Over integration of AI and new vocab features
I have been using Pearson+ for quite some time, and one of my favorite features was the ability to tap a highlighted vocabulary word and instantly see its definition in a simple white popup. It was fast, unobtrusive, and allowed me to continue reading without losing my place or breaking my concentration.
Unfortunately, that feature has now been replaced with the AI Study Tool panel. Instead of a quick glossary definition, every vocabulary lookup now opens the AI sidebar. While AI can be helpful in some situations, it is unnecessary for something as simple as defining a vocabulary term. This change interrupts the reading experience, takes up more screen space, and makes studying less efficient.
It feels like Pearson is trying to incorporate AI into every aspect of the textbook, even when it makes the user experience worse. Not every feature needs AI, and not every student wants AI involved in their learning. Sometimes a simple, well-designed tool is the better solution.
The biggest issue is the lack of user choice. Students learn in different ways, and we should be able to customize our learning experience. If someone prefers the AI Study Tool, that’s great. But those of us who preferred the original glossary popup should have the option to use it instead. Giving users the ability to choose between the classic glossary popup and the AI panel would make the app far more flexible and student-friendly.
Technology should enhance learning, not force every interaction through AI. Pearson should focus on providing options rather than replacing proven features with AI simply because it’s the latest trend. Please bring back the original glossary popup or at least add a setting that allows users to choose the experience that works best for them.
Unfortunately, that feature has now been replaced with the AI Study Tool panel. Instead of a quick glossary definition, every vocabulary lookup now opens the AI sidebar. While AI can be helpful in some situations, it is unnecessary for something as simple as defining a vocabulary term. This change interrupts the reading experience, takes up more screen space, and makes studying less efficient.
It feels like Pearson is trying to incorporate AI into every aspect of the textbook, even when it makes the user experience worse. Not every feature needs AI, and not every student wants AI involved in their learning. Sometimes a simple, well-designed tool is the better solution.
The biggest issue is the lack of user choice. Students learn in different ways, and we should be able to customize our learning experience. If someone prefers the AI Study Tool, that’s great. But those of us who preferred the original glossary popup should have the option to use it instead. Giving users the ability to choose between the classic glossary popup and the AI panel would make the app far more flexible and student-friendly.
Technology should enhance learning, not force every interaction through AI. Pearson should focus on providing options rather than replacing proven features with AI simply because it’s the latest trend. Please bring back the original glossary popup or at least add a setting that allows users to choose the experience that works best for them.
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Almost Perfect!
This app is great. The additional material & interfaces really help me better understand and retain the information in the book which is vast & can be complicated. It’s nice that I can quickly review using flash cards or quizzes on my phone if I have some downtime. That’s super helpful for retention. The only drawback I would say is the online version logs me out after a short period and there are so many clicks to get back in & onto where I left off that it’s off-putting. The other thing is I wished some of the material on the app was available in offline mode.
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Nutrition
The audiobook never works
Loving it
I like that I can do practice exams on the go.Its such a great way to study
Major accessibility and usability issues on iOS
Pros of this app:
- search function
- study videos and additional materials
- ability to change font sizes
Cons:
- dark mode hides CRUCIAL information (like formulas) which is a major accessibility issue
- no way to take margin notes
- highlighting doesn’t work on symbols (and symbols are hugely important in science textbooks)
- no way to bookmark images
- “feedback” option is a black hole and the native iOS browser is not supported so contacting support from within the app is impossible
- highlighting constantly flips the page instead of selecting text
This is such a frustrating app to use and it’s really disappointing considering eTextbooks are basically a requirement in order to keep up with education these days.
- search function
- study videos and additional materials
- ability to change font sizes
Cons:
- dark mode hides CRUCIAL information (like formulas) which is a major accessibility issue
- no way to take margin notes
- highlighting doesn’t work on symbols (and symbols are hugely important in science textbooks)
- no way to bookmark images
- “feedback” option is a black hole and the native iOS browser is not supported so contacting support from within the app is impossible
- highlighting constantly flips the page instead of selecting text
This is such a frustrating app to use and it’s really disappointing considering eTextbooks are basically a requirement in order to keep up with education these days.
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:)
I love the flash card option to make studying easier!
Pearson
This e-text would be wonderful if highlighting worked consistently. Such a shame that we pay so much for temporary access to a textbook and you can’t consistently use the functionality needed. Frustrating. Do better.
Do better
The app is not user friendly, it’s difficult to navigate
Can’t access my books or account
I’ve been trying to access my old book to study up, but I am unable to access my account or even send a verification email or text message
Edit: 1 star. This app is infuriating!
My hatred for this app has grown in the last 9 weeks of using it. It’s so buggy. First, if you make one wrong swipe with your finger, good luck. It’ll throw you to some random section and now you have to spend a few minutes figuring out how to get back. Second, it’s buggy as hell. I keep getting thrown to random sections of when scrolling down.
I prefer to listen to my books and highlight them as I go. The audio controls are terrible and make it difficult to quickly start and stop the audio. There should be an option to lock the start and stop button to the screen so I can quickly stop the audio, do a quick highlight and reviews and then start it again. Right now it’s very painful to start stop quickly
I prefer to listen to my books and highlight them as I go. The audio controls are terrible and make it difficult to quickly start and stop the audio. There should be an option to lock the start and stop button to the screen so I can quickly stop the audio, do a quick highlight and reviews and then start it again. Right now it’s very painful to start stop quickly
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Kinda buggy for highlighting
Highlighting is extremely buggy when highlighting numbers and cuts out highlighting completely on random lines
Provide Offline Access for Laptops
It’s really offensive to me that I cannot access my e-textbook on my computer if internet access is limited.
Please, just let us download chapters in a temporary pdf or something.
Please, just let us download chapters in a temporary pdf or something.
Very confusing
This is the most confusing revision app I have ever used to help me revise. It felt like I was your old grandma who still doesn’t understand how to use a phone. To delete my account it was highly confusing. I only wanted to not fail French and now I’m left utterly confused. I would never recommend this app.
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Best app ever
Literally the best helps so much 10/10 worth every freaking cent
Very helpful
They had video classes that broke down the subject. I had a good experience with the app. Especially calculus and accounting. I had to use a competitor for another class and they were so bad. This app was better by far.
Audio controls are incredibly annoying
I love everything about this app, but I prefer to listen to my books and highlight them as I go. The audio controls are terrible and make it difficult to quickly start and stop the audio. There should be an option to lock the start and stop button to the screen so I can quickly stop the audio, do a quick highlight and reviews and then start it again. Right now it’s very painful to start stop quickly
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UI is so bad
I have to use this app for a textbook I need to read for my class. I don’t understand how the UI on this app can be so bad. Every single time I turn the page, the app glitches and has to buffer to load the new page. Highlighting feature is also very glitchy.
Awesome
Has been a lifesaver for college
Seriously bad UX
1) I’m really sick of the textbook “page” snapping back to the to the top when I accidentally click forward to the next page but then try to immediately go back. (Moving to the next page is way too easy to do by mistake with just a tap when trying to summon the menu for contents, etc.)
2) MAKE IT EASIER TO OPEN THE BOOK. When I tap on the textbook, I expect to start reading within seconds. But no: I’m brought to a second screen that puts tutorial videos at the top, then has a much smaller “read textbook” button that I have to scroll down to.
3) The “audiobook” feature is just a bad AI reader that makes it more difficult to understand than reading the text.
4) Solutions at the back of the book have their numbers cut off so instead of Problem 43 I just see the number “3.”
5) Diagrams seem to be in a png format, so in dark mode it’s impossible to read them since it’s blue, red, and black pictures/text on a black background.
6) There’s no way to report content errors or other things that need to be corrected/adjusted
7) My view history should have WAY more than just the last three pages I viewed. I frequently need to reference at least three pages to answer a problem, but when I do that, the end-of-chapter exercises are no longer listed for me to easily jump back to. (And when I do jump back, it goes to the top of the page instead of where I left off.)
2) MAKE IT EASIER TO OPEN THE BOOK. When I tap on the textbook, I expect to start reading within seconds. But no: I’m brought to a second screen that puts tutorial videos at the top, then has a much smaller “read textbook” button that I have to scroll down to.
3) The “audiobook” feature is just a bad AI reader that makes it more difficult to understand than reading the text.
4) Solutions at the back of the book have their numbers cut off so instead of Problem 43 I just see the number “3.”
5) Diagrams seem to be in a png format, so in dark mode it’s impossible to read them since it’s blue, red, and black pictures/text on a black background.
6) There’s no way to report content errors or other things that need to be corrected/adjusted
7) My view history should have WAY more than just the last three pages I viewed. I frequently need to reference at least three pages to answer a problem, but when I do that, the end-of-chapter exercises are no longer listed for me to easily jump back to. (And when I do jump back, it goes to the top of the page instead of where I left off.)
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Very poorly thought out
You have to re-download the textbook and every accompanying piece of information every single time the app updates. If you are in more than one class it takes >1 hour to use the actual features on the app
