DeltaMath versus Edia: Two Websites for Practicing Math

 

If you have been in the secondary math education field for a while, you may have heard of websites such as DeltaMath, Khan Academy, IXL, and Edia…. These websites are different yet similar: they are designed for teachers to create online practice for students who receive instant feedback.

 

Compare and contrast

Here I will compare 2 of the more popular math practice websites: DeltaMath and Edia (pronounced ee-DEE-uh).

Full disclosure: I was contacted by Joe Philleo, one of the founders of Edia, and asked to write a blog post about his site. We met on Zoom; he walked me through the website, told me about the features, and gave me a free trial of the Teacher+ version. Below are my honest thoughts about Edia.

Edia has not gained in popularity as quickly as DeltaMath has. That is likely due to the age of each website. DeltaMath has been around since 2009, and Edia launched in June 2020. Read more about the History of DeltaMath. You may also be interested in How to use DeltaMath.

How can these websites be used?

✔️homework assignment

✔️warm up

✔️exit ticket

✔️optional practice assignment

✔️remediation

✔️summative assessment (available in the free version of Edia; only available in the paid version of DeltaMath)

	DeltaMath.com	Edia.app
Launched in	2009	2020
Does it have a free version?	Yes	Yes
Price of an individual subscription	DeltaMath PLUS is $95/year for an individual.* DeltaMath INTEGRAL is $145/year for an individual.* *These are the prices in July 2022	The Teacher+ version is $119/year for an individual.*
Is there a site license available?	Yes. There is a PLUS site license and an INTEGRAL site license available. Price depends on the size of the school/district. https://www.deltamath.com/teachers-schools/	Yes. There is a School & District site license available. Price depends on the size of the school/district. https://edia.app/plus
Is it easy to create an account?	Yes, and you can sign in with a google account.	Yes, and you can sign in with a google account.
Is it easy to create an assignment?	Yes and no. It’s easy when you get used to it, but it can seem daunting the first time you log into the website. But there are many help videos available.	Yes, the process is intuitive.
Is it easy to add students to a class?	Yes, you can import from Google Classroom, invite students using a Class Code, or share with them your Teacher Code.	Yes, either import from Google Classroom or share the unique class link.
Are there anti-cheating features?	No. Students find ways to cheat, but it’s easy to call them out on it. This is discussed a lot in the DeltaMath Official Facebook group.	Yes, you can turn on an anti-PhotoMath background, also students cannot paste an answer from another site (such as symbolab) into the answer box.
Can you add a custom question?	Yes, with the paid subscriptions.	Yes, with the paid subscriptions, but only to a quiz, you cannot add a custom question to a practice assignment.
Does the custom question feature have all math symbols available?	Yes, DeltaMath uses LaTex. If you don’t want to bother with LaTex, you can add an image.	No. Many good tools are available, but you cannot add sigma notation, limit notation, or integrals. For more complicated symbols or questions, you can add an image.
Is there an option for students to upload their handwritten work?	Yes, with the INTEGRAL subscription.	No, but students can type their work in the workspace available below each question.
Are all secondary math topics available?	Yes, DeltaMath covers 6th grade through Calculus and also Computer Science.	Not yet. As of July 2022, the topics covered are middle school through Precalculus. Calculus is not yet available.
Can you print an assignment you’ve created?	Yes, with the INTEGRAL subscription.	No, but there are free worksheets: https://edia.app/worksheets
Can you change a free response question to multiple choice (and vice versa)?	No.	Yes, with the paid subscriptions.
Can you assign a specific question from a skill?	Yes, with the paid subscriptions.	No, but with the paid subscriptions, you can set some advanced question filters (such as not allowing negatives in the question).
Can you have different due dates/times for different classes?	Yes, with the free version. In the paid subscriptions, you can open an assignment to different classes at different times.	No. But you can duplicate an assignment to assign it to a different class, but there will be separate reports.
Can you change the point value of questions in an assessment?	Yes, with the paid subscriptions	Yes, with the paid subscription.
Does it have Google Classroom Integration?	Yes. Full integration with the DeltaMath PLUS and INTEGRAL subscriptions.	Yes, available in the free version.
Are there other LMS integrations available?	Yes, with a site license, integrations with Canvas, Schoology, ClassLink, and Clever are offered. With the INTEGRAL individual subscription, they offer Canvas and Schoology integrations.	Yes, but only with the site license. Canvas and Schoology are specifically mentioned.
Do students get marked wrong for input errors?	DeltaMath is very particular about how answers are typed. Students must pay attention to any special instructions in the question (e.g., round to 3 decimal places, write in simplified form). Sometimes the requirements for how answers must be written might differ from how the teacher taught them.	Edia is more forgiving when it comes to input answers. If an answer is 1/3, a student can write 2/6, 1/3, 0.33, 0.33333, and they will all be marked correct.
Does the teacher get an email notification when an assignment deadline has passed?	No	Yes. The email includes the number of students who completed the assignment, average grade, % correct by question, and more! (I really like this feature.)
Can students practice topics on their own without a teacher assigning them?	Yes, at deltamath.com/app/explore. However, this link is designed for a teacher to explore DeltaMath. There is no record of the problems practiced when one uses this link so I don't see much value in sending students to it. Also, I think a student would find it overwhelming to have access to all of the skills - they wouldn't know which skills to practice.	Yes and no. After a student has been assigned skills, they can choose to study those skills. With a site license, students get full access to the A.I. tutor.
Can you have a co-teacher in a class?	Yes, with the paid subscriptions.	Yes, available in the free version.
Can you share assignments with another teacher?	Yes, and you can control who can copy your assignments.	Yes, you can share with other teachers at your school. The teachers must add the school to their profile. You cannot prevent colleagues (or students disguised as teachers) from copying your assignments.
Can you make an assignment for an individual student?	Yes, with the paid subscriptions.	Yes, with the paid subscriptions.
Can you sort assignments into folders?	Yes	No
Are the skills aligned with state standards?	“In 22-23, we will offer alignment to standards for all 50 US states, DC, and Canada. INTEGRAL site licenses will include data views of performance against standards.” Source: https://www.deltamath.com/faqs/	Yes. The skills are aligned with  CCSS, TEKS, and VA SOL. To see the standards, you must have the District site license.
Are the problems challenging enough for honors-level students?	In my experience, there are not enough questions from the top 3 levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Analyze, evaluate, create), which is not surprising due to the need to generate new problems with different numbers and the auto-grade feature. https://bloomstaxonomy.net/	There are some skills the developers have classified as being on the higher levels of Webb’s Depth of Knowledge framework. It is not easy to find these questions. https://wowzers.com/blog/exploring-webbs-depth-of-knowledge/
Are there videos available for each skill?	Yes, with the paid subscriptions. These videos are available for the students to watch *before* they answer a question.	Yes (from what I can tell – I plan to follow up with the developers about this). But a student has to either get the question right or click on “Check” to see an explanation and access the videos.
What kind of data does a teacher have access to?	“Teachers can see every problem students have attempted or seen, including student answers. Timestamps detail when students were solving, their last actions, and the amount of time spent on each problem. Teachers can also view and export aggregate student completion grades. With DeltaMath PLUS, teachers can see when students started a timed test or assignment, how long students worked on that test or assignment, and also track if students watched help videos.” Source: https://www.deltamath.com/faqs/	With the district site license, teachers and districts have access to some comprehensive reports: https://edia.app/districts
Are the questions available in other languages?	No	Yes, with the site license.
Is it easy to get help or tech support?	Yes, but you may not get a response right away. https://www.deltamath.com/contact You will likely get help quickly if you crowdsource by asking in the DeltaMath Official Facebook group.	Yes, you can email them at support@edia.app. Because they are a small company, they are very responsive.
Is it easy to send feedback to the developers?	Yes, on the website, you can click on the question mark in the top right corner. There you can either request a skill or a feature.	Yes, when you click on the smiley face in the top right corner, there is a dropdown menu where you can give feedback.

 

In DeltaMath, go to the question mark to see help videos, make a skill request, make a feature suggestion, and more.

In Edia, click on the smiley face in the top right of the screen to give feedback about the website.

In summary, there are features that I like about each website. DeltaMath has more overall features than Edia, but Edia as a company is smaller and younger. I think Edia’s free version has a few more useful features than DeltaMath’s free version, but DeltaMath’s paid version is more robust than Edia’s paid version.

If you want something that is not too complicated and is relatively easy to set up, then you may prefer Edia.

I like that both companies request feedback from teachers. In my experience, software and websites designed by teachers and for teachers are always better than websites designed for admin and then later added features they think teachers would want.

Have you used both DeltaMath and/or Edia? How do you like them? Join my Facebook group and share your thoughts.