Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Using an Adaptive Digital Teaching and Learning Platform to Engage Students and Promote Learning of Human Physiology

West Center 217

McGraw‐Hill's Connect is a web‐based assignment and assessment platform that is an available supplement to the textbook currently used at Winthrop to teach Human Physiology and Human Anatomy. I use Connect to deliver quizzes and assign readings from the text using Smartbook. Smartbook is an electronic form of the textbook that has many useful features, including an adaptive tool called Learnsmart that assesses student comprehension of the reading as well as their metacognitive awareness while they are going through the text. In addition, Learnsmart reports can tell me which topics students are having trouble with prior to class, which then allows me to tailor my lectures to address those specific issues. In addition, using Connect to deliver quizzes allows me to ask questions that are more interactive than traditional paper‐based quizzes. Based on the data I have collected, student performance in Human Physiology is improved when I have required them to use Connect. In this presentation, I will describe how I use Connect as well as the learning outcomes and response from students. I hope to stimulate discussion on the pros and cons of using this type of system and get feedback from my esteemed colleagues prior to submitting a publication.