Cengage’s MindTap platform is an online teaching and assessment tool that incorporates readings, multimedia, activities and assessment into a learning path that guides students through their course.
Instructors can personalise the experience by customising Cengage content including textbooks and learning tools and by adding their own content via apps that integrate into the MindTap framework.
Suzaan Hughes, educator and researcher in strategic management at the University of Johannesburg, has the responsibility to develop and facilitate courses. She is also required to ensure that the curriculum is aligned to deliver on the necessary teaching outcomes. Her responsibility is to ensure that the course focuses on continuous assessment for students to achieve the learning outcomes.
As a lecturer, Hughes says she has been using Cengage textbooks for many years to facilitate her courses and has now integrated Cengage’s MindTap into some of her courses.
“The software has provided the opportunity to integrate assessments using MindTap’s built-in functionality,” she says. “This course is based on Cengage’s MindTap for Understanding Management and BUSN11.”
Hughes teaches business management as a service subject to chartered accounting students, “who require deep insight into the world of business. I was looking for a resource that would help students make a personal connection with this content,” she adds.
“I then developed another course which is a brief overview of the different functional departments in a business and how accounting, marketing and other functions operate. MindTap provided the necessary functionality to achieve these goals.
“Anyone wanting to develop an online course possibly won’t realise upfront the amount of work involved in developing a platform from scratch such as this. In addition to deciding on the content, you will need a good integrated textbook that offers support materials.
“My preference is for a continuous learning approach that builds towards the required outcomes. I’m grateful to the authors that have developed these comprehensive books and high-quality content that can be integrated into the MindTap application, which gives a professional look and feel together with all the necessary functionality.”