REVIEW: Geniebook - Online Personalised Learning for P1 to S4

Activity Reviewed: Geniebook - an online suite of personalised learning products (register for a Free Trial)
Reviewer: Alvin @ https://alvinology.com/

Asher just got back his report book and he did me proud by scoring well for all his subjects. Primary 5 is a crucial period as he will be transitioning over to the final year for his first major exams, the dreaded PSLE. As such, good is still not sufficient. He needs to be consistent and work on his PSLE preparation next to ensure he can breeze through it next year.

While he currently attends Chinese tuition because this was a subject his mum and I felt he needed the most help on, he has no additional tuition help for Maths, Science and English. We did not enrol him for more tuition classes as we felt there needed to be a balance between study and play time. 

Nonetheless, with the PSLE coming up soon, we now feel he may need some extra help. How do you solve for extra tuition for your kid without having to eat too much into their limited play or rest time? 

Enter Geniebook, an online suite of personalised learning products powered by AI for Primary and Secondary students, that aims to make learning smarter, more productive and also more fun.

After a one-month trial on their English and Maths curriculums, here is Asher and my Geniebook review.

GenieSmart – AI Worksheet Generator 

This is the top feature we love the most for Geniebook – their GenieSmart AI worksheet generator that uses a proprietary AI technology developed with A*STAR.

Asher is generally good with his English, but is particularly poor in Comprehension. With GenieSmart, as he practises questions on Geniebook, the AI system will detect topics that are challenging for him. It would then personalise revision worksheets to help him master these challenging topics and focus attention on his weaknesses versus a generic worksheet that may come with questions on topics which he is already very good with. 

When Asher was revising for his English exams, I generated AI worksheets for him that weighted the topics according to his strengths and weaknesses. For instance, Comprehension questions had a higher weightage as that was his weakest topic. 

I love this feature because this is not possible with regular assessment books or tuition. Best of all, the more worksheets Asher does on Geniebook, the better the AI would become in creating worksheets that best addresses his learning gaps. 

According to Geniebook, 90% of their students show improvement in their work after just 8 worksheets! 

GenieClass – Live And Pre-Recorded Online Classes Taught By Experienced Teachers 

Nothing beats the experience of a live classroom environment, complete with interaction and participation with a real teacher. There are over 100 live classes streamed weekly on Geniebook for all levels. Pre-recorded and post-recorded classes are available too for viewing. 

I watched a few sessions together with Asher at the start, just to get a sense of how the teachers were like. It is interesting to note that all of them were very comfortable teaching via video calls with their students, something which some school teachers who were forced to adopt home-based learning were not that comfortable with. 

The lessons were more engaging because the teachers were familiar with the medium for content delivery. They made sure they were animated and talk in excited, lively tones, keeping the energy level high throughout to maintain the kids’ attention. 

If your child likes to ask questions during classes with other students , be sure to sign them up for the live classes based on the schedules in Geniebook. Otherwise, if they prefer flexibility to revise at their own time, the post-recorded classes will ensure your child never misses out on any past lessons and can also pick and choose the ones that best fits what they want to learn.

Asher mostly tuned in to the recorded sessions for flexibility.

GenieAsk – Social Learning Platform For Students To Connect With Teachers And Seek Help

Admit it, there has got to be times when you get stumped by your child’s primary school maths questions. Remember Cheryl’s Birthday? 

Fret not with GenieAsk. Next time this happens, you can pipe it over to the expert teachers on GenieAsk for help, all week long (Mon-Fri: 3-9pm, Sat-Sun: 10am-7pm).

This is especially helpful when I am at work and have no time to assist Asher directly with his homework when he has a question or two. With GenieAsk, professional help is now just a click away. During the current school holiday, this was perfect because he stays home most of the time on his own while I am working during office hours. With GenieAsk, he no longer has to WhatsApp me and wait for my reply after I finish my meeting or when I can find some time during my working hours to respond to him. 

Your child can also join moderated academic communities of 50 students or get their questions answered and take part in activities with their peers to create a competitive, but friendly learning environment for all. 

Bubble Store – Get Motivated To Learn 

Bubbles are a form of motivation for your child to practise more with Geniebook. The more Bubbles they earn, the more items they are able to redeem from the Geniebook Bubble Store. The Geniebook team has done their research well and included coveted items like Roblox Gift Cards that got Asher all excited and motivated to do his worksheets and set up his learning plan on Geniebook from the get-go! 

A little reward at the end of the day helps children to understand the value of work and keeps them motivated, making learning more fun. I like this concept of the Bubble Store and it is a winning feature for Asher. 

Learning At Your Own Time, Own Target And Pace

Everything is online and customisable to best suit your child’s schedule and learning pace for Geniebook. After the initial setup of both the student and parent accounts, you can customise and manage your child’s study plan with the use of Geniebook’s mobile app or via the desktop version. 

Likewise for your child, they can log into the Geniebook website to attend lessons or complete worksheets at their own time, as long as they complete the assignments you have given to them within the set deadline. 

As everything is online, Asher saves on travelling time and can also manage his revision time on his own, after discussing with me. 

With his P5 exams now over, instead of letting him waste away his whole December school holidays, I am setting up some AI worksheets and a study plan together with Asher on Geniebook so he balances his play time with some revisions in preparation for his PSLE next year. 

Thanks to all the cool features mentioned above, he is sufficiently motivated to learn and the revisions on Geniebook did not appear to be like chores to him. 

Interested to find out more about Geniebook? 

You do not have to pay and sign-up straightaway. Get your complimentary Strengths Analysis here!