SAAS educational software

Is it just me, or does all educational software suck? I can't work out why either, does "think of the children" mode mean that user testing, esp. user interface testing, is not required? Is the market really so small that no one has the money/motivation? Do kids just cope?

Anyway, I've had a mixed bag signing up my eldest for Mathletics. The product looks quite good, a good concept, and they've had a killer marketing idea by giving free access to primary schools in NZ and Australia for a week or so in order to promote Literacy and Numeracy Week (hey, Australian only?). Basically NZ and Australia fight it out for points (I think) with the individual students battling each other game by game. Neat. And the parents get to see the product en masse and (like me) sign up if they like it.

I'd never seen this product before, although it seems to have a critical mass (and good critical reviews). It does look like it will help and encourage Son #1 with his mental arithmetic and build on his already impressive spelling skills. The games are amusing, the head-to-head nature adds some competition element, and the parents can get week-by-week feedback on progress.

In game progress allows the purchase of add-ons to your avatar, although I must admit to being confused about the difference between points (earned per game, used for totals) and credits (earned per game at a different rate, used for avatar upgrades).

The game is totally flash based, with annoying new windows for login and some weird UI behaviour like no auto-focus on the entry box for some of the maths games. But it does work 99% of the time, and #1 seems to enjoy it.

I had an awful time signing up for a year (NZ$99 for maths and spelling, on special) as I got the dreaded ASP error n when returning from the payment portal (successfully, I might add). On the other hand I got a phone call (!) in response to my email within minutes. I've learned to just bit my tongue when people tell me it is my fault, and I dutifully did it all again with the same result. Then I wrote another email where I was more forceful about suggesting they fix it and not make me enter all the details again and have my CC charged again.

Next morning it was all fixed, so I have to recommend the customer service and the service as a whole. More reports in a month or so when we've had more time to evaluate the long-term effects.