- Student grades improved 83 percent after using Grade It Now -
SAN CARLOS, Calif., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Aplia, a division of Cengage Learning, is a web-based interactive homework system designed to increase student effort and engagement. Today Aplia announced the full-scale release of its newest educational solution, Grade It Now. Grade It Now encourages student effort by providing instant feedback and an incentive to "try and revise" as a means of improving results.
In response to professor feedback and research on usage patterns, Aplia combined the feedback feature of practice problems with graded homework assignments, creating the new Grade It Now model. The assignments randomize both quantitative and qualitative aspects of questions, allowing students to get the practice they need through multiple attempts of core problems. Each Grade It Now problem covers one core concept, but each subsequent attempt of that problem provides students with a question and answer that are different from previous attempts and different from the attempts of their classmates, reinforcing their efforts and helping them learn.
"My students really enjoy the Grade It Now assignments," said Dr. Sam Liu, a Department of Economics professor at West Valley College, Saratoga, Calif. "The assignments reward persistence and hard work. My students tell me that the multiple attempts to answer the questions really help them understand the material." Aplia factors each attempted answer into the overall score for a problem, giving students an incentive to work hard at improving results from one attempt to the next. Rather than blindly guessing at questions until they reach the correct answer, students learn from each attempt with the help of immediate, detailed feedback designed to improve outcomes on subsequent attempts. Aplia's research shows that, on average, student grades improved 83 percent after using the Grade It Now feature.
"We're all familiar with the adage, 'practice makes perfect.' World-class athletes have coaches to provide them with structure, measure results and hold them accountable for their efforts on a daily basis in order to achieve their full potential," President of Aplia Nicholas Smith said. "Aplia's Grade It Now solution provides the same kind of 'coaching' students need, along with the incentive to pay attention to that feedback, learn from it, and advance performance by trying again. Grade It Now not only improves learning outcomes, it provides students with the motivation needed to practice for perfection." About Aplia Inc.
Aplia, part of Cengage Learning, is a web-based learning solution that enables professors to easily incorporate two key teaching elements: frequent online homework that is automatically graded and provides instant feedback, and relating course work to the real world through current events, experiments, and real scenario-based assignments. The result is better-prepared students, more effective use of class time, enhanced discussions, and more in-depth learning. For more information on Aplia's Accounting, Business Statistics, Business Communication, Economics, or Finance courses, visit http://www.aplia.com/.
About Cengage Learning Cengage Learning delivers highly customized learning solutions for colleges, universities, professors, students, libraries, government agencies, corporations and professionals around the world. These solutions are delivered through specialized content, applications and services that foster academic excellence, professional development, and measurable learning outcomes. Cengage Learning's existing company and imprint brands include Heinle, Gale, Wadsworth, Delmar Learning, Brooks/Cole and South-Western, among others. For more information on Cengage Learning please visit http://www.cengage.com/. DATASOURCE: Cengage Learning CONTACT: Susan Prager, Marketing Specialist, Aplia Inc., +1-650-413-6678, ; or Lindsay Brown, Director, Corporate Communications, Cengage Learning, +1-203-965-8634, Web site: http://www.cengage.com/ http://www.aplia.com/
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