Oxford Learner’s Bookshelf vs Top Hat

Oxford Learner’s Bookshelf provides interactive Oxford e-books for teaching and learning English. Its catalog includes Graded Readers, course student books and workbooks, grammar and reference books, and professional development for teachers. Some courses are available as digital packs with e-books and Online Practice, and users can register for free samples. Depending on the title, books may include activities, video, audio, answer checking, adjustable audio speed, and pronunciation recording and comparison. Readers can add sticky or voice notes, highlight or underline text, and annotate pages. Books downloaded in the apps can be used offline, and cloud sync can carry answers, notes, marks, bookmarks, and last-page position between devices. Teachers can assign e-books and Classroom Presentation Tools; for some courses, they can track student progress and scores in a gradebook. Books require an Oxford ID and a licence or access code. Prices vary by title, and no price is listed here. Audio notes and pronunciation practice cannot be recorded in Edge or Safari; the help page directs users to Chrome or Firefox for recording.

Top Hat is a higher education student engagement and courseware platform for interactive learning in and beyond class. During lectures, educators can use polls, discussions, quizzes and instant feedback. For coursework, it supports interactive homework and readings, customizable digital textbooks and instructor-created materials. Instructors can create, schedule or upload tests and assignments, and use AI tools to generate questions from course content. Ace helps educators prepare classes and create interactive prompts; students can use it for personalized study and practice based on course materials. Top Hat turns attendance, participation, reading and assessment data into insights about student progress. It lists integrations with Canvas, Blackboard, D2L Brightspace, Moodle and Sakai; LTI 1.3 integrations for Canvas and D2L Brightspace can provide roster sync, grade sync, deep links and single sign-on. Students can use a browser or iOS and Android apps. Student access plans are $35, paid once for four months, $58, paid once for 12 months, or $96, paid once for 48 months. Eligible paid courses usually offer a five-day free trial.