Karla Swanson is a Computer Information Technology instructor at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas
How do I love MindTap? Let me count the ways. While using MindTap over the last 3 years, I’ve fallen in love with multiple aspects of the digital learning platform. While I could talk for hours on the differences between publisher platforms, today’s topic will be my favorite MindTap features: highlighting the eTextbook and adding notes.
Highlighting Important Text
Highlighting the eTextbook and adding notes for students has been a teaching game changer for me. Across my Intro to Computing courses, I teach a mix of face-to-face, online and hybrid courses. Utilizing the highlight feature helps students dive into the eTextbook when they previously ignored the links for it in the learning path. It’s not that my students are lazy, but often they miss the reading because they would rather just skip to the rolling week view to see the assignments due instead of diving into the entire lesson in the learning path. By entering the eTextbook link, they know they can quickly scan or skim the highlights for the most important points in my lecture.
Some students get overwhelmed with the reading expectations in college courses. The highlight feature has proven to help my students engage in the eTextbook. Students said they felt more successful when completing the skill-based training, felt more involved in class discussions and got higher grades on projects because of the eTextbook highlights.
Adding Notes to the Text
Above and beyond the highlighting feature is the ability to add notes. Student success in my course has increased, especially in the Word Modules. For example, in Module 2 when referring to MLA format, I can make additional notes that will help them be successful not only in my course, but also in their English 1301 course. Their English teachers love that we can develop their writing abilities in my computer class. When student skills and objectives are reinforced in multiple courses, they’ll prove to be more educated.
Adding notes has been important for online and hybrid learning. The ability to add extra pieces of information makes the students feel more engaged with the curriculum even though they’re not in the face-to-face classroom.
Students take more control of their learning when they have a seamless experience with the technology involved. These eTextbook features have increased my students’ overall achievement and that’s what makes them my favorite!
Join Karla for a walkthrough of her favorite MindTap features in this tutorial video:
