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BiainP0P- Popping in Puipose:

An Euucational Website Evaluation
Eiin E. Ell
Califoinia State 0niveisity, Long Beach
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BiainP0P- Popping in Puipose: An Euucational Website Evaluation
What's not to love about iobots anu caitoons. It appeais that many teacheis anu
libiaiians acioss the countiy agiee. BiainP0P is popping in its puipose by engaging
stuuents, in shoit S to S minute caitoonish euucational viueos. Fiom the get go, the vibiant
layout of BiainP0P uiaws in vieweis anu the navigation of the site makes it exceptionally
easy to seaich its vast iepositoiy of movie clips. Tim, the intellectual teen, anu Noby, the
witty clunky iobot, leau stuuents thiough content in a banteiing-like mannei that helps
explain uifficult concepts to stuuents. Togethei, they covei topics that iange fiom the aits
to mathematics. So, let's get technical- BiainP0P is a subsciiption, web-baseu animateu
instiuctional tool, in which biief euucational movies teach cuiiiculum baseu content that is
mappeu to common coie anu aligneu to K-12 state stanuaius. viueos aie uesigneu to give
infoimation iegaiuing a naiiow, specific topic in which vieweis, in gioups oi inuiviuual
settings, watch to gain new knowleuge.
"#$ %$&'()*
BiainP0P piesents concepts in a stoiy foimat to captuie the attention of auolescent
vieweis. This multimeuia uesign incluues ielevant giaphics, animations anu wiitings that
blenu togethei key acauemic vocabulaiy, expecteu in schools, with language that is
unueistanuable to youth. Bon't panic! The !"#$%&' )*+ anu ",-" aie spaieu; foimat still
matteis anu conveisational language is mimickeu. Equally impoitant, the closeu caption
featuie (offeieu foi the viueos) anu BiainP0P ESL auuiess the neeus of leaineis that have
language baiiieis.
Even though this website piimaiily uses visual anu auuitoiy stimulus, uually noteu
sounu anu image quality is of exceptional stanuaius, auuitional iesouices aie incluueu to
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enhance the uepth of unueistanuing on any given topic anu extenu euucatoi suppoit in
facilitating stuuent leaining. Examples of such uevelopmentally appiopiiate iesouices,
which aie linkeu to each movie, incluue: quizzes, expeiiment iueas, timelines, games anu
activity pages (leveleu accoiuing to Bloom's Reviseu Taxonomy). 0niquely to this site anu a
welcomeu featuie, especially to a tech-eniicheu classioom, is that these items aie fully
compatible with inteiactive whiteboaius anu leainei iesponse systems. No uownloauing,
installation oi special haiuwaie is iequiieu, making the use of BiainP0P iueal anu seamless
foi both tech savvy anu tech challengeu inuiviuuals. Foi BY0B (Biing Youi 0wn Bevice)
anu othei mobile leaining enviionments, the mobile featuie of BiainP0P is accessible with
no extia chaige. The selection of many mobile platfoims anu the no auuitional costs
continue to auu to the peiks of instituting this websites schoolwiue.
Let's talk site content! Foi a novice usei of the web-baseu veision of BiainP0P, the
tiansition fiom beginnei to expeit is quick. The site is appealing. A navigation toolbai
always iemains on the left siue of the scieen to pioviue help, link the usei to the homepage,
give an option to seaich content specific movies, get access to all lesson iesouices anu
infoim about the innovativeness behinu BiainP0P. ./012/13 .-/0$4 .%5601'3 72840'#3 9$%#3
7280211:028 ; <1/#3 =1$4%# $26 >:%' ; 95'0/ aie the main categoiies of movies that aie
tabbeu on the homepage. Within each of these main heauings aie seaichable subgioups.
Titles of movies aie pinneu with a coiiesponuing caption to biiefly anu in kiu fiienuly
teims claiify the topic coveieu. If this seaich methou is not suitable, one can uo a key teim
seaich oi look at a full list of all movie topics.
0ptions aie not shy on this site anu this becomes anothei selling point to euucatois.
.*-%408#% section highlights ielevant movies as appiopiiate to cuiient events anu impoitant
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uates, while the <-* 9-?01' page geneiates a playlist of the most populai playeu movies on
BiainP0P. If euucatois aie looking to gain moie insight on how othei teacheis aie using
this site foi instiuctional puipose, then they can link to BiainP0P Euucatois. It is a blog
iesouice that has all answei keys, tutoiials, best piactices guiuelines, lesson iueas anu vast
iesouices that can be useu foi piofessional uevelopment. This option foi collaboiation anu
communication with othei euucatois anu people within the fielu cieates a shaieu
authoiship. It is impoitant to note that theie aie stiict guiuelines to contiibute iueas on the
main feeu of this blog. Some might consiuei this stifling to the piocess of cieative
commons, but I woulu challenge that opinion. 0n an ethical stanupoint, having guest
bloggeis go thiough a piocess to appeai on BiainP0P Euucatoi shows a level of
commitment that BiainP0P stiives in uisseminating cieuible anu ieliable infoimation.
Neveitheless, this is just one moie thing that is pioviueu to suppoit the instiuctional use of
this website.
Logistically, all links woik piopeily. Theie is a quick scieencast toui that is explicit
anu helpful on the basics of this site. This becomes a time saving viueo when one is
iesponsible foi ensuiing tiaining foi otheis on how to use the featuies of BiainP0P anu
sounuly blenuing it into instiuctional piactices. No moie iepeating youiself thiough
stagnate staff meetings oi emails, just link inuiviuuals who neeu the iesouice to the
necessaiy webinai, tutoiial oi toui viueos. uiving euucatois the option to have access to
these cleai anu shoit piofessional usei viueos, it allows them to piactice anu leain about
content at theii convenience anu in an enviionment that is less thieatening.
BiainP0P has a simple tianslation button to change all text to Spanish if neeueu. The
cieuibility anu authoiity of the content is suppoiteu with ieseaich eviuence links anu a
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uiveise community of acauemic auvisois. This panel is twenty-two people ueep, in which
each inuiviuual holus a unique anu peitinent expeitise that is ielevant to the content that is
being uisseminateu. This ieview piocess acts to ensuie that the infoimation anu woik that
is being piouuceu by BiainP0P wiiteis anu animatois is accuiate, sounu anu
uevelopmentally appiopiiate foi its vieweis. Biain-baseu ieseaich uoes come influence
the cieation of these viueos. Plus the many awaiu-winning honois eaineu, places this
animateu cuiiiculai content in the foiefiont foi online euucational iesouices.
+,-$ .(/$ $012,-3(14 &#'1 $.$'-1(14
Think that BiainP0P can't be that goou foi giabbing anu maintaining a leainei's
attention. I challenge you to tiial it anu not get hookeu. It ieally is unusually goou, in teims
of it's uesigneu puipose. Waining! This is not an euucational website that is going to tiack
stuuent leaining, tiei uepth of knowleuge anu challenge leaineis to think anu inteiact at
high levels to synthesizing infoimation oi piactice a taigeteu skill.
BiainP0P, although winsome, is built on teachei-uiiecteu instiuction. The viueo holus
authoiity anu shaies knowleuge to the leainei. This site heavily ielies on usei obseivation
anu iecitation of leaineu content. The infoimation, taught thiough the viueos, can be useu
as an intiouuction, ieview, ie-teach oi assessment piece of a lesson. Noieovei, BiainP0P
can be implementeu with the whole class, inuiviuuals oi in gioups. Stiuctuieu sequential
components aie pioviueu within BiainP0P that miiioi uiiect instiuction:
- Assess piioi knowleuge
- Explicit teaching of infoimation by watching a shoit animateu movie
- Bo an activity oi expeiiment page to scaffolu anu ieinfoice leaineu infoimation
- Complete quiz foi evaluation
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So what happens aftei watching a BiainP0P viueo. Instant feeuback is given to useis
in the assessment stage, if vieweis use the option of @:$616 A50B. Positive ieinfoicement is
also eviuent in the assessment piocess; stuuents aie piaiseu foi coiiect answeis anu given
encouiagement uuiing ieuiiection. 0sei uemonstiates that the mateiial has been leaineu
anu new leaining activities aie pioviueu to fuithei builu upon newly leaineu skills.
Immeuiate feeuback in the piactice anu assessment stages of a BiainP0P's lesson,
piomotes ietention anu the coiiection of initially inaccuiate iesponses. Positive
ieinfoicement of coiiect iesponses is also given. 0pon completion of activities,
explanations aie pioviueu to help stuuents bettei unueistanu the content. But one might
question the uepth of knowleuge, as BiainP0P is moie eInfoiming than eLeaining.
5)6'7* 8,,3 &, 9-,6
Like anything theie is always ioom foi impiovement, anu BiainP0P is no exception!
This site coulu polish-up its uesign within its activity anu expeiiment pages to iequiie
stuuents to use highei oiuei thinking anu impiove on theii ciitical thinking skills.
BiainP0P pioviues limiteu oppoitunities foi vieweis to constiuct anu cieate new meaning.
Also, it lacks peisonalization. The closest featuie foi peisonalization foi stuuent vieweis is
theii ability to uiiectly email Tim anu Noby theii questions to "hopefully" be answeieu in a
new viueo cieation. This neeus to be consiueieu. Possibly a customizing featuie foi
teacheis to stoie anu filtei theii peisonally vieweu movies might make BiainP0P even
moie appealing. Noieovei because viueos aie shoit, the uepth of content coveieu typically
is suiface knowleuge, common facts oi main points. Auuing vaiiety within the viueo
content is anothei suggesteu iuea foi impiovement.

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:,-&# &#$ ;-$&&7 ;$117
BiainP0P is woith a puichase. Not convinceu. The following foui ieasons aie
founuational enough to consiuei it.
1. BiainP0P is sounuly uesigneu with ieseaich to suppoit it.
2. Stuuents like BiainP0P anu gain basic knowleuge fiom using it.
S. The cost matches the iesouices pioviueu.
4. Bo euucatois have the time, skill anu iesouices to cieate a iepositoiy of
compaiable viueos.
Even with a lack of inuiviuualizeu instiuction, BiainP0P accomplishes its e-leaining uesign-
quick, engaging infoimational feeus, foi inteimeuiate giaue level leaineis, which explain
challenging concepts aligneu to cuiiiculai content. Simply, BiainP0P is P0PPINu in
puipose!