What do you dislike about MyLab?
Where to start?
I'm currently enrolled in a math course, and using MyLab Math. After being forced to pay $90 for a six-month subscription (I would have appreciated a cheaper, shorter subscription that meets the needs of a college student enrolled in a standard 15-week semester, but the only alternative was a three-month subscription that could not have covered the full semester. I would have simply not purchased the product if it weren't required), I received simple bugs, gateway errors, and the worst question design imaginable. Every question felt unnecessary in some way. Some were unnecessarily easy, in that they only reviewed the most basic parts of each problem. but this is understandable - fundamentals must be taught before anything more. While this was irritating.
However, the remainder of the questions were unnecessarily difficult. Not conceptually, but structually - decimals where there were no need for decimals, changes in the structure of the problems to add additional, unnecessary obstacles to completing them. These obstacles didn't help me understand the material, or steps, any further, just resulted in more time taken out of my day to work through them.
To illustrate this, I can use an example. Say the chapter involves graphing linear equations. To help develop an understanding of this, an educator might present a problem such as
y = 2x + 3
and then require the student to graph it. This problem uses simple numbers, and introduces a fundamental understanding of the concept. After this, (slightly) more advanced concepts. such as fractions, negative integers, and similar might be approached and covered.
MyLab Math would write a problem like this as
8x - 3y = 22.
Obviously, it can still be completed - isolate y, divide by 3,
y = (3/8)x - 22/3
but those two extra steps were unnecessary. This is a good challenge problem for a student still learning basic linear equations, but using only problems like this has no positive effect, and increases the time required to complete assignments. Now imagine this pattern of unnecessary steps in the context of more complex math, and you should be able to see how irritating it is. Earlier this semester, I spent an hour and a half on one problem, only for the program to crash. There were seven problems like that one in that assignment, and I simply gave up. Instead of using the service I'm paying $90 for six months of, I looked up practice problems, because they taught me the concept without any extra complications. Those were free, by the way.
Could I complete the unnecessary extra steps? Certainly! They were already covered in previous courses. Could I work with absurd fractions and generally annoying numbers? Of course! But how does it benefit me to slog through these problems if all I'm trying to do is learn the concepts behind them? In fact, I'd argue this only incentivizes students to cheat -- why bother working through an hour and a half of poorly designed problems when you could instead use cheating services like Photomath for those, and learn from practice problems elsewhere? Photomath would likely do a better job teaching the concepts anyway.
These issues are further exacerbated by MyLab's grading style. You are given a certain amount of attempts to correctly answer each question (unless specified otherwise by the course's instructor). Each unnecessary step and each convoluted number added to the problem increases one's chances of making a simple mistake. While one might understand the concept well - and the goal of MyLab should be to teach concepts, not inhuman perfection - one also might forget to write down a negative sign, or incorrectly copy a decimal. These mistakes happen at any level of math, but the more convoluted the problem, the more opportunity for human error. MyLab increases the risk of human error while simultaneously punishing it, and that cannot be the basis for any product priced at $90 for a temporary subscription.
My experience has been terrible. If you're looking to use MyLab Math for education, reconsider. If you're some poor student condemned to using it, use the free two-week trial, cheat for the sake of grades, and learn the concepts yourself - free practice problems are more effective than those Pearson charges $90 for. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
