Educators and researchers share how Pearson products have positively impacted learning experiences for students.
by Pearson
In Fall 2017, Professor Dr. Patricia Eshagh from California State University Stanislaus in Turlock, CA, partnered with Pearson to investigate the impact of Revel™ for Discovering the Humanities by Sayre on student success in her Introduction to the Humanities course.
by Pearson
From Fall 2016 to Fall 2017, Professor C.C. Coffman from Clemson University in Clemson, SC partnered with Pearson to investigate the impact of Revel™ for Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach by Henslin on student success in her Introduction to Sociology course
by Pearson
In Fall 2018, Professor Aileen Ochoa from Miami Dad College Kendall Campus in Miami, FL, partnered with Pearson to investigate the impact of Revel™ for Essentials of Human Communication by DeVito on student performance in her Fundamentals of Speech Communication course.
by Pearson
by Pearson
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.
Click here to read the full story or continue reading to learn more.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
Learn more about how MediaShare could benefit your course
by Pearson
During Fall 2017, Stephany Rimland at Harper College in Palantine, IL partnered with Pearson to explore the impact of Revel™ for Art History by Stockstad and Cothren on student success, focusing on evaluating differences in Revel implementation and results between Rimland’s face-to-face and online Introduction to Art History (Art 131) course.
by Pearson
by Pearson
In Fall 2017, Professor Robert Carlson at Texas Southmost College worked with Pearson to investigate whether Revel for Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, 10th Edition by Ramage, Bean, and Johnson could increase student engagement in his Composition II course.
by Pearson
In Spring 2018, Pearson partnered with Dr. Heather Eaton McGrane at Daytona State College to investigate whether Revel for Strategies for Successful Writing by Reinking and von der Osten increased student success in her Introduction to Composition course.
by Pearson
Pearson interviewed Jeffery Byrd, a full-time professor at the University of Northern Iowa, in the winter of 2020 to understand how he’s using and experiencing Revel Art.
Read the complete findings here or continue reading to understand what they have to say.
Jeffrey finds the images and interactives in Revel give his students the opportunity to experience art in a way they were unable to in a traditional textbook, which has improved their performance.
“I think they are doing better on the tests now that they are using Revel. Art history is all about images. There are activities where they really get to interact with the images and that’s been really helpful.”
Most of Jeffrey’s students take his course straight out of high school. They find the material a bit of a challenge, as the vast majority of them have never viewed famous pieces of artwork in person before.
“The student generated content is crucial because they hear somebody their own age who’s excited about art, which really makes a difference. They feel like it’s not exotic or foreign to them anymore, it’s not beyond them.”
All the interactive features in Revel immerse students in art and capture their attention, according to Jeffrey, especially compared to a traditional textbook.
“I think students are more engaged. I think it really has to do with the fact that they are not just reading a book; they have videos, audio reading to them, and interactive components where they are able to engage with an image in a very interactive way. All of those interactives are really engaging to them. I really do think it helps them to connect with the material much better.”
Having the audio feature and ability to hear other people give correct pronunciations in relation to artwork helps curb some of the nervousness that prevent students from speaking up in class, which in turn increases student confidence.
“I think Revel helps them gain confidence in their learning because it brings art alive in a way that a regular textbook just can’t do. This material is very foreign to them. The audio feature and hearing someone say the words really helps students talk about the material because now they are not afraid of mispronouncing something. It has all to do with the sense that they are hearing somebody else say these words. They are hearing other people relate to the content and it makes it so much more of their own experience.”
Jeffrey’s main goal for switching to Revel was for students to retain more information. With Revel, his goal has been achieved.
“I think there has been an improvement when it comes to retention. They are able to remember more of the material and I think it has a lot to do with the way they interact with the material. It is not only the reading audio feature, but also the embedded quizzes. I think they are really beneficial.”
Learn more about how Revel Art could benefit your course
Pearson interviewed instructors across the United States in fall 2020 to understand how they’re using and experiencing Revel History. Through this work, we found that Revel History empowers students to actively participate in learning.
Read the complete findings here or continue reading to understand what they have to say.
David Toye, full-time professor at Northeast State Community College in Tennessee, finds that when his students use Revel, they perform better both in class and overall in the course, as compared to those who don’t take advantage of its learning resources.
“I see that students who are engaged with Revel and reading the textbook are doing very well in my course. The ones who do not read generally get a C or worse. The ones who are doing the reading come to class and are more likely to speak up and do well on class activities.”
Kevin Brady finds value in the variety of resources in Revel because they keep students engaged in the material, therefore strengthening their knowledge of historical concepts.
“The [interactives] keep them engaged. Once they finish a video they get to see the quizzes, the primary document, activities and more videos. It is kind of building upon what they can see next. It’s like entertainment for them.”
Kevin Brady appreciates the author’s style and ability to write a textbook that resonates with students of all levels, not just those desiring to be history majors. The author’s ability to entice students to delve deeper into history is one of the main reasons he continues to utilize Revel.
“I love H.W. Brands. He is a phenomenal storyteller. He definitely has charisma, a real knack for this. He is not only a great speaker, but he is also a great writer. He is so concise, with a bullet-point type style, so the information is not overwhelming for students. He writes in such a way that he’s not dumbing it down for anybody, but he’s not keeping it at such a level that only a history major would understand it. Students walk away from the chapters knowing the main themes. During our class meetings I will ask students what they did not understand, if there were any issues, and I don’t see that much from students [since implementing Revel]. It is not like I used to see when I used other textbooks where students were so confused about the material. This textbook works so much better.”
Revel is so well aligned with David Kiracofe’s course requirements, he has made all of his assessments come from Revel, which made the program an integral part of the course design. He finds designing the course around Revel easy.
“Customizing the textbook and being able to pull stuff out of it is really helpful. It is very intuitive to be able to go in there with that flexibility within Revel to customize. It is easy to do. It is easy clicking.”
Learn more about how Revel History could benefit your course
Pearson interviewed instructors across the United States in early fall 2020 to understand how they’re using and experiencing Revel Political Science. Through this work, we found that the high-quality, relevant content in Revel Political Science helps students succeed.
Read the complete findings here or continue reading to understand what they have to say.
David Dr. Rich Haesly, full-time professor at California State University Long Beach, finds real value in Revel’s Current Events Bulletins because they highlight important events. The Bulletins also strongly resonate with the students and establish high-quality writing prompts that engage students and encourage informed discussion.
“The Current Events Bulletins…are ripped from the headlines. [They are] ideas that become really great sources for writing prompts. This is stuff [students] need to know, not just to do well in the course, but they are important ideas to think about.”
Terri Evans finds students who take advantage of Revel quizzes perform better when compared to those who don’t utilize Revel.
“For the students that do not do well on their exam or need some improvement, the first thing I do is go into Revel and see if they are even using the system. I found for those students that are not using Revel to do some testing along the way, compared to those that do, there is a grade difference there.”
“The students that did take up work in Revel, it helped them. It helped them prepare for their final exam and their learning improved.”
Dr. Elizabeth Williams monitors student engagement and performance to intervene with struggling students.
“The student performance data I receive (on individual students, their grade trend, and time spent on task) allow me to tailor much earlier intervention with struggling students. I meet with them earlier in the term, well before poor performance on much more heavily weighed exams. It is a sort of preventive academic counselling, and very active listening on my part.”
Learn more about how Revel Political Science could benefit your course
Pearson interviewed instructors across the United States in spring 2020 to understand how they’re using and experiencing Revel Introduction to Sociology by Macionis.
Through this work, we found that Revel Sociology delivers an engaging learning experience while developing the necessary skills and knowledge to be successful in class.
Read the complete findings here or continue reading to understand what they have to say.
Wes Abercrombie, professor at Midlands Technical College in South Carolina, believes that the variety of resources available in Revel engage a broad range of students. It is flexible enough to cater to their differing needs, all while aligning to what students are reading and what is being addressed in class. Wes explains:
“Revel is highly adaptable to a broad scope of different types of students. It is very useful because it allows them to go to trustworthy sources, besides my own prepared materials, that
augment what students are attempting to learn or struggling to understand. It’s been an asset to me.”
Wes can tell students are engaging with the material and are comprehending what they are reading, as evidenced in their work. Wes says:
“I can tell when students are reading Revel because they will bring up what they read in discussions and the articles from Revel are being integrated into assignment or term papers. [As a result], I know they are reading it, understanding it, and applying it correctly.”
Wes Abercrombie notices how Revel gives students a solid foundation to help them come to class with good questions, enabling them to fully participate in class and online discussions.
“It does help them be more prepared for class. Even if it doesn’t explain something, it gives them a foundation to ask a question so they can communicate what they are not understanding.”
Learn more about how Revel Sociology could benefit your course
by Pearson
Pearson interviewed instructors across the United States in the winter of 2020 to understand how they’re using and experiencing Revel Criminal Justice.
Read the complete findings here or continue reading to understand what they have to say.
Mike Penrod, emeritus professor at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa, has seen how the content based on learning science in Revel has helped his students be successful in his courses through increased retention and critical thinking skills.
“The way Revel is set up, it’s brain-based learning methodology. The more times you get to look at the material, through the embedded quizzes, SharedWriting, end-of-chapter quizzes, they are seeing the
content constantly broken down into smaller pieces and it just makes a lot of sense…I think Revel has helped not just with learning, but the number of students who stick with the course too…SharedWriting helps develop critical thinking skills. It’s not just a regurgitation of information, but they have to think about the issues out there in the real world.”
While John Baker, full-time professor at St. Cloud University in Minnesota, gets calls from other publishers every day and has used other platforms aside from Revel before, the main reason he sticks with Revel is because his students prefer it over all others as indicated through end-of-year surveys.
“Students love the Revel platform. We love it. It is accessible to them on multiple devices…they like the ease of it. They like the ability to listen to each chapter, pretty much everything that is involved with Revel…and the cost is very, very good too.”
Revel is a tool that supports instructors
Mark Eger, part-time professor at Yuba College in California, appreciates the reduction in workload when it comes to setting his course up in Revel.
“It is much more labor intensive when you have to set up a course yourself. With Revel you just sit back and watch. You interject if needed and watch the students chart their path. I am a firm believer in this program.”
SharedWriting assignments help Mike Penrod and John Baker establish dialogue between students, which can be challenging in an online environment.
“I really like the SharedWriting assignments. They are like discussions in a lot of ways. Now that we are stuck totally online, they help to build some type of community.”
Learn more about how Revel Criminal Justice could benefit your course
by Pearson
Pearson interviewed instructors across the United States in winter 2020-2021 to understand how they’re using and experiencing Revel Communication.
Read the complete findings here or continue reading to understand what they have to say.
Seth Horning, adjunct professor at DePaul University, saw a drastic improvement in grades after using Revel Communication, commenting:
”My students’ quiz scores were much higher in Revel (as compared to when it was not utilized). I was really happy with their Revel quiz scores. They were typically in the 90% or higher range for all students.”
Rebecca Cooney, scholarly associate professor at Washington State University, has seen her students’ writing skills and overall proficiency increase since adopting Revel. She says:
“I have been seeing an improvement in writing quality overall and an improvement in competence.”
Laura Carr, full-time professor at Dallas College in Texas, utilizes SharedWriting as a way to facilitate interaction between students online.
“Revel is great for online courses because built into it are times where students can interact, particularly with the SharedWriting.”
Rebecca Cooney believes the content in Revel is aligned to her course curriculum so well that she could run the entire course out of Revel. She explains:
“You could run the class out of Revel and the textbook. You could use the book as your curriculum. It really is that comprehensive. I could dump everything into Revel and just run it from there. It is that in line with our curriculum map… I like having an anchor and I think having Revel gives that anchor for the entire curriculum.”
Learn more about how Revel Communication could benefit your course
