REVEL weaves text-based reading with multimedia to solve the challenge of engaging students in critical discussion
[1]A digital learning tool half the price of a textbook is taking on the market as a one-stop online resource with the goal of better engaging today’s multimedia-consuming students in meaningful class discussions.
The tool is called REVEL, one of Pearson’s latest products aimed at fostering deeper thinking to prepare students for higher-level courses, all why trying to design material in a way today’s students consume content.
By providing what the company says is engaging study materials that can replace both the printed textbook and existing online learning tools for General Studies courses via a fully mobile experience [the tool is also available on the computer], Pearson hopes to solve what it explains is one of the biggest challenges for educators today: dealing with students who are unprepared for critical discussion.
According to the company, students’ lack of preparation is often due to not fully completing reading assignments and not coming to class fully prepared to do college-level work.
[2]However, students often say that in many of their courses, and particularly some of their elective courses, the study materials are passive, laborious and not reflective of how they interact with content.
“In many general education courses, we consistently hear faculty lament that students come into class having not read the book or completed the assignment,” Pearson’s managing director of Higher Education, Paul Corey, said. “Reading remains a core and critical foundational skill, and with the ubiquity of information today, it could be argued that ‘critical reading’ is even more important than ever.”
“With all the advances made in technology, pedagogy and learning science, reading can now be augmented with rich media and interactivity to spark engagement, curiosity and the excitement of learning new things in new ways,” he continued. “We created REVEL as a response to what we have heard from scores of faculty and students over the years, and also as part of our public pledge to have all our products and solutions be on a path to demonstrated efficacy.”
(Next page: Breaking down how the tool works)
REVEL addresses the challenge of student engagement and lack of reading completion by interweaving text-based reading material, interactive exercises, infographics, social features and video segments.
Based on feedback, Pearson reveals that students most enjoy that: 1) everything is in one place so they do not have to go anywhere beyond the product itself, 2) the product is mobile, making it easily accessible, and 3) the product has a high level of interactivity.
“REVEL took my classroom to the students. It enlightened their education through immersion, measured their performance and provided extant outcomes. Their success is literally in their hands,” said Coastal Bend college professor of Political Science & History, Karl Clark.
[3]With REVEL, educators can track the time students spend on each reading assignment and their performance on assessments, providing a comprehensive view of students’ engagement and understanding prior to class, said the company. This allows them to know a lot more about where the students stand, and they can redirect their lessons accordingly.
The performance dashboard also enables students to see where they fit in with their classmates on assignments and quizzes.
“REVEL allows for out-of-class preparation to lead to higher-level discussion and can help students do better on exams,” explained Corey. “The product also allows you to see where you are relative to the class so you can seek guidance and additional help in your problem areas.”
When developing REVEL, Pearson wanted students to get a good value for their money, and over the course of four years spoke with students to gauge what they felt would be an effective price point. Ultimately, Pearson decided that REVEL would be $65, which is about half the price of a printed textbook.
The creation of REVEL incorporates feedback from more than 23,000 educators and students. Pearson said it gained this feedback over several years to ensure that REVEL accurately reflects educator and student preferences for teaching and learning.
By listening and leveraging the expert thinking in instructional design, and by applying advanced learning and assessment technologies, all of REVEL’s key aspects—from features and content to performance dashboard reporting—were informed by live interactions with educators and students, said the company.
This is a continuous process; Pearson will continue to refine REVEL based on customer feedback from the 12,000 students at 50 institutions that use this product.
Material from a press release was used in this report, written by Hayley Goodman, intern at eCampus News.