Educational technologies offer students an alternative to accessing supplemental class material through static print. More specifically, adaptive learning offers the learner a dynamic and personalized educational experience aimed to solve the fixed, rigid, one-size-fits-all synchronicity of printed textbook chapters. We studied student engagement and motivation in 17 participants in an introductory geology course. This mixed methods study surveyed students' satisfaction with two modalities of learning: textbook readings and adaptive learning modules. We hypothesized that adaptive learning assignments would increase student satisfaction and engagement. To test our hypothesis, we emailed students two separate surveys, three times each; one survey after each assigned supplemental reading assignment and one survey after each adaptive learning module. Surveys comprised sixteen questions, nine of which assessed geoscience personal interest – using questions slightly modified from Harackiewicz et al. (2008) and Mitchell (1993) by Sexton (personal communication). Preference and satisfaction scores show that students preferred the adaptive learning module as a means for engaging with supplemental content. Data analysis reveals that students significantly preferred the interactive modules over print. Results support future study designed to test our hypothesis in a larger sample size. Six students voluntarily met with a co-investigator for a qualitative interview. A majority of those student interviewed identified the interactivity of the adaptive learning modules as a contributing factor to the retention of concepts presented. This suggests students experienced a high level of cognitive engagement with the material.