Jenny
Tsui

Jenny Tsui is a junior student at Drexel University where she studies Nursing. For as long as she can remember, she’s wanted to go into healthcare. After volunteering at a women's hospital, Tsui realized that pediatric nursing was the career path for her. Post-graduation, she plans to obtain a Master’s Degree so she can become a nurse practitioner, saying “I want to be the best nurse possible for kids.”

I want to be the best nurse possible for kids.

Tsui is a first-generation college student and takes her studies very seriously. On top of carrying a full course load, she serves on three campus boards, is part of the nursing club, and works a part-time job. Being so busy has underscored the importance of time management for Tsui. Still, she often gets overwhelmed and worries about falling behind. In previous years, she would regularly work long hours at the start of the semester which led to burnout by the end.

Tsui likes using Top Hat to help her stay on track and ensure she has the opportunity to connect with and learn from her peers. All of her Nursing professors use the platform, but her professors in other classes, like Chemistry and Biology, do not. Tsui finds that lectures conducted without Top Hat to be unengaging while content is harder to digest. In one course, she recalls having to watch recorded presentations over an hour and a half long with no opportunity to interact with her professor. “I felt really disconnected—I didn’t even get to see my professor! It was just a PowerPoint presentation with a voiceover,” she says. Given that the class is required for her major and was so hard to focus in, Tsui sought out additional resources to deepen her understanding of the course material.

Top Hat helps me feel more comfortable participating in class. Questions make it fun to test yourself and see if you really understand a topic.

With Top Hat, Tsui feels a greater sense of connection and community in class. “One particular professor would always use Top Hat questions throughout class and make time for us to ask questions about what we didn’t understand. I could tell she was putting in effort to engage us and have us interact with her and with the material,” shares Tsui. The platform also empowered Tsui to contribute to class conversations, which she previously found intimidating because of how large her Nursing lectures were. “Top Hat helps me feel more comfortable participating in class. Questions make it fun to test yourself and see if you really understand a topic,” Tsui says. Tsui’s professors can also use Top Hat to embed interactive media with more information so she doesn’t have to seek out resources on her own. Plus, anonymous discussions related to course concepts help her learn from her peers. “If I respond to a question, other students can comment and help me further my understanding or correct me if I’m wrong,” she adds.