Modern learning: back to school, new explanations offering and beyond

In the history of education, the learning experience has never had such a global spotlight. It’s hard to believe it took a pandemic for everyone to take notice of what students and educators balance, and battle, in order to make learning effective. It has been eye-opening for so many to begin to understand what students were already dealing with, from stress to access and equity.

We know that being a student is tough! When we surveyed students, we learned that over 90% say they put a great amount of pressure on themselves. In addition, 4 out of 5 students say stress is one of the most challenging aspects of studying effectively. Many students admit they aren’t sure they know how to study, and they say they need help with strategies for solving more difficult problems.

In fact, studies from Harvard Medical School and the American Institute of Stress noted that around 80% of college students reported frequent or high levels of stress, even before the pandemic hit.

As students progress throughout their education, we know a greater proportion of their learning becomes self-directed through hours of studying and assignments outside of class. For many students, the self-reliance involved with learning becomes more acute as the stakes get higher and the subjects get more advanced. It's not easy to find help either, as the pandemic has made resources such as study groups and office hours even more difficult to access.

On top of all this, today's student is juggling school, work, family and other pressures. According to the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S., the average college student is 25 years old, 40% are working 30 hours a week or more while in school, and 25% of them have children.

Knowing it’s the norm for students’ learning journeys to become more self-directed, all while balancing the rest of life’s responsibilities, it’s essential that students have learning support and encouragement from the first week of class to final exams.

As we continue our efforts to be every student’s go-to study destination for their self-learning needs, this back to school, Quizlet is excited to announce we are expanding our platform to help students learn through in-depth problem solving with the addition of explanations.

Explanations aim to help high school and college students better understand the reasoning and thought process behind study questions so they can practice and apply their learnings on their own. Explanations provide learners with step-by-step guidance to problem sets from thousands of popular textbooks, pre-written and verified by subject matter experts. The unique step-by-step reveal feature provides the opportunity for self-guided learning, with students moving through problems at their own pace and testing their own approaches. As Quizlet’s Data and Learning Scientist, Anna Khazenzon, PhD., points out, “Learning science suggests that the desirable friction created through this 'productive struggle' creates deeper understanding of the material. This process also allows students to explore, remediate, and reinforce key concepts.”

At Quizlet, we build our study tools with intention, leveraging the latest technology and learning science principles to help people focus their time and attention for effective studying. And we recognize that we’re in a unique position to help students conquer that overwhelmed feeling when it comes to self-learning.

We’re already getting positive feedback from teachers who tell us explanations will provide a helpful companion guide to their textbooks, allowing their students to work through concepts outside of class, when there isn’t someone around to explain or help them get unstuck.

We have been built for students from day-one and we intend to continue to offer the most comprehensive study support for the more than 1.5 billion students on the planet by making the studying experience more approachable, effective and accessible for everyone.

Over the course of this next year, we look forward to sharing expert insights from our team, as well as perspectives and recommendations from educators and others making great strides in understanding how modern students learn and thrive.

And on that note, you may have noticed we’ve updated our logo and brightened everything up! We’ve been inspired by the resilience of students throughout the toughest times and want to mirror that hope and effort right back.

We’re proud to give people a trusted place to better learn how to study and to practice and master what they are learning.

Here’s to a renewed year full of learning successes.

*Quizlet student survey received over 1,000 responses from high school and college level students.