other data.
EverFi also offers classes in the field of STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) education. Their Ignition Program is designed to stimulate interest in STEM related fields for middle school students. This is done by introducing careers in technology, multimedia, and online research. EverFi’s Radius Program is designed for high school students to further develop an interest in STEM fields by teaching students topics such as binary code, Boolean logic, decryption, and coding. These programs are again designed to challenge students to think critically about their coursework. In addition to being presented in an online format, both the financial and STEM programs are available at low costs to students, teachers, and schools.
Overall, EverFi is a fantastic educational technology as it offers courses which teach practical and useful information to students. It is available in an online format and at low costs to schools. Recently, Pharrell Williams, a musician and producer, is using his charity, From One Hand to AnOTHER, to partner up with Everfi to enroll even more students in classes this summer. In all, EverFi will be successful as it brings relevant and useful education to students through the application of technology and at a low cost.
Source: http://www.everfi.com/
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
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1 comment:
I never heard of EverFi. Their web site lists key investors which
include Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Evan Williams (Twitter) and Eric Schmidt (Google). Those are all smart guys so maybe there is something to the EverFi approach.
It's interesting that with so much free information on the very same topics that there is still a market for a for-fee product like theirs. That's proof, I suppose, that there is a need for teacher mediated learning. Most of us are not self-learners, and definitely not so in the K-12 realm. Curious, maybe. Capable of self-learning, no.
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