Boston, MA (PRWEB) June 11, 2014
Although each institution, course, and classroom is unique, instructors in higher education face a series of common teaching and learning challenges. To demonstrate how institutions are using technology and content solutions to address various education challenges, Pearson has released a report highlighting 40 community colleges and four-year institutions that have made a positive, measurable impact on teaching and learning.
This report shows that Pearson’s Mastering platform engages students inside and outside of the classroom with personalized and continuously adaptive learning experiences. Mastering reacts to how students are performing, offering data-driven guidance that helps them better absorb course material and understand difficult concepts.
Pearson’s Senior Vice President of Efficacy and Quality, John Tweeddale, stated, “At Pearson, we believe that learning is a life-changing opportunity, and that education should have a measurable, proven impact on learners’ lives. We tried to capture with this report the most common academic challenges educators and their students face today. We carefully measured and evaluated the results of each institution’s course to ensure that our products and services are truly equipping learners with the tools, resources and support they need to succeed.”
For example, Santiago Canyon College in Orange, CA, began using MasteringMicrobiology in 2010 for its General Microbiology course. The course consisted of a lecture, covering multiple chapters, followed by a MasteringMicrobiology homework assignment comprising interactive tutorials and end-of-chapter questions, and lab time. An analysis of student final course grades from the Spring 2012 semester showed that those students who did better on their MasteringMicrobiology homework also performed better in the course.
Assistant Biology Professor at Santiago Canyon College, Denise Foley, said, “Once one student logs in and starts working in MasteringMicrobiology, more follow. It’s like positive peer pressure. They all want to succeed, and they know that MasteringMicrobiology can help them do so.”
Ventura College, in Ventura, CA, started using MasteringChemistry in Fall 2010 to give students the practice and repetition they need to master course concepts and problems. An analysis of student outcomes without assigned MasteringChemistry (Spring 2009) and with assigned MasteringChemistry (Fall 2010, Fall 2011) showed that 96 percent of students who averaged 70 percent or higher on their MasteringChemistry homework successfully completed the class with a grade of A, B, or C.
Chemistry Instructor at Ventura College, Malia Rose, said, “Previously, I only suspected that those students who used the homework to learn and to reinforce course concepts did better in the course. Now I have confirmation of it through data analysis.”
Pearson’s 2014 Science and Engineering Efficacy Report showcases how each institution boosted learning outcomes with the use of Pearson’s Mastering technology. Each school addressed common teaching and learning challenges. These include improving the ability to do the following: boost success and retention, enable early intervention, enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills, increase interactive learning and student engagement, improve completion rate of assignments, redesign multiple courses/change course format, and track and quantify learning outcomes.
Other California higher education institutions featured in the Science and Engineering Efficacy report, include Chabot College and Fullerton College. The complete report can be found here.
About Pearson
Pearson is the world's leading learning company, with 40,000 employees in more than 80 countries working to help people of all ages to make measurable progress in their lives through learning. For more information about Pearson, visit http://www.pearson.com.
Media Contact: Stacy Skelly, stacy.skelly(at)pearson(dot)com or 800-745-8489