MindTap Reviews

“Integration simplifies student learning

Pros

I use Cengage textbooks for many of my courses and the this tool/Brightspace integration has been a huge help over the years. It makes it easy for me to select material to reinforce student learning and the chapter quizzes and homework let students test their knowledge before exams. The setup only requires one integration and I've always received excellent customer support. My students also share positive feedback on using this tool across multiple courses.

Cons

I haven't found anything I dislike about this tool so far. There are plenty of activity options for me to choose from as an instructor and I like how simple the integration was.

“Valuable one on one support

Pros

Their one on one interaction I really appreciate because they respond for any questions, as it makes getting help so much easier and more effective.

Cons

Well, there's honestly not much I dislike about this tool.

“Helpful features and diverse materials

Pros

This tool includes a lot of features I find useful, such as automatic grading, a wide range of in demand courses like psychology and management and an easy interface for instructors. I like the variety of learning materials, from flashcards to quizzes, supports different learning styles well.

Cons

The application still needs a lot of development in my view, mainly to make it easier to use and to reduce the bugs that affect performance.

“Great for enhancing online learning

Pros

It's been a great platform for me to enhance online learning because the educational tools provided make implementation simple and smooth.

Cons

It's good for me to use and I don't see any major issues.

“simple LMs integration

Pros

I appreciate how simple the integration is with LMS through the Course Builder tool which makes managing content easy and efficient.

Cons

I've needed some administrative intervention at times to assist instructors which can slow things down.

“Limited access and outdated system

Pros

The asynchronous nature of this tool gives students the chance to learn at their own pace which is great but I think it would be better if there were more audio features for pronunciation and ADA compliant read aloud text. The design feels a bit retro which might not appeal to everyone.

Cons

I purchased the entire book, covering four courses, directly from the publisher but I cannot access the material without class registration. Even though I paid for it, I can't practice the content freely and the two year access clock starts ticking right after purchase. If life circumstances force me to take a break, I just lose access and money. This gatekeeping approach feels unethical and outdated, especially compared to open access platforms like Duolingo. As both a language learner and teacher, I find this tool's model based more on profit than on student interest and I'd strongly recommend institutions switch to open access solutions.

“Test banks and updated resources help

Pros

I rely on the test banks often because they offer so many helpful questions across topics and I really like the updated case activities. The variety of resources always makes teaching easier for me.

Cons

The thing that bothers me a lot is to shift through so many different assignments. Not being able to edit the built in tests and activities makes the process cumbersome.

“Basic services don't work

Pros

My experience has been frustrating because I don't enjoy using the platform's features and to me it feels more like a money making tool focused on convenience than on real usability.

Cons

Basic services like payment, chat boxes and URLs don't work properly for me. Honestly, I'd say avoid it at all costs, old textbooks perform far better than this platform.

“effective for some courses, not coding

Pros

As a coding teacher, I use this tool in my classes, though I find it's more effective for courses like Excel and MS Word. The guided assignments, automated grading and rich materials like quizzes are helpful but coding classes sometimes face issues with cross platform compatibility and assignment verification.

Cons

I notice a lot of bugs even though this tool is overall a good system. My students often face issues where assignments won't submit, even when the code is correct. The system checks for exact output matches, so if students use a different programming approach, it may mark their work wrong. HTML, CSS and JS verification engines sometimes demand a pixel perfect match which causes unnecessary trouble. I've seen better results in Python classes since those run on a Python based backend.

“Feedback studio excels in essay grading

Pros

This tool's Feedback Studio stands out for me when it comes to essay grading. I use rubrics, inline grading, audio or text comments and even add links to textbooks which works much better than grading through my LMS or Word.

Cons

Organizing a course feels tedious and time consuming to me. I wish it had drag and drop functionality or a way to move multiple items at once.