Pennsylvania Highlands Community College (PHCC) enrolls about 2,400 students each year, evenly split between traditional college students and high school students participating in a dual enrollment program.
Daniella Cope, a psychology professor and program coordinator at PHCC, saw that her students were struggling. They needed help accessing essential course materials on time, sometimes due to financial difficulties, causing them to fall behind and lose momentum with their learning. PHCC, due to its smaller size, couldn’t provide tutoring support for the students who fell behind, which compounded the problem.
Daniella and her colleagues needed a learning resource that would give students instant access to their course materials and the reinforcements they needed to take charge of their learning experiences.
The solution
Daniella knew where to go to find the solution to her problem. When she learned that Revel materials they needed on day one via an Inclusive Access program, she was convinced to make the switch from MyLab Psychology to Revel.
How Revel Abnormal Psychology contributes to student success
In Fall 2019, Pearson partnered with Professor Lee Kooler at Modesto Junior College to investigate whether Revel for Abnormal Psychology in a Changing World by Nevid, Rathus and Green impacted teaching and her students’ success in Abnormal Psychology.
How Revel Psychology contributes to student success
Manda Williamson at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln partnered with Pearson to determine if Revel for Psychology, 1st Edition by Marin and Hock could enhance student engagement and success in her Introduction to Psychology Course over the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters.
In 2018, Pearson worked with Garth Neufeld, Instructor at Cascadia College in Bothell, WA to investigate whether the use of Revel Psychology helped students succeed.
Researchers found that:
When Revel was implemented in the course, average student exam scores improved.
Students who earned higher average Revel quiz scores also earned higher average final exam scores.
Average final course grades improved when Revel was required in the course.
Instructor Neufeld has taught Psych 100 online for several years. In Summer 2018 he redesigned the course to address issues with student engagement and reading completion. He hoped that by introducing Revel™ and restructuring the course assignments, students would be more likely to read the course content, complete the assignments, and be more engaged in the course.
How was Revel used in his course?
Neufeld created weekly Revel assignments, including readings and module and chapter quizzes and were due before the chapter was covered in class. Weekly Revel assignments are worth a combined 15% of the final course grade.
Did Revel improve student success?
Student performance data from Spring 2018 and Winter 2018 were used to compare results after implementing Revel. Data indicate students earned higher average final exam scores (final exam scores of zero were removed from analysis) when the course was redesigned and Revel was implemented.
Students earned higher average final course GPAs when the course was redesigned and Revel was used than during the two course terms prior to redesign.
Did students like using Revel?
Students’ survey comments regarding their Revel experience included:
“[Revel] is a great way to learn — easy and effective with videos and mini quizzes.”
“All the information needed to view and study is very accessible. This includes textbook information, grades, and announcements. It's very organized.”
Kathleen Hughes, full-time professor at Pasco Hernando State College in Florida, believes Revel is a valuable tool that helps students understand their own everyday lives. The content is designed to connect psychology to real-life, explain why psychology matters, and how to apply it to life.
“One of the priorities I have is helping students to understand themselves, their role as students, how to do better, and how to be a better student. I think giving them Revel, a tool that helps support that, helps their everyday life of just being a student.”
Revel contains quality, up-to-date content
Garth Neufeld, full-time professor at Cascadia College in Washington, finds the way the book is laid out resonates with students, saying:
“I think the way the book is written and the way it is presented is extremely applied and relevant to my students’ lives.”
In addition, Garth appreciates the specific textbook he uses in his General Psychology course as he thinks “it does a great job of being current.”
Revel develops critical thinking skills
Lisa Bohon finds that Revel enhances her students’ abilities to think critically.
“The writing and personality inventories develop critical thinking. I have taken essay questions from the Pearson test bank as a starting point and have students write about the topics and respond to someone else. In doing that, that’s part of critical thinking, your ability to take something abstract and then thinking about something in the real world that applies to you.”
Revel improves performance
Dr. Bernadette O’Leary sees students performing better in their homework, exams, and overall grades due to the support Revel offers with comprehension and retention.
“I've noticed an increase, a wonderful increase, in student performance and not only course grades, but points that they earn from each chapter. [Students are] more attuned, they're comprehending more, they're remembering more. I notice that in the point values, as they're doing the homework and then also as they are preparing for the exams. So, I do think that a companion site like Revel can actually help students comprehend as well as retain more information.”
