McGraw-Hill Marks Year of Achievement in Adaptive Learning at 2012 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference

DENVER, Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- (EDUCAUSE Booth #540) -- In 2012, adaptive learning became one of the most important and exciting trends in education technology, and in that year McGraw-Hill cemented its status as the adaptive learning leader, celebrating a number of milestones for McGraw-Hill LearnSmart™ - the company's industry-leading adaptive study tool - as it helped colleges and instructors improve student performance. As part of this year of achievement in adaptive learning, McGraw-Hill today announced at the 2012 EDUCAUSE conference in Denver that LearnSmart has surpassed one million student users since the product launched in fall 2009. At the conference, McGraw-Hill will be showcasing LearnSmart and previewing how it is introducing the adaptive technology behind LearnSmart to other areas of the course lifecycle where students are likely to benefit from a more personalized learning experience.

McGraw-Hill was one of the first learning companies to enter the adaptive learning arena with the introduction of the LearnSmart personal digital tutor in 2009. LearnSmart continuously assesses students' knowledge on a given subject and delivers highly personalized recommendations to create a study path that meets students' individual learning needs. The milestone of one million student users bears special significance for LearnSmart: As students answer more questions within LearnSmart, the system becomes more familiar with student learning patterns and becomes better able to assess each student's knowledge and skills to provide personalized study recommendations. LearnSmart's wealth of student data speaks to its unparalleled ability to adapt to students' individual learning needs and improve student performance.

McGraw-Hill's new adaptive learning solutions, to be previewed at EDUCAUSE, combine with LearnSmart to provide a more comprehensive adaptive and personalized approach to the entire learning experience. The new solutions will serve McGraw-Hill's larger goal of improving student performance by ensuring that students are knowledgeable and confident about the baseline concepts and information they need to succeed prior to starting higher-level courses, as well as by enabling meaningful scientific exploration and learning within a photo-realistic virtual lab environment.

"In three short years, LearnSmart has become the dominant adaptive learning program in higher education," said Brian Kibby, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education. "As we surpass the one million students mark, we're proud of the positive impact that LearnSmart has made on achievement for the one million students who have used the system and are excited about the impact it will have on the next million students. We look forward to extending the power of adaptive learning to the full lifecycle of a course to help create even more dramatic gains."

Students using McGraw-Hill LearnSmart have been proven to move up a full letter grade by studying smarter, not longer. In a study released last year, LearnSmart was shown to turn C students into B students, and B students into A students. Because it is conveniently accessible via devices that students use every day - including nearly every computer and iOS devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini and iPod Touch - LearnSmart is able to provide students with a study-on-the-go experience that gives them the information and focus they need to ensure success in their courses. In 2011, McGraw-Hill saw nearly 10,000 downloads of its LearnSmart mobile app; in 2012, that figure grew exponentially, with more than 70,000 LearnSmart app downloads year to date.

McGraw-Hill continues to explore new and expanded distribution models to increase student access to LearnSmart. Earlier this year McGraw-Hill for the first time made LearnSmart available for students to purchase directly. Today the company announced that the company has signed an agreement with Chegg, the academic hub, to sell LearnSmart as a standalone product through its website. Chegg has helped McGraw-Hill personalize the marketing of LearnSmart to students at the right time throughout the semester. Previously, McGraw-Hill had strictly marketed LearnSmart to universities and professors for class-wide adoption, but students can now access LearnSmart on their own - a move the company made because of the solution's growing popularity and proven effectiveness among students.

LearnSmart, which is available directly to students starting at a price point of $24.99, is available for more than 100 McGraw-Hill titles and across more than 40 course areas.

For more information about McGraw-Hill LearnSmart, and to preview the company's next generation adaptive technologies, visit with McGraw-Hill Higher Education and McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions at booth #540 during the 2012 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference in Denver. McGraw-Hill will also be posting live tweets from the conference through its Twitter feeds (@MHEducation, @MHhighered) using the conference hashtag #EDU12. Additional information about LearnSmart can be found at www.mhlearnsmart.com.