Articles from Top Hat

Top Hat, the leader in student engagement solutions for higher education, today announced a strategic partnership with Wiley, a global leader in authoritative content and research intelligence, that combines Wiley’s academic expertise and Top Hat’s innovative engagement tools. As part of the collaboration, select titles from Wiley’s widely respected Psychology and Anatomy & Physiology catalogs will be seamlessly integrated into the Top Hat platform, giving educators access to powerful features to personalize content, enhance student success, and save time on course preparation and delivery.

Top Hat, a leading provider of student engagement solutions for higher education, has released the first significant finding in an ongoing research initiative with Indiana University exploring the impact of student engagement leveraging Top Hat on retention and academic outcomes. The study, involving an analysis of hundreds of courses from the Spring, Summer, and Fall semesters of 2023, observed that the use of Top Hat by instructors resulted in an 11.5 percent decrease in the mean student withdrawal rate compared to similar course types without using the platform. In absolute numbers, this would equate to approximately 289 of the sampled Indiana University students continuing their course work during the 2023 academic year. The findings highlight the positive impact of integrating Top Hat into course delivery on student retention, particularly in introductory courses that often have higher drop-out rates.

Top Hat, the market leader in student engagement solutions for higher education, has entered into an agreement to acquire Aktiv Learning (101 Edu, Inc.), a company revolutionizing education and learning technology in STEM disciplines. Given the growing demand for STEM careers, ensuring high quality learning is critical to both student and university success. This acquisition accelerates Top Hat’s mission to deliver personalized, engaging, and equitable learning for every student.

Top Hat, a market leader in student engagement solutions in higher education, is delighted to welcome Nicole Taylor to its Board of Directors. As an independent board member, Taylor’s unique combination of higher education executive leadership and commitment to championing issues of social equity will be invaluable in guiding Top Hat’s mission to empower educators to deliver personalized, meaningful, and equitable learning for every student in every course.

Top Hat, the leading dynamic courseware platform for higher education, is delighted to welcome Hong Bui as Chief Product Officer, Bradley Cohen as Chief Academic Officer and to announce the promotion of Donna Battista to Managing Director, Learning Solutions. The appointment of three seasoned executives to the company’s senior leadership team adds a number of complementary strengths that will enhance Top Hat’s ability to bring next generation educational technology to colleges and universities across North America. This includes deep experience in consumer and enterprise product design under Hong Bui, digital publishing and content strategy under Donna Battista and both academic and institutional executive experience under Bradley Cohen.

Top Hat, the leading customizable teaching and learning platform for higher education, has acquired Morton Publishing Company, an independent press that specializes in educational content for the sciences. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition includes more than 600 labs and course materials that are being converted into customizable digital courseware on Top Hat’s platform, to continue to deliver affordable course materials to students. They will be infused with interactive elements to facilitate active learning, such as videos, simulations, interactive homework questions, and more. Educators who adopt these titles on Top Hat’s teaching platform will be able to engage and motivate students in any teaching environment, whether in-person or online, synchronous or asynchronous.

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Top Hat, the leading teaching platform for higher education, today announced they have partnered to drive down the cost of higher education for students while supporting educators to easily deliver courses that are engaging and motivating in in-person and online environments. More than 29,000 students at VCU will now have free access to Top Hat’s teaching platform, comprising interactive and customizable content, engagement tools, assessment activities, and actionable insights designed to make the learning experience more impactful for students. Through this partnership, VCU students are expected to save up to $1.2 million per year. Educators will receive dedicated training and assistance from Top Hat’s support team to ensure they can leverage the platform’s features to engage and motivate students, create interactive educational content, and utilize real-time student performance insights to provide just-in-time support.

A new survey of more than 3,000 higher ed students, conducted partway through the Spring 2021 academic term, reported three key insights. First, 80 percent of students do not feel the learning experience has been worth the cost of tuition. Second, students have appreciated the flexibility of remote learning and while they are looking forward to a return to the physical classroom, most want to see elements of online learning carried forward. And finally, when it comes to realizing the value of their higher education investment, on-campus experiences and activities are not nearly as significant a factor as the role of instructors in the classroom.