Overview

Membean differentiates and personalizes student training through the calibration and through adaptive reinforcement. However, student needs vary widely, so Membean provides a variety of student preferences that allow the teacher to further customize the training experience. This article will review all the options available in Student Preferences. 

Not sure how to navigate to the preferences page? Here's how to modify student training preferences.

Special Settings Column

The Special Settings column can be found under the Students tab of your class. This column alerts you to the training settings that have been adjusted for particular students. Any settings enabled that affect how the trainer works will be listed here.

Extended time

Providing extended time is a common and important accommodation; it can make a significant difference in a student's learning experience and their ability to demonstrate understanding. Use this setting to increases the time allowed to answer questions during training and complete assessments by the specified factor. This setting defaults to 1.0, which means that the student has the default time to answer questions and complete quizzes. You can increase extended time up to a factor of 2. If your student needs more than double the default time, contact support@membean.com.

Hide progress timers

Are the progress timers distracting your students or stressing them out during training or on quizzes? Check this box to hide the timer while training and while taking assessments. This setting does not disable the timers; the clock is still ticking, it’s just not displayed. Students can also update this setting themselves in their preferences.

Set “Strong Memory” mode

Sometimes we introduce new words for the sake of variety to promote engagement and motivation. However, some students are better served by additional reinforcement rather than more new words. Check this box if you want us to reinforce existing words before introducing new words. The student will see new words less often, but they’ll learn each word better.

Disable IKT

People don't learn words in the exact same order, so it's common for students to encounter words during training that they already know. The IKT (I Know This) button allows them to skip these words. Words marked as IKT do not appear in the trainer, but they do appear on assessments. Some students may be overly confident in their use of IKT, so you can disable this feature for them. Check this box to remove the IKT button from new Word Pages. Any word already marked as IKT will remain so, but students can always un-skip IKT words from their dashboards.

Require full spelling

Cloze (fill-in-the-blank) questions are meant to be challenging, but they aren't meant to test spelling. Instead, they are only intended to prompt recall. Therefore, students only have to supply the first three letters of the word to get the answer correct. However, you may want students to practice their spelling as well as their vocabulary, so you can check this box if you want the student to spell out the entire word.

Extra Help

Students may benefit from the Extra Help setting for a myriad of reasons. They may be English Language Learners, students needing remediation, or students with specific learning needs. This setting impacts the trainer directly and changes several settings in the student’s preferences.

The Extra Help setting directly impacts the trainer by providing more reinforcement for words. It also decreases the number of Cloze questions that students receive. Students still see progressively difficult multiple choice questions and some fill-in-the-blank questions, but they’ll receive fewer of the latter. 

When you enable Extra Help, the following settings are also adjusted in the student’s preferences:

  • Extended time is set to 1.5
  • IKT (I Know This) is disabled

If you do not want one of these settings enabled, you can disable them after saving the Extra Help setting.

Dyslexic

If you have students with dyslexia, they will likely benefit from this setting, which adjusts font, text size, and text spacing. Check this box to enable these text features, which are specifically designed to aid people with dyslexia.

Screen reader compatible assessments

Some students need their tests and quizzes read aloud. Enable this setting to allow students to use screen reader extensions on assessments. Otherwise, the student will not be able to highlight the text to have it read aloud.

Disable definition auto-play

Listening to information in addition to reading it can be a powerful learning tool. When students answer the context question, the definition of the word is spoken automatically. Check this box if you do not want definitions automatically spoken. Students can still click the speaker next to the definition to hear it. Students can disable definition auto-play themselves in their student settings. 

Session length

When students click Start Training, they can choose a session length or go with the default session length. The standard default session length is 15 minutes, but this may not be ideal for your training expectations. You can change the default session length for a student by adjust the time here. However, they will still be able to choose a different length of time before they begin. 

Stop new words

This setting should be used with caution because it will prevent students from receiving any new words, no matter how long they train. Some teachers like to use this setting in the week or two leading up to a high-stakes test, like a final exam. With this setting enabled, students will train only on their existing word bank.

If you choose to stop new words, we recommend setting yourself a reminder to re-enable them. It's crucial that new words are enabled before deleting your classes at the end of a term.