Demand Soars to More Than 8 Million Registrations for Pearson's MyLabs and Mastering Programs

BOSTON, March 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In an era of declining state education funding and rising enrollments, colleges and universities are finding improved student achievement and cost savings using Pearson's MyLabs and Mastering technology programs. Demand continues to soar for the programs, with more than 8 million student registrations last year alone, a 33 percent increase over 2009.

The MyLabs and Mastering programs can be personalized to suit each student's level of knowledge and used in any environment -- lab-based, blended and distance learning or classroom. Instructors can easily create, import and manage online homework, quizzes and tests, all of which are automatically graded for instant feedback to students -- freeing instructors to spend less time grading and more time working directly with their students.

During the fall semester, more than 750,000 students logged in daily -- a 32 percent increase from 2009. Students submitted 232 million assignments during the year, a 56 percent increase over 2009. Pearson's core systems and technologies performed efficiently as registrations and usage volume increased.

At Cleveland State Community College in Tennessee, instructors redesigned the developmental math programs using MyMathLabPlus to increase success rates and better prepare students for college-level courses. Now, completion rates are up 27 percent in select courses, and the technology-focused redesign has allowed the college to increase section offerings, reduce class sizes, improve schedule flexibility and reduce instructor costs to the college by 20 percent. Cleveland State's remarkable results were recently cited by President Obama in a speech on higher education.

The Mastering programs for the sciences show evidence of students' increased learning and their ability to apply what is learned from one set of problems to another. For example, after using MasteringPhysics, students make 15 percent fewer errors and solve problems 15 percent faster. And with MasteringChemistry, students have increased their exam scores by 12 percent.

In addition, the MyLabs are a valuable resource for community colleges serving growing numbers of displaced workers who need job training skills, yet lack hands-on experience with technology. For example, at Marion Technical College in Ohio, MyWritingLab has freed teachers to do what they do best -- teach -- with increases in student performance of more than 20 percent.

"One of the benefits of MyWritingLab is that, while students are working to understand grammar principles, they are simultaneously becoming competent users of rather sophisticated Web 2.0 technology," says instructor David Webster. "With MyWritingLab, students acquire -- and retain -- grammar skills that serve as a foundation for effective writing and success in future courses."

For more information, visit http://www.pearsonhighered.com/elearning/mylabs/index.html.

About Pearson

Pearson, the world's leading learning company, has global-reach and market leading businesses in education, business information, and consumer publishing (NYSE: PSO).

SOURCE Pearson