Dr. Kajsa Larson is a Northern Kentucky University Spanish professor
It was crucial for me to find a product with strong technological features when I was designing my course. I wanted to make sure students had full access to all course materials on one platform. Accessibility was and is vitally important. This includes both the traditional sense that students can connect with the material in their own learning style, as well as accessibility through ease-of-use.
MindTap integrates seamlessly with Canvas, so students can access their course materials from Canvas. MindTap offers many unique features that make it the best platform for my course. My favorite feature is the Personal Study Plan, and Performance Reporting in the Progress tab.
Personal Study Plan
When we first log in to MindTap we tend to focus on the left-hand screen, where we can see a list with the student activities. My students are given a Personal Study Plan in class. After we have completed our first MindTap chapter, students are asked to visit this link to review their activity performance. This link can be accessed by both students and professors at any time during the semester. This link is embedded in my Canvas modules.
Clicking on this link will bring up a search box. The professor can then search for the recommended plan and any areas that the student is having trouble with. The blue Study button will appear on the student’s screen. This allows them to revisit and retake (but not for credit) activities associated with certain concepts they have struggled with. The Personal Study Plan feature provides students with concrete guidance and also allows professors to track student progress and student success.
Performance and Engagement Insights
The MindTap main page contains valuable information, including a snapshot of your class average score. You can also see students who are “High Effort Struggglers”, which are students who work hard but fail to reach the goals you set. There are also “Low-Effort Strugglers”, which are students who don’t put in enough effort to succeed. MindTap’s blue box will take you to the gradebook, where you can dig into these statistics.
Each tab lets you see analytics in three different ways. The Insights tab provides a breakdown of student performance in your class. MindTap lists student names, and provides data about MindTap usage.
The Class Performance tab displays collective performance data based upon the topic. For example, the grammar areas that most students need more practice.
The Student Breakdown tab provides a comprehensive view of individual learning trends in your class by organizing students into different performance-based groups.
High-Effort Strugglers
Low-Effort Strugglers
High-Attempting Achievers
Low-Effort Achievers
High-Effort Achievers
No Activity
To learn more about the students, you can click on their names. You can also dig deeper into each activity to see the answers they submitted. I refer students to the Personal Study Plan when I see something like that. I advise them to make an appointment with me, or one of our tutors in their language.
The Personal Study Plan and Insights features are great for building rapport and encouraging a sense of “we’re all in this together” through data and technology.
Watch this tutorial video with Kajsa to see the Personal Study Plan and Performance reporting in action.
*This functionality is available only in select MindTap products