How MyLab IT contributes to student success and best practices implementation

In Fall 2018, Professor Amy Rutledge at Oakland University in Rochester, MI partnered with Pearson to investigate how MyLab™ IT with Exploring Office 2016 Volume 1 and Exploring Office 2016 Excel Comprehensive impacted student success in her Business Problem Solving with Information Technology course.

• Students who scored above average on MyLab IT homework earned average exam scores 11 percentage points higher than students who scored below average on homework.
• The professor developed many best practice assignments including a syllabus quiz, a midterm journal reflection assignment, and a “how-to” Grader Project assignment.

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Why does Professor Amy Rutledge utilize MyLab IT?

Students enter the course with a range of skill levels and knowledge of Microsoft Office applications. In working through assigned simulations and homework in MyLab IT, students can customize their learning experience and build on their knowledge by utilizing multiple attempts, available learning aids, and detailed score reports.

How was MyLab IT implemented?

Class meets in a computer lab twice a week for 75 minutes each session. As a recommended best practice, at the beginning of the semester, Rutledge assigns a syllabus quiz she created in MyLab IT.

She has students work on MyLab Simulation Trainings after the in-class activity as homework. Students have an unlimited number of attempts to earn their best score. Grader Project assignments are designed to test what students have learned in the MyLab IT Simulation Trainings and reading assignments. In the face-to-face sections, MyLab IT accounts for 45% of the total course grade and in the online sections, MyLab IT accounts for 55% of the total course grade.

Were students successful in the course?

Students were divided into two groups — those scoring above and those scoring below the average MyLab Simulation Training score of 95.6%.

• Students who scored above average on MyLab Simulation Trainings earned an average Grader Project score 18 percentage points higher than students who scored below average on Simulation Trainings.

Students were divided into two groups based on their average MyLab homework score of 85%, identifying the following:

• Students who scored above average on MyLab IT homework earned average exam scores 11 percentage points higher than students who scored below average on homework.

MyLab IT best practices

Setting students up for success with a “How-to” Grader Project assignment

• After completing the first Grader Project, students must go to “View Submissions” to see their Grader Project Report and the details of any incorrect steps they made. Students must take a screenshot of this report, as well as download their submitted file and Live Comments report.

Addressing student complaints regarding MyLab scoring

• She asks students to email her the original submitted file, a screenshot of the summary report, the version of Office in use, and whether the student is using Windows or Mac with steps marked as incorrect on summary report they believe should be correct.

Assigning mid-semester journal reflection

• Students are asked to include their mid-semester score and GPA and then think about their performance in the course so far — whether it meets their expectations, and if it does not, what their plan is to improve their performance. Rutledge also has students provide any feedback or questions they have in general about the course and asks students what they think is working well with the course or what they think needs to be improved.

Did students like using MyLab IT?

When asked what the benefits of MyLab IT were, two students responded:

“You get direct examples and lots of practice.”

“Helps you really understand what is going on in the class and is a good warm up for the assignments while it's fresh in your brain.”

Read the full findings here 

Learn more about how MyLab IT could benefit your course 

MyLab Finance contributes to student success

In Spring 2018, Professor James Nelson from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC partnered with Pearson to investigate the impact of MyLab™ Finance for Corporate Finance by Berk and DeMarzo on student success in his Financial Management II course.

MyLab IT contributes to student success

In Spring 2018, Professor Erik Ford from the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR partnered with Pearson to investigate the impact of MyLab™ IT with eText for Exploring Microsoft Office 2016 by Grauer and Poatsy on student success in his Managing Business Information course.

How MyLab Marketing contributes to student success

In Fall 2018, Professor Rebecca Reczek from Ohio State University partnered with Pearson to investigate how MyLab™ Marketing for Principles of Marketing by Kotler and Armstrong impacted student performance in her Principles of Marketing course.

How MyLab IT contributes to student success

In Fall 2018, Professor Lois Blais from Walters State Community College in Morristown, TN partnered with Pearson to investigate how MyLab IT with GO! Microsoft Office 2016 Volume 1 by Gaskin, Vargas, Geoghan, and Graviett impacted student success in their Computer Applications course.

How MyLab MIS contributes to student success

In Fall 2018, Professor Rita Reagan-Redko from Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY partnered with Pearson to investigate whether MyLab™ MIS positively impacts student success in her Technology in the Workplace course.

How MyLab IT contributes to student success and students’ response to Pearson Inclusive Access/LMS integration

In Fall 2018, Professor Robert Huyck at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, NY partnered with Pearson to investigate whether MyLab IT™ and eTexts GO! With Office 2016 Volume 1 by Gaskin, Vargas, Geoghan, and Graviett and Technology in Action by Evans, Martin, and Poatsy positively impacted student success in his Computers and Society course.

How MyLab Marketing contributes to student success

In Fall 2018, Pearson partnered with Professor Karen Loveland from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, TX to determine whether Mylab™ Marketing for Marketing: Real People, Real Choices by Solomon positively impacted student success in her Principles of Marketing course.

How MyLab IT contributes to student success

In Fall 2018, Professor Daniel Ciomek from San Francisco State University in San Francisco, CA partnered with Pearson to investigate whether the custom package of MyLab™ IT, Information Systems Today: Managing in the Digital World by Valacich and Schneider (primary eText), Exploring Microsoft Access 2016 Comprehensive and Exploring Microsoft Excel 2016 Comprehensive by Poatsy impacted student success in his Information Systems for Management course.

How MyLab IT contributes to student success

In Fall 2018, Professor Regina Harley at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC partnered with Pearson to investigate how MyLab IT™ with Exploring Microsoft Office 2016 by Poatsy, Grauer, Mulbery, Krebs, Hogan, and Rutledge contributed to student success in her Essential Business Tools and Technologies course.

How MyLab Management contributes to student success

In Fall 2018, Professor Irene Wilder from State University of New York (SUNY) at Jefferson, Watertown, NY worked with Pearson to discover whether MyLab™ Management for Modern Management: Concepts and Skills by Certo and Certo impacted student success in her Principles of Management course.

How MyLab IT and MyLab Accounting contribute to student success

In Spring 2019, Professor KD Hatheway-Dial at the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID partnered with Pearson to investigate whether MyLab IT™ for Skills for Success for Office 2016 by Adkins and MyLab Accounting for Horngren’s Financial and Managerial Accounting by Miller-Nobles, Mattison, and Matsumura positively impacted student success.

How MyLab Economics contributes to student success

In Spring 2019, Pearson partnered with Professor Jeff Johnson at Athens State University in Athens, AL to investigate whether MyLab Economics™ for Essentials of Economics by Hubbards and O’Brien positively impacted student success in his Modern Economics course.

How MediaShare benefits instructors and students

Professor Laurie Metcalf at Blinn College in Bryan, TX reported many perceived advantages of using MediaShare™ for her online public speaking course. Specifically, she named her ability to accomplish the following:

Time-stamping specific feedback in students' videos to support their development of public speaking skills.

• Providing more feedback to students' videos because of the ability to copy and paste feedback in MediaShare's grading rubric.
• Looking across assignments for the same student to determine whether a problem is recurring and adjusting her grading and communication with the student accordingly.

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About MediaShare

MediaShare is a tool for sharing, assigning, discussing, and evaluating media in different formats, including video and audio files. It enables students and instructors to comment on media, and instructors can provide timestamped feedback to students on their assignments.

Implementation of MediaShare

For her online public speaking course, Professor Laurie Metcalf has used MediaShare for five or more years. MediaShare’s role in her class is primarily for students to submit four required speech assignments and for Laurie to provide grades and detailed feedback on those assignments.

She views MediaShare as benefitting students through the development of students’ source citations and use of appropriate language, as well as offering her a way to see how individual students are progressing over time allowing her to offer targeted intervention.

Instructor experience and perception

Laurie views the capacity to provide timestamped feedback in students’ videos as very beneficial to learning as it allows her to focus on a specific spot in the recording. Relatedly, Laurie has found the setup of MediaShare to enable more of her feedback for those moments.

Laurie finds the layout of the rubric advantageous as it allows her to do all of her grading on one screen. For the school break that extended through the end of the year because of the coronavirus pandemic, this functionality proved especially useful.

In addition, Laurie believes student performance has improved due to MediaShare in the way students give source citations and their use of appropriate language.

Conclusion

From her perspective, the positive aspects of MediaShare give her online course advantages above and beyond what is possible for an in-person class saying, “We don’t even have that ability in a live class to do that. To stop a speech and say, look, ‘Did you hear what you just said? Did you hear how that sounded?’ And, ‘Here’s the problem.’ Or, ‘Here’s why it’s great.’ So that in and of itself I think is fantastic.”

Read the full findings here 

Learn more about how MediaShare could benefit your course 

How Mastering A&P supports student learning

In Summer 2021, Professor Ty Bryan at a community college in Southern United States met with Pearson to discuss how he uses and experiences Human Anatomy & Physiology, 2nd Edition by Amerman and Mastering A&P™ in his Anatomy & Physiology I and II courses.

Ty Bryan finds many benefits utilizing the Pearson textbook and Mastering A&P in his courses including:

• High quality artwork, diagrams, and animations help students solidify knowledge that will translate to success in clinicals.
• Better textbook that delivers concepts in a concise way thus encouraging students to read without feeling overwhelmed.
• Dynamic Study Modules prepare students for discussion in class and help develop a deeper understanding of concepts.
• Students are better set up for success in A&P II.
• Top-notch customer support that facilitates a smooth course delivery.

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Why did Professor Ty Bryan adopt Mastering?

In schoolyear 2016/2017, his department switched from McGraw Hill to an OER resource called OpenStax in an effort to reduce the cost of textbooks. Once adopted, faculty further reviewed the OER textbook and found it lacking in artwork and diagrams, as well being heavily bogged down with unnecessary content.

In early 2020, faculty compared a variety of textbooks and publishers and decided to adopt Pearson’s Human Anatomy & Physiology, 2nd Edition by Amerman along with Mastering in Fall 2020. They landed on Pearson because of the superior way it was written and its concise, well laid out material. Anatomy & Physiology I and II are traditionally taught face-to-face, but due to the pandemic, course models had to be shifted. In response, courses had to be taught fully online, which meant faculty needed their Pearson textbook earlier than anticipated so it was adopted in Spring 2020.

How Mastering A&P implemented?

While Bryan incorporates Mastering content as optional for extra credit, he does strongly encourage its use and explains to his students its many benefits. He narrows down the sections from each chapter he wants them to read and includes Dynamic Study Modules.

Outside of optional Mastering content, Bryan’s assessments in A&P I include four quizzes, six lecture exams and one standardized final exam. Students must receive a minimum of 50% on the final exam to pass the course.

The instructor experience

One of the main benefits Bryan has noticed since switching from OER is the improvement in artwork quality. OER lacked detailed artwork that is so crucial for students in A&P courses. Another highlight for Bryan is the readability of the Pearson text. He believes his students are better understanding concepts with the Pearson text because it’s concise and easy to navigate without being too tied down with unnecessary and disjointed material.

Bryan finds the Pearson textbook sets A&P I students up for success in A&P II better than their previous OER textbook, with Bryan saying: “I think they are getting a better idea of chemistry from the Amerman textbook than they were getting from OER. (OER) is written by multiple people at multiple times. They go in there and do their little bit and it’s not easy to read. At least with the Pearson textbook…they’ve got a shot because it’s giving them something they can read, something they can understand, and the diagrams are plainly laid out.”

Bryan never had anyone to reach out to with OER, no support to go with the textbook if he needed any type of assistance. In contrast, with Pearson, he feels he has been supported every step of the way. There was plenty of training when initially adopting Mastering with step-by-step instructions.

Conclusion

When deciding to switch from OER to Pearson, Bryan and fellow faculty wanted a more effective way for students to develop a foundational knowledge of anatomy and physiology concepts that would prepare them for their clinicals. With Pearson, he finds the quality animations, diagrams, and concise wording all combine to help students be successful. As the instructor, he finds the continuous support Pearson offers to be invaluable in being able to offer his courses as seamlessly as possible.

Read the full findings here 

Learn more about how Mastering A&P could benefit your course I

In spring 2018, Pearson worked with Professor Mike Puopolo at Bunker Hill Community College to investigate whether the use of badging within MyLab IT is beneficial for students.