Updates

Quindew Is Always Improving for You!

Here are our most recent updates. Please continue to share your amazingly helpful ideas. They don't all get implemented but many do.

Highest Streak Badges are Now Part of Status March 1, 2023 - We are always finding ways to celebrate student success. This month, we added badges to the Status column. One data point that we use to track success is streaks of correct answers. Students earn a streak badge when they answer three questions in a row correctly. If students answer another question correctly, the streak continues and they are awarded another badge. There are six unique badges students can earn. At the end of each Quest, Quindew will post a student's highest streak badge. This is currently showing in the students' Journey dashboard. For schools looking to celebrate students who earn a crown--the highest score/streak--ask students to open their Journey dashboards. Teachers can walk around the room and easily see students' most recent Quests. If they earned a crown, it will be there. Pro tip: Crowns are cool, but students should be celebrated for any growth and for earning streaks. For some, a fireball is a BIG deal. Let's find creative ways to celebrate our readers!

Deepen Comprehension with Images February 21, 2023 - We are happy to announce that students will begin to see images at the top of their Quests. These vibrant pictures will support students' comprehension as they journey into their reading lessons. New images are added every day. Quindew is dedicated to improving so that students can soar as

Translate Quindew Video Tutorials into Students' Primary Language February 10, 2023 - Want to have our tutorial videos translated for your students? While playing the video, have them click on the "CC" button. Make sure the CC is underlined in red before clicking on the gear. Click on the gear next to the CC button and select "Subtitles." Click "Auto-translate" and pick a language other than English. The language will appear as the audio plays.

Support Your EL Newcomers October 17, 2022 - When teaching EL newcomers, consider using a blended approach. During a Quest, emphasize the "Scan for Unfamiliar Words" activity. Have students highlight unfamiliar words. Then, students can create personalized dictionaries in their notebooks, or they can have a notebook dedicated to new words. They can highlight words, write them in their notebook, and copy down the definition. Lastly, they can translate the word into their primary language. The columns can look like this: Unfamiliar word | Quindew definition | Translation | Picture/Visual. While reading, students reading at the third grade level can listen to a text. Words are highlighted as they are read, so students can see each word as they listen. After they listen to the text, they can practice summarizing main ideas by drawing images that represent key ideas. This work can be done in their notebooks. Once all these steps have been completed, students can move on and finish the Quest. Students can translate the questions, the tips, and the text into their primary language. Students can also open Quindew's video tutorials in YouTube and have Close Captioning [CC] dictate the content in their primary language.

Behind on Quests? Students Can Now Do More October 10, 2022 - Students who are behind in their Quests can now do back-to-back Quests if they show high engagement during each Quest. If students are flagged as "not trying" , they will have to take a 30 minute break before starting a new Quest. When students Quindew, we want them learning not simply completing assignments. Students and teachers will be notified if students are not trying on a Quest.

Scan for Unfamiliar Words Update October 2, 2022 - We have added a seconds countdown on the "Scan for Unfamiliar Words" activity. Now, students can see exactly how much time must elapse before the "Onward" button appears. We have also shortened the amount of reading time on each text.

More Gradebook Goodness August 31, 2022 - Teachers can now hover over student scores in the Quindew gradebook to see when Quests were completed. Yay!

Gradebook Update: Quest Numbering Continues through Each Season  August 20, 2022 - Quest numbering does not start over each Season in the Gradebook. The numbers have been updated to count consecutively. When you select Season 2, you will see Quests 13-24. Season 3 will show Quests 25-36 and so on. We appreciate your feedback. Thank you!

Quindew's Open-ended Questions Are Smarter July 1, 2022 - When students type a symbol (&?/), a sentence or phrase, or spell a number like "eighteen," Quindew will place a red alert box around the answer text box. This will tell the students that what they are trying to use as their answer is incorrect. When a question asks students to type in a number, they need to use a numerical number like (18). When the question asks for a single word answer, students will only be allowed to type in one word answers. If they try to type two words, and the answer is one word, a red alert box will appear.

You Can Now See What Deep Reading Comprehension Skills Are Taught on Quindew! June 30, 2022 - We added a deep reading comprehension skills list on our home page. Take a look. It's an impressive list of skills that we teach on Quindew. Students learn reading skills, build confidence, and have fun.

Annual Literacy Reports Are Now Available On Our Research Page June 15, 2022 - We have finished our Annual Literacy Reports for Quindew, a district in South Carolina, and a middle school in NYC. Check out these research reports on our Research page. We also recently published a Tier II and ESSER/ESSA funding report.

When a Quest Is Over, Learning Continues! April 20, 2022 - Do you have students who finish Quests before other students in class? When students finish a Quest, they are taken to their results page. On their results page, students can view tutorials that explicitly teach essential elements of the skill that was missed. Look for the video icon next to the question detail. Encourage students to take notes on the tutorial, create presentations to teach others in the class, or have them reflect on what they learned and how that can help them answer this type of question in the future.

"On Track" Is Now "Status" February 20, 2022 - When viewing your class, you will see that the "On Track" column has been changed to "Status." Currently, we are still using orange circles to indicate when a student is not on track with Quests and green circles to indicate students who are on track. We are now including alerts for "not trying" and "low engagement" . These types of alerts have more to do with a students status. More unique icons will appear in this column. Hover over icons to learn more about them.

Students Falling Behind? They Can Do More Quests Each Day February 14, 2022 - Students who are behind on their Quests can now Quindew multiple times each day--every day--until they catch up. Students will be asked to take a one hour break between Quests, but can do several in a day. The break supports our philosophy. We do not want students rushing through reading tasks. We want them to settle in, focus, and learn an effective process for reading.

We've Made It Easier to View Season Reports (with Clarity Data) February 1, 2022 - When viewing your Classes dashboard, we have added a circular button that takes you directly to your Season reports. Season 1 shows students' Reading Diagnostic scores and the remaining Season reports on reading grade level growth.

Engagement Just Got a Lot Smarter January 21, 2022 - We made a significant update to how Quindew evaluates engagement. Teachers should start to see new engagement numbers this week. Teachers might also see a "Not Trying" alert appears on students' Quest record. This alert identifies students who are truly not trying on their Quests. In an effort to show only good, accurate data, we will be removing Quests from students' Journeys that are flagged as "Not Trying."

Let's Take a Journey December 5, 2021 - We have created a section on the student side called "Journey." In the Journey section, students can view their Achievement Walls and prior Quest history. Students can now reflect on how they have done, rewatch tutorial videos, and so much more.

Diagnostic Reading Scores Are Now on the Student Dashboard November 19, 2021 - With Clarity Data, you can now see a student's diagnostic reading score on the Student Dashboard. We have also added Reading Growth. These additions are a nice complement to the current reading grade level score and Lexile reading level.