Cathy Duffy Reviews home > Bible / Religion > Faith and Life Series ONLINE

Faith and Life Series ONLINE

Publisher: MyCAtholicFaithDelivered.com
Review last updated: July 2010
 Instant KeyPublishers InfoPricing

Faith and Life Series ONLINE

 

MyCatholicFaithDelivered.com is a website offering online courses based upon religion curricula such as the Didache series and the Faith and Life series. This review addresses only the Faith and Life series.

You might want to first read the review of the print series since I will discuss the online courses in contrast to the print. Click here to read that review.

First, I have to say that this is a marvelous idea. The online courses are designed primarily to be used for independent study. There’s no need to purchase any printed resources although they are available for purchase along with your course subscription.

Online courses are designed for students to walk through each step in sequence although there is nothing to prevent them jumping around. Each lesson has three main sections: “Before you learn,” the lesson itself, and “Before you leave.”

“Before you learn” has four subsections. The last of these is the beginning prayer. It seems to me that this might be used first and nothing prevents the student doing so. The “Beginning in prayer” is mirrored by an “Ending in prayer,” both beautiful multi-media prayer experiences. However, these seem designed for an adult or older audience. They move too slowly and have too challenging a vocabulary for the youngest grade levels, although they are likely fine for older students.

First in the “Before you learn” section (but where I would go after the beginning prayer) is a “Scripture to learn”: a key verse related to the week’s lessons. It is accompanied by a suggestion to consider making it the user’s desktop so that it can be practiced frequently through the week. Next is a list of “Words to know,” which are key words and definitions for the lesson. Students have to click on the words to view definitions, but nothing requires them to do so. There are no activities here, so it’s entirely up to the student to make the effort to read through or study these definitions. After this is a pre-test of five, multiple-choice questions. The same five questions are given again as a post-test after the lesson. These are computer scored with records kept by the system so parents can check on how well students are doing.

The lesson section is next. These sections use the printed content of the Faith and Life student textbook, providing page references in case a student would prefer working from the book. However, lessons are read aloud online so students who appreciate the auditory input might prefer the online version. In some lessons, the text lesson is the only content in this section. Hyperlinks take students to Scripture cross references if they wish to explore further. Some text lessons have extra subsections that reflect material originally provided or suggested in the Faith and Life teacher manual. Here is where I expect you will find interactive maps mentioned in the advertising material, although I didn't spot any maps in the lessons I reviewed. One extra I did come across was in the first lesson for second grade where it adds a section that says, “Take a few moments at the end of your chapter to listen to some of the beautiful music [music plays for about three minutes while student reads] included here performed by The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles is a traditional monastic community of women who desire to imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary in the giving of herself to God to fulfill His Will, especially in her role of assistance by prayer and work to the Apostles, first priests of the Catholic Church.” It adds a hyperlink for student who want to learn more about the order.

The “Before you leave” section begins with the post-test. This is followed by a game. These vary from level-to-level and from lesson-to-lesson. However, the style of game assigned to different levels seems odd sometimes. First grade level begins with a game requiring students to spell out the names of five apostles without anything to which they can refer. Even if they know the correct names to answer for each question, spelling them might be beyond most first graders. Then there’s a visual puzzle at seventh grade level that would work far better for first graders. These are not an essential component, but children will certainly want to play them and might be frustrated with some of them. However, most of the games should be entertaining and helpful learning experiences.

After the game are vocabulary flashcards for practice. Again, there’s no real activity other than the student clicking and viewing if they choose to practice their vocabulary. An audio glossary is available to students in this section, but it’s not clear when they might use it. Another “glossary” of common prayers is also included here.

Since learning the Catechism is an important part of the Faith and Life methodology, Catechism practice is included here. But, again, it’s simply up to the student to click on questions and answers and drill themselves.

As mentioned before, lessons always conclude with a multimedia prayer.

Each subscription allows a student access for 12 months from the date of enrollment. Teachers have 15 months of access. You will need separate subscriptions for each child in your family. Class prices differ, so check for group pricing discounts.

While I like the concept of Faith on Life lessons online, I personally think that the lesson material really should be discussed as students read through small sections at a time, particularly with younger students. The Teacher Manuals have suggestions for chalk talks and methods for discussing concepts that are very useful, yet these elements did not make it into the online courses as far as I can tell. The online courses seem closer to the original Faith and Life lessons before the creation of the expanded Teacher Manuals that I like so much.

I also think that without requiring some sort of activity/interaction with lesson elements like the flashcards and Catechism questions, students are likely to gloss over them. Assessment questions are too few to really require thorough mastery of all of each lesson’s content. In the end, it will be up to parents to ensure that students are really understanding and learning, in spite of what the assessments might reflect.

Pricing

$25 per student

Instant Key

  • Suitable for: independent study/good for auditory learners
    Audience: grades 1-8
    Need for parent/teacher instruction: low
    Prep time needed: none
    Teacher's manual: N/A
    Educational philosophy: traditional but on computer
    Religious perspective: Catholic

Publisher's Info

  • My Catholic Faith Delivered

    www.mycatholicfaithdelivered.com

    866-981-8964