Indianapolis-based educational technology company Perceivant has announced a new partnership with the University of Oregon in its Spring 2018 pilot of the company’s innovative web-based active learning course, FitQuest.

FitQuest is used in higher education fitness, sport, and activity courses, and uses self-assessments, discussion assignments, and interactive sport and activity modules to teach the principles of physical well-being.

With a student population of over 20,000, the University of Oregon was a prime candidate for a pilot with the courseware company, which currently has 12 university partners and services over 15,000 students annually.

“The University of Oregon was looking to enhance the experience of their fitness and wellness courses through leveraging technology,” said Joel Davis, sales director at Perceivant. “We look forward to this being a long-term mutually beneficial partnership of growth and expansion.”

The university is also on the quarter system, which is particularly advantageous to Perceivant in providing a new and positive revenue cycle. “Given that the majority of our partner schools are on the more traditional semester system, quarter schools are a welcome addition, bringing revenue at new and varying times,” said Joel.

After reviewing the product last year, faculty and administrators at OU worked closely with the technology company to assure the product aligned with the university’s curriculum for its fitness and wellness courses.

A particularly noteworthy feature of Perceivant’s courseware is increased accessibility through the use of a course companion mobile application that can be downloaded directly to students’ phones and other mobile devices.

“With the support of our interactive learning platform and companion mobile application, students have access to physical assessment demonstration videos and have the ability to input their assessment results via their mobile device right there from the university gym, their dorm room or campus quad,” Joel explained. “Everything is integrated and syncs, so when the student is engaged and completing assessments, the instructor has visibility to that engagement and their individual progress.”

Student success has always been a driving factor in Perceivant’s mission. One of the biggest challenges the company addresses with its technology is the looming DFW rate (D/fail/withdrawal rate for classes) that many students and universities face, particularly in the core curriculum classes that first and second year students are required to take. Due to the large size of these classes, underperforming students can often fall through the cracks, jeopardizing their college careers in these early courses.

To prevent this from happening, Perceivant has developed a student risk assessment dashboard, launching in the fall of 2018. The dashboard tracks variables that support student success, including attendance, course participation, overall grade, timeliness of assignment completion, and aggregate amount of time spent in course material, to name a few. The instructors and students can see the data collected and how it compares side-by-side with class averages.

Using this data to provide early alerts gives students the opportunity to make positive adjustments for success before it’s too late.

“Especially in the first two years, students come into college not always being aware of what it takes to succeed,” said Joel. “With the support of our courseware, students will be alerted when they fall below class averages, not only through the course dashboard, but also through the mobile application and mobile alerts. This type of visibility for both students and instructors is a game changer for us as a company, but really for the students and universities who will benefit.”

You can learn more about Perceivant on their Tech Directory profile.