Erika Martinez

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Erika Martinez

Department: Economics

School: University of South Florida

Product: Achieve for Chiang, Microeconomics: Principles for a Changing World

How do you use Achieve? I integrate Achieve with my Canvas course and it allows me to bring a variety of content to students throughout the week. The various Achieve assignments help the students understand what the expectations are regarding the time and effort they devote to the course. Achieve also helps to hold them accountable because their progress is easily tracked and monitored. In my class, each week students have a set of pre-lecture and post lecture assignments in Achieve. The pre-lecture assignments include reading the eBook, watching mini lecture videos, and completing the LearningCurve adaptive quizzing assignment. The post-lecture is more like a traditional homework assignment however, I assign it for zero points and students know they are expected to use it as a means of weekly study and self-assessment. I have also created several assignments in Achieve to help with multi-chapter review in preparation for exams throughout the course. Achieve is an integral part of my course and aids engaging students and improving student outcomes.

Any advice on using technology with students? Technology is a great way to engage students while in the classroom but also allows us to continue teaching outside the classroom. Students are no longer limited to just the textbook and a set of homework questions after the class period ends. There are videos, iClickers, simulations, discussion boards, eLectures, adaptive learning assignments, and the list goes on because new options are continuously being developed. There are so many tech resources available to us, but we cannot use them all. My advice would be to embrace it, but slowly. Explore them one at a time and one-by-one introduce your students to the options that resonate with you and your teaching style. Sometimes there is a learning curve so don't be discouraged if it doesn't work quite the way you envisioned at first. Soon you will find the mix of technology resources that works for you and your students!

If you integrate with an LMS, which LMS?  I integrate with Canvas.