Hello,
My name is Jan and I'm the Digital Marketing Manager for IGGY. I spotted this comment thread and wanted to fill everyone in - I hope you don't mind, hopefully we have some useful information for you.
As you will have seen from looking at the website, IGGY is a safe social educational network created by the University of Warwick in the UK to help gifted young people aged 13-18 realise their full potential. It gives members access to educational resources and encourages them to work with top academics, student mentors and other gifted young people around the world to exchange ideas, debate, learn and explore in a safe environment. We currently provide resources and challenges in Maths, Sciences, Creative Writing, History and Politics, and Life Skills (including a Careers Hub with over 100 videos) and we have a very active Debate section. There are quick quizzes and games as well as longer projects and the idea is that our challenges should be fun and interactive as well as intellectually stimulating. We're also developing a number of face to face events that will be available to IGGY Members.
We have over 1000 Members now from all across the world and feedback from our community suggests that they are finding the site hugely beneficial both from a social and intellectual point of view. Over the last six months (since the site's launch), Members and our team of student mentors have been discussing options for their future, debating everything from their favourite movie to genetic engineering, taking part in our challenges (some of them winning prizes) and generally making the most of the global community available to them through IGGY.
I'm not sure what your child's school has in mind for her IGGY Membership, but we would hope that it wouldn't add to her workload. You can take as much or as little as you want from IGGY. Some students log on for a short while each week to see what appeals to them, others spend much longer on the site browsing different subject areas and debating at length - it's up to the individual. We know that our 'Homework Help' has allowed members to chat about their workload and help each other out.
I'd be really happy to provide you with more information and perhaps let you see IGGY in action - please contact us with us via our website (www.IGGY.net/contact) and we will follow up with you.
I'd also be really keen to hear if there are other IGGY parents on Mumsnet and what they think of it.
Best wishes,
Jan
IGGY