Revel for Psychology
Traditionally, active engagement in higher education courses requires learners to spend time reading a textbook. But the current generation of students are used to getting their information instantly through smartphones and other devices.
Revel, an interactive digital learning environment, actively engages today’s students on their device of choice with digital reading materials, videos, and other multimedia alongside formative assessments that provide feedback.
Pearson set out to discover whether Revel is having the right learner outcome impact in areas like student experience, engagement, completion, and achievement. We looked specifically at Psychology, 1st edition by Amy J. Marin and Roger R. Hock, one of many titles available exclusively as Revel content.
Our research supported our hypothesis that using Revel would be related to student achievement — an important element of its intended outcomes for learners.
Educator guide
Summary
Product page
Key findings
How we did it
Pearson examined the use of Revel in relation to learner outcomes like student engagement and achievement. We focused the first stage of exploration on a specific digital-first title: Revel for Psychology, 1st edition by Amy J. Marin and Roger R. Hock.
Pearson conducted a correlational study with 316 students in the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters of an introductory psychology course at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The study analyzed:
- learning behavior (using data from an instructor interview, a student survey, and from Revel)
- and outcomes (using data from course records).
It also explored implementation — that is, how Revel for Psychology was integrated into the course experience.
The introductory psychology instructor used a flipped classroom format. She required students to complete readings in Revel before class and then organized class time around group activities rather than direct instruction. The instructor assigned relevant activities that needed to be completed in Revel shortly after each week of class. Students earned class participation points based on their scores in these assignments, which were the same for both the online and face-to-face sections.
Leveraging data from a student survey, course records, and Revel platform data, regression models were employed.
Results from the statistical models suggest that students who obtained higher quiz scores in Revel tended to do better on course exams. Likewise, students who spent more time reading in Revel and answered more quiz questions correctly on the first attempt tended to do better on exams.
Read the Revel for Psychology Product Efficacy Report
Summary of all relevant research on Revel for Psychology, including foundational research related to the design of the product and impact evaluation review.
Revel for Psychology Technical Research Report
A correlation study with University of Nebraska–Lincoln: Revel for Psychology.
What we learned
Efficacy statements
In the context of this study, conducted with 316 students in the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, we can make the following correlational statements about the efficacy of Revel for Psychology, 1st edition:
- Each additional 10 percentage points students scored on Revel Psychology quizzes were associated with an increase of 1.36 (±0.41) percentage points on unit exams.
These correlational results are all based on a regression model controlling for self-reported ACT score, gender, and year in college.
Secondary analyses suggest that students who spent more time reading and interacting with Revel for Psychology, 1st edition, and who answered more questions correctly on the first attempt—both suggestive of a higher quality of engagement with the title—also tended to obtain higher unit exam scores when controlling for self-reported ACT score, gender, and year in college.
These secondary findings supplement the main findings and provide further support regarding the positive relationship between students’ use of Revel and their exam scores. Because they are supplementary to the main findings, the secondary findings should be viewed as suggestive.
In the same context, we can make the following descriptive statements.
- When asked how likely they were to recommend Revel to another student on a scale of 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely), 41% of students provided a rating of 9 or 10, with another 43% of students providing a rating of 7 or 8.
- Revel’s net promoter score, which is an index of customer experience that captures the likelihood a student would recommend Revel to a friend, was 27.
- 92% of students said Revel was a more efficient way to study compared to other books or products.
- 72% of students said they used Revel several times a week or daily.
- 84% of students said they spent more time using Revel than other books or products.
- 100% of students completed the required aspects of the course — that is, at least three of the four unit exams and the final exam.
- Students successfully completed 93% of Revel assignments, measuring successful completion as scoring 70% or higher on the assignments and counting missing assignments as incomplete.
- 96% of students passed the course.
- The average grade for the final exam was 94.6%, and the average unit exam grades were 85.2% for instructional unit one, 82.0% for unit two, 82.9% for unit three, and 79.4% for unit four.