Crew Review: Zane Education

Have you heard of Zane Education?  I had not. Zane Education provides video based instruction for classrooms and home school.  In today’s technologically driven world, videos have become almost essential for teaching and learning.

As you can see from the tag line, Zane Education provides “the Missing Piece.”  You can download several catalogs for free and get a feel for what is available.  I especially recommend the Video Title Catalog.

Zane offers several levels of membership including a free basic level.  At the basic level you have access to all the resources including the online quizzes but you’ll only be able to view sample videos as the full online educational videos are only available with a premium membership.

• GOLD MEMBERSHIP provides access to the videos for all topics at just $17.99 per month or $197.89 per year.
• SILVER MEMBERSHIP provides access to the videos for all topics in a particular Age/Grade at just $12.99 per month or $142.89 per year.
• BRONZE MEMBERSHIP provides access to the videos for all topics in a particular Subject at just $8.99 per month or $98.89 per year.

How we’ve been using Zane Education: With thousands of videos to choose from it can be overwhelming.  We used the Video Title Catalog to see what subjects and topics were available.  For BooBear, a senior, we’re using Zane Video Education to build self-constructed independent study courses.

Zane provides free lesson plans with suggestions for research topics, essays and even debate. Those items, along with the quizzes provide a fully structured course. Boobear wanted to study Psychology.  We’re using the Zane videos along with the quizzes and lesson plan assignments to choose complementary books with those topics from the library to create our own “Overview of Psychology” elective for her senior year. She’s also using Zane to give structure to her study of Music Composers.

Turtlegirl is studying biology.  She is using Zane as a supplement to her regular biology course picking and choosing Zane topics that match her course.  She is also using Zane to study Art History.

For Tailorbear we found some topics that interested her.  She’s been watching videos about Ancient Egypt and doing some literature studies focused on Greek Mythology.

With Supergirl, I’ve picked a topic here and there to supplement her history studies. For her Zane is strictly a supplement.

Some Things to Note:

• The Math Videos are NOT owned by Zane Education ~ Because they are not owned by Zane they are not subtitled. These are provided  “for your convenience only as we proceed to develop our own.”
• Some words are green and some are blue ~ these are highlighted words and the student can use the Resources to learn more.  I have been unable to find any significance to the color. 
• Some areas look “clickable” ~ On the side of many videos are words that look like they should be hyperlinks.  They are not.  This can be distracting and frustrating.  Also it “feels” like the highlighted words should be hyperlinks but they are not.
• Size of video can not be changed ~ Some of the video titles are actual moving pictures.  These are about 2 1/2” wide by 2” tall. There is no way to make them larger.

Thoughts from BooBear (age 17): “I think it is a great way to get an introduction to topics to give you the lift or push off to go deeper. Lectures are interesting and provide several topics that you could choose to research as well. I like being able to read along with the lecture. The subtitles really help. I wish Zane’s dictionary and encyclopedia had more words. I would look for a word that they had highlighted in the lecture but I wouldn’t find it in the dictionary or the encyclopedia  even though those are words you are supposed to look up. This is a great addition for my senior year.”

Thoughts from Turtlegirl (age 14 1/2): “I like it. The different videos are very good at covering the information. I like how it has music playing, the person talking and I can read along. I like how it has a multi-sensory approach. I’m glad we got it. There’s so many topics I want to study.”

 Thoughts from Tailorbear (age 13):  “It is amazing. I love history and it gave it to me in lovely ways. I like how it has this little button that is so obvious.  It says videos. I can click on that and then I click on the subject that I want. I like the subtitles.”

My Bottom Line: What I love most about Zane Education is the ability to use the videos as a jumping off point for designing our own courses for my high school students. This is an incredibly rich resource for home school families.  ONE subscription is good for the entire family.  And I mean the whole family as many topics are listed as –Adult. This is a K-12 product with something for everybody.  Though I don’t like that I can’t change the size of the videos or that some things look clickable but aren’t, I really like this product.  If you are looking for a great resource for every student in your home school, you’ll want to consider a Gold Level Membership to Zane Education.

Check out Zane Education on Facebook!  And be sure and check out the FAQ page on the website. 

Zane is also offering their first ever promotion!  I’ve been given a promotion code to share with my blog readers: The 35% Discount Promotion Code: ZE774HSM

Click on the banner below to read what other Crew Members had to say about Zane Education.

All information is correct and accurate as of the date of this review.

Disclaimer: As a TOS Crew member, I received a one year Gold level membership free of charge to review. I am required to write a review but I am not required to write a positive review. This review contains my and/or my daughters’ honest opinion with, hopefully, enough detail as to why I/ we liked or did not like a product so that my readers can make an informed decision. I received no compensation.

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