“When you have a struggling 50-year old student exclaim with excitement "I am on a roll!" using Vretta's resources you know that you have provided him with something that is working!”

Beyond its ability to cater to all types of students, what impressed me the most about the online lessons and labs is that they are tightly integrated with the textbook. This was missing with Lyryx and of course Lyryx has only questions (labs). The online lessons guide students through the material one topic at a time, making sure that they have a good foundation before moving on to the next part. We let them go over the questions as many times as they need to until they get the mark that they’re aiming for. The lessons and labs have really helped my students a lot, and frankly, they like learning this way. The textbook presents concepts and problem solutions very clearly and it makes students less terrified of using the textbook, an important part of the package.

I use the online test-bank to create different versions of quizzes and exams for my students and the support from Vretta has been great. Students have also told me that they have liked the support. Everyone knows that students are pretty frank about their opinions. When I asked them what they feel about the online lessons they said “They’re great!”. This good response does not surprise me as I saw value in this hybrid resource when I evaluated it during the textbook review process in February 2011.

“Vretta’s support is absolutely fantastic!”

I have been using Vretta’s business math and finance math resources from 2011.

The textbook is well written and the etextbook is user friendly and is easily accessible by students and teachers.
The PowerPoint presentations are a great resource that I have customized to my lesson style and plans.
The online teaching and testing resources provide my students with good amount of practice.

I would also like to state that Vretta’s support is absolutely fantastic!

"We successfully created a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) for Mathematics of Business and Finance using Vretta’s hybrid resources.”

We at Holland College created a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) for Mathematics of Business and Finance using Vretta’s hybrid resources. The MOOC was launched in the winter of 2014 via a custom design login portal created by Vretta that has the same theme as our college website. The course utilized Vretta’s interactive online lessons, labs, eTextbook, solution manuals, and PowerPoint presentations. The college is happy with the pilot since we had students enroll for the course from the general community not only at PEI but also outside of the province.

In addition to the MOOC, we also ran three sections using Vretta’s business and finance math hybrid resources with very successful results. Vretta’s system provides great flexibility especially because of the interactive online lessons and labs that have provided us with the ability to host the entire course online. In addition to Vretta’s resources, I’ve also recorded my lectures that will be provided in conjunction with Vretta’s resources for students to be able to work on their own. Next year, we are planning to move completely online with these hybrid resources for all of our sections so students can view my lectures, work through the lessons and labs, refer to the eTextbook and solution manuals completely on their own.

In class, I used all the PowerPoint presentations that were provided by Vretta. These PPTs are clicker enabled so I can open it within the Turning Technology software to be able to enable the clicker functionality in class. The solution manuals that accompany the book are handy. I also used the instructor test bank to provide students with supplemental questions that I included for them to practice during the course.

Vretta’s Help Desk (instructor-support@intromath.ca) responds quickly. They have a good team out there!

"It is only a matter of time before others discover that Vretta's product not only matches but also exceeds the content application of that of McGraw Hill and Pearson, which have been around for a very long time.”

I, Dianne Krasuski, have been a member of the Humber College faculty for over three decades. Humber had been using the Hummelbrunner textbook for over two decades in our Essentials of Business Math and Math of Finance courses. It was openly acknowledged that it would be difficult to switch to another resource at Humber. As of Fall 2014, the overwhelming majority of our faculty voted to switch all of our business math courses to Vretta’s Mathematics of Business and Finance, 2nd Edition.

The most important aspect of any that resource I use in the classroom is its accuracy and precision when presenting the subject matter, specifically in the textbook. I have been asked for feedback on both the Hummelbrunner and Jerome books and I have made many suggestions for improvements, but I have seen these corrections and suggestions dismissed. Errors which were pointed out in one edition would continue to appear in subsequent editions causing professors at Humber to create correction handouts, guided worksheets and online resources to help students. Vretta stands apart in this aspect. It carefully considered feedback from my colleagues and I and made sure that the most accurate, relevant and precise content was presented to students.

The relevance of the content for each chapter is tightly aligned with what students need to succeed upon graduation, and the book provides professors and students with a meaningful reference for teaching and studying. The clarity in the presentation of concepts is unparalleled. As a professor using the 2nd Edition, I can state emphatically that when an error is pointed out, the team at Vretta ensures that it is addressed immediately. Vretta shares my drive for perfection!

Vretta’s unique passion for building the Mathematics of Business and Finance tools is unequalled, and its level of detail and commitment to “getting it right” is amazing.

The online tools that Vretta provides to students are distinctive in supporting students outside the traditional methods of utilizing the textbook and in-class lectures. Vretta has ensured that students can easily find all of these resources through its learning management system. In the time we have been utilizing the resources, both professors and students have found them to be meaningful and I believe that they have had a positive impact on student success.

Finally, the support I receive from Vretta’s Help Desk is great. Anytime a question arises from either professors or students, the Help Desk provides a response in an unbelievably short amount of time. As a professor, I feel supported and am never on my own to figure out the problems that students inevitably present. Vretta helpfully shares the responsibility of ensuring that students feel supported throughout the semester.

Both the Jerome and Hummelbrunner books have been used for a very long time, but soon others will discover that Vretta has built a resource which matches and exceeds the content applications of those resources. It has been developed by listening to professor feedback and ensuring that the material stays current and valuable for students.

I certainly hope that Vretta keeps up the good work, and I am happy to say that I have a new favourite resource to ensure my students are equipped to take on future courses and the outside world once they leave Humber College.

"This learning method provides the real benefit of hearing, seeing, and doing, as opposed to the traditional method of just reading a book and working through it. And my students agree!”

I have been teaching Mathematics for Finance (QNM106) for many years. I started using Vretta’s Mathematics of Business and Finance blended resources (textbook, online lessons and labs) in September 2011 and I noticed that many of my students were better prepared for class and performed better on their tests and exams.

In my opinion, the online lessons are very helpful, especially for ESL students. As you know, Seneca has many ESL students who struggle as a result of their limited English. This tool is a great benefit to these learners. They can hear the vocabulary pronounced, see keywords written out, and do the lesson interactively. This allows them to tie everything together. This multi-channel learning can be done at the students own pace, at the time of their choosing and repeated as often as required. There are the same benefits for non-ESL students and it is a good reinforcement tool for my regular students. Students that need a supplement to the classroom experience will find the online lessons helpful. Those who are forced to miss a class will nd this an effective tool in catching up and keeping up. What about results? I have noticed in my classroom that more students are keeping upthey were for class. This has translated into higher student satisfaction and better scores.

What about the students? I ask my students what they think about the lessons and labs. They tell me that they are helpful and they like them. I recently took the publisher into one of my classes to get first-hand feedback from my students.Even when they were prompted to be honest, they mentioned that the online lessons and labs were very helpful. In another class, one of my students offered the following (unsolicited) comment, “the labs are a great idea, and very helpful for the students.” This learning method provides the real benefit of hearing, seeing, and doing, as opposed to the traditional method of just reading a book and working through it. And my students agree!

“It is indeed the next generation of learning materials and mathematics of finance has surely been transformed into an exciting subject!”

From the critical pedagogical point of view in the educational industry, generally, if you listen to the same lecture voice continuously for around 20 minutes, the probability of you tuning out is the reality of learning, especially if you have a class at 8:00 a.m. or after 5:00 pm. Team-teaching can be used as a solution to overcome this situation by creating modulations in the method of delivery. To achieve this next-generation learning experience in our classrooms, we toggle between our lectures, Vretta’s interactive online lessons, and the Texas Instrument’s BAII Plus emulator. This teaching method is proving to deliver exciting results for our students when it is coupled with reinforcing applications developed from a business perspective.

For about 20 years, I have taught the Mathematics of Finance to students in the School of Accounting and Financial Services. Since our students major in Accounting and Finance, they realize that this subject is foundational for them to succeed in their chosen career path. In 5th semester, our students have the option a taking of coop semester with a professional practitioner or business operating in their field of study. To succeed at getting a coop placement, they have to go through a personal interview process together with a challenge question reflective of the business application. In many cases, it is their ability to comprehend and find the solution quickly that determines whether they get the position or relinquish it to another student from another college with superior skills. In one case, our student answered the question so quickly, that the prospective coop placement felt compelled to accept this student. Why, because of the passion to succeed in the reality of a 21st century business environment.

The Mathematics of Business and Finance textbook and accompanying resources help us to achieve this “wow-moment” for our students. It is a known fact that the way students learn is rapidly transforming and we, in the education industry, have to position ourselves on this trend line or cease to be an effective instrument for educational delivery. Students now spend most of their time online where they constantly communicate, research, and learn. Students are no longer one dimensional learners. They are now fully functional visual, auditory, kinesthetic learners or next generation learners. These hybrid resources effectively cater to these different styles of learning – even the emergent styles of the 21st Century. The interactive online lessons work well for the visual learners, the voice for every scene works well for the auditory learners, and the online labs work well for the kinesthetic learners. We are on the crest of following them into the next learning style that has yet to be researched and clearly enunciated.

The online lessons help by being a good reinforcement resource for our students. The Miami-Dade Study clearly indicates that attendance is the number one factor in student success, but attendance is the number one problem in a 24/7 economy with tuition fee increases and debt loads being the number one concern in supporting the knowledge economy. If a student misses a class, they are no longer victim to the reality of this 21st Century economy of the full-time student with a full-time job trying to pay for the full-time debt load. Our students can now review the class-room material at their own pace. We recognize that the pace of learning varies in this century from the “drip” method to the “quick-hit” method. The lessons also standardize the way all our students learn at our college so that no matter which section or which professor’s class the student is registered in, there is consistency in the delivery of the educational outcomes of the course.

One final thing that we would like to mention is that printed instruction manuals are decreasingly used by modern learners today. The on-line chat feature available to students on Vretta’s intromath.ca website is there 24/7 to provide real time instruction that provides our students with an excellent interactive training experience every time and anytime they need it. Yes, even at midnight when students discover the ”midnight oil” that keeps them learning 24/7. In a nutshell, we would like to say that most of our students have provided us with very new and quite revolutionary feedback on this learning experience.

The next generation of learning materials and mathematics of finance has definitely been transformed into an exciting subject for them which results in business success far into the future.

“If you want headache-free delivery of course content, Vretta is the way to go.”

Teaching mathematics by distance is a challenge, but it’s what we excel at here at Northern College. Students connect to us to receive live, interactive lectures beamed to sites across Northern Ontario using Centra, a web-based lecture platform. My students connect to us from places such as Hearst, Attawapiskat, Cochrane, Smooth Rock Falls, Kirkland Lake, or even Southern Ontario locations like Stratford and St. Thomas.

Delivering a lecture simultaneously to these sites is great, but there’s much more that’s required for a successful course. Students need to complete assignments, and obviously the more assignments they do, the better they get. The old ‘snail-mail’ paper-based routine doesn’t work, especially when you’re teaching to remote locations.

Even if I wasn’t delivering by distance, class sizes of 50 students or more make it a daunting task to provide students with the quality and quantity of feedback they need. The only effective model I’ve found for handling assignments (and often tests) is through using online software. I’ve tried several textbook and software packages over the past five years that I’ve been teaching this course, and I’ve never been entirely satisfied with them. This is the first year I’ve tried Vretta, and it’s by far the most user-friendly.

There are two significant advantages to using Vretta’s resources, and it’s hard for me to decide which one is the most useful, so I’ll give you both.

1. The most obvious one is the user interface. It’s clean, simple to use, and engaging. I think from the student’s perspective, this is the biggest advantage.

2. From the instructor’s perspective, the speed of the response when I report a problem is what makes the difference. I can’t report a rounding error to a software publisher and wait two weeks (or even two days) for the problem to be fixed. I’ve found that with Vretta, there are very few problems like these. If I do have a problem, I am getting same-day, and often same-hour response times. Students can be tough customers to please, but this year, I haven’t had any students complaining about Vretta. That may sound like small praise, but it’s actually unprecedented for me to go through a semester without having constant complaints about software glitches. When students see their grades corrected that quickly, they’re happy—and so am I.

Many students don’t like math, and I haven’t made it my mission in life to convert them. For me, the important thing is that I know that when they graduate, they have pounded through enough problems to be competent. To be honest, some of them probably don’t like the resources, because they’ve been conditioned to panic any time they see numbers. That’s a result of their prior exposure to math as they’ve gone through the primary and secondary school systems, and it’s not Vretta’s fault. But since feedback is effortless, students can hone their skills to perfection. The traditional curriculum delivery models don’t allow for the same opportunity, in my experience.

If you want headache-free delivery of course content, Vretta is the way to go.

"The online lessons and labs are tools for the modern world and have great appeal for our students.”

In six years of teaching QNM106, Vretta’s Mathematics of Business and Finance blended resource has definitely been the standout learning tool for our students. The online lessons and labs are tools for the modern world, and have great appeal for our students. We have found that students’ participation in the course increased significantly since we began using these resources, and more students have been completing their homework assignments now than ever before.

The exciting approach to teaching mathematics in the online lessons, which are animated and highly interactive, makes studying seem less like work, and more like a fun learning activity. Students have not only been completing their lessons, but reviewing them multiple times before their tests. The results speak for themselves. This increased participation was reflected in the students’ performance in tests, mid-term exams, and the final exam. A great feature of the textbook is the way it explains the use of the calculator to solve problems. It presents step-by-step instructions to solve all of the problems where the use of the financial calculator is relevant. Great value-add!

"Vretta’s textbook’s most noticeable advantage is that it gradually goes from simple to complex levels, thereby giving a smooth enhancement to the ken of the students.”

When individuals change their mind set from fixed to growth, their learning potential increases drastically” – Vretta’s textbook encourages them to develop a growth mindset for mathematics with the help of high quality online labs/tutorials for the students.

The detailed oriented philosophy combined with practical examples, followed in the textbook, helps the students understand the concepts very easily. My students and I love the online resources, especially the lessons and labs, since they are unambiguous, easy to navigate and provide information on their progress.

Vretta’s helpdesk is very prompt in responding to queries and has an excellent pool of talent.

Support from Vretta’s Helpdesk is FANTASTIC!! Thank You.”

I have to say that things are running quite well. I wish that I was doing the course again next term!!

I’ve surveyed the students several times and they’re very happy with the online material.

Having the students complete the lessons has accelerated the class room presentations and made it more interactive.

I dedicate the last hour to written group work, which is also graded. It really seems to help the students to grasp the concepts.

The support from Vretta’s Helpdesk is FANTASTIC!! Thank You. Please pass that on to them.

“Vretta’s textbook and online resources have been very helpful in achieving student success.”

Vretta’s textbook and online resources have been very helpful in achieving student success.
There are many useful examples in the textbook, and the online lessons are a great addition to in-class materials/lessons. The labs provide an additional assessment tool and study aid for the students.

I have used the Vretta PowerPoint decks in almost every class. They were a great way to present the material. The solution manuals were also very useful and provided detailed solutions for the students.

Vretta’s support team has always responded promptly to any issues and have always solved whatever challenges we have faced.

Overall, I believe the online lessons/labs are a great resource for students because they provide additional interactive examples and the labs provide additional practice opportunities for students.

"A student of mine stated that she would not have passed Business Math without Vretta's Online Lessons and Labs!”

The online labs are an excellent form of practice for my students.
They work through the questions not only because marks are attached to the labs but also it helps with assessing their understanding of concepts that are being taught in class.

The PowerPoint presentations are an excellent resource and helps in the planning of our own PowerPoint lessons. The textbook/eTextbook is reader friendly, has many examples, and is easy to follow.

Vretta’s support is extremely fast! Any issues are taken care of ASAP. All of the support is directly handled by Vretta’s support team instead of having to go through the instructor.

A student of mine in the 2nd semester Finance Math course stated that she would not have passed the 1st semester Business Math course without the online lessons and labs.
She mentioned that she likes the reinforcement that the lessons and labs provide.

"Vretta’s resources provide a flexible and safe learning space for students to practice mathematics.”

I believe that creating a successful learning experience means meeting each learner at their individual skill level. My greatest challenge in facilitating Business Math is the diversity in math skills.

Vretta’s online math resources provide a flexible and safe learning space for students to practice concepts that they are learning in the classroom. I can survey the online math quizzes, see which questions are challenging and use that information to prepare classroom lectures.

In addition, the staff at Vretta are patient in setting up an online environment that is unique to my needs and are always available to respond to my questions and course alterations.

Overall, I have really enjoyed using Vretta’s online learning environment.

“My experience with Vretta’s support team was fantastic!”

The Vretta Mathematics of Business and Finance textbook was very thorough and the online resources add A LOT to the text and classes. The online labs and lessons are excellent for student practice.

Any challenges that we faced as instructors in delivering the course were quickly turned to positives because of the prompt response from Vretta’s support team. My experience with Vretta’s support team was fantastic!

The resources did a great job of supporting students, and more practice via the labs and lessons resulted in more student success in the courses in which we utilized these resources!

“I like Vretta’s resources because they are straightforward, and explain concepts in a practical and down-to-earth fashion.”

I’ve been using Vretta’s resources to teach the MA101 business math course since they were first introduced at Mohawk College in the fall of 2012. Prior to that, I taught using the Jerome textbook for a semester.

Vretta’s team, working with us, have developed a customized interactive learning plan for students to access all of their course resources in one place. Earlier, students had to login to eLearn to access their course resources and Maple TA separately to access their labs. From the new learning plan, students can access the MapleTA labs, Vretta’seTextbook, Tutorials, and PowerPoint presentations. It has become a seamless one point access for all of these resources. It has also been easy for me to demonstrate these resources to students during the first week of class.

I use online resources not only for my math courses but also for my accounting courses. Vretta’s resources are one of the easiest systems to demonstrate to students since it is easy and seamless to navigate.

I like Vretta’s resources because they are straight-forward, and explain concepts in a practical and down-to-earth fashion.

The language used is also very relatable, in addition to the voice scripts for those who need that assistance.

We have used elements from Vretta’s PowerPoint presentations to create our own custom ones that I use in class. I make alterations to them when necessary based on what I teach my students.
I like their animations which helps me with my classes

Vretta’s support is super-fast! Last semester, I had a small technical issue since a link was not working.
I emailed their team after class. By the time I reached home, Vretta’s support team sent me an email mentioning that it was fixed. It was instantaneous, which is something that I appreciate.

Regarding the textbook, I have come across many textbooks that complicate the language of the text for students. However, the language used in Vretta’s textbook is very straightforward and I have not had any complaints from my students. We have recommended that Vretta include additional sections like Index Numbers, Contribution Margin Ratio, and Effective Markdown into the second edition of their textbook as we teach these concepts.

"Vretta stands out from its peers by its unique vision of interactive learning with a good blend of audio and video.”

I have been teaching the Business Math course since January 2008. The size of my class ranges from 25 to over 40 students per term. We have used various online learning and assessment systems, such as Lyryx, MathXL and Vretta’s Intromath.ca.

Vretta stands out from its peers by its unique vision of interactive learning with an excellent blend of audio and video. The online lessons help students to evaluate their progress and build their confidence during self-learning. It acts as an individual instructor for each student with 24/7 availability. These online lessons also help me to monitor my students’ progress in the course. This feature is a great compliment to online course flexibility.

Vretta has also impressed me with their quick response to students, instructors, and college administrators’ requests. I always receive immediate and efficient help. Their technical support team often goes out of their way to help instructors and students to run the course smoothly.

Their recent initiative to let students register for their course online without a textbook makes it possible for me and my students to start the course on time. This way, my students do not miss the beginning of the term due to delays in textbook ordering.Thank you for the great job.

"My students and I like Vretta’s textbook because it is affordable, light weight (which makes it easy to carry around), and detailed.”

I was introduced to the team at Vretta and their business and finance math resources in 2012. I reviewed their textbook and online resources with my colleagues, and decided to adopt them for the MA101 and MA10037 math courses at our college. We have approximately 1,000 students who use these resources throughout the year so, it is very important to have high quality resources and support from the company.

My students and I like Vretta’s textbook because it is affordable, lightweight (which makes it easy to carry around), and detailed. I specifically like the merchandising charts that are in the textbook. I use charts extensively to help provide students with the big picture understanding of how various variables are interlinked. It makes the explanation a lot less complex. I’ve extended the use of charts to ratios and proportions and break-even analysis and my students love this approach. I also like the use of timelines in solving problems. It brings a clear visual understanding of the problem and I strongly encourage my students to follow this method of solving problems. Math is very frightening for many students so creative problem solving approaches like these have helped reduce the intimidation for students.

Vretta’s support is exceptional. They are always responsive and available to make sure that everything is running well for our students. They have even integrated their eTextbooks and online lessons into our course management system (eLearn) and have successfully created a smooth handshake with our assessment platform (Maple TA). They worked with us to design and develop an interactive Learning Plan for students to be able select resources and track their progress through the semester.

It has been a wonderful experience working with the team at Vretta and we look forward to this continued partnership in order to help students succeed in mathematics.

"Vretta's learning environment has a very user-friendly interface, is easy to navigate, and makes it easy to figure things out on your own.”

Vretta's learning environment has a very user friendly interface, is easy to navigate and makes it easy to figure things out on your own. The support staff are very, very helpful, and readily available to provide assistance expeditiously.

As a teacher, I really like the lesson/lab concept. The lessons give students a second, third and even a fourth opportunity to review the subject matter on their own, in an interactive lecture format. The labs are useful in preparing students for tests, much like in class quizzes. The advantage for teachers is they do not to have to mark and give feedback to every student, allowing time for other things, such as providing one-on-one assistance for students who need it.

Vretta also offers several resources to teachers such as the opportunity to review labs and provide feedback when necessary, easy access to marks, and a test question database to help generate quizzes and tests. My experiences with Vretta have been very positive.

"Since the introduction of Vretta’s resources, my students have more confidence when entering the classroom and the marks I see on quizzes and exams have improved significantly.”

Vretta learning resources have brought new meaning to the learning experience of my students. The textbook flows from chapter to chapter seamlessly by providing a thorough understanding of the course material through numerous clear examples. In addition to the textbook, the online lessons and labs allow students to master what has been taught in the classroom setting. The interactive lessons stimulate the students’ minds and encourage them to practice and comprehend the content and equations. The online learning environment works ‘with’ the students individual needs and is not a ‘one box fits all’ model that can often frustrate those that require more time and a slower pace.

Today’s students need a varied approach to learning and the Vretta text and online combination provide that perfectly. The lessons and labs can also be catered for specific content so as to meet the needs of every student as each semester changes. Vretta works closely with the professors and provide continuous support in a timely manner. With today’s technology, our students have come to expect feedback and answers quickly and the Vretta system exceeds that expectation.

Since the introduction of the text and online material, my students have more confidence when entering the classroom and the marks I see on quizzes and exams have improved significantly. Many of them have expressed to me that they feel like they have their own personal tutor in their home, assisting them as they practice what they learned and complete the lessons and labs. It is also extremely helpful that I can monitor my class’s progress and view individual students as necessary to ensure they are successful in their attempts.

The Vretta textbook and online system has proven to me that there is always room for improvement and with their assistance, I have achieved that for and with my students!

“The online lessons are especially beneficial for students with English as a second language, which constitutes almost 57% of our student population.”

For many years, we were very comfortable using McGraw’s Business Mathematics textbook written by Jerome along with Lyryx Labs. In 2011, when we were introduced to Vretta’s Mathematics of Business and Finance textbook and online resources, I was a little skeptical of this new blended method of teaching business and finance math. However, after a thorough review conducted by our textbook review committee, we saw value in the textbook and online resources and decided to adopt them to teach all our full-time math for business and math for finance courses. Since then, these resources have proven to be a highly effective way to teach our students.

The combination of online lessons/labs with the classroom experience is a huge advantage because it caters to the diverse student audience with varied learning styles that we have in these courses. The online lessons are especially beneficial for students with English as a second language, which constitutes almost 57% of our student population.

Our students have been giving us very positive feedback on their learning experience. They comment that with these resources they can learn at their own pace, especially before quizzes and exams. The engaging overview that each online lesson provides, improves students’ attention level in class and reduces their fear of mathematics. As the subject leader, I have been dealing with Vretta’s support staff and would like to add that their support has been extremely prompt and helpful. They work closely with me and my faculty to ensure that we are all effectively using the resources to obtain the most from them. They are also very responsive to instructor and student feedback, to perfect this learning experience for our students and teaching experience for my faculty.

"The quality of Vretta’s products is unmatched in the market today!”

Students of any learning style are benefitting from the dynamic integration of Vretta’s textbook, online lessons, and homework labs. The online INTERACTIVE lessons are the most impressive combination of quality production and robust learning resource that I have seen.

When you combine the interactive lessons with a well-written visually appealing textbook and series of algorithmically based homework labs, which provide informative feedback, you have THE leading learning resource available.

The use of the Vretta’s resources has been a tremendous complement to both my in-class and online courses, and has led to an improved learning experience for the students and myself.

The quality of Vretta’s products is unmatched in the market today!

"Students who use Vretta’s resources perform much better than the others on their tests and exams.”

Vretta’s Mathematics of Business and Finance textbook and online resources are very well suited for students at the college level. Our students who use the resources, benefit a lot from them. The resources are very user friendly and students can do them on their own time. I noticed that those students who use Vretta’s resources perform much better than the others on their tests and exams.

I use the PowerPoint presentations in my class. They are much more useful than any other math PowerPoints that I have used in the past. They clearly break-down examples and provide detailed solutions in a step-by-step manner which is useful to guide the class through their practice.

We have seen that Vretta’s learning resources are very helpful for our students. They are easy to use and an excellent resource for our instructors.

"You Vrettafy mathematics by providing professional looking student-access to tutorials that help students interact and test their knowledge of key mathematical concepts so that they can learn them as quickly as possible in a fun way.”

Mathematics is a particularly difficult subject to teach because students have a hard time grasping the key concepts covered in their textbook. Due to fundamental gaps in understanding of these key concepts, students struggle with mathematics and thus try to memorize how to solve questions instead of using fundamental understanding to reason out ways to solve problems.

Vretta’s interactive tutorials concentrate on the fundamental concepts students need to know and are an important part of building the students' understanding of the course outcomes. Their tutorials engage students by having them actually interact with the concepts as soon as they are introduced in order to ensure students understanding. This allows them to quickly, and more thoroughly, understand the key concepts which then leads to more satisfied and successful students.

We have been using Vretta’s content in our business courses since September 2012. We have been very impressed with their strong technical expertise and willingness to help us customize how the student interacts with both the college’s and Vretta’s content within our Learning Management System. This has helped us tremendously as our college moves to a blended learning environment.

There is a new verb at our College. It is "Vrettafy". You vrettafy mathematics by providing professional looking student access to tutorials that help students interact and test their knowledge of key mathematical concepts so that they can learn them as quickly as possible and in a fun way.

“Interactive lessons and challenging online labs reinforce our in-class lectures. Vretta’s resources are enriching our students’ business math learning experience.”

Vretta’s combination of textbook and online learning resources make a significant contribution to student success. I have no hesitation about referring students to explanations in the textbook since it is written in concise, yet manageable language. Each chapter concludes with a case study which ties together the concepts that were taught and provides real world examples. The students feel a sense of accomplishment when the big picture comes into focus.

Interactive lessons, coupled with challenging online labs reinforce our in-class lectures. Students have specifically mentioned that they appreciate not only the instant feedback on performance, but also the ability to view full solutions to problems they struggled with. I personally enjoy the relative hands off nature of the online platform.

Vretta offers a great form of instant online support that is beneficial to both the student and professor. Minor login or settings issues can be solved without the lag that repeated email conversation involves, which I have experienced with other online platform providers. The very convenient “contact us” function allows for an instant messaging conversation with tech support, solving problems very quickly.

Vretta’s resources are definitely enriching our students’ business math learning experience.

“Students find Vretta's resources very user-friendly, to the point, and well created. The examples are practical and are solved in a clear way.”

Most professors teaching business and finance math for diploma students will agree with me when I say that most of our students find basic mathematical concepts difficult to understand. I have taught at Seneca College using the Jerome textbook (with Lyryx) for at least 10 years, and at George Brown College using the Hummelbrunner textbook for around 5 years. Both of these textbooks have done little to address this problem. In fact, with so many visa students who speak English as a second language, these books make it very difficult to read for our students. This has resulted in students hardly using their textbooks. Students who fear math are even more intimidated when they see these textbooks.

In 2011, I was introduced to Vretta’s Mathematics of Business and Finance textbook and my students have really liked this book. They find the resources very user-friendly, to the point, and well created. The examples are practical and are solved in a clear way. The level of difficulty has been very appropriate for my students. The calculator methods are also illustrated in great detail and with clarity.

My students love the online lessons. They find them to be an enjoyable pre-learning tool and use them to prepare for the labs, tests, and exams, and to review the course material. Attendance has not been affected and at the same time students’ marks have gone up! The prepared PowerPoint lectures that the resource includes are a fantastic in-class teaching tool. They present the concepts well, and the animations add to the understanding and engage the students! Bottom-line: my students have been doing really well since the introduction of this resource.

“Vretta’s resources are excellent! The dynamics and tone of the lessons and labs attract my students and keep them engaged.”

Math is intimidating to most students because they have a hard time recognizing and retaining fundamental math concepts. Instead of reasoning out ways to solve the problem, students rely on memorizing how to solve the problems.

Vretta’s resources are excellent! The dynamics and tone of the lessons and labs attract my students and keep them engaged. Like reading, math involves many cognitive processes and systems. Vretta has identified this throughout their resources. The textbook is well written and there are many algorithmically generated questions of varying degrees of difficulty for students to practice. They teach from a conceptual perspective and help students build on concepts that relate to their learning. They’re continually challenged and supported every step of the way.

I would also like to mention that Vretta’s support staff is the best I’ve seen. Their HelpDesk is quick and accurate, with a helpful tone. Overall, it’s an excellent resource!

"Vretta’s hybrid resources make math relatable to real life.”

Vretta’s online lessons for business and finance mathematics provide students with a good overview of the content.

The labs are an excellent resource which a number of my students do over and over again to improve their marks. This is a huge positive. I have used the PowerPoint presentations as a basis of my lessons. The textbook is very good and Vretta’s support is EXCELLENT!!!

Vretta’s hybrid resources make math relatable to real life.

"I wish that Vretta would now develop programs for my other math courses.”

We had a very positive experience with our new Business Math Course delivered with Vretta’s resources. The students enjoyed the topics.

They were impressed with the lab work. There was no steep learning curve when they went online. The labs were very similar in content and wording to the lessons taught in class. The students liked the opportunity to be able to try a lab more than once and learned from the feedback they received. Being able to try a lab more than once is a type of “drill for skill”. If the student is successful after a few attempts, then they have “mastered’ that topic and their mark is representative of their current ability.

Weaker students enjoyed and benefited from the extra practice in the online lessons. If a student missed a class, it was easy for them to go online and view the lessons.

It was easy to modify the labs to obtain a test that covered the topics being studied. The support staff are quick to help and are very accommodating. I wish that Vretta would now develop programs for my other math courses.

"Students find every part of the system intuitive and easy to use, and students often come and tell me that the lessons are helpful when they study.”

I have been teaching Mathematics of Finance at Seneca College for over five years and prior to that I also taught finance math at George Brown College. I find that Vretta’s textbook is easy to read and understand. The questions and solutions are clear and concise. The language used is more straight-forward than Jerome’s. This is an important consideration because of the number of international students we have in class who have found it difficult to read the textbook in the past. The online lessons helped everyone in class especially the border-line students. In the past, I have used both Wiley Plus and Aplia for their online labs in my statistics classes. I would always hear hear my students say that they cause many problems such as being stuck with a question or not knowing what to do. I would often get dragged into the difficulties that the students were having.

The experience with Vretta’s resources has been very good. Students find every part of the system intuitive and easy to use, and students often tell me that the lessons are very helpful when they study. It only takes my students about half an hour to an hour to complete their homework every week, and from what I have seen, that is time well-spent. The material is in line with our course learning outcomes. Most importantly, students are performing better on their exams. I can clearly see that they are getting a better grasp of the finance math concepts and I trust that they are much better equipped. Overall, working on this system has always been very easy and quick. It is a great experience!

"When I think of Vretta, a young innovative company to my mind. They are the movers and shakers of mathematics!”

I was introduced to Vretta in February 2011 as I was part of the review selection committee at Seneca College to decide on the selection of resources for the business and finance math courses. Large publishing companies - McGraw Hill and Pearson, exhibited their products along with Vretta and we had to decide on the one that was the most suitable for our students.

I have worked extensively with large publishing houses and through this experience, I know that these billion dollar companies struggle to be customer centric. It is because of their lengthy approval processes for requests from professors, including errors that are identified in their products. However, the team at Vretta was hungry. They wanted to collaborate with us to any extent to make their product a perfect fit for our students.

My focus has always been on what is best for students and clearly Vretta has the best products for our students. Vretta secured the majority of votes from the committee and their products were chosen for our students.

Vretta’s resources focus on building confidence in mathematics. This is something that I strongly believe in as I have developed the resource, called growingknowing.com, which builds confidence in statistics for students. These resources are self-paced, provide students with infinite practice questions, eTextbook, and video lectures for students to have fun while learning statistics.

Resources like these are proving to improve results, lower costs, and attract more students!

"I love the focus that Vretta has when it comes to what they’re doing and where they’re going. Their strong focus on mathematics has resulted in their steady growth!”

I have been using Vretta’s resources and learning environment from the beginning of 2012. Their resources have always been appreciated and loved by my students. They have not only helped to increase the in-class interaction between my students but have also increased their attention span. The use of Vretta’s interactive resources in our HP tablet environment has created an engaging learning experience for our students and has also enabled us to experience a reduction in dropout rates from the average 30% to about 10%-15%.

The hybrid model of using Vretta’s resources, where students complete their interactive online lessons prior to the class, has proven to help prepare them and has given us more time to discuss and work through problems in class. It has provided a collaborative studying environment for my students. Surprisingly, they are not talking Facebook any more, they are talking Math!

Vretta’s resources were easy to integrate into our system and has been functioning seamlessly with the use of our HP tablets. Additionally, the on-boarding of new instructors has been quite easy as the support team at Vretta is very helpful and prompt! They set up everything for professors and also train new professors to be ready for class.

I love the focus that Vretta has when it comes to what they’re doing and where they’re going. Their strong focus on mathematics has resulted in their steady growth and I wish them the very best for a great future in helping students succeed all over the world!

"The ability to customize Vretta’s resource, gives an educator the opportunity to adapt their teaching style”

I have been teaching math of finance in the college system for more than 25 years. I have been the course lead for the business math courses (MA101 and MA10037) at Mohawk College for the past three years since moving to the Business Department. During this time, I have been using Vretta’s textbook and online resource for these courses. In the past, I also used resources from McGraw Hill(Jerome and Zima/Brown) and Pearson (Hummelbrunner).

My students like Vretta’s resource because of the online capabilities for homework assignments. The textbooks colourful illustrations and layout makes the subject matter less intimidating for the students.

Vretta’s online resources are very flexible. I have customized the content to suit the learning objectives of our courses. Vretta has been very flexible in modifying the resource to conform to our teaching style. The interface of the online resource is intuitive which has ensured that our students are able to register and utilize the resources effectively. The ability to customize the resource, gives an educator the opportunity to adapt their teaching style.

Vretta’ has always provided excellent support. They are also available for our students on the weekends, which is when our students tend to complete their weekly online homework.

I wish the Vretta team continued success in building products that help students succeed in mathematics.