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  • A number of students sitting outside, reviewing content on laptops and mobile devices

    The top eTextbook features your students should be using

    By Erica Von Lohr

    As digital learning continues to evolve, eTextbooks are becoming an essential resource for students, offering features that traditional textbooks simply can't match.  

    Pearson eTextbooks are available as part of a MyLab® & Mastering® course or with a subscription to Pearson+. Each title contains a variety of study tools and resources designed to increase student engagement and maximize learning.  

    Here are the top eTextbook features that every instructor should know to help their students make the most of their studying – and their time. 

    Audiobook 

    Utilizing audiobooks offers students a flexible and accessible way to engage with course materials, especially for those who prefer auditory learning or have busy schedules.

    With audiobooks, students can learn on the go, turning a commute or exercise time into productive study sessions. This format also supports better comprehension for students who may struggle with reading large volumes of text or those with visual impairments (read-along spotlighting helps students follow along as they listen). By providing an alternative method of absorbing information, audiobooks help students review material in a convenient and engaging way. 

    Highlights & notes 

    Within the eTextbook, students can create notes and highlights to ensure they engage with the material in real time – promoting active reading, which greatly enhances learning and retention. Actively engaging with the course material you’ve adopted will help students increase understanding and boost critical thinking.

    The ability to categorize notes or highlights in different colors and patterns helps students better organize and track themes or important concepts throughout the text. Notes and highlights can be easily organized, searched, and revisited later in the notebook, making it much easier for students to review for exams without flipping – or scrolling – through the pages.  

    Flashcards 

    Incorporating flashcards into the eTextbook experience offers a dynamic way to reinforce learning. Students can create their own flashcards or use the pre-built flashcards created for their title. Study sessions are more efficient as flashcards are integrated directly into the eTextbook experience.

    Flashcards allow students to actively engage in self-assessment by reviewing key terms and concepts in a quick and interactive format. Repetition and spaced learning methods strengthen memory, making it easier for students to recall information during exams or practical applications.   

    AI-powered study tool* 

    With capabilities like simplified explanations, on-demand summaries, and choose -our-own practice, the AI-powered study tool in an eTextbook helps students break down complex material, focus on key concepts, and receive guidance with challenging concepts to improve learning in the moment.

    This intuitive, 24/7 study companion draws from vetted Pearson content to keep students engaged with the materials you’ve chosen for your course. The AI study tool gives students the simplicity they crave, eliminating the need to leave their assigned course material for help. Instead, support is provided anytime, anywhere within the assigned textbook. 

    Text translation 

    Translation capabilities in eTextbooks are powerful tools for students who are non-native speakers or studying foreign languages.

    With the translate feature, students can highlight words or sections of text and effortlessly translate text on-screen in one of over 100 languages. This feature enables instant translation of words, sections of text, and unfamiliar terms, making the content more accessible and reducing language barriers.

    This promotes a deeper understanding of the material and allows students to focus on learning the subject rather than struggling with language comprehension. Translation tools also help students expand their vocabulary in both their native and target languages, enhancing their overall learning experience. 

    Enhanced search 

    One of the top features of eTextbooks is enhanced search, which enables students to quickly find relevant content for study and review. With a minimum of three characters, search results will populate with related media, images, key terms, and even the student's own notes. 

    Pearson+ mobile app 

    The Pearson+ mobile app provides students with access to all their Pearson eTextbooks in one place. They can get anytime, anywhere access and take advantage of learning on the go – no wifi needed. 

    *Available in select titles for the Fall 2024/Spring 2025 academic terms. 

     

    To learn more about Pearson+, go to  https://www.pearson.com/en-us/higher-education/products-services/pearsonplus.html     

    Looking for data-driven strategies to encourage student engagement and improved study with an eTextbook? Listen into this webinar hosted by Pearson Research Scientists.
    https://www.pearson.com/en-us/higher-education/insights-and-events/webinars-events/2023/11/engagement-through-etext.html 

     

  • College students listening in a lecture

    The Success of the First-Ever Learning Catalytics Summit

    By Pearson

    At Pearson, we’re always listening to faculty and students and, recently, we kept hearing one refrain over and over — classroom engagement was at an all-time low. Fortunately, we knew just what to do. In fact, we had a solution ready.

    For years, Pearson’s Learning Catalytics interactive student response tool has been helping instructors and students connect in meaningful ways. As soon as we knew classroom engagement was lagging, we knew we needed to host a Learning Catalytics Summit to help more instructors learn how to use — and make the most of — this incredible tool.

    On August 1, we hosted the first-ever Learning Catalytics Summit to great acclaim. Attendees participated in four different webinar sessions hosted by Learning Catalytics experts. Each session focused on a specific advantage of Learning Catalytics, but they all spoke to the ways the student response tool can help instructors see learning as it happens.

    The overall message: Learning Catalytics is a powerful student response and assessment tool. As session-leader Aaron Warnock said, “Learning Catalytics — and I cannot exaggerate — revolutionized my classroom.” Brad Mehrtens concurred in his session, adding, “Learning Catalytics makes a huge difference in student engagement at any scale.”

    How Does Learning Catalytics Work?

    Designed to work on laptops and all common smart devices, Learning Catalytics gives instructors a way to connect directly to students and know when everyone is following a lesson and when some are falling behind. This real-time assessment allows instructors to adjust their teaching in-the-moment and address student confusion before it becomes a problem.

    Learning Catalytics empowers instructors to:

    • Engage students with 18 question types that include graphing, drawing, multiple choice selections, open-ended dialogues, and more
    • Identify misconceptions and monitor responses to find out where students are struggling
    • Facilitate peer-to-peer learning with automatic grouping of students so that every group has a member who understands the material

    These features are available whether the class is in-person or online, making Learning Catalytics useful in every teaching environment. As Brad Mehrtens said about his experience using Learning Catalytics with even difficult-to-connect-with classrooms, “[The students] were there, they were engaged. [Learning Catalytics] works… It’s the only thing that works.”

    What Did the Learning Catalytics Summit Cover?

    The summit’s four unique sessions provided a wealth of information on how Learning Catalytics works and how instructors can use it in all kinds of classroom settings and situations. An hour-long each, the sessions included:

    “Unleashing the Power of Learning Catalytics in a Hybrid Environment” with Aaron Warnock

    Aaron Warnock’s session focused primarily on the way Learning Catalytics’ question-and-answer function helps instructors connect with students and students learn better in hybrid environments. Aaron showed audiences how students can answer questions by drawing graphs, clicking on different regions of an image, highlighting relevant information, evaluating complex problems, or simply filling in a multiple choice answer.

    Aaron noted that the different question types give instructors a lot of flexibility in the ways they monitor student learning. Plus, the questions make it easier to get students to answer without them feeling uncomfortable, because everyone participates and no one feels put on the spot.

    “When I saw Learning Catalytics for the first time, and the eighteen different question types that are available, I was instantly sold,” Aaron said. “It creates a fantastic, engaging learning environment for students.”

    “Transforming Large-Classroom Activities with Learning Catalytics” with Brad Mehrtens

    Being a professor who routinely teaches classes as large as 600 students, Brad Mehrtens understands the challenges of connecting with students. In his session, he spoke to how Learning Catalytics helps him keep students engaged in even the largest lecture halls.

    After regularly watching class attendance dwindle — particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic — he started using Learning Catalytics. He immediately had a much better sense of how well his students were learning and, to his delight, attendance evened out.

    “I was as deflated by the pandemic as anyone was, and Learning Catalytics has made me excited about teaching again,” Brad says. “And I don’t say that lightly. It has completely recharged my battery and made it fun to be back in the classroom”

    “Connecting with Learning Catalytics for Success Throughout Your Course” with Pamela Sandstrom

    A number of years ago, Pamela Sandstrom was using other types of student response tools — but that all changed. “Once I switched [to Learning Catalytics], I’ve never even thought about using any other instant response system because of how much [Learning Catalytics] can do,” she said in her summit session.

    Centered on the ways Learning Catalytics can positively impact a course at multiple moments and in numerous ways, Pamela’s talk discussed how useful the real-time data on student learning is to her instruction.

    “Learning Catalytics provides formative assessment,” she said. “But to me that means that I don’t have to wait till the test, or even till the end of the lecture — [I can see] how they’re doing in the class real time”

    “The Tips and Tricks You Need to Know About Learning Catalytics” with Terry Austin

    During his session, Terry Austin shared his screen to demonstrate exactly how Learning Catalytics works and all the ways he can customize it for the needs of a specific class. As an instructor who has been using Learning Catalytics for a decade, he had a lot of great tips and tricks, ranging from linking Learning Catalytics to a Pearson Mastering class to using it to improve seat maps to incorporating it into classroom presentations.

    “Learning Catalytics is clever,” Terry said, noting how much the tool is capable of doing. As attendees to his session and the summit as a whole learned, he was right. Learning Catalytics can empower instructors to assess student learning in-the-moment, improve student engagement, and make classroom time much more successful.

    As Terry noted, there’s a good reason he’s been using Learning Catalytics for a decade.

  • Three women are looking at a laptop computer screen. Two are seated at a desk while the third is standing.

    Taking a Proactive and Positive Approach with Students about Academic Dishonesty

    By Jessica Bernards and Wendy Fresh

    As educators, one of the biggest issues we have recently had to tackle in our classrooms is the increase in academic misconduct. At our college, there was a 703% increase in academic misconduct reports from Winter 2020 to Winter 2021. Additionally, there has been a tremendous rise in ed tech companies that flourished during the pandemic. We feel like every time we look in the app store, a new “math solver” app appears. As educators, we can’t even keep up!

    In a presentation with Pearson Senior Learning Designer Dr. Elaine W. Tan we discussed specific strategies to be proactive with students about academic integrity. One of those strategies was to introduce academic integrity at the beginning of the term. This proactive approach from day 1 has really made a difference in our classes. In this post, we will go into more specifics.

    Define academic misconduct in your syllabus

    It’s important to define different forms of cheating and why they’re problematic. It’s equally important to state the value of academic integrity for learning. Many students might not see a given behavior as cheating until you tell them. In fact, in a College Pulse study1, students were asked how acceptable or unacceptable it is to Google homework questions to find the answers and use study websites to find answers to test or homework questions. Over 50% of the respondents said it was acceptable to Google homework questions and 44% said it was acceptable to use study websites to find answers to test or homework questions.

    A syllabus statement about academic integrity, including a link to your institution’s student code of conduct, is an important first step to making sure your students are all on the same page. See the wording that we include in our syllabus.

    Discuss academic integrity early

    Dr. Tan’s research2 found that most students don’t find cheating a problem, with only 15% saying they are very or extremely concerned about contract cheating. This may be because instructor’s aren’t talking about it. Only 1 in 5 students had instructors that discussed that cheating was problematic. Those are alarming statistics, and a good reason why it’s so important to begin the conversation early.

    One way to begin that conversation is by setting aside time in the first two weeks of class to show them a video covering academic integrity. Presented in an engaging way, a video like this gets the students’ attention and is more effective than lecturing them. You can also find a math-specific academic integrity video in the MyLab® Math shell for our textbooks Precalculus: A Right Triangle Approach, 5th Edition & Precalculus: A Unit Circle Approach, 4th Edition.

    Build connections with students

    More findings from Dr. Tan’s research show that one of the reasons students turn to academic dishonesty is because they feel a lack of personal connection, or a sense that instructors don’t know or care about them. This can be especially true with online learning and the isolation brought on by disruptions to learning over the last few years. We can address this proactively by creating a connection within the first days of class.

    Something we started doing this past year is having a required 10-minute one-on-one meeting with each student within the first two weeks of the term. Within that meeting, we communicate to them that we are invested in their success and how the course material can help them achieve their real-life goals. We also talk about academic integrity with them. Get the template email we send out to our classes.

    Set clear, specific instructions

    Have clear and specific rules and instructions for assignments and exams so students know what is ok to use and what is not. This even comes down to stating “you cannot use the solve feature on the calculator to get the answer.”

    One of the things we do is use an exam policy checklist that students have to complete before they’re able to take their test. This checklist states which resources are allowed and which are not, links to the student code of conduct, and clearly lays out the consequences for an academic misconduct violation. View our exam policy checklist.

    By bringing in these strategies at the beginning of the term, we have found that the number of academic misconduct issues in our courses has decreased dramatically. Although academic dishonesty may never fully go away, it is important to talk about and provide students with the education to improve their actions.

    Dive deeper

    Watch the full presentation, Proactive and Positive Ways to Engage Students about Academic Integrity.

    Get sample documents for communicating with your students about academic dishonesty


    Sources

    1. Academic Integrity. (2021). College Pulse.

    2. Bakken, S., Tan, E. W. & Wood, A. (2021). A Research Review on Student Cheating. Pearson Learning & Research Design.