Clayton Austin is the Psychology Product Manager for Cengage Learning, a leading educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education and K-12, professional and library markets worldwide.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to learning.

The more we learn from students, the more we find this statement to be true. In today’s digital age of social media and online shopping, students have more voice in their education than ever before, and as the developer of educational materials for these students – we’re all ears.

This is why my company, Cengage Learning, today announced a partnership with Cerego to integrate their adaptive learning technology into our MindTap platform for Intro to Psychology students. MindTap includes a series of integrated apps, called MindApps, that provide users with a customized e-learning environment. Together, we created the Mastery Training MindApp, powered by Cerego, which measures a student’s rate of information absorption and memory decay, while simultaneously calculating the precise moment to review, resulting in a highly personalized, adaptive learning experience.

Here at Cengage Learning, we are undergoing a cultural shift, by actively transforming our company to transform the industry. Part of this shift includes placing more emphasis on our student end-users and integrating their feedback into our product development. Introductory Psychology is taken by approximately 1.6 million students annually and represents a unique opportunity for bold initiatives. We asked students about their goals for Intro to Psych and in order, priorities were 1) to understand core concepts, 2) apply these core concepts to everyday life, and 3) understand psychology as a science.

This was the basis for the Mastery Training MindApp, powered by Cerego. Mastery Training will be a key component of MindTap, by providing a personalized experience with relevant assignments that guide students to analyze, apply, and improve thinking, allowing for easy measurement of skills and outcomes. The technology will help students to efficiently learn and effectively remember and apply concepts by uniquely adapting to their performance to determine what, how and when to study. By integrating seamlessly within MindTap, the MindApp can be assigned to match key dates – for items like homework due dates and exams – and be used as a gradable assignment for students.

As mentioned earlier, we are learning that in order for students to be successful, we need to mold the educational experience around their specific wants and needs and understand their pain points to improve the learning experience. As we have done with this partnership and the addition of the Cerego adaptive technology, we will continue to examine our products to ensure that we are delivering solutions that delight our customers. The days of the one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and learning are in the past – we now know it to be true that personalized learning enhances engagement, and engagement is the key to positive outcomes. We look forward to continuing to evolve and grow with our student end-users and witness their successes with adaptive learning in MindTap.