1. Teaching Technology with Technology: MindTap
Scott Domowicz, Pittsburgh Technical Institute
Amanda Lyons, Product Manager Cengage Learning

2. 2015 Cengage Learning Computing Conference
Questions
What course challenges are you facing today?
How are you ensuring students leave with adequate critical thinking and problem solving skills?
2015 Cengage Learning Computing Conference

3. 2015 Cengage Learning Computing Conference
Students said…
“I learn better by doing. MindTap gave me this without having to read extra material.”
I like that everything is in one place and I can easily see my grades and what I did wrong and how to improve.”
“We need hands-on experience when dealing with computers. You cannot just learn this material in a book.”
I am a Non-Traditional student and not all the vocabulary registers, but while going through the trainings and practices it allows one to hear and follow.”
Data showed
86% of students said they would NOT have preferred to use only a print text.
90% of students said MindTap was very intuitive and easy to navigate.
The 3 best features of MindTap according the students are
Getting all of my course material in one place
Getting immediate feedback on SAM activities
SAM Training activities
Instructors: “We have seen an increase of at least one letter grade when we compare the performance of students who used MindTap with those who didn't.”
2015 Cengage Learning Computing Conference

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What is MindTap?
The MindTap platform was built specifically to engage students and move them through basic learning to higher level thinking – driving better critical thinking and problem solving skills.
How?
Through paths of dynamic assignments and applications that provide
personalization,
real-time course analytics,
and an accessible reader,
Personalized Teaching Experience
Elevate Thinking: Connect subject matter to the real world. Students build critical-thinking analytical skills with interactive exercises. Transfer to other courses and professional lives.
Easily Set Your Course: Personalize teaching through a Learning Path; Rename, reorder, and remove content. Align with your syllabus. Control what students see and when
Promote Better Outcomes: Analytics and Reporting: : class progress, time in course, completion rates. Students see where they stand, individually and compared to highest performers
2015 Cengage Learning Computing Conference

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MindTap for Computing
The MindTap learning paths follow the tables of contents from the books. SAM assignments and other activities, such as YouTube videos, news articles, or instructor-created assessments, can also be integrated into the chapter learning paths to create a seamless all-in-one learning experience.
Let’s take a look
New interface – Week view, Unit view, List view; Dashboard makes it easy for students to know where they stand at all times. The week-by-week view shows assignments and due dates like a planner. Students and instructors can also choose to use the traditional unit view or the due date view
Always know what’s most important and what is due when (overdue, coming up soon, etc)
Student know how they are doing individually in the course – every time they log in (upper right analytics box)
Instructors see that class averages and analytics for the week
Learning Path - aligns with TOC of book. SAM and course-specific activities within the learning path move students from basic understanding leveraging media elements such as videos, animations and readings. Guided practice sections, SAM Trainings, are designed to help students think critically and apply concepts.
Add/Hide content – nobody knows how to engage their students better than the instructors teaching the course. You shouldn’t have to settle for static course content. MindTap’s innovative personalization tools allow instructors to customize every element of their course— from rearranging the Table of Contents to inserting videos, comments, activities and more into the MindTap Reader itself. Can also add RSS feeds, web links, your own content, hide content you don’t want to cover.
Reading - ReadSpeaker, videos, notes/highlights
SAM Assignments in learning path – same content in SAM, can schedule.
SAM App and Reporting – same reporting options as in traditional SAM.
Progress App – SCOTT. Promote positive outcomes by tracking students in real time and tailoring your course and lectures as needed based on the analytics. Students can monitor their individual grades and engagement, as well as their level of engagement compared to the rest of the class. This not only helps them stay on track in the course but also motivates them to do more and ultimately do better because of it. Attempt and edit score; engagement level, time in course, % activities accessed.
ConnectYard – Social media platform integrates Facebook, Twitter, text messaging. Scott has used it all the time.
Flashnotes -
How to enroll students
Create course – SSO, copy course, add instructor
Instructor and TA permissions - A primary course administrator/ instructor can control the personalization capabilities of any course/section including:
Allow/restrict co-instructors to add, delete, reorder or hide content
Allow/restrict co-instructors to make changes to the gradebook
Allow/restrict co-instructors to make date changes
Allow/restrict edits of any kind, to “lock down” the course
Benefits
Departments can control and standardize the curriculum and content delivery (quality control and speed to deploy). For example:
Instructor can enroll a teacher’s assistant in their section w/various rights.
A department can create a course to use as the standard for their department, and then can copy the course along with availability dates as many times as they need, assigning different adjuncts to each, with differing (or locked down) permissions.
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What’s next?
MindTap for Computing Combined courses
Enhanced Microsoft Office 2013
Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint
Concepts: NP 2016, DC 2016
Emerge 6.0
SAM App Updates
MindTap Mobile App
SAM App Updates: Ability to access the full library of SAM content, ability to schedule a SAM Path, and Study Center in the learning path.
MindTap Mobile App: Provide students with access to MindTap on the go. Scheduling options, flashcards, and quizzing. Check it out in the LEC.
FlashNotes: student-to-student study materials online marketplace, where students can buy and sell course specific help such as lecture notes, study guides, flashcards or video tutorials to help them succeed. Check them out in the LEC.
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Support
Digital Course Support: A dedicated team of experts provides proactive, ongoing support that includes course set-up, usage statistics, and regular check-ins.
Technology Power Users: Exchange success strategies, best practices, and implementation experiences with faculty across the country using MindTap.
Our services team is made up of experienced, highly credentialed professionals who are dedicated to helping you improve your students’ level of engagement and their outcomes in your classroom.
Customized print and digital content
• Combine relevant content from Cengage Learning textbooks and online solutions to create course materials that align with the way you teach your course.
• Easily integrate Cengage Learning solutions into your learning management system.
Unmatched training and support
• Experience proactive implementation of Cengage Learning online solutions, including course setup and customization, answers and advice, and regular check-ins.
• Take advantage of online and on-ground trainings that will ensure your success in using Cengage Learning online solutions.
Live and on-demand faculty development
• Get informative strategies on topics ranging from active learning to student retention and success.
• Attend workshops specifically designed for your course, department, or institution.
Student-relevant courses and curricula
• Take advantage of our research in emerging job areas, accreditation requirements and implementation costs to make informed decisions about program development.
• Standardize curricula between in person, online and hybrid courses and programs, and align it to your objectives.
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Questions?
2015 Cengage Learning Computing Conference