The story

behind Revel
An Educator’s Guide

Enter
 The story behind Revel for Psychology
Contents At Pearson, we created Revel to help students better prepare In 2017–2018, we undertook an efficacy study at the University
for their classes. Instructors told us that students arrived to class of Nebraska - Lincoln to ascertain what impact using Revel has on
The story behind
without having engaged with the reading and it meant that teaching learner outcomes. The efficacy study showed that using Revel for
Revel for Psychology
time wasn’t used as effectively as it could have been. Psychology was associated with multiple positive results, including
Manda’s reasons increased student engagement and higher achievement.1
Unlike a traditional course book, Revel for Psychology empowers
for change
students to interact with pre-class material in an active way, Through this Educator’s Guide, we will demonstrate how one
Revel at the combining preparatory reading with integrated practice in short, educator has used Revel to make a measurable difference to
heart of change manageable chunks. Instructors control the content and activities her teaching, resulting in improvements to her students’
they assign, ensuring that the Revel platform is relevant to their learning outcomes and allowing her to be a more powerful,
Seeing results
students. They can also use the performance dashboard to effective teacher overall.
Manda’s monitor engagement, making the students accountable
recommendation for their own learning. “With over 700 students, I don’t have time to check in with
for instructors each one individually every week, but Revel takes care of that.
We know that instructors are pivotal in making Revel a successful
I know before class what they are struggling with and can
Manda’s learning tool, so have put together this guide to demonstrate how
target that. Before I took over the class, the dropout-fail-
future with Revel one professor, Dr Manda Williamson, used Revel for Psychology
withdrawal rate (DFW) for the course was 44% and now since
Your Revel story (1st edition by Marin and Hock) to reimagine her course and
using Revel for Psychology it’s just 12%. My teaching time is
optimize her students’ learning.
used more effectively because of Revel — students engage with
it, they learn with it. What more can I say?”
— Professor Manda Williamson

1
Pearson. (2019). Revel for Psychology 1st edition: Efficacy Report. London, UK: Pearson.

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 Meet the Professor
Name: Professor Manda Williamson, Associate Professor of Practice, Psychology
Contents Institution: University of Nebraska - Lincoln
The story behind Years in teaching: 15
Revel for Psychology
Research interests: The scholarship of teaching and learning, specifically around psychology
Manda’s reasons and neuroscience
for change
Courses: Introduction to Psychology, Human Sexuality, Human Memory, Motivation, among others
Revel at the
Years using Revel for Psychology: 3
heart of change

Seeing results

Manda’s
Course profile
recommendation Course: Introduction to Psychology
for instructors
Learning tools: Revel for Psychology (1st edition by Marin and Hock); Canvas LMS
Manda’s
Time frame: Fall 2017 and Spring 2018
future with Revel
Course delivery method: Face-to-face courses and large online courses
Your Revel story
Number of students: 761 total. Small face-to-face courses (average size 25), large face-to-face
courses (average size 149), online courses (average size 207)

Course format: Flipped classroom. Students complete allocated reading using Revel for
Psychology before class. They engage with the integrated activities as they go and take the
assigned quiz at the end of the module or chapter. Students then partake in more active group
activities in the classroom (or online session), which reinforce and deepen their learning.

Number of credits earned by students: 4

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 Manda’s reasons for change
Contents Manda’s needs
Like many instructors, Manda was frequently frustrated by students Manda’s students struggled with how to read and take notes
The story behind
arriving to class without completing their required reading. Without properly, and how to pace themselves when studying. They needed
Revel for Psychology
being able to rely on students’ prior knowledge, Manda found that to figure out sounder study methods to help them memorize
Manda’s reasons she couldn’t use her face-to-face teaching time effectively. information and they wanted quick feedback from Manda.
for change In short, they needed to learn how to learn.
She had trouble covering all of the required content and knowing
Revel at the where to focus her time in class. Even if pre-course reading had When Manda took over the Introduction to Psychology course from
heart of change been completed, there was no reliable way of gauging which a colleague before our research began, she found that student
concepts had been understood and which needed reinforcing. engagement was low and 44% of students dropped out, failed or
Seeing results
withdrew from the course. She knew she had to redesign the course
Manda also found that many of her students needed to be
Manda’s and needed an affordable but engaging solution to
taught how to approach self-directed learning before they
recommendation reimagine learning for her students.
could even begin to explore the subject matter.
for instructors
Manda is a self-described “tech-phobe”. But when her Pearson
Manda’s "When students first come to college, they don’t know
rep suggested Revel, Manda saw how much it could benefit her
future with Revel what they don’t know. A lot of them still need to students and was excited to try it. She saw that the platform could
learn how to study effectively…" enable the teaching and learning that she wanted for her students.
Your Revel story
She was previously using a textbook but she felt that Revel could
help build efficacy in her course by engaging students with short
digestible chunks of high-quality reading, which she knew was
good for learning.

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 Why Revel?
Manda described three reasons for why the move to 2. The familiar online environment
Revel for Psychology made sense for her: Each reading section looks like a social media page so it matches
Contents what students are used to interacting with and lets them work
1. The active learning design in a way that is familiar, intuitive and flexible.
The story behind After the students read a few paragraphs in the Revel platform,
Revel for Psychology they are required to interact with the text in some way; by “It’s a non-threatening environment so students can
completing a drag and drop activity, for example. At the end start to invest and build confidence in their learning.”
Manda’s reasons
of every module and chapter, students complete a quiz.
for change 3. The Revel dashboard analytics for
To Manda, presenting information in short sections like this gave accountability and tailored instruction
Revel at the
students a chance to self-assess their learning and mirrored the Manda was also excited by the performance dashboard and
heart of change
way in which students were already consuming information analytical data available to her on Revel. Eager to work in a more
Seeing results online — in small, easily digestible chunks. It also freed up effective way, Manda would be able to see who had completed the
classroom time for more collaborative exercises because set reading, how long it had taken them, and how well students
Manda’s
students were already engaged with the material. had performed on assigned quizzes. She was keen to use this
recommendation
for instructors “That was exactly what I wanted — something that would information to plan upcoming lessons, offer intervention, and
identify which students might need additional help. (see page 7)
Manda’s make them stop and reflect on what they had read.”
future with Revel “The analytics that Revel provides get me excited.
Your Revel story I want to know what my students struggle with
because that guides how I teach them.”

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 Revel at the heart of change
“If we package and present it properly to our students,
Contents Manda’s approach it's a way to form partnerships with them and I really
Manda approached Revel as a tool to build partnerships with her think my students get that about it.”
The story behind
students around their learning. Her students completed their Manda was also open with her students about the part that
Revel for Psychology
reading and quizzes before class, which enabled her to use class the weekly assignments played in the course. She explained
Manda’s reasons time to address challenging topics and engage in group-based that they were formative, used to inform her teaching and
for change active learning activities. help them get used to the types of questions that would arise
Revel at the She made Revel work for her by setting regular assignments, on their test. The quizzes were not there to ‘catch them out’.
heart of change due every Sunday or Tuesday night. Each assignment contained Her students knew that, when they took the quizzes, they
allocated pre-lesson reading and integrated activities, followed by were allowed to ‘cheat’. They could pause the quiz and revisit
Seeing results
a quiz. Additional internal exploratory analyses using efficacy study content if they needed to, they could make notes, they could
Manda’s data showed that students, on average, completed 64% of their look up the answers. The quizzes were non-threatening
recommendation reading within the 24 hours immediately before a due date. Daily because students knew that they were for learning and
for instructors activity peaked right before assignments were due. that Manda would use the data to help them.
Manda’s
The quizzes also provided the instant reassurance that Manda
future with Revel
couldn’t provide to 700 students. At the start of the semester
Your Revel story Tips from Manda students can be anxious about how they’re performing,
Using Revel to build learning partnerships with your students but Revel can reassure them:
Manda was transparent with her students about how she was
“If you’re getting fives on your quizzes,
using Revel and used it to build trust and partnership, rather
of course you’re doing ok!”
than to ‘check-up’ on them. It was made explicit that she
curated the course to directly correlate with the final exam, Using Revel in this way encouraged Manda’s students to take
and so the content was immediately relevant and important risks, invest and build confidence as they understood that she
to the students: worked in partnership with Revel to help them succeed.

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 Using the performance dashboard Example of Revel performance dashboard
After students submitted their homework, Manda routinely viewed Whole class performance overview *Example data
her Revel performance dashboard to check that her students had
Contents completed the assignment. She then used the data there to
inform her next teaching session.
The story behind
If a particular question showed a lot of red or yellow (indicating low
Revel for Psychology
marks), she knew that the students struggled with that concept
Manda’s reasons and that she needed to address it. She then provided timely
for change intervention supported by this analytical data. For instance,
Revel at the Manda posted additional questions for students to test
heart of change themselves and gave extra time in her classes to concepts
that students performed poorly on. Drilling down to a single question *Example data
Seeing results
“I’m more confident knowing that when I propose an
Manda’s
intervention it’s at least based on something now. Before
recommendation
for instructors
I could predict — now I know where the problem is.”

Manda’s Knowing that her students had done the required reading
future with Revel and engaged properly with it before the session, Manda could
confidently explore subjects in more depth with her students.
Your Revel story She taught through active tasks that reinforced their learning,
such as creating group discussions in-class and online that
focused on the reading. She was even able to push the students Manda would check the dashboard before each class to see which
to more challenging questions, safe in the knowledge that questions students performed poorly on, and use it to inform
the fundamental concepts had been understood. her teaching or post additional strengthening activities for
the related concepts.

If the question shows a lot of red or yellow, she knows that

her students have had difficulty answering it.

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 Seeing results
Contents When Manda first took over the course from a colleague, the DFW
rate was high at 44%. Since using Revel for Psychology, it’s come Tips from Manda
The story behind Using Revel to model learning strategies
down to 12%. Manda’s students are very engaged with the course
Revel for Psychology
material on Revel. Results from the statistical models suggest that Manda also used Revel to teach her students how to read and
Manda’s reasons students who obtained higher quiz scores in Revel tended to do engage with text in a meaningful way. In the first week of her
for change better on course exams. That is, each additional ten percentage course, she used the highlighting tool in Revel to demonstrate
points students scored on quizzes in Revel for Psychology useful learning methods to her students, integrating this into
Revel at the
(1st edition by Marin and Hock) were associated with an her teaching on the psychology of learning:
heart of change
increase of 1.36 (±0.41) percentage points on unit exams.2
Seeing results “I can model to them how I would highlight,
Student engagement using a more sound method.”
Manda’s
For students, Revel has unique benefits as it is a flexible learning
recommendation She would also use the instructor annotation tool to drop
tool that fits seamlessly into their lives. It can be accessed in
for instructors notes into the assigned readings to draw attention to key
a variety of ways, meaning that learning can happen anytime,
ideas or clarify challenging concepts. This taught her students
Manda’s anywhere and on any device. Assignments do not have to be
how to annotate effectively, and had the added benefit
future with Revel completed in one sitting and the audio option adds a further
of showing her presence on the Revel platform and
layer of accessibility, if sitting down quietly is not an option.
Your Revel story active investment in their learning.
Manda uses this student-centered approach to increase
her students’ motivation and make them better, Through breaking down the text and intersecting it with
more adept learners. activities that require the students to apply their learning
at regular intervals, Revel also enables students to study
efficiently, engaging with each part of the text as they go.
2
These results are based on a regression model controlling for self-reported ACT score, “They learn how to learn, based on how this
gender, and year in college, and the study was conducted with 316 students in the Fall
platform is laid out for them.”
2017 and Spring 2018 semesters at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Pearson. (2019).
Revel for Psychology 1st edition: Efficacy Report. London, UK: Pearson.

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 During the latter part of the semester, Manda administered a Student achievement
survey to 316 students in her course who had consented to Since introducing Revel to Manda’s course, there have also been
participate in the research. notable changes in student performance. At the end of the
Contents Efficacy Study for Revel for Psychology4:
The survey results3 showed that when compared to other study
books or products: • 100% of students completed the required aspects of the
The story behind
course – that is, at least three of the four unit exams
Revel for Psychology  2% of students said Revel for Psychology was a more
•9
and the final exam
efficient way to study compared to other books or products
Manda’s reasons
• Students successfully completed 93% of Revel assignments,
for change •8
 4% of students said they spent more time using Revel
measuring successful completion as scoring 70% or higher on the
for Psychology than other books or products
Revel at the assignments and counting missing assignments as incomplete.
heart of change  2% of students said they used Revel for Psychology
•7
• 96% of students passed the course
several times a week or daily
Seeing results

Manda’s
When asked about their main reasons for liking Revel, “I have 770 students this semester, and consistently since
the top two responses were that students liked how easy I’ve used Revel the way that I’ve described, the number
recommendation
it was to use and that they liked the quizzes. of students that earn a D or an F or have to withdraw
for instructors
has always been less than 15%.”
Manda’s
future with Revel

Your Revel story

3
Pearson. (2019). Revel for Psychology 1st edition: Efficacy Report. London, UK: Pearson.
4
Pearson. (2019). Revel for Psychology 1st edition: Efficacy Report. London, UK: Pearson.

9 THE STORY BEHIND REVEL — PEARSON.COM

 Manda’s recommendations for instructors
Contents Manda’s approach to reimagining her course using Revel for 2. Select Revel content based on your intended outcomes
Psychology has resulted in measurable success. Here are the Manda used “backward design” to develop her Introduction to
The story behind
steps she recommends going through when setting up and Psychology course. First, she decided what she wanted her students
Revel for Psychology
teaching a Revel course to ensure that it is as effective as possible. to take away from the course. Then, she wrote her final exam to
Manda’s reasons meet those goals, using the lecture powerpoints from the instructor
for change Six steps to success with Revel resources to help her craft the exam appropriately. Next, using
1. Create your Revel course and decide Canvas to keep track of dates, she set up her lessons to cover each
Revel at the
if you will link Revel with your LMS of the objectives from the final exam and recorded the lectures
heart of change
Setting up a Revel course is easy, but if you choose to link your for each lesson for her online students. Finally, she selected Revel
Seeing results course with an LMS, you need to follow a different set-up process content and assignments based on the learning objectives covered
where you create your course from within the LMS. Manda decided in each lesson and the final exam.
Manda’s
recommendation to link Revel to Canvas so her students had one less website to The Revel Introduction to Psychology text is broken down into
for instructors visit; they only need to sign into Canvas and that gives them access sections based on learning objectives. You can remove sections
to Revel. She does not sync her Revel grades to Canvas, but has of reading — or full chapters — so those sections are not assigned
Manda’s
thought about doing it in the future. She recommends to start to students. The materials that Manda’s students had access to
future with Revel
small when linking Revel to your LMS. were streamlined to her course content and focused the whole
Your Revel story course on what the students would need for their final exam.
Learn how to create and link your Revel course to your LMS here.

Learn how to create your Revel course with no LMS integration here. Learn how to select readings assignments and set due dates here.

10 THE STORY BEHIND REVEL — PEARSON.COM

 3. Choose your Revel assignments 4. Publish your course and invite students to register
and due dates, and set your scoring policy When Manda finished creating her course on Revel, she
For each section and chapter of the textbook, Revel provides pre- double-checked all of the learning objectives and dates with
set quizzes and other learning activities to help your students check Canvas and pressed “Publish.” Once you have finished creating
Contents
their knowledge and show you they have done their reading. Each your course and it is published, make sure you communicate to
The story behind Revel title has different learning activities available, including short your students about how they should register for the Revel course.
Revel for Psychology writing assignments - you can explore the options in the “Detailed
Learn more about how to invite your students to a course here:
TOC” under the resources tab in your Revel course. Manda chose to
Manda’s reasons
use the module and end-of-chapter quizzes because she was most *use these directions if you are not linking Revel to an LMS.
for change
interested in using Revel to help her students track their learning
*use these directions if linking Revel to an LMS:
Revel at the and to use the data to help inform her teaching.
heart of change Blackboard, Canvas, Brightspace and Moodle
In Revel, readings and quizzes are part of the same assignment with
Seeing results the same due date. Manda assigned due dates to every assignment
5. Remind students to download the Revel App
Manda’s (reading and quizzes) so that her expectations were clear and she
Some of Manda’s students use the app when they are
recommendation and her students were able to establish a routine. She also set
on-the-go and some use it in-class. If they are really pressed
for instructors clear expectations about the scoring policy for the quizzes, such
for time, some students use the app to listen to the readings
as the number of attempts students got with each assignment and
Manda’s while they are on the move.
the point value associated with each assignment. Manda used the
future with Revel default settings for scoring policy in Revel because she wanted to Learn how to download the Revel app here.
Your Revel story give her students an opportunity for practice and she felt that
giving them multiple attempts helped to accomplish this.

Learn how to create assignments and set due dates here.

Learn how to customize your scoring policy

and other assignment setting here.

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 6. Use data from Revel throughout the semester
During the semester, Manda used the Revel Performance Tips from Manda
Dashboard to track her students’ activities. After students had • Share your due dates in another location and reinforce
completed assignments, she could see if students were stuck on them in your regular contact with students each week.
Contents
certain questions and could tailor her class activities “on the fly”
• Keep your LMS simple. Don’t try and link up too many
The story behind to provide more support. For example, she would create additional
things at first or you’ll be overwhelmed with information.
Revel for Psychology slides for a lecture with true/false questions targeted at the errors
that students had made on a quiz. Students would answer the • Encourage students to use Revel as much as possible.
Manda’s reasons
questions at the beginning of class and Manda would have a quick Figures from our study show that students who spent an
for change
conversation with them about it before going into her planned additional five hours on Revel Psychology readings verses
Revel at the lecture. If a student came in to speak with her during office hours, similar students earned on average of 2.19 more percentage
heart of change Manda would pull up their data and give them guidance about points on unit exams.5
Seeing results how to study more effectively based on what she saw.
• See what works and doesn’t work for you and your students.
Manda’s Learn how to use the Revel performance dashboard here.
“ It can take 5 years to get a class that you’re happy
recommendation Visit Training and Support for Educators for more guidance with, so you can’t place pressure on yourself to
for instructors on implementing Revel and getting your students started. deliver the perfect content every single lesson.”
Manda’s
future with Revel Don’t be afraid to revisit your course on Revel
and create new iterations to update and improve it.
Your Revel story

5
Pearson. (2019). Revel for Psychology 1st edition: Efficacy Report. London, UK: Pearson.

12 THE STORY BEHIND REVEL — PEARSON.COM

 Manda’s future with Revel
Contents Manda feels like her goals of teaching her students the wider skills There are also activities on Revel that Manda thinks she could use
that will equip them for college have been realized. She’s now able to more. Manda takes the approach that the course can be revisited
The story behind and improved. She has been doing that incrementally over
deliver a course that teaches students how to learn, how to be critical
Revel for Psychology the past few years and intends to continue that.
thinkers and how to be able to converse about the topics they cover.
Manda’s reasons “I’m a tech-phobe and I have to really learn how to use
“They are finally gaining the skills and tools that make a
for change the technology. There is some functionality that I don’t
person an intellectual, and that they should be getting in
Revel at the their college education.” use much at the moment but I think it could be good for
heart of change students, like the shared writing tasks. I have to find
Using Revel to create and deliver her course in the way described,
Seeing results
a good way of using things like that with my classes.”
has allowed Manda the freedom and power to think bigger. Now
she’s thinking about what else she can do with Revel and asking Manda also has plans to increase the challenge in her introductory
Manda’s
questions that will push her own research into the scholarship of class. With her students now averaging an 88% pass rate on
recommendation
teaching and learning further: her redesigned course, she wants to make it harder:
for instructors

Manda’s “The next line of questioning that I will dive into is tracking “I think they’re capable of doing more with the material.”
future with Revel the success of students who choose psychology as a major.
I want to know what happens to them after they leave.”
Your Revel story

13 THE STORY BEHIND REVEL — PEARSON.COM

 Your Revel story
Contents
Explore Revel and share your experience so far
The story behind
Revel for Psychology Do you still have questions about Revel?
Let us answer them for you.
Manda’s reasons
for change Learn more about Revel.

Revel at the Engage with other Revel educator stories.

heart of change
There is much to learn about evidence-based,
Seeing results outcomes-focused teaching and learning. We want
Manda’s to know — directly from educators — what works.
recommendation Share your Revel story
for instructors Email us at efficacy@pearson.com
Manda’s Explore how we conducted the research with Manda
future with Revel and the full results of the Technical Research Report
Your Revel story and Product Efficacy Report for Revel for Psychology.

Learn more about using Revel through

our implementation tutorials and support site.

Download this report

14 THE STORY BEHIND REVEL — PEARSON.COM

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15 THE STORY BEHIND REVEL — PEARSON.COM