Cengage MindTap vs. Top Hat

We started using the application optimally at the beginning as a digital learning and consultation platform. In it we imported all kinds of bibliographic material so that students could access them with the ease of a tap. The application is perfect for those instructors who are not beginners in HTML. In that case, the application very practically allows them to create a complete course in the shortest possible time because it has a state-of-the-art instructional design. It was excellent for unifying all the basic course plans between teachers teaching the same subject, giving the advantage that all courses at the same level would have exactly the same information and nothing would be overlooked

Incentivized

I think Top Hat can be used in any classroom size to help student learning. it is user-friendly for both students and teachers.

Incentivized

• The main advantage of MindTap application is that you can add digital textbooks as a support complement, apart from that they have accessibility tools that integrate between reading voice in high volume and a tool to take notes quickly in case of making a note.
• MindTap allows us to synchronize with applications such as Blackboard to import content into an LMS. We can import and export from grades or preset activities for students. It also has the option to copy and paste content from one semester to another.
• The application has an extension for cell phones, students can access any material such as flash cards wherever they are. It has been completely useful as it shows grades digitally while other institutions only use printed books.
• The application integrates an LTI section where all the information and planning of activities, exams and grades can be imported into the same learning system, unifying the entire course in a single window per course.
• As for the exams and evaluations given to our students, the application also allows us to create self-evaluation questionnaires to determine how effective your instructors are, and they can also create customizable exams for each student.
• The application has a section where we can assign an internal technical support staff so that both teachers and students can contact each other to solve any problems that may arise.

Incentivized

• Offers a good variety of interactive tools such as polls and quizzes
• It is relatively easy to create and customize pages on the class site
• Educators have access to good analytics and insightful performance information

Incentivized

• They took away some of the variety of assignments and I wish they would add them back.
• Course settings could be more streamlined. Sometimes it’s tedious to make simple changes to the course.
• MindTap will not work unless students turn off pop up blockers, and this is a challenge that blocks an easy start with the software. If this could be worked out, it would give students a better experience at setup.

Incentivized

• It would be great if the exams could have settings to set-up start and finish times.
• The grade book still needs improvement in the formatting.

Incentivized

It's hard to imagine not renewing it as the professors would not want to go back to the way their courses were previously populated. The only thing that would cause us to change would be in the textbook changed and the new company offered a better tool

Incentivized

Very easy to use.

Incentivized

The effort from them always feels strong - I'd just recommend they be more prepared for OS (mac) and LMS (blackboard) upgrades

Incentivized

The initial rollout of Top Hat was not without its issues. Top Hat was very responsive, and even sent representatives to be onsite during the first couple of days of the start of class to help instructors and students. They were very knowledgeable about the product, but the sales team was pushy at times. At several times, we had to inform them not to reach out to instructors directly to pitch their service while we were still piloting.

Incentivized

It worked seamlessly with Blackboard

Incentivized

MindTap is one of the better/best publisher integrations. The textbook platform alone is exceptionally presented. Most publisher integrations suffer from clunky interfaces or force faculty/students to click through to using their proprietary tools after signing in. MindTap offers the illusion of seamless integration by providing deep links to content, which allows faculty to customize their courses. Only one or two publishers do this, and it really makes a difference when faculty have this kind of flexibility.

Incentivized

Top Hat generally stacks up pretty well against other industry leading or popular learning management systems. Top Hat is comparable to learning management systems used in most educational institutions. The features such as allowing the educator to create an interactive experience by leveraging tools such as quizzes and polls is comparable. Data on student performance is also a helpful feature that is comparable to that of other similar learning management systems.

Incentivized

• The positive impact is to help students practice statistics to solve business problems.
• The negative side is that the pricing might be too high compared to other free options available, even though the free options might not have the same features MindTap has.

Incentivized

• One of the better ways to track attendance in a mostly secure and automated way.
• Promotes more active learning, especially in large classrooms.
• Unpopular if students have to pay.

Incentivized