Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to our FAQ page where we have answers to some of the more common questions we get asked.

Categories

• Most Commonly Asked Questions (7)
• General Questions (15)
• Questions about Our Educational Material and Resources (12)
• Technical Questions (10)
• Membership, Payment, Billing and Subscription Questions (19)
• Using the Resources on Our Website (3)
• School and Teacher Questions (2)
• HomeSchool and Home Education Questions (1)
• Special Needs Questions (1)
• Zane Publishing Previous Software and CD-ROMs (1)

Questions about Our Educational Material and Resources

• Q) How do your quizzes continue the learning process?

  A) Every correct and incorrect answer is qualified and explained at the end of the quiz ensuring that even when using the online testing provided by our quizzes, your child or student continues to learn and is not just being tested for the sake of it.

• Q) Can you please explain why the subtitles on your videos are so important?

  A) There has been a significant amount of research conducted over the last 30 years that has linked the use of subtitles (otherwise known as Captions) with improved Reading and Literacy skills in children. We are the first online learning company to deploy subtitles on all our curriculum-aligned videos, and therefore we are the first to enable students to improve those all important Reading and Literacy Skills at the same time they are studying a range of curriculum topics. Many regard this as a significant breakthrough in the world of online learning.

• Q) How does a parent or teacher use the video subtitles to bring these benefits of improved Reading and Literacy skills to their students and children?

  A) We recommend that in the first instance allowing the child to watch and listen to the video with the audio "on". Following that we suggest using the video at least once - if not twice more with the audio turned off. Ask your child or student to use the video by reading the subtitles, one screen at a time using the pause button when required.

  The interactive study tools provided in the column to the right of the video on each video page include the provision of a Dictionary and Thesaurus, enabling the student to discover the meaning and pronunciation of any words they are unsure of - or do not know the meanings of. This procedure will also have a significant impact on the amount of information they retain from using the video as a learning tool.

  If you watch most children using these videos, you will quickly notice how often their eyes leave the main part of the screen to continually scan the subtitles which indicates that a learning process is also going on at a subconscious level.

• Q) What are the lengths of your subtitled videos?

  A) The average length of our videos is 11.7 minutes. We do this to ensure that the student is not expected to process too much information at any one time. For this reason many topics have up to as many as 7 videos teaching the topic with each video representing a different part of the overall topic..

• Q) Why are some of the words in the subtitles highlighted in different colors?

  A) The words that are highlighted in different colors in the subtitles, are words that are important to the learning and study of that topic. The teacher, parent, child or student is encouraged as they discover each of these words, to pause the video and use the Video Word Glossary and Dictionary which are two of interactive study tools provided in the right hand column beside the video on each video page - to learn the correct meanings of those words.

• Q) Can you please explain how I can use your subtitled videos to improve my child's reading and literacy Skills?

  A) We recommend that in the first instance allowing the child to watch and listen to the video with the audio "on". Following that we suggest using the video at least once - if not twice more with the audio turned off. Ask your child or student to use the video by reading the subtitles, one screen at a time using the pause button when required.

  The interactive study tools provided in the column to the right of the video include the provision of a Dictionary and Thesaurus, enabling the student to discover the meaning and pronunciation of any words they are unsure of. This procedure will also have a significant impact on the amount of information they retain from using the video as a learning tool.

  If you watch most children using these videos, you will quickly notice how often their eyes leave the main part of the screen to continually scan the subtitles which indicates that a learning process is also going on at a subconscious level.

• Q) How can I see and select which topics and videos are for different ages and grade levels?

  A) When you go into the videos section of the website look in the left hand column and you will see the Subjects menu. Located directly under that is the Grade Selection Tool under the heading "Videos By Grade" which enables you to identify those Topics/Videos for Elementary School, Middle school, High School, College and Adult learning.

  And alternative way to identify Topics/Videos by Age or Grade is to go to the following link for our Downloads page and Download a physical copy of our Topic/Video catalogue which will enable you to browse the entire video library while offline.

  http://www.zaneeducation.com/Catalog-Download.php

• Q) What are the Interactive Study Tools that you provide and where are they located?

  A) The Interactive Study Tools that we currently provide are located on each video page in the right hand column beside each video. They are positioned here to enable the person watching or using the video to simply "pause" the video and then click on which of the study tools they wish to use. They are positioned in this manner to ensure that the student does not lose their position being watched.

  The Interactive Study Tools include:

  • Access to that Topic's Downloadable Lesson Plan Guide
  • The Video Word Glossary
  • Our Encyclopedia
  • Our Dictionary
  • Our Thesaurus
  • The World Fact Book
  • Your Study Tracking Sheets

• Q) How does Zane Education compare with other companies that provide online educational video?

  A) The results of a recent study of the main online educational video providers - and the services they provide, have been used to construct comparison charts that are available to view using the following link:

  http://www.zaneeducation.com/educational-video/online-education-comparison.php

  Not only is Zane Education the only educational service provider that provides fully subtitled video, most of the educational video companies do not provide video that is developed specifically for teaching the curriculum and they only provide the video on its own. They certainly do not provide any of the supplemental resources like the Lesson Plans and Quizzes that make Zane Education a complete online visual learning solution.

• Q) Where can I find research on using subtitles to improve students reading and literacy skills?

  A) Please see the following link to the page on our site that provides a very detailed list of all the research that we are aware of linking the use of subtitles on video with improved Reading and Literacy skills in children.

  http://www.zaneeducation.com/video-subtitles-captions/subtitle-and-closed-captions-research.php

  O

  Other Pages providing useful information about Subtitles and Captions on video include:

  Subtitles - The Missing Link in Education

  http://www.zaneeducation.com/video-subtitles-captions/the-missing-piece.php

   

  The Benefits of Using Video in the Classroom as a Teaching Resource

  http://www.zaneeducation.com/educational-video/education-and-video.php

   

  The Benefits of Visual Learning in the Classroom

  http://www.zaneeducation.com/visual-learning/visual-learning.php

  Using Video Subtitles to Improve Reading and Literacy Skills

  http://www.zaneeducation.com/video-subtitles-captions/subtitles-reading-literacy-improvement.php

  What the Law Requires in Respect of Video Subtitles

  http://www.zaneeducation.com/video-subtitles-captions/subtitles-and-the-law.php

  How Video Subtitles can Help Teaching Students Classified as ESL Learners

  http://www.zaneeducation.com/video-subtitles-captions/subtitles-and-the-law.php

  The First Research Published by the Department of Education (in Jan 2013) about Using Video Subtitles to Improve Reading and Literacy Skills

  http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/single_study_reviews/wwc_sls_010813.pdf

• Q) How can my child improve their Reading and literacy skills using your resources?

  A) We recommend that in the first instance allowing the child to watch and listen to the video with the audio "on". Following that we suggest using the video at least once - if not twice more with the audio turned off. Ask your child or student to use the video by reading the subtitles, one screen at a time using the pause button when required.

  The interactive study tools provided in the column to the right of the video include the provision of a Dictionary and Thesaurus, enabling the student to discover the meaning and pronunciation of any words they are unsure of. This procedure will also have a significant impact on the amount of information they retain from using the video as a learning tool.

  If you watch most children using these videos, you will quickly notice how often their eyes leave the main part of the screen to continually scan the subtitles which indicates that a learning process is also going on at a subconscious level.

• Q) Which Countries can use your resources, and will they be aligned to the curriculum used in schools in my country?

  A) Most Countries have adopted school curriculums that are closely aligned to those curriculums used in either the U.K. or the U.S.

  Zane Education is an American company and therefore the content provided is aligned with the curriculum adopted in the United States. However much of that content is also aligned with the U.K. to the point where British voice-overs are used in the audio component in many of the relevant topics such as British Literature and History.

  Therefore more than 60% - 70% of the curriculum content provided in our online videos will be also applicable in many other countries around the world.