Following the successful launch of our English literature courses at the start of this academic year, we are now introducing in-app video content to accompany our quizzes. Just like with our science videos, Tassomai will provide targeted teaching videos for the majority of our English literature texts. The videos enhance the learning experience, and are highly targeted and focused to give struggling students a helping hand.

The videos will be released in batches as they become available, with the first release focused on a topic that students often struggle with: Shakespeare! We thought this was a good place to start, as all UK exam boards include at least one Shakespearean element and the old-fashioned language can sometimes leave some students feeling alienated.

Content that teaches as well as tests!

The videos themselves focus on different themes that relate to many areas of each text and help students to bring together and contextualise ideas. After seeing a video students are given another quiz, which will be tailored to test and reaffirm the knowledge just relayed in the video, helping to build confidence and knowledge. 

For example, a video on the use of form and metre in The Merchant of Venice will explain the differences between iambic pentameter and prose, but also the significance of this difference when it's applied to the text and its characters. This will then aid students in answering questions on form, structure, language and characters, as well as theme-based questions on class and social structures. 

Videos for the following texts are now available on the app and there are many more to come:

• Othello 

• Macbeth 

• The Tempest 

• Romeo & Juliet 

• Much Ado About Nothing

• The Merchant of Venice
  

Targeted content

KS4 English literature students will be shown videos specifically chosen by our algorithm to help them with areas where they are struggling. These videos have been created by our in-house content team to tackle the areas where our students struggle the most. Our research has shown that short, targeted videos increase Tassomai’s impact, making it more effective and engaging.

To find out more about our research into the effectiveness of our videos please click here.

Well timed

The detailed profile we build for each of our students means that we are uniquely placed to offer highly targeted videos. Students are only shown content that we know will be adding value - always timely, relevant to that specific learner, and helping them to get the most from Tassomai.

We know students can ‘tune out’ when they watch videos on other platforms, so ours are short and sweet (60-90 seconds) and will relate directly to the questions that follow.

Keeping it quick, relevant and not overwhelming students with too much material keeps it impactful - while following it with a quiz ensures students stay engaged.

We know that these new Tassomai videos will help your students to learn what they need to know, help them remember and ultimately help their outcomes. We hope you like what you see with the Shakespeare content and we can’t wait to share the next set of texts with you in the coming weeks and months.

New to Tassomai? Click here to find out more about how Tassomai supports English teaching in schools, or you can click here if you would like to set up a private subscription.

FAQS

Who will be shown videos?

Videos will be shown to students just before they take a quiz covering a specification point which they are struggling with. This is determined by our personalised algorithm, and is based on how many videos that user has been shown and their historical accuracy. This is to ensure that they are highly targeted and personalised.
We currently have videos for all of our KS4 science content, as well as our new Shakespeare content for English literature, covering Othello, Macbeth, The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice. We will be releasing more text-based videos over the next few months.

Do students have to watch the videos?

When we suggest that a student watches a video to improve their experience on Tassomai, they are able to skip the video instead if they do not want to watch them.
Students can also change their settings so that they are never shown videos. If a student is using the app, they can set it so they only see videos when they are connected to WiFi.

Will this mean completing the daily goal takes longer?

This should have very little impact on how long students have to spend on Tassomai. Although students will not be answering questions when they watch the video, it will improve their long-term and short-term accuracy, meaning they have to answer fewer questions to complete the daily goal.
In addition to this no video is longer than 90 seconds, so even if it does add time to the daily goal, it should not add a significant amount of time to the user. If users feel that the videos are taking too long, they can skip them.

A lot of my students answer questions on their phones - will this use up their mobile data?

Watching videos on a phone can use up mobile data. To prevent this from being an issue, students using our app can change their settings so that they are only shown videos when connected to WiFi.

This is not possible if students login to the normal website on their phones; we would recommend they download the app if they do not want to use up their mobile data.

To find out more about Tassomai’s mobile data usage please click here.