The New MySocLab Packages
A Note to My Colleagues:
The New MySocLab Packages
The goal is quality without compromise. To achieve this objective, I have always been personally involved in all aspects of developing our texts. Beyond the writing, I work on the production and design of the books, select the images that appear on the pages, just as I personally write the test-item files and oversee all the supplements. Now this author involvement reaches a new level with the new versions of MySocLab.
Like all the major publishers, Pearson Education has invested a great deal of money in learning labs for their textbooks. The platforms have become ever more sophisticated and they have now reached the point where they have the potential to transform student learning. At the same time, even the best new learning technology is only as good as the content that is put into it. For almost all textbooks, publishers “outsource” the work of writing lab material to a “vendor” found somewhere in the world. It is not hard to imagine that the quality of the content produced in this way is low—the people writing the material are almost never professionally trained in the discipline involved.
Not so in the case of our texts! In order to give all of you—my colleagues—the level of quality and dependability that is associated with our textbooks, I have personally taken over the writing of the content for the MySocLabs for Sociology, Society: The Basics, and Social Problems. These author-written labs will assist students in remembering and understanding the content of every chapter. But they do even more: They also raise their cognitive skills to help them apply ideas to new situations, analyze facts and trends, and evaluate social patterns. The MySocLab material even gives students the opportunity to create new visions of society!
If you are familiar with Bloom’s learning taxonomy, you will recognize that standard textbooks are best for basic comprehension. They provide clear definitions as well as illustrations of important concepts. But books are limited by the fact that students read a fixed body of words. In the lab, students experience a truly interactive learning environment. This means that assessment is more complex and precise. It also means that the lab can respond to students at the level where they are. And, best of all, it can take them into situations where they can experience the thrill of discovery—learning on their own!
Trust me: This new MySocLab is good. I have made the decision to devote a substantial amount of my own time and energy to ensure that you and your students will be pleased with what you find.
Because I am personally developing both the text and the MySocLab, both parts of the learning package will be able to “talk to each other.” This means that the text will change to support the learning in the lab just as the lab is being steadily improved to better support the text. The combination will be unbeatable and transformative!
Again, Society: The Basics 12th edition, Sociology, 14th edition, and Social Problems, 5th edition all have advanced, author-written versions of MySocLab.
I know of no other textbooks in introductory sociology or social problems that are available with author-written material in the learning labs. Yes, this is a lot of work. But I can see no other way to give you and your students the level of quality in interactive labs that you have come to expect from our texts.