This month’s blog post was contributed by April Pforts, State Supervisor of Mathematics with the Iowa Department of Education.

Note: While the resource highlighted here is not free, it integrates with OER and is relatively low cost.

Derivita is a new mathematics tool that has hit the mathematics community with promises to make educators’ lives easier. Co-created by the inventor of Instructure and Canvas, Devlin (a former Calculus teacher), Derivita has capabilities no other tool currently has. 

• Full Fidelity Mathematics and Targeted Feedback – Derivita can actually do math! From symbolic algebra to rational expressions and numerical evaluation, Derivita detects differences in properties and forms of math expressions to provide targeted feedback using the student’s own answers. 
• Gives targeted feedback –  When students consistently struggle to get the right answer, Derivita shows them how to correctly solve the problem. Derivita will immediately give the student another, similar question. This process goes on until the student has mastered the skill. 
• Spot Check –  Assess your students and encourage participation in real-time using SpotCheck on any Derivita question!
• Seamless LMS Integration – Derivita uses LTI to integrate directly with educators school’s LMS and seamlessly send grades to the grade book. Course setup only takes a few minutes. Students never leave their Canvas course. Addition menu options will appear within the 

A Next-Generation STEM Platform

Derivita allows educators to select from a library of thousands of questions or easily create their own questions to deliver rich, authentic assessments for homework, quizzes, tests, and high-stakes exams.

Use any textbook

Derivita can be used with any textbook or open educational resource and has pre-built question libraries that are aligned to the popular open textbooks for math from OpenStax. Content is currently available for the following courses:

Full Fidelity Mathematics and Targeted Feedback

Derivita can actually do math. From symbolic algebra to rational expressions and numerical evaluation, Derivita has educators covered. Derivita detects differences in properties and forms of math expressions to provide targeted feedback using the student’s own answers.

Mobile-Friendly

Derivita works on any mobile device because students work on their phones. Derivita provides students and educators with anytime, anywhere access on any device.

Accessible

Derivita automatically creates a scalable typeset version of equations, so educators can zoom in, zoom out, and change their contrast settings. Derivita works seamlessly with a wide range of assistive technologies to ensure equitable access for all students and educators.

Derivita is looking for Iowa educators to pilot Derivita and give them feedback. If you’re interested in this opportunity, contact them online.

Interested in Open Alternatives?

Check out our webinar on mathematics homework software for OER: Open math homework systems