Cengage MindTap vs. Pearson Revel

We started using the application optimally at the beginning as a digital learning and consultation platform. In it we imported all kinds of bibliographic material so that students could access them with the ease of a tap. The application is perfect for those instructors who are not beginners in HTML. In that case, the application very practically allows them to create a complete course in the shortest possible time because it has a state-of-the-art instructional design. It was excellent for unifying all the basic course plans between teachers teaching the same subject, giving the advantage that all courses at the same level would have exactly the same information and nothing would be overlooked

Incentivized

In my opinion, Pearson Revel isn't a bad product. It works as intended. However, the customer service at Pearson Revel is very poor (at least based on my personal experience. Others may have better success with their customer services). I tried to contact the Pearson representative numerous times via email and phone calls to set up Pearson Revel for my class. In my experience, the representative never returned my emails or phone calls. I am very disappointed by their lack of customer support.

Incentivized

• The main advantage of MindTap application is that you can add digital textbooks as a support complement, apart from that they have accessibility tools that integrate between reading voice in high volume and a tool to take notes quickly in case of making a note.
• MindTap allows us to synchronize with applications such as Blackboard to import content into an LMS. We can import and export from grades or preset activities for students. It also has the option to copy and paste content from one semester to another.
• The application has an extension for cell phones, students can access any material such as flash cards wherever they are. It has been completely useful as it shows grades digitally while other institutions only use printed books.
• The application integrates an LTI section where all the information and planning of activities, exams and grades can be imported into the same learning system, unifying the entire course in a single window per course.
• As for the exams and evaluations given to our students, the application also allows us to create self-evaluation questionnaires to determine how effective your instructors are, and they can also create customizable exams for each student.
• The application has a section where we can assign an internal technical support staff so that both teachers and students can contact each other to solve any problems that may arise.

Incentivized

• Ease of assigning reading
• Ease of tracking level of student engagement
• Ease of use for instructors

Incentivized

• They took away some of the variety of assignments and I wish they would add them back.
• Course settings could be more streamlined. Sometimes it’s tedious to make simple changes to the course.
• MindTap will not work unless students turn off pop up blockers, and this is a challenge that blocks an easy start with the software. If this could be worked out, it would give students a better experience at setup.

Incentivized

• Unfortunately, there are some videos that do not play, or situations where the video does not match the question content. These are bugs that should be attended to by Pearson, but although I have reported them (along with students), they have not been remedied.
• Instructors who would prefer to use only the digital text do not have the option to purchase the text without the platform.
• Because the text and software are integrated, there are no "page numbers" as in other digital texts which makes it hard to reference a particular section in a lecture, assignment, or presentation.

Incentivized

It's hard to imagine not renewing it as the professors would not want to go back to the way their courses were previously populated. The only thing that would cause us to change would be in the textbook changed and the new company offered a better tool

Incentivized

Very easy to use.

Incentivized

The effort from them always feels strong - I'd just recommend they be more prepared for OS (mac) and LMS (blackboard) upgrades

Incentivized

It worked seamlessly with Blackboard

Incentivized

MindTap is one of the better/best publisher integrations. The textbook platform alone is exceptionally presented. Most publisher integrations suffer from clunky interfaces or force faculty/students to click through to using their proprietary tools after signing in. MindTap offers the illusion of seamless integration by providing deep links to content, which allows faculty to customize their courses. Only one or two publishers do this, and it really makes a difference when faculty have this kind of flexibility.

Incentivized

I have used Pearson MyPsycLab in the past. I believe it was a better overall product than the REVEL system because the text and learning activities were separated, Students could view the text, then complete the activities. Overall, I think that both printed texts and systems like REVEL will be obsolete in the near future as content is readily available on the internet at no cost to the student.

Incentivized

• The positive impact is to help students practice statistics to solve business problems.
• The negative side is that the pricing might be too high compared to other free options available, even though the free options might not have the same features MindTap has.

Incentivized

• NEGATIVE: The platform is less expensive than a printed text, but students can use OER's for free. This is especially important at the community college level where students tend to have less financial resources for education.
• NEGATIVE: After the course completes, the student has nothing to use as a reference. They cannot go back and view the content, nor can they print any of the content.
• NEGATIVE: The student pays for the learning platform and content which includes a large number of activities and resources. While this seems to be a positive thing, students (and instructors) can get overwhelmed with the number of activities and resources available. Some students won't use any of the resources at all.

Incentivized