Teachers and Administrators can increase the response time that students have to answer questions in Imagine Math Facts. This action is taken from each student's account and must be done separately for each operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). The speed cannot be altered for the Pre-test or Post-test, nor can it be altered in Ninja mode.
As a general rule, Imagine Learning discourages altering the response time, in order to foster automaticity when answering the facts and allow students to benefit from the productive struggle.
At the same time, we understand that increasing the response time might be best for some students in order to reduce frustration and increase confidence. This can be especially helpful for younger students and/or students with disabilities. The layout of a student's keyboard may also be a factor in how fast they can type a response.
Recommendations
- Do not let students make their own adjustments. Adjustments should be made only when your professional judgment deems them necessary.
- Alter the response time only for the operation(s) in which the students need more time. For example, if their mastery of addition and subtraction is progressing smoothly, only alter multiplication and division.
- Adjust the speed so that the program is still challenging, but not discouraging.
- Once students gain confidence, go back and increase the speed, incrementally working up to the Post-test's expected response time of 2 seconds or less for each fact. Students who fail the Post-test can still continue to practice and retry as often as they'd like until they master each fact.
To alter a student's response time in Imagine Math Facts:
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Log in to the student's account on a Mac or Windows computer.
Note
Adjusting the speed must be done on a computer. However, once the change is made, it will be effective regardless of what device the student uses. For example, you can make the change on your computer and the student can then log in using an iPad.
- Launch the operation you want to adjust.
- Once you are in the operation and able to navigate and answer questions, do one of the following actions:
Windows/GeneralHold the Left-Shift key and then press the F12 Key (L-Shift+F12).MacHold the Left-Shift key and then press the F12 Key (L-Shift+F12).
For Macs, if the F12 key is also the volume, then add the Fn key before the F12 key (L-Shift+Fn+F12).
If all that does is bring up the dashboard, then further adjustment to 1 or 2 settings is needed. The settings to change will vary a little bit depending on how the computer is set up:
A. Open System Preferences,
B. Select the Keyboard option.
C. Select Shortcuts, then look in Settings there for anything using the F12 key and deactivate it.
Then the L-Shift+Fn+F12 combination should work.
iMacA. Under the Apple menu, select System Preferences, then Keyboard.
B. In the Keyboard window, select Shortcuts.
C. In the Shortcuts menu, select Mission Control in the options on the left side.
D. On the right side, find where F12 is showing up (the default is “Show Dashboard”) and de-select that.
E. Restart your computer; this is required so that the F12 key will work in the new way.
F. When the iMac has started up again, then press the left-shift + fn + F12 keys together to access the speed control bar.
(To revert an F12 key back the way it was previously mapped, return to the keyboard's Shortcuts window and this time select what had been previously deselected.)
- Use the slider bar to adjust the allowed response time from 2 seconds up to 10 seconds.
- Click Apply. Your change is saved for that operation.