Derivita Power User Stories: From a Student's Perspective

Last week, our Marketing Director, Arianna Irwin, sat down with Meridian Technical Charter High School (MTCHS) student and Derivita Power User - Griffin Brough.

Griffin is our first-ever student Derivita Power User, which is an exciting fact in itself. It isn't very often that us, EdTech folks, get to hear the student perspective or get asked to send their student users swag! Griffin is currently a junior at MTCHS in Idaho and a proud Derivita user. Check out his story below:

Watch the full video interview here.

Griffin's Experience with Derivita:

Griffin has been using Derivita since he was a Freshman and continues to use it in his math courses today. He described his experience with the platform as "great. I have had times where I haven't been able to interact with my teacher because of how small my school is, she has to teach two math classes at the same time. So I don't get to interact with her very much. And so Derivita having the instant feedback and being able to tell me how to solve the problem is immensely helpful and has helped me pass more than one math class so far".

The Learning Curve:

When Griffin first saw Derivita in his Freshman math course, "Math 3". Arianna asked him what that learning curve looked like and how was it using Derivita for the very first time. Griffin responded with "It was really easy. Everything is very clearly marked and everything is like when you get in, you see your question, you see where you're supposed to put the answer, the hardest part, which really wasn't that hard was just understanding …[the] symbols and understanding that you can enter in things using the symbols."

Griffin's Derivita Feature Highlights:

Griffin's favorite feature of Derivita is also the feature he finds himself having difficulty with at times - and that feature is the immediate and personalized feedback and fully worked-out solution that comes with each math item within the Derivita platform. He explains, "I feel like most of the time, the explanation for how to solve the problem is fantastic, and is able to help me. And then every once in a blue moon, I just don't understand it at all".

Griffin also admits that he wishes Derivita included a digital graphing calculator. He says, "a lot of time when I have Derivita open, I also have Desmos's graphing calculator, open in the next tab over. And so, having a calculator or graphing calculator would be super helpful and I wouldn't have to have multiple tabs open while working on my homework". Honestly, an awesome feature request and likely something that may or may not be on the feature roadmap...shhhh you didn't hear from here.

Griffin's Favorite Part of His Math Learning Journey:

When asked about his favorite part about learning math in school, Griffin had the best response; "when I first get a concept in math, I don't understand it. Then there's some point usually like three fourths of the way through the assignment that it just clicks for me. And then I understand all of it and it's just beautiful". We think that moment of clarity in math education is beautiful too!

Ready to start your own Derivita user journey?

Request a demo in your preferred LMS with a Derivita expert today!