Instructors: Some principles underlying Learnvia courseware

Learnvia courseware intends to improve student success, while also improving instructor job satisfaction. 

One preferred usage is: 

• Lesson tasks: Done by students before class to learn basics
• Classtime: Students come prepared, giving instructors more options in-class.
• Homework tasks: Done by students sometime after class to practice and absorb
• Quiz tasks: Done after all the above, to help students self-assess and adjust
• Questions: In any task, students use the AI tutor for immediate help, and without fear of judgement. Discussion forum posts, which may be anonymous, allow further questions and connections with classmates.

Variations are possible, such as doing lessons during discussion/recitation sessions, or after in-class introductions to a topic. 

Student success is improved due to the extensive learning happening outside class, supplementing the learning in class. 

Instructor job satisfaction is improved via: 

• Reduced time: Auto-grading reduces instructor grunt work (allowing grading of higher-value items if desired).   Course setup/configuration is reduced due to the courseware already aligning lessons, homeworks, and quizzes, and even pre-configuring per week
• Fewer issues: Student complaints go down since more students stay on track, demand for help reduces (fewer emails, shorter office-hour lines), requests for extensions are fewer (due to simple assignment pattern, immediate and partial credit), and more.
• Higher-value engagements: Student class time is elevated due to prepared students and more interesting class activities, instructors have more time to answer questions and if desired intervene with struggling students, questions are less repetitive, etc. 

Regarding lessons, variation in student preparation prior to taking a course is often noted by instructors as the biggest challenge of teaching gateway courses. Doing lessons outside class helps adjust for student variation, allows students to self-pace, learning from the immediate feedback, and able to dynamically review background material that is built-in or via the AI tutor. A safe non-judgmental learning space lets students take extra time, ask questions of the AI tutor or anonymously on the discussion forum, and more, without being watched by classmates or instructors. The video animation of key concepts and the incremental steps (scaffolding) taken in lessons ensures students get lost. Earning points encourages students to actually do the work outside class. 

Regarding homeworks, the questions are designed to work closely with the lessons, ensuring careful scaffolding and material alignment. Providing solutions allows students to learn from worked examples, shown to be extremely powerful in learning science. Auto-generated questions allows unlimited attempts, reducing stress associated with running out of allowed attempts. The careful lesson and homework alignment, plus available solutions, reduces the need to cheat via copying solutions from online or AI. 

Regarding quizzes, the built-in "self quizzes" (coming 2026) coming from the same question bank as real quizzes allow students to assess their understanding, and strengthen weak areas, without fear of grade penalties. Research shows students take great advantage of this opportunity, and that learning benefits. The questions are again are carefully aligned with the lessons and homework, reducing the common student exam complaint that the pre-exam work didn't prepare them for the exams.