A Boom membership does not include access to purchased decks, because points are sold separately. This can sometimes throw people at first, because it's all just Boom Cards, right? Not quite.
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It may be helpful to think of Boom as having two separate offerings: the first (memberships) which supports student data and deck creation and a separate market place for the exchange of learning materials (using points).
Points:
Points are used in our market place and make it possible for teachers to access ready-made Boom Card Decks for classes or to sell Decks they've created in the Boom Store.
Occasionally people ask us why Boom Card memberships don't include every deck for free. Since we are a self-funded company that is not venture-backed, we cannot afford to pay sellers for all of their lessons, and with our limited staff are focused on Customer Care, Sales, or Developing Code, we just don't yet have the time to create and offer our own decks at this time.
The actual "Boom Cards" decks you see in the Store are created by teacher entrepreneurs. We are delighted when teachers offer items for free, but we cannot ask them to give up their supplemental incomes entirely. We leave pricing completely up to them.
Memberships:
Boom Learning memberships boil down to data hosting. From creating learning materials to easy grading, your account acts as a home base, and the membership you choose shapes your teaching experience on Boom Learning.
Student data hosting includes the ability to see student progress and performance (aka grades) in the Reports tab. Student reports allow teachers to track accuracy, errors, and speed by individual students or for a whole classroom. This makes decisions about reteaching or differentiating easier to make today instead of after the big test.
Different membership levels offer varying features and levels of support for teachers. While every paid membership gives you access to that Reports tab, the number of students varies as does the number of decks you can create and what features you have access to when building your decks.
You can explore those differences here: Which Membership Should I Choose? The flow chart walks through the various ways a teacher would use Boom to help you find your way to the right membership level.
If you're thinking about buying an account for more than one teacher or a whole school, take a look at: School & Organization Purchases: What's Included? and then take a look at the buying process here.
All membership levels include the FastPlay option which gives students immediate feedback on every answer as they play through a deck. Every level can also purchase points or add free decks to their library with no limit, and your Library never expires, so those decks are yours for so long as you have an account. Some features, such as Live Monitoring or the ability to Create with Sound or Sell decks, are limited to Premium and above.
Conclusion:
Some teachers may want to spend more on a membership than points, because they'll be creating most of their own Decks of Boom Cards, while others would rather spend more on points to have access to ready made decks. Ultimately, it is up to each teacher or school to decide how they will be using Boom and thus which membership and how many points to purchase to meet their needs.
We recommend a new user begin with a free membership, find free decks in the Store, and use our "Get Started Creating Boom Cards" example deck to try making their own to get a feel for how they will be using Boom in the classroom or for distance learning and then purchase the best membership or points package to meet their individual needs.
