Drills

CD-ROM (Source: Black and White, goo.gl/WECTJO, under GNU Free licence)

Drills, such as grammar or maths exercises, fit for the most part with a behaviourist pedagogical approach, and are very web 1.0 in nature. However, they can be made communicatively richer through the use of multimedia elements. They can also be made more engaging if they take the form of quizzes or puzzles, especially where they incorporate elements of gamification.

Formerly, many drills were available on CD-ROMs (see image above) and could be loaded onto local PCs. They were often sold and distributed on CDs accompanying textbooks, though this has now become very rare. Today, it is more common for drills to be accessed on the web, whether by scanning QR codes embedded in textbooks or by simply accessing dedicated educational websites. Most commonly of all, drills are accessed as mobile educational apps.

Last update: February 2026.