Category: MindTap

earth-day-2025-virtual-field-trips-feature-earth-sciences-courses- The Cengage Blog
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Each year on April 22, Earth Day invites us to reflect on the beauty, complexity and fragility of our planet. It’s a time to appreciate the natural world, recognize the contributions of the environmental movement and think deeply about how we care for the planet, not just for today but for future generations.

One of the most meaningful ways we can honor that mission? Help students see and appreciate the Earth — including its landscapes, features, wonders and history — in new ways.

Virtual Field Trips in MindTap, an immersive feature for earth sciences courses, provide a unique opportunity for students to do just that.

Inspiring a deeper connection to our planet

Virtual Field Trips takes students on an unforgettable journey to some of the most iconic and geologically significant places across the United States. No travel required!

Through vivid imagery and animation, expert commentary and interactive moments of discovery, students can zoom in on rock formations in striking detail and study patterns shaped over millions of years, as if they were there in-person. Along the way, they can deepen their understanding of key earth science concepts.

Oh, the places they’ll go

From towering cliffs to ancient coral reefs, students visit awe-inspiring locations that highlight the planet’s beauty and study critical earth science topics. Field trips include:
- Igneous Rocks at Yosemite National Park
- Volcanoes at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
- Weathering and Erosion at Arches National Park
- Sedimentary Rocks at Capitol Reef National Park
- Fossilization at Petrified Forest National Park
- Copper Mining at Bingham Canyon
- Hydrothermal Activity at Yellowstone National Park
- Deserts at Death Valley National Park
- Geological Time at the Grand Canyon
- Depositional Coasts on the US. East Coast
- Erosional Coasts on the U.S West Coast
- The Hazards of Living along an Erosional Coast
- Coral Reef Communities
These locations are only the beginning, with more soon to come. And they aren’t just destinations, they’re reminders of the Earth’s complexity.

Watch this video to explore this feature for earth sciences courses:

Happy Earth Day

What started as a movement to raise awareness about environmental issues has grown into a global day of action. It’s a reminder that we’re all connected, and that taking care of our planet is something we can all do — together.

This Earth Day, let’s inspire students to explore the planet in ways that deepen their understanding and spark that sense of wonder. Thank you for teaching the next generation of explorers, scientists and stewards.

Discover how you can bring the Earth into your classroom.
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April 22, 2025
the-power-of-mindtaps-college-success-factors-index-csfi – The Cengage Blog
Reading Time: 5 minutes

As an avid user of Cengage’s MindTap online learning platform for over 10 years, I have tried about every feature it has to offer. Through my role as Chair of English and Study Skills, I am constantly tracking student data and implementing new ways to improve performance measures. In recent years, I have relied heavily on my favorite feature in MindTap, the College Success Factors Index (CSFI). By including it in our study skills courses, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the transformative impact it has on student success.

Understanding student pain points

The transition to higher education can be a daunting experience for many students. My “babies,” as I call them, often mention challenges they face that extend beyond academic rigor, encompassing a wide range of factors such as time management, study habits, and emotional well-being. These challenges can significantly impact student success, leading to lower grades, decreased motivation, and even withdrawal from courses or institutions.

The CSFI solution

The CSFI is a comprehensive assessment tool designed to evaluate students’ readiness for academic success. Most student success tools only measure or discuss a student’s academic journey. The CSFI addresses students’ holistic development by examining cognitive, social, and emotional factors that can impact success. Students complete a 100-statement, self-scoring survey that assesses 10 distinct factors:
1. College Involvement: Success in college is often defined by the levels and degree of one’s participation with peers and faculty. College involvement also includes being familiar with student organizations, or volunteer work, class research projects, and other college activities.
2. Competition: Competition is a student’s need to know, learn and take pride in competition related to academic tasks. Academically assertive students have the internal motivation, resourcefulness, competitive drive, and desire to collaborate with others to succeed in college and the workplace.
3. Expectations: To demonstrate thoughtful goals and decision-making processes, coupled with a plan of action for completing class projects and assignments, and attaining career goals.
4. Family Involvement: Family/partner encouragement, acceptance, and emotional and financial support are important for college success.
5. Persistence: Persistence is the will and energy to complete a task or skill through diligence, practice, and extra effort.
6. Precision: Precision is thinking and applying the detailed and repeated measurement of technical, computer, and internet skills for college success.
7. Responsibility and Control: Students who take responsibility and control in college succeed. They feel confident and assured regarding their classes, careers, and projects.
8. Task Planning: Successful students set goals and complete their assignments in their courses of study. They follow step-by-step study practices within specified periods and take pride in the grades earned.
9. Time Management: Time management relates to the development of skills and techniques such as prioritizing events, establishing calendars and schedules. Learning to assign realistic time limits to class assignments, studying, work, family, and social activities lead to effective time management.
10. Wellness: Wellness means having positive attitudes and consistent practices of physical, emotional, and stress parameters in one’s college life.
Benefits for students

The CSFI offers a multitude of benefits to students, empowering them to take control of their academic journey:
- Self-Awareness: By completing the CSFI, students gain valuable insights into their strengths and weaknesses. This self-awareness allows them to identify areas where they may need to improve and develop targeted strategies to enhance their skills.
- Personalized Support: Instructors can leverage the CSFI results to provide tailored support and guidance to each student. This personalized approach ensures that students receive the specific help they need to succeed.
- Targeted Interventions: The CSFI can identify students who may be at risk of academic difficulty. By proactively addressing these students’ needs, instructors can prevent potential problems and promote student success. You can even set up early alerts based off this feedback!
- Skill Development: The CSFI can be used to guide students towards resources and activities that can help them develop critical skills such as time management, study habits, and test-taking strategies.
- Resource Connection: Because the CSFI details where students may struggle, you can determine the best resources and connect students to them early on. Doing so can help students improve their CSFI results from pre- to post-test.
- Enhanced Motivation: By setting clear goals and tracking their progress, students can stay motivated and focused on their academic pursuits.
Benefits for administrators

The CSFI is seamlessly integrated into MindTap, making it easy for students to access and complete. Once the CSFI is completed, students gain access to their report immediately and can download it as a PDF. Instructors can download reports for their individual sections. There’s also an administrator link where a report can be pulled for all students across a department, division, or institution. By having access to admin reports, you can provide:
- Personalized Advising: Leverage CSFI assessment results to personalize student advising. During advising sessions, discuss individual strengths, challenges, and goals revealed by the assessment to create tailored academic plans. This includes guidance on course selection, major exploration, and career pathways. Regular follow-up meetings will help students maintain progress and address any new concerns. These reports can help advisors, faculty mentors, program chairs, and enhance any First Year Program.
- Student Success Workshops: Host workshops and seminars informed by CSFI results to address shared student challenges. These sessions can cover topics such as study strategies, goal setting, wellness, financial literacy, and career readiness. Equipping students with these skills and knowledge will contribute to their overall success and well-being. CSFI results can also facilitate the creation of peer support groups by matching students with similar needs and challenges. This is especially important for students who score low in the “Family Involvement” category.
- Faculty Collaboration: Disseminate CSFI results to faculty. This can improve their understanding of student needs and inform the integration of supportive strategies into their teaching practices. This collaboration can create more supportive and engaging classroom environments, promoting student success. The results can also guide professional development offerings, course design, and instructors’ approaches to student learning.
- Continuous Monitoring and Evaluation: Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of CSFI-informed interventions and support programs. Monitor student progress, retention rates, and academic performance to assess the impact of these initiatives. Use this data to drive decision-making and continuously enhance student support and success outcomes. Use the CSFI data to your benefit! It can be used to supplement program data, class statistics, or even shape an institution’s Quality Enhancement Plan (trust me – I know!).
Image of an Administrator CSFI Report

Conclusion

Cengage’s CSFI is a truly innovative feature that has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach student success. By providing valuable insights and personalized support, the CSFI empowers students to overcome challenges, develop essential skills, and achieve their academic goals. As an educator and a student advocate, I wholeheartedly endorse the CSFI as a powerful tool for fostering student success. Sometimes, the first step is just getting students to open and admit what they are struggling with, both in- and outside the classroom. The CSFI as a self-assessment encourages those conversations.

Want to connect? Reach out.

Explore CSFI helpful videos:

Completing CSFI Assessments (Student)

Reviewing Student Results (Instructor)

Understanding Your Results (Student)

CSFI Administrator Results (Admin)

Written by Dr. Jenny Billings, Chair of ACA (Study Skills), DRE (Developmental Reading and English) and ENG (Curriculum English) at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in Concord and Salisbury, North Carolina.

Interested in learning more about how to use the CSFI tool? Check out Dr. Billings’ walkthrough of the feature in MindTap.
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April 16, 2025
with-michelle-blesi-author-of-medical-assisting – The Cengage Blog
Reading Time: 6 minutes

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background (current title, professional milestones, professional history, education, research works, hobbies, etc.)

I am a Certified Medical Assistant with 39 years of industry and education experience combined. I worked in a family practice clinic for 10 years, emphasizing patient care while completing clinical and laboratory skills. Changing my focus to leadership, I then worked as a lead in the nursing/lab departments and as a Clinical Manager, prior to switching careers. In 2001, I was hired as a full-time educator, Practicum Coordinator and Program Director at Century Community and Technical College in White Bear Lake, MN.

I have a diploma in medical assisting and am certified through the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA.) I also have a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in community psychology. In spring 2005, I completed the TES (Teacher Education Series) courses at the University of Minnesota, earning my teaching license in vocational education.

I enjoy bringing my career experience into the classroom and making a difference in students’ lives. In addition to being Program Director, I teach both clinical and laboratory courses, a medical assistant refresher course through CECT and Administrative Procedures for Medical Assistants, both in-person and online. Additionally, in my role as the Practicum Coordinator, I oversee all of the clinical externship/practicums for the program. In addition to sitting on numerous committees and work groups over my career span, I have also authored the past four editions of “Medical Assisting: Administrative and Clinical Competencies.”

In my free time I enjoy hiking, camping, reading, music, gardening, entertaining and spending time with family and friends.

Tell us about the Medical Assistant program at Century College. What are the most rewarding aspects of teaching the program?

The Medical Assistant program at Century College has grown significantly since I started in 2001. Originally, I was teaching classes with approximately five students and a total of 8-10 students overall in the program. Today’s classrooms have 20 students in each, for an overall total of 120 students enrolled in the program. We have two courses (Administrative Procedures and Pharmacology) which students can take prior to starting the program. We hold practicums/externships every spring and summer. Fall sessions are available for any students who may have stopped out and returned.

There are several rewarding things about teaching in the MA program. These include seeing the students understand the concepts, excel at the skills, complete the program course, pass the certification exam and get their first job as a medical assistant. Their success is my success. As of date, I’ve had over 1000 students graduate from the program. I couldn’t be prouder of that fact.

What are the biggest challenges?

As for challenges, I’d say the biggest is keeping the enrollment up. We don’t have an abundance of students enrolling. I’d love to see that change. I love seeing high school graduates, people looking for a career change or just people in general who want to contribute and make a change in people’s lives, join the field. Another challenge is teaching up to 20 different levels of students in one classroom and being able to meet the needs of all learners. Depending on their preparedness level prior to joining the program, it can be challenging at times.

How has the Medical Assistant program changed over the past few years? How have you adapted your teaching to reflect those changes?

Having to adjust to the learning levels of individual students has been quite a change over the years. I always take it to them and say, “Tell me how you learn best,” and “How can we help you to be successful in your learning path?” We have created language guides using many of the terms found in the coursework to help students comprehend the content better. We have developed an ambassador program within our program where peer-chosen students serve as classroom leaders to assist the faculty with study groups and program outreach.

I am always researching the best practices and making changes so students can learn better. We survey the students and make changes based off their feedback. We also meet with every single student each semester to work on affective skills. Students set goals to keep their education and learning on track for success.

How has your work at Century College influenced your work on Medical Assisting: Administrative and Clinical Competencies? What is distinctive about the text? What are your suggestions for instructors getting started with it?

My work has always revolved around wanting to have the best for the students. My students are great at telling me what they need and how materials we have help them learn the content necessary to be a successful MA. I wanted a product that made learning easier for both the student and the educator, while including all the required standards and assessments. When I first started in education back in 2001, I couldn’t find a product that had everything I felt students needed or I needed as an educator. I was having to supplement quite a bit and create a lot of my own materials to meet the needs. I was fortunate when I voiced these issues to a Cengage product developer. They were willing to listen and invited me to join them in creating content. Here I am close to 20 years later, continuing to do so.

“Medical Assisting: Administrative and Clinical Competencies,” 10^th Edition is a proven, competency-based learning system with a 40-year history of success. The text associates each learning module with the needs of students and the demands of the workforce. It’s a personalized experience rather than a one-size-fits-all model. The text is written in an interesting, easy-to-understand format and covers the knowledge, skills, behaviors and values necessary to prepare students to become thriving, multiskilled medical assistants.

This textbook can be used in a variety of settings:
- A structured classroom
- Individualized instruction of learning — much of the content and format is appropriate for self-study
- On-the-job training in a provider’s office, where the learning package serves as a supplement to employee instruction and as a resource manual
- Certification exam preparation
I would advise instructors to ask for training on this product and all the ancillaries that are available with it. Don’t try and do it all alone. There are many educators using the product. There’s also on-demand online training and virtual training that can be set up to help them get started. There are so many tools that can make their lives and educational experience easier.

How does MindTap connect to your text? How do you use it in your courses? What are your suggestions for professors getting started with MindTap?

This textbook also includes an updated MindTap. We’ve reviewed all activities and assessment questions to ensure alignment with the 10th edition objectives.

New features and updates include:
- Medical Assisting Virtual Skills activities: Included in select chapters, these activities walk students through performing various skills in the medical office, from effectively addressing patient questions on the phone to assisting with a variety of patient exams and procedures.
- Medical Office Simulation Software (4.0): This updated software features a Demographics screen, six new activities and ICD-10-CM and CPT codes.
- Medical Assisting Exam Review Online (4.0): This software is fully updated.
- Image labeling activities: Each chapter in Unit 2: Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Body includes new image labeling activities.
I use some of the exercises in MindTap as part of the students’ graded course materials. Some of the content is for student practice only. They can use it at their leisure. The competency checklists are all downloadable and customizable. You can add or remove any content to fit you and your students’ needs. In my student surveys, over 95% comment on how MindTap is one of the best resources they’ve used throughout the program. MOSS is a great way to get students acclimated to electronic record information entry. And the MAERO certification review questions assist my students with passing their certification exams successfully.

How do you see this text deepening students’ engagement with medical assisting and fostering more active engagement with core concepts? What is the most significant takeaway students will carry with them after using this textbook?

The text is such a great resource for the students in so many ways. It’s not just a textbook needed for a course. It has a wealth of information that enables them to make connections between the content and the hands-on skills needed to perform the tasks of a medical assistant. I run into students in the field all the time. Over 1000 past students are out in the workforce. They’re still using the text as a resource well after they have completed the program and are employed.

Having a variety of exercises in MindTap makes learning so much more meaningful and fun for students. I have yet to meet a student who did not find value in the text and the ancillary resources that go along with it. In fact, I hear from employers that use it when past students bring it in to refresh their own employees on updated skills that they may not have been aware of. I like to think of it as a gift that keeps on giving.

Michelle Blesi is a Certified Medical Assistant, Program Director and faculty member in the Medical Assistant Department at Century College. She has a diploma in medical assisting and is certified through the American Association of Medical Assistants AAMA. She also has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in community psychology. She completed the TES (Teacher Education Series) courses in spring 2005 at the University of Minnesota. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2021-2022 League Excellence Award and the 2016 Minnesota State: Academic and Student Affairs Division Excellence in Curriculum Programming Award.
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April 10, 2025
student-assistant-new-genai-capabilities – The Cengage Blog

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Since launching the Student Assistant in beta last year, we’ve been working with thousands of faculty and students to train it and bring a personalized learning experience to more students. So, what’s next for this GenAI-powered tool?

We’re taking it to the next level. Starting this fall 2025, the Student Assistant will become available to over 1 million students with new capabilities, including integration throughout the learning experience, course offerings across 100+ products and our new AI-powered insights dashboard.

Let’s jump in.

A quick refresher: Let us reintroduce you to the Student Assistant

Leveraging intelligent language models and Cengage-trusted content, the Student Assistant guides students through the learning process within their specific products. Currently, embedded in our online learning platform, MindTap, it provides tailored feedback to help students reach their own solutions, without giving away the answers. We want to support students to not only understand what they’re learning, but apply course concepts with confidence. That’s why this tool was purposefully trained by students and instructors, to ensure academic integrity is at the forefront.

Personalized support across learning activities

We’ve told you how the Student Assistant personalizes learning. Soon, students can experience that level of comprehensive, personalized support throughout their entire learning experience. The Student Assistant is expanding across various learning activities and can support more difficult question types. Plus, its responses will link to actual textbook chapters, images, videos and other resources. This allows students to instantly connect with their course content and understand exactly what they’re learning.

More course options equal more opportunities for students

Spanning 100+ products, the Student Assistant will be available to over 1 million students, each with their own set of unique learning needs. We’ve expanded access across our best-selling products, including “Principles of Economics” by N. Gregory Mankiw, “Anatomy & Physiology” by Dr. Liz Co, “Precalculus” by James Stewart and more. With more product offerings and platforms available, we can reach a wider range of students from a variety of key disciplines.

Allows instructors to look beyond grades with AI-powered insights dashboard

The most desired AI use case for 52% of instructors we surveyed is AI that personalizes learning and instruction.

Built on real-time interactions from the Student Assistant, our new AI-powered insights dashboard is a tool instructors can utilize to support and meet students right where they’re at in the learning process. Instructors can track students’ learning patterns and increase engagement with personalized, actionable insights on everything from study habits to learning challenges and concept gaps – all before it impacts their grades.

The future of learning is looking bright

Overall, this expansion will help us create better learning experiences for more students and allow instructors like you to meet their individual needs — so you can support them in their academic journeys and create futures full of opportunity.

Want to stay posted on updates about our fall 2025 expansion and learn more about the Student Assistant for your course?

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April 8, 2025
Blended and Hybrid Learning With MindTap
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Whether today’s educators are teaching in-person, online or somewhere in between, their dedication to students has remained stronger than ever, despite rapid changes within the space. And in recent years, we’ve seen advances in technology and an increased emphasis on flexible learning environments reshape the higher ed classroom, resulting in both blended and hybrid learning models becoming more common.

Let’s explore a few common models of blended and hybrid instruction and some course materials that tailor well to this type of learning experience.

Blended and hybrid learning: a breakdown

The definitions of both terms may vary. Typically blended instruction includes teaching with a variety of technology tools, while hybrid instruction includes both in-person and online course sessions. These terms can apply at many levels, from specific course components (for example, a blended activity) to the broadest program or institution level, where an institution has a program with both in-person and online components.

Common models

Some of the more common models of hybrid and blended instruction include:
- Flipped: Students learn new content before class and practice it in the classroom. This approach allows for multimodal content presentation online, and gives students greater control of when, where and how they access course content.
- Enriched virtual: Students set the pace of their own learning and complete most of their coursework online.
- Rotation: Students rotate between multiple learning modalities, one of which is online. Other modalities may include in-person instruction, group projects, individual guidance and assignments. This approach allows for students to interact with content in a variety of ways, promoting engagement.
- Flex: Students direct their learning according to what works best for them among different learning modalities with an emphasis on online learning. The instructor is available for face-to-face support as needed.
- A la carte/Self blend: Students choose a supplementary online course to accompany other, in-person experiences.
Depending on the model and modality, students can receive immediate feedback through computer graded activities. They can also interact with classmates in a variety of ways, such as discussion forums, online (or in-person) class sessions, group projects and multi-person online recordings, such as those available through Bongo with MindTap.

Teaching blended and hybrid models with MindTap

Here are a few examples of titles across disciplines like world languages, marketing, art & humanities and health care, paired with our online learning platform, MindTap, that readily translate to blended or hybrid formats.

Atelier, 2e, Introductory French

From its inception, “Atelier: An Introductory French Program,” 2e by Kim Jansma, Margaret Ann Kassen, and Laurence Denié-Higney was designed for hybrid or flipped courses. This program includes a course manual with grammar and vocabulary presentations, readings and many interactive activities that can be assigned in class. Before coming to class, instructors can assign Learn It activities (readings and new content presentations) and Practice It activities (low-stakes, auto graded comprehension and application) in MindTap. Students and instructors then have an opportunity to discuss new content and practice applying it in open-ended and creative ways within a synchronous, in-person or virtual class.

Apply It activities (open-ended expansion) can be assigned for follow-up homework, while Got It activities close out the MindTap Learning Path sequence at the end of each chapter section, so students can verify their understanding. Alternatively, these Got It activities can be assigned as review activities at the end of the module prior to formal assessments. Evaluation can be completed during course time or virtually via online tests that accompany the program and are available through Cognero.

Marketing, 21e, Principles of Marketing

Blended and hybrid approaches can also work in courses that were not initially designed for hybrid instruction. For example, with “Marketing,” 21e by William M. Pride and O. C. Ferrell, students can complete the reading and subsequent Learn It comprehension activities before class. They can complete Apply It activities either before class to prepare for an upcoming discussion or after class as extension activities. Students can also use Study It materials such as flashcards and practice quizzes for review and to identify areas for improvement before a test.

In addition, this title’s MindTap contains activities that allow students to personalize their learning online, promoting self-reflection and real-world application of course concepts. For example, Why Does It Matter to Me? is a chapter-opening question that situates upcoming concepts in context and prompts students to reflect on their own knowledge and experiences. Case Activities in each chapter has students apply key concepts from the chapter to a real-world scenario, including media and reflection questions. You Make the Decision are branching-style questions where students walk through a scenario and make important, but difficult decisions. At the end of the Learning Path are comprehensive assessments of marketing analytics and Excel activities. Students review and manipulate data in Microsoft Excel to see how resulting calculations affect business decisions. The robust content in MindTap for “Marketing,” 21e facilitates a variety of blended and hybrid learning approaches by providing students with unique, personalized and authentic materials at all stages of the learning process.

Cultures and Values: A Global View of the Humanities, 10e, Humanities

With a media-rich MindTap, “Cultures and Values: A Global View of the Humanities,” 10e by Lois Fichner-Rathus provides students with the authentic primary materials they are learning about in the readings. In their eBooks, students can zoom in on images to see details such as brush strokes and lighting. They can also access authentic texts of selected literary works, listen to chapter-specific curated playlists on Spotify and watch videos through edited YouTube chapter playlists. By allowing students to view and interact with primary course content directly, hybrid and blended learning brings the materials to life while supporting flexibility and learning on the go.

Understanding ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS: A Worktext – 2025, 10e, Medical Coding and Billing

While the previous examples have featured humanities and business courses, online learning is also common in workplace skills course such as medical coding and billing. Programs like “Understanding ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS: A Worktext – 2025” 10e by Mary Jo Bowie provide a variety of comprehension and application-based activities, real-life case studies and review materials. Plus, it includes the Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting for both ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS. As a result, students can complete readings, study using PowerPoints and flashcards and gain vital practice with coding in preparation for the certification exam. Students appreciate the flexibility and independence that blended and hybrid learning offers, while gaining valuable preparation for certification.

The takeaways

Many forms of blended and hybrid learning – from flipped classrooms to fully-online, self-led courses – are common in higher education today. By providing a variety of robust online content, courses can offer students flexibility, authenticity and personalized learning to boost engagement and prepare them for their studies and future careers.

Check out these resources that support different types of learning models:

Written by Jarmila Sawicka, Learning Designer at Cengage

Interested in ways MindTap can help engage students in your blended or hybrid model course?
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April 7, 2025
A Deep Dive into MindTap for Anatomy and Physiology: Now With Visible Body
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Students taking Anatomy and Physiology have many challenging and complex topics to navigate through. Some of the common areas where they may struggle include concept visualization, term memorization and learning how to apply their critical thinking skills within a real-world clinical setting.

Let’s explore MindTap for Elizabeth Co’s “A&P” and examine its suite of interactive features that improve engagement and comprehension, including Visible Body activities, author concept videos, clinical activities and personalized features.

Visible Body activities help students exercise factual and spatial knowledge

With Visible Body embedded into the MindTap Learning Path, students can access accurate visual representations, anatomically correct 3D models and immersive activities. Students can manipulate these 3D models and exercise their factual and spatial knowledge while reinforcing the concepts they’ve learned in Co’s “A&P.” Students can also check their understanding of these concepts by taking quizzes. With multiple Visible Body activities available in every chapter of the title, students can take advantage of a whole semester’s worth of 3D learning.

Visible Body activity in MindTap Learning Path

Author-driven content at students’ fingertips

“A&P” author Liz Co has always been passionate about supporting student learning and study skills. She currently serves on the HAPS (Human Anatomy & Physiology Society) learning objectives panel, is Committee Chair on Inclusive Pedagogy and Principal Investigator of Assessing Student Engagement and Efficacy of Remote Learning. Her wide-reaching experience has influenced new concept videos in each chapter, found under Learn Its in the MindTap Learning Path. Liz walks through what students have deemed to be the toughest topics in A&P, and breaks down those concepts using her pedagogical knowledge.

New concept videos with Dr. Elizabeth Co, author of “A&P.”

Clinical activities get students career-ready

Many students taking an A&P course are on the nursing/medical profession career track. With various opportunities to practice their critical thinking skills in MindTap for Co’s “A&P,” students can prepare for their future careers working in a clinical setting. Students can enhance those skills through Case Studies, activities which engage them with clinical scenarios and challenge them to achieve a higher-level of understanding with auto-graded assessments.

Study features reinforce key concepts/terms and personalize the learning experience

With over 8,000 anatomical terms to cover in the span of two semesters, A&P students need personalized solutions to help hone memorization skills and develop a better understanding of key concepts and terms. Students can improve these valuable skills with:
- The Student Assistant, leveraging GenAI and exclusive Cengage content, delivers a personalized learning experience to students, available 24/7.
- Mastery Training (powered by Cerego) uses cognitive science principles to help students learn key terms faster and more effectively. These activities help students make connections between terms and concepts, providing guidance until students have a full grasp of what they’ve learned.
- Adaptive Test Prep helps students review and understand concepts and skills in the course. Students take a quiz and receive a customized set of study materials.
Interested in exploring MindTap with Visible Body for your Anatomy and Physiology course?

The post A Deep Dive into MindTap for Anatomy and Physiology: Now With Visible Body appeared first on The Cengage Blog.

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March 31, 2025
Teaching Public Speaking Skills for Our Remote Age With MindTap Bongo Present Activities

Reading Time: 4 minutes

I remember that fateful day clearly, back in March 2020, when we were first told “Go home. We’re going remote.” On the way out the door, one of my colleagues said, “This changes everything.” At the time, I thought they were overreacting. My focus was on health and safety. Naively, I thought the COVID-19 pandemic would pass quickly, and we would soon return to normal.

Rarely have I been so wrong about so many things.

As a communication professor for more than thirty years, I assumed public speaking meant speaking in-person, in public. At the beginning of remote learning, I instructed students to present speeches on Zoom in much the same way I had when our classroom was live, in-person. However, after several semesters of trial and error, I finally appreciated the truth of my colleague’s statement. Everything had changed. While many of the skills required for effective public speaking remotely were the same as public speaking in person, teaching additional skills was necessary.

Public speaking skills: critical for career success

Happily, I discovered learning these remote public speaking skills would not only support students’ academic success but would also support their long-term workplace success. According to research in Cengage’s Career Readiness eBook, 98.5% of employers think communication skills are very important. Additionally, LinkedIn ranked communication as No. 1 on their 2024 list of overall most in-demand skills. Ultimately, this is a skill that will only benefit students in the long run. So, how can students hone this skill?

When it comes to public speaking in any environment, practice is always key. Experts often suggest students give practice presentations, paying close attention to things like their body language, tone of voice and breath control. Practicing in front of others can also be tremendously helpful when preparing.

The challenge of incorporating peer feedback skills in remote teaching

Providing constructive feedback is an essential skill for remote public speaking. Teaching my students how to provide constructive feedback had always been an integral part of my in-person public speaking curriculum.

First, I would offer a lesson with guidelines on how to offer constructive feedback. Then, students would be responsible for completing a speech critique form of another student’s presentation. And finally, students would reflect on ways they could improve their performance based on the feedback they received. Research suggests this type of peer review process helps students to develop lifelong skills in assessing and providing feedback to others, while simultaneously equipping them with skills to self-assess and improve their own speeches.

When I had a full class of face-to-face students, integrating these types of peer review experiences into my public speaking curriculum was relatively easy. However, I quickly learned that the remote learning environment presented a new set of peer review challenges. Just recording speeches to a viewing platform wasn’t enough to replicate the learning opportunities of the in-person experience. Ideally, students needed to be able to record their speeches for asynchronous viewing by the instructor and the assigned students, who would then offer written constructive feedback for the presenter and other peer reviewers to consider. These requirements seemed like a tall order but, amazingly, MindTap, Cengage’s online learning platform, provided me with exactly what I needed.

Using MindTap to teach remote public speaking skills

Prior to my public speaking courses shifting to remote learning, I had already been using online MindTap activities to supplement the print versions of my textbooks. After the pandemic, I began to rely more heavily on MindTap activities. I found using MindTap filled in some of what was lost from my students’ in-person experience, keeping them more engaged. Additionally, using the MindTap Bongo Present activities, which are available with many of the Communication Studies eBooks, solved a number of practical dilemmas including how to systematically evaluate their performance.

Present Bongo activities, found in the MindTap learning path, help students become more comfortable with the act of speaking to a camera while being recorded to a screen through a variety of topic-specific, impromptu-style, low-stakes public speaking opportunities.

Present activities can also be used as an effective delivery and evaluation system for more formal public speaking presentations, such as pre-planned informative or persuasive speeches. When students record their speech, in addition to receiving feedback and a grade from me, they can also receive feedback from other class members, either by a rubric-based peer review or live, real-time comments.

Having the option to assign three or more reviewers for each speech provides additional benefits, for both the reviewer and the speaker. As reviewers, students get to see a wider range of work, and as speakers, they get more feedback on their presentations. If multiple reviewers make the same suggestion, a speaker may be more likely to take that suggestion to heart.

The pathway to public speaking success in a remote setting includes setting aside time to rehearse and record presentations and asking colleagues for constructive feedback. In much the same way, MindTap Bongo activities provide students the opportunity to practice their speaking skills, learn from the review/feedback process and, ultimately, to succeed in our remote age.

Written by Sheryll Reichwein, MA, Adjunct Professor of Communication at Cape Cod Community College

Interested in exploring how MindTap Bongo Activities can help your students develop remote public speaking skills effectively?

The post Teaching Public Speaking Skills for Our Remote Age With MindTap Bongo Present Activities appeared first on The Cengage Blog.

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February 28, 2025
mindtap-coding-labs-build-career-readiness-with-github – The Cengage Blog
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Now more than ever, today’s higher ed institutions are prioritizing the fundamental on-the-job skills students will need to thrive in their future careers. In fact, according to our 2024 Graduate Employability report, 69% of education institutions are facilitating internships, cooperative education programs and work-related learning opportunities to provide students with practical experience.

Experience MindTap with GitHub

With that in mind, we’d like to share exciting news for computer science instructors hoping to equip their students with real-world career experience. Over the last several months, we’ve made key improvements to MindTap with GitHub Codespaces. GitHub is the world’s leading AI-powered developer platform to build, scale and deliver secure software, allowing your students to practice and code in an actual platform that’s used by coding professionals. By integrating GitHub Codespaces with MindTap, students can complete their coding assignments in an authentic coding lab environment, anytime, anywhere.

MindTap with GitHub Codespaces not only facilitates learning and practice, but also ensures that your students are well prepared as they enter the job market. By actively using industry-standard coding tools, computer science students gain valuable coding experience and proficiency, positioning them to seamlessly transition into their desired careers.

Significant improvements and updates

1. Two Critical Functionality Updates:
- Review Mode lets you review student work directly in MindTap, eliminating the need for students to bundle and share their work.
- Auto-Grading Functionality has been reinstated for those of you using the following Web Programming titles:
Since each title has a mix of auto-graded, manually graded and practice labs, we suggest you search the Cengage Instructor Center for your title to get the latest list of labs, available under the Resources tab.

2. Better Support for Introductory-Level Students — Based on Customer Feedback:
- We’ve made updates to existing instructions and feedback, including providing additional information where needed.
- UX/UI Enhancements, such as the minimization of select popups, help students focus on the salient parts of the experience.
- We added prerequisite assignments that aim to familiarize students with the GitHub experience. These assignments are available in the Getting Started Folder in the MindTap learning path.
- Additional Reviews and Quality Assurance were implemented overall to address errors.
3. Companion Tab New Features:
- Pagination allows your students to easily navigate through tasks within an assignment. With just a few clicks, they can jump to the exact page they’re searching for.
- Selective File Execution is specific to programming languages titles (Python, C++, Java and C#), and gives students the option to select and run code on a specific file.
- Reset Exercise Button gives students the option to reset their progress, providing them with a fresh version of the assignment.
- Sidebar Updates include the new Task Summary button, which gives students the completion status of their tasks, as well as the new run code button, which has been updated from a lightning bolt icon to a standard play button icon.
4. Support Resources:

All Getting Started resources for students are now available in the Getting Started folder within the learning path of your MindTap course. You can also locate this content in our Student Help and Instructor Help guides.
- A Comprehensive List of Labs associated with your title is now available in the Cengage Instructor Center, under the Resources tab. Download the document, “List of Labs – Grading Type” for a categorization of labs based on grading type: auto-graded, manually graded and practice.
- We’ve enhanced program speed to one third of the original run time, restoring performance to 2023 levels.
Prep your course with GitHub Readiness Checklist

Not sure where to begin? Best Practices for Setting Up GitHub in MindTap provides you with an actionable checklist of preliminary tasks to complete as you navigate through course preparation. In addition, you’ll find various linked resources including a list of available titles with GitHub lab activities, a step-by-step video showing how to create your GitHub account, needed technical requirements and more.
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February 21, 2025