Meeting the challenges of teaching and enhancing the learning experience
With higher education in a state of constant change, it’s no surprise that educators are turning to technology solutions to address some of their biggest teaching challenges. They tell us that these include
- Student engagement and motivation.
- Increasing cohort sizes.
- Changing study expectations.
- Providing opportunities for learners to apply knowledge through practice.
- Ensuring access to learning systems for all.
- Building 21st century skills – like problem solving and critical thinking.
- Bridging the gap between school and university.
In a recent series of four webinars, over 100 participants from across the region joined us to consider how MyLab and Mastering can support students and educators in IT, Chemistry, Math and Management.
In the first, Ahmed Samir (Higher Education Digital Services) stressed how Pearson is committed to providing tools that address the key challenges, even as they continue to evolve in higher education. Whether you’re taking your first steps to offer a more engaging online learning experience as part of your campus-based course or moving to a hyflex delivery model, our platforms are the perfect tool to support your ambitions. Based on research, they are tried and tested with hundreds of students and educators, they are developed in line with subject and technology changes, and data shows their positive impact on student outcomes.
MyLab and Mastering are made with straightforward navigation and simple steps to assign work or study course content and our webinars explained how easy it is for educators and students to get started. Here’s a summary of what Ahmed and other session presenters outlined during the four events.
How MyLab and Mastering help to overcome teaching challenges
These online tutorial, homework and assessment platforms are packed with videos, problem sets and learning resources like interactive animations, simulations and an eText, so instructors need not create anything themselves. And because they can be used before, during and after class, our super-flexible digital tools help you give your students a personalized learning experience (even when you have large cohorts).
Ahmed explained how easy it is to create auto-graded assignments for standard homework or higher stakes tests, by using the huge bank of educator-approved questions. Simply select the questions you want – or create your own – then choose a due date and assign to your students. Concerns about plagiarism or cheating? That can be mitigated with a range of robust test settings or, for some question types, requiring students to show their workings.
As an educator you’re also going to want to know how long a student has spent on an exercise or test, how they have performed, the date that they worked on it and overall scores. Learner analytics in Mastering and MyLab can do this. In the chemistry webinar Helen Miller (Higher Education Marketing) showed how this data highlights students at risk of dropping out or topic areas that individuals or the whole class may be struggling with, allowing you to intervene early, provide extra support or adapt your teaching approach. She added that the data can reveal patterns across cohorts or year on year, to further inform course delivery going forward.
Learning Catalytics is another really useful tool to motivate learners. This classroom response system can be used face to face or online, with students responding via their own devices and their answers indicating where they may need more explanation or support. Used in live classes, educators find out in the moment if a different approach is needed. As with all our tools, we include plenty of questions ready for you to use, but you can easily create your own as well.
Interactive videos are a great option to set pre-lecture to help students prepare for class. Many of these introduce a key topic and prompt students to answer questions before continuing to watch. Alternatively, setting these after class can help consolidate students’ understanding ahead of tackling their homework.
How MyLab and Mastering enhance the learner experience
As online learning systems that students can use on any device, whenever or wherever they like, they actively encourage engagement and participation. With the flexible set-up of MyLab and Mastering students can:
- Access and download resources on/offline.
- Study on their smartphones
- Go through learning material in small chunks or do longer practice sessions.
- See their upcoming assignments and due dates.
- Review their scores and progress at any stage.
- Focus their study time with personalized recommendations.
Within self-study activities or formative assessments, students practice, with prompts – almost as if they have a personal tutor with them. They receive feedback on their scores and can see where they need to do more work. In the test mode they have a set time to complete questions, without any guides. They will see their test result if and when the instructor chooses for it to be released.
The learning aids available include worked examples, step-by-step guides and links to the eText. There are also videos featuring the author demonstrating how to solve the problems, and animations and simulations which break down complex phenomena into smaller parts. The Study Plan in MyLab or Dynamic Study Modules in Mastering guide students to better focus their study time. In the management session, Younisha Somaroo (Higher Education Learning Advisor) emphasized how students can use these interactive self-study resources to level up their understanding of the material to support course success.
A participant in the management event commented, “It’s so nice to see how the platform takes the student through each step of a question to help them understand it and the theory involved.” Others thanked the presenters of each webinar, saying how much they had learned. It’s always our pleasure to support educators as they strive to do the very best for their students. We’re looking forward to working with many more partner institutions in this coming academic year.
Helping you get started with these digital tools
Want to join the 100s of instructors across the region who harness the power of MyLab and Mastering to support their teaching and their students’ learning?
Get in touch with your Account Manager for a one-to-one, live demonstration of the MyLab or Mastering for your course.
Learn more about MyLab and Mastering To know what’s available for your subject – click ‘Search by discipline’. You’ll discover that, because each discipline has unique challenges, our MyLab and Mastering include bespoke features to address them.