PsycLearn

PsycLearn was designed to be a personalized digital learning experience for students in face-to-face, hybrid, and online courses.


By building PsycLearn into your LMS course, students can easily access the course content, but unlike traditional textbooks, you also have better visibility into their completion and comprehension of the content, as well as their learning path. Using these, and other PsycLearn features, you can engage in more immersive teaching because you have a deeper understanding of your students' familiarity with the material outside of the classroom. We've compiled some tips and best practices for incorporating PsycLearn content and features into your syllabus and existing assignments.


We also recommend linking to the PsycLearn Learning Commons in your course so that students can easily access self-service help and technical support.


If you're using PsycLearn: Research Methods with Academic Writer, you may also want to check out our documentation that aligns modules with Academic Writer activities.

PsycLearn - Academic Writer Alignment Document (PDF)

PsycLearn Orientation and Student Resources Modules


The Orientation module is an overview of how to navigate and study within the PsycLearn platform. You can find the link to your PsycLearn course's orientation module in the LTI spreadsheet from your Customer Success Specialist.


The Student Resources module contains a wealth of information and tools from APA to help your students get inspired about topics in psychology; prepare for success in their studies and careers; and secure scholarships, internships, and more. This module is great for students pursuing a degree in psychology, but also offers valuable information for students in any discipline. To make this module available to students, you'll need to add it to your course in the same way you add other content modules.

  • Best Practices

    • Students are more likely to complete the orientation module if you assign a small number of points to the assignment. Unlike other content modules, grading is based on completion only.
    • If you do not want to assign points to the orientation module, you can use advanced features of your LMS to require students to complete the orientation before they can access and proceed to additional PsycLearn content.

Assigning PsycLearn Modules


We recommend assigning each PsycLearn module as a graded assignment. Modules can be reordered and suppressed through the PsycLearn Instructor Dashboard so that you can align content with your course syllabus. This ensures that students navigate modules in the desired order.


To reorder or suppress modules from the Instructor Dashboard, select Course Material Customization, drag and drop modules in the desired order, and uncheck any modules that will not be covered in class.

  • Best Practices

    • Assign PsycLearn modules as graded assignments in your LMS course. Review our instructions for adding graded assignments, if needed.
    • We recommend including the following information in the assignment description for students - the module description and estimated time to complete the module (found in the ToC area of the Instructor Dashboard).
    • We also recommend adding a link to our support article to remind students to use the assignment link to open PsycLearn and only have one PsycLearn assignment open at a time.
    • Customize the order of modules prior to the start of your course to eliminate student confusion after the course start date. You can copy your course from term to term to reduce your setup time. Changes to PsycLearn modules made in the Instructor Dashboard, such as reordering or suppression, can be copied into multiple courses allowing you to reuse your customization.
    • Add a link to all PsycLearn content or the PsycLearn course toolkit as a reference for your students so they can review completed modules throughout the term.

Grading


PsycLearn was designed to be a personalized digital learning experience for students. To promote better engagement with the content, we recommend that you make modules required with due dates and grading standards. This has been shown to foster student accountability and motivation.


PsycLearn modules are graded for completion based on:


  • Student Understanding - Students indicate their understanding of the PsycLearn content by using a slider bar. If they indicate they do not understand the material, a red X will be displayed for the page and the student is presented with additional material on the topic. The additional material will be required for the student to achieve 100% completion.
  • Mastering the Content Scores - Students must pass all Mastering the Content sections to achieve a 100% completion score for the module. They have 3 attempts on each quiz to achieve 80% or above (the passing score). If, after the third attempt, they have not done so, points will be deducted from their completion score.
  • Each page in a module is weighted equally, so if a module has 10 pages, each is weighted at 10%; if the student does not receive an 80% or higher on the Mastering the Content page, 10% would be deducted from their completion score. Because of this, not all students will achieve a 100% completion score.


The completion score is passed back to your course gradebook automatically and in real-time. If you have set a due date, students can access and work in the module until the due date. Modules do not need to be completed in one session and all student progress is saved throughout. After the due date, the module is locked down and the completion score cannot be updated.

  • Best Practices

    • Add PsycLearn modules as a new grade item to your course and award points based on completion.
    • Factor module completion as part of a class participation grade.

PsycLearn Instructor Dashboard Reports


By building content into your course, you not only enable your students to easily access PsycLearn course content, you now have visibility into student progress and completion. This allows you to focus on more immersive teaching during class time because you know your students have already engaged with the material outside of your class meeting time. You can analyze student learning paths and customize your in-class instruction, whether it's face-to-face, hybrid, or online, based on activity you see in your PsycLearn Instructor Dashboard. For more information on using the dashboard, view our Instructor Dashboard Quick Guide.

  • Best Practices

    • Run the Progress Report after the due date of assigned modules to identify learning trends in your course.
    • Use the Assessment Report to view student progress on "Mastering the Content" assessments. This report will allow you to not only see how students responded to questions, but you can use it to identify student learning trends. If you identify a topic or question that was frequently missed, you may consider taking a deeper dive into the topic or further discussion during class time.

Student Activities



At least two supplemental activities are provided for each module. Activities may help you flip your classroom and strengthen student understanding of psychological concepts presented in PsycLearn courses. These files are available in the Supplemental Resources section of the instructor dashboard and are downloadable as a .docx file allowing you to customize the activities for your class use. You can also find an activity guide that provides an overview of all the activities and ideas for how they may be used.

  • Best Practices

    • Use supplemental activities to support student learning based on trends you see in the Progress Report. If a number of students are struggling with a concept wtihin a module, the supplemental activities can reinfoce content to ensure students understand the material.
    • Create a discussion thread within your LMS course using the supplemental activities to evaluate student understanding of PsycLearn course content.

Test Banks


Each PsycLearn course has its own test bank available. Test bank questions are in a QTI file, which can be easily imported to your LMS. There are two available files that can be imported to your classroom. One file has only true/false and multiple-choice questions, while the other file also includes short answer questions. 


Test bank questions are organized by module and categorized by learning objective. Questions are written by subject matter experts and reference material found in the primary learning path of PsycLearn. Some questions are pulled from within PsycLearn and some are presented for the first time in the test bank.

  • Best Practices

    • Consider using the test banks to create quizzes for your students throughout the term. You can select questions from multiple modules to reinforce previously learned concepts.

Messaging Tool


PsycLearn features a messaging tool that allows students to communicate directly with you from within PsycLearn. Students can use the tool to send a message or question about content from their location within the platform. You should encourage them to include any additional details about the content that they do not understand. Notifications of student messages are sent directly to your email with a link to the section from where they sent the message. This feature can also be disabled from the Instructor Dashboard.

  • Best Practices

    • Make sure students include specific questions about the content they are struggling to understand to avoid unnecessary back and forth communication.
    • If you notice a pattern of student questions about content, you can address them during class time and even reinforce content with a supplemental activity or discussion.
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