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I thought I'd take a look at some educational content produced here in Ireland. I'm starting with www.homeworkrules.com.

It was developed by RedCobalt Interactive Productions and www.mallni.com in partnership with parents and schools from the Greater Shankill area of Belfast.

www.homeworkrules.com has an unusual aim. It doesn't try to help kids with their homework. It aims to help PARENTS help their kids with their homework. Maths homework to be specific.

Hmmm. Yes. Perhaps a few of you are also thinking surely 2+2=4 no matter if you're 8 or 38. But while the figures and answer might be the same, apparently the methods used for working out the sum have changed dramatically between one generation and the next. So while Dad might be able to give young Jimmy the right answer, young Jimmy's frustrated with how Dad's teaching him, because he is supposed to learn the correct method as well as arrive at the 'right' answer.

Homework Rules tackles fractions. Tough stuff. With a tough audience. But the site rises to the challenge. First things first. This website looks good. It's pretty. It's well designed - slick and engaging. There's lots of audio with well-paced and quick-loading animation. And it's intuitive and easy to navigate. This looks and feels like well-thought out content.

But does the content work? Yes. I hated fractions at school. And I was usually lost no matter now hard my father (a very accomplished maths teacher) tried to help out. But just check out this explanation of Improper Fractions. Simple. Paced. And if you don't get it? Just rewind and listen again.

There are 13 mini modules in the Fractions section, and a further three modules in the percentages section. There is a whole lot of content here. Not all of it is teaching content - there's a lovely support section too that provides tips on reducing stress.

This content seems to be working with a very hard to reach demographic. Getting parents to work online is hard. Getting kids to work online is hard. Getting them both to work online together is hard. And with FRACTIONS??? But apparently www.homeworkrules.com has achieved that.

Homework Rules is a model of accessible content, with accessible alternatives and high-quality print-outs.

The content delivery platform is a slick piece of work too, that could easily be used to deliver more bite-sized modules of content. It would be easy to localise into different languages.

I had a chat with Colette Lynch about how the site evolved. She explained that www.homeworkrules.com was developed as part of the Government’s Renewing Communities drive, as a direct result of parents’ pleas for help with their kids homework.

Colette then talked about how parents were heavily involved throughout the development process. This resulted in the creation of extra tools, like the calculators and conversion tables.

The development team learned all about their users preferences. For example, users preferred to listen to audio explanations and watch the animations, rather than have to read a lot of text. The use of local accents was a real winner for the target audience too. I asked Colette for her final word on the project. She said

“As parental response has demonstrated, Homework Rules is an extremely compelling website that encourages shared family learning between parents and their children, changing what can in many instances be a real nightmare, into a positive experience".

Apparently the site is experiencing high user numbers, but more importantly, sustainable repeat user patters. What does that mean? It means the parents are logging in, coming back, and coming back again. It's nice to hear that something like this really works.

Homework rules is free and accessible to any parent in the UK and Ireland (although the content is curriculum specific to the UK), but has only been marketed to its original small demographic. That seems a real shame to me, as it's beautifully designed and is easy to use. It's world-class content. Go check it out!