Dr. Jenny Billings is a faculty member at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College
I like being organized. The StudyHub feature in MindTap helps me be just that. With three tiles to collect sharable content, I am easily able to create study guides for my students. The StudyHub app collects the notes, highlights, and bookmarks that I add directly into the text. Instead of having to reread the text to find all these things, I can locate everything in one place. I can also use the Notes and Highlights tile to delete any notes and highlights from StudyHub and from within the text. I can even filter my notes and highlights by color, type, and whether or not they were shared with students. That way, if I designate yellow highlighting for a certain assignment or quiz, I now have what I need in one list that can be printed or saved as a PDF.
How to View Past Bookmarks
The Bookmarks tile allows me to see all the pages I have bookmarked along the way. These bookmarks are hyperlinked, so I can go back to the text and revisit at any time. If I change my mind and no longer feel I need that page or information marked, I can delete the bookmark from both StudyHub and the chapters.
How to Make a Study Guide
Now onto the best tile, Study Guides. Building study guides directly in StudyHub allows you to show students what’s important and what they may see again. Ultimately, it gives you an answer to the question, “What’s on the test?”
To create a study guide, click on the Create a Study Guide blue button. You’ll need to name your study guide at this point. Make sure this name is specific, so you and your students know if this is for essay #1, test #1, a midterm, final, etc. From the dropdown menu, you will select that chapter, unit, or folder you want included in the study guide. While you can add more than one, you’ll need to do this one at a time. When you select a chapter, for example, you will be prompted to choose what shared content you would like to sync (your shared notes, key terms, custom flashcards, and your shared highlights). I usually “Select all” and then use the blue button, Add Unit to Guide. Keep repeating this process until you have everything you need for that study guide. Finally, click on the green Create a Study Guide button.
Your study guide will post under the Study Guides tile in StudyHub. As soon as you create the study guide, it will be available to students; however, you are able to hide it using the eye icon in the bottom right corner. You can also delete the guide and start again if needed. To view the study guide, click on the Study Guide square. This is how you can see everything that is included as well as how students will view the content. You can also hide/show the study guide, delete it, refresh it, print it to paper or convert it to a PDF.
How I Use StudyHub to Prepare My English Students for Essays
Since I teach English, my students primarily use StudyHub to prepare before writing essays. StudyHub and its features allow me to create study guides for each of the essays I assign. For example, my narrative essay is denoted by yellow highlighting. I can filter for everything highlighted in yellow and convert the results to a PDF to share with my students. I create a study guide with information about the writing process, grammar, narrative writing, and MLA format since those are the things my students need to review to be successful. It helps me instill confidence in my students by giving them the power of information when and where they need it. I can even carry all my information over semester to semester with a simple course copy.
StudyHub creates more successful students, study sessions, and instructors. Hopefully my short video will help you be more successful too.
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